What is this stuff?!!!

Plan B... move seedlings into the house.

The Seedlings

This post (from several days ago) has been submitted to the Simple Lives Thusday blog hop: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/02/09/simple-lives-thursday-30/

I've put the seedlings to bed with sheets and blankets a few times this week as a precaution.

The 10-day forecast looks good!  They should be fine now with lows hovering around 40°F.  They're just starting to show themselves!   

I'm still using seeds from a can I purchased 3 years ago..  I've given many away, saved seeds from harvests, and the original seeds are still viable!  Can you tell I really love these seeds?!


This is the brand of emergency canned non-hybred seeds I use:

Directions:

http://www.mvseeds.com/CannedGardenSeeds%20Instructions.pdf

and the growing season begins!

Before:

After:

Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow! ~grin~

Grow Bags

Potato Grow Bags
Tomato Grow Bags
Square Tomato Grow Bag
Salad Grow Bag
Pepper Grow Bag
Multi Pocket Grow Bag

Sprouting Out!

Need some green this winter?  What about sprouts?


Why?: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sprouts.html ... Wow!

These lids make sprouting a breeze and they double as strainers for *everything*!
Sprouting Lids


Sprout People is also an excellent resource.

Perennial Foods

Today we're leaving Kentucky and traveling to Virginia.  I'll be working on a post about my current-favorite-vansteader-cooking-method.  So today I'm *finally* *really* *truely* going to make the long-in-coming "perennial foods" post.... now.

This is the one of the vansteader gardening methods I intend to start this spring.  


Perennial herbs, vegetables, fruits and legumes can be planted *once* and enjoyed for many seasons to come.  First, I need to know which plant hardiness zone I intended to grow my plant in:

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

I'll be planting in zone 8B. The following is my list (in progress) of desirable perennial plants, herbs, and trees:

Herbs 

Basil

Mint

Oregano

Rosemary 

Sage 

Thyme

Vegetables

Artichokes

Asparagus

Broccoli
Garlic
Horseradish
Onions (there are several desirable varieties of perennial onions)
Rhubarb

Spinach

Sweet Potato

Fruits

Apples

Blackberries
Blueberries

Cherries

Strawberries

Legumes

Beans
***I'll list the specific varieties once I decide upon them.


I'll need to check each perennial variety to make certain they'll grow in zone 8b (some have already been eliminated from the list).


Once I have my list of perennial plants, I'll be able to start the seedlings indoors in early spring.  When they get large enough, I'll be using the guerrilla gardening technique of planting them along one of my favorite trails (out of sight). The area I'll be planting in does have enough rain that they won't need supplemental water.  These unattended plants should provide food for years to come. I'll also be planting my "annual" non-hybrid squash varieties in this fashion.  I'll be able to harvest while taking a bike ride, when staying in one of my favorite areas.

Seed Starter Greenhouse

I do need to be careful about the areas I'm planting in... I don't want to introduce invasive species into a protected or native planting area. I also need to be watchful of private property.


The companion post to this one will be on non-hybrid seeds. Year before last, I collected my non-hybrid seeds and will be able to plant them in my community garden patch as a complement to the perennial food plants.

Spread the vanstead gospel with Walking Onion!, Part 3

This is the 3rd (and final) post from an email I received from Walking Onion.  He is such an inspiration to me!

"One more option I want to mention, that may be worth a post, is the fact that you don't have to own land to vanstead.  I am fortunate to have my mom's backyard to do with as I like in WI in the summers.  But the rest of the year, I garden wherever I'm parked.  In TX, I spend time parked in my friends backyard (the last pic I sent, of plants on the roof)  I don't "own" their garden, but, I do take responsibility for it.  I always work it like it's mine, making paths and beds and planting trees.  We work together to grow crops, share meals, and last year we even butchered a rooster together.  (They have chickens for eggs, and inadvertently got a rooster in the mix)  I do the same when I stay in Florida, working in my sister's back yard.  People who live in houses are usually overwhelmed with projects, and so everyone appreciates the work I do in their yards to make them into little homesteads.  They get fresh food and landscaping, and so do I!  

Our society places so much emphasis on "ownership", but honestly, it's nothing more than a concept, a social construct. We are all responsible for it, how can anyone "own" land?  We, as vansteaders, can spread the gospel of being responsible for the place where we park, for however short of a time that is, and make it better than when we arrived.  We can garden it, we can maintain it, clean it, dig it, water it, or simply leave it alone.  Let's not wait until the day we own our own farm, let's make that a reality where we find ourselves parked.  We also shouldn't worry about throwing away our energy, wasting our time working on something that we don't own.  Isn't a garden a wonder gift to give someone?  

Whew!  Glad I got all that off my chest!  Hehe, anyway, ...."

_________________________

This option is how I was able to vanstead for the last few summers.  

Walking Onion, thank you for your amazing perspective.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you in the future.  You're passion for vansteading is unparalleled and I am grateful to you for sharing your thoughts!

Wandering Plants and Walking Onion, Part 2

This is the second part of an email from Walking onion:

Walking Onion's Food Storage

"In the spring, I often start my seeds in TX, and bring the plants north as I go, planting them in May in WI.  This is the first year I'll be bringing plants south with me.  I'm also going to start some cold weather crops here, (kale, lettuce, etc) and bring it to TX to plant this fall.  It's often challenging to start a fall garden in the south, because the weather is too hot for cold weather crops to germinate.  This way, they'll germinate in the cool weather up north, and by the time I get south, the weather will be cool enough for them to thrive.

So. The second pic I'm sending, is my food pantry when I left WI.  In the pic, you can see some of the food I have in "long term storage" or in the pantry.  I dried a TON of apples, broccoli, and tomatoes(not pictured).  I also canned plums (second shelf from the bottom, left side) apple sauce (the rest of the left side), strawberry (upper right) and blueberry jam. I won't survive on this the whole winter, but it helps, and it's so good!"

To be continued...

Reclaimed Plants - Walking Onion, Part 1

First, thank you to everyone for supporting Vansteaders on your blogs and with your topic contributions.  You are  awesome!

I received an email (and the photo above) from Walking Onion.... I could not be more impressed with how he lives his life.  He is such an inspiration! You'll see what I mean when you read his words.


I'll be posting his email in three parts, here's part 1:

"As you know, fall is arriving here in the US, and some places have already had a first frost, some soon to come.  I didn't realize this, but many (most!) people treat all potted flowers as annuals, and throw them away after the first hard frost, or sometimes before.  All around the neighborhood I'm parked in, there are tons of flowers being tossed into the trash.  I'm actually headed south in a month or so, so I raided my friends flower boxes (with encouragement), and pulled out some geraniums, a marigold, and took a cutting off a coleus.  I plan to bring these cheery flowers south with me, where they can often survive the winter in TX, or maybe I'll even bring them as far as Florida.  If nothing else, they will cheer up the inside of my van for a few months, thereby extending their life. I also raided their recycle bin for planters.  I like to use cans or cut off plastic bottles for planters, that way, I can recycle them when I repot the plants.  You can do this with flowers or even veggies.  Grab that potted tomato and head south with it!  That's one of the many advantages of vansteading, you can take plants to warm places with you."  

To be continued...

Favorite Vansteading Posts

Walking Onion, thank you for allowing me to post a picture of Willie Utillie (above).  He is one of my favorite van-homes.

Walking Onion grows his plants in plastic bins that he keeps on top of his van (see Willie Utillie above).


The Spartan Student took his summer break from Yale to go back to the year 1935:
http://spartanstudent.blogspot.com/2010/08/images-of-semi-sustainability.html


Falia Photography travels around with her seedlings (setting them on her roof by day) until she figures out where to plant them:
http://www.faliaphotography.com/2010/05/march-april-may-thru-today.html


Cheaprvliving.com features Shawn the Rabbit Tamer:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/Homesteading.html


<update> Celtic Gypsy blogs great Vansteading links:
http://celticgypsyvandwelling.blogspot.com/2010/10/mobile-vansteading.html 
and
http://celticgypsyvandwelling.blogspot.com/2010/10/vansteading-mobile-container-gardening.html

Community Gardens

Joining a community garden could be an excellent resource for the Vansteader.  Possible benefits include:

• A place to park during the day... a few steps from your own garden plot
• Growing your own food
• Selling your own produce at a local market
• Making friends
• Creating a tie to the community
• Possible potable water (maybe other amenities)
• Shared tools are common

Here you can locate a community garden near you.  This database is not all inclusive; you may need to do an internet search to locate other community gardens in your area:

http://acga.localharvest.org/

The community gardens I've looked at are approximately $25 for the entire growing year.

Guerrilla Gardening aka Pirate Gardening

There are so many great sites and articles about Guerrilla Gardening that I had a hard time deciding which to feature.  I chose the following because it also touches on Community Gardening, which is my subject for tomorrow:


http://earthfirst.com/urban-gardening-you-can-grow-food-no-matter-where-you-live/


Guerrilla Gardening just may be the best gardening option for the Vandweller... especially if you return to the same locations at the same times each year.  Planting native, or no-maintenance, perennial fruits and vegetables (also a topic I'll be discussing in the next few days) can provide produce ready for gathering when you reach your destination.  Non-hybrid seeds (also known as heirloom) are another great choice, and possibly self-producing.


I'll be going into more detail on many of these topics in later posts.

Horse Trailer Homestead

For several years I thought of the possibility of creating a mobile homestead in a horse trailer.  A double horse trailer could have a side for a small greenhouse and another for a chicken coop.  A pull out chicken tractor could significantly increase the chicken coop space


I have yet to see a mobile-homestead-horse-trailer. ;)  However, here is a blog featuring unique horse trailers:

http://uniquehorsetrailers.blogspot.com/

Leasing Land

Leasing land is one vandweller-friendly approach to vansteading. 

This young woman leased her first "garden" from a farmer.... and grew a business!

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100801/news/308019999