Moah's ark

05/12/2024

esp today.

05/02/2024

most gardeners hate creeping charlie, but i love it.
all my soil building wd b for naught if charlie didnt hang on to it for me. it pulverizes it, making topsoil that is almost too fine.
when it’s in the way, i pull it up, roll it up, and leave it at the bottom of a slope. i pull it away from plants, and leave it as mulch. it doesnt get tall enough to strangle or shade most garden plants.
and it makes a lovely tea. u get a hint of mint, a ‘green’ taste. but it’s very light, and refreshing on a hot day.

🌿The Forager's Guide to Wild Foods

04/16/2024

i wish u cd smell this picture.
dwarf citrus. lime, i think. still young.

04/01/2024

who wants some good news?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/29/bees-boom-colony-collapse/
Where in the unholy heck did all these bees come from?!
After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high.
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Department of Data

We here at the Department of Data are dedicated to exploring the weird and wondrous power of the data that defines our world.
We’ve added almost a million bee colonies in the past five years. We now have 3.8 million, the census shows. Since 2007, the first census after alarming bee die-offs began in 2006, the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins several times over.

Hidden deep within the latest Census of Agriculture lurks a shocking fact: The United States has more bee colonies than ever before. Is it true? What happened?

03/15/2024

🤣😂😜

03/11/2024

your annual reminder.

FYI~Ted

03/04/2024

i dont keep bees, cuz i dont want all those little lives on my conscience. but i do make sure to plant flowers and try to keep water available.
i call honey bees slave bees. the 1s that get trucked around from orchard to orchard have hard lives and r often hit by big die-offs. hives r easily repopulated. i dont worry about the fate of honey bees. (they r only necessary for half of our food. stone fruits, berries and most nuts. hybrid corn is detassled to PREVENT pollination. many grains wd see a reduction, but they r still pollinated by wind as much as bees.)
root veggies dont require any pollination, except to make seed. peppers and tomatoes, and many beans r self pollinating.

native bees do a better job, and they rly do need our help.
there’s a meme going around about giving a dish of grated apple covered in water. DO.NOT.DO.THIS. there will b bacteria growing in that mess w/in HOURS. a slice of apple alongside it wd b fine. there r also beefeeders out there, and plenty of diy instructions. but like hummers, u must keep it clean. nectar sitting in the sun is contaminated by the end of a sunny day.

the best solution is to treat yourself and them, and grow flowers.

and btw- happy spring. things r growing here, and looking forward to a great summer.

Beekeeping is a cool trend, but it's also a big commitment. Don't worry—there are plenty of other ways to help bees thrive.

12/06/2023

hey there farm fans! how ya been?
i apologize for the silence this season, it’s been a crazy year.
but stuff is still happening on the farm. most of the growing was done by my 1st flr tenants. got a lot of tree work done, and did a lot of gardening at my house.

BUT i have a new hugelpile in progress right now. i have pics, and i need to do an op. but but
it’s on the alley side of the lot. the base is built, and a layer of wood chips and weeds/waste added. now it needs a top layer of as much organic matter as i can get my hands on.

so, this is a louder than usual annual plea to leave your leaves w us. and any other yard waste u have.
honesty compels me to tell u not to rake your leaves, just run the lawn mower 1 more time. and save the clean up for spring.
but there’s legit exceptions. and habit.
whatever, no judgement.

just pull up in the alley from wolcott, and add them to the obvious pile. and accept my thanks.
you’ll never know how much the little buy-ins from my neighbors have meant to me.
❤️❤️❤️❤️

09/20/2023

well, i guess i left my perennial fruit thieves disappointed that i beat them to the peaches and pears this year, cuz my apples all disappeared.
wtf, people?

09/02/2023

hey peeps!
how was your summer? mine has been up and down, but way better than the last few yrs.
i finally have my bobcat running reasonably well, and over the next few weeks hope to launch a new round of soil building here.
now, i know some of you will follow the advice in this article, and will leave your clean up til spring. but most of us have at least some fall clean ups, whether weeding or pruning, or just clearing the veggie garden.
every fall i ask that you bring me your leaves. this year i ask that your bring me whatever you are pitching, tho maple helicopters and other tree seeds are not particularly desired.

there is a new hugelpile under construction on the south end of the farm. so please pile on. if u use plastic bags, do my a favor and just dump them out. if they’re paper, they’re fine.

and if you wait for spring, bring them then. these things are long term projects.

tia.

If the mass extinction of insects isn’t reversed, it will decimate the entire food chain, threaten crop pollination and generally cause havoc.

08/24/2023

tfw-
after 5 men tried, at the cost of ~$1k, to fix your bobcat, and fail, and YOU get it almost purring, and then-
u spend 2 days running on s**tty sleep, and your intestines r in revolt, and oh yeah, there’s a heat wave.
so you grind your teeth, cross your fingers, and pray for rain til u feel better.

🫤😵‍💫

07/30/2023

hey there peeps.
whassup?
havent had much to say this season, even tho there is much going on. finally have tenants in my 2 flat, so i am slowly returning to my regularly scheduled farming life.
been a stretch tho. just getting over almost a month of being sick and injured. had a good week this week, tho.

had my bobcat running only to have it die again, TWICE, when safety features that had never functioned b4 decided to rear their ugly lil heads. TWICE.
once it froze the bucket boom, then it wouldnt start. died in a bad spot, of course. created an uproar, and cost me a 2 mi tow each way, only to find out it shouldnt start they way i always started it. oy.
just heartbreaking to have it run for half an hour only to die again. esp after feeling like s**t for weeks. i love that thing.

but return to hugelkultur is on the way. i’ll try to remember to take pics.
it’ll take a few weeks at least to get it done, so do fall by if you’re curious. always happy to give the nickel tour.
got a lot of overdue tree work to do, which will add to the pile.
will start a 2nd pile when the growing season is over.

havent done much growing myself this year, tho my tenants have a big patch. was excited to be able to grow in my backyard again w the chix gone, but i hadnt noticed the hedge of mulberries in the neighbors yard has sucked up most of my sun. le sigh. fixable. more for the pile.
but mulberries….

it’s been a long few yrs around here. i’m getting my strength back, and i’m super grateful for the mild weather and the rain. hope to have a productive fall, and be in a better place next spring. so much to catch up on, tho..

so how r u all?

06/29/2023

well, it turned out not to be quite that simple, but yes, def a satisfied customer.
so happy to have the falcon flying again.
also have tenants for my 2nd flr.
i get to go back to building dirt!

06/01/2023

hey all, whassup?
in case any of u have been wondering what i’m up to, mostly this-

For rent This 1200 square foot apartment home has 4 bedrooms and 2.0 bathrooms. It is located at 1841 W Touhy Ave Chicago, Illinois.

03/09/2023

well, all the chix have found new homes.
they were a lovely group of girls. i hope they all lay well for their new ppl.
onward.

02/17/2023

ok, ready to shed my good hens. 2-4 yrs old. should lay, tho not now.
mixed breeds. mostly easter eggers and barnvelders. lay green, olive and several shades of brown.

need $20 for the younger girls, but can do $10 for the old ones.
there should be a lot more eggs even in the older girls, as they had 2 yrs of disrupted laying.

sad to see them go, but i need to rebalance here.

01/14/2023

egg report-
there will be no more eggs. or chickens.

folks, this plague has kicked my ass. i’ve aged a decade in the last 2 yrs. my health is crappy. and i’m tired and too close to broke.
the 2 flat that was supposed to pay the bills has been an ongoing nightmare trying to finish a rehab. the single family i own on the other side of the block is up for sale. that will right the money sitch, and there is not a lot of work left to do on the 2.
but i am working on paring this all down to something more manageable. i need to find the path to a next chapter. the time was always going to come when i didnt have the strength for all this, i just didnt think it would be this soon.
and i never would have started it if i had known my marriage was only gonna lest 2 more years.
my life has had a lot of ups and downs, and i think there are still ups in my future, but i dunno. the whole world seems changed.

the chix are just not bringing me any happiness, and their place in the scheme here of contributing to the soils has been useful, but just so physically taxing.
so, i took the old girls and the roosters to the butcher yesterday. i have about a doz to sell. $15-20. butcher charged $6.
i also have some lovely young ladies that i need to sell. they’re pretty mutts. 1-2 yrs old. i’ll post some pics a bit later.

i do intend to finish out the soil building on the lot before spring. running that bobcat is so much fun. most of the early plots are in the shade of the fruit trees now.
my bobcat had some work done, finally, and appears to be available. this will be a major addition, and great sun, as it isnt btn the 2 flats.
i have a young man in the hood who is interested in partnering up this summer. but i am looking for other gardeners who would like a plot or a share of the work and rewards.

w wild onion opening in the hood, i finally have a market. so i will do as much as i can this year, and take stock come fall.
i’m working to get my health/strength back. my new puppy is a great inspiration on that front.
but life has just not been working out around here, and i need to correct course.

12/07/2022

egg report-
so after 2 very unproductive summers, i lit my coop a few weeks ago. i left it on full time for a couple weeks, and got about 1 doz girls laying.
i wasnt happy about all the early morning chatter that was goin on, even tho windows are closed. so i pulled the plug the other day. not sure how long they will keep going, but i should have you covered for xmas baking.
i will also be thinning the flock in the next week or 2.
lemme know if you are interested in a tough but tasty stewing hen.

12/07/2022

testing the waters a bit here-
would ppl be interested in community graden plots here?

12/05/2022

hey folks-
would you love to live in the middle of a huge garden?
https://hotpads.com/1841-w-touhy-ave-chicago-il-60626-1msb413/1/pad

Condo for rent at 1841 W Touhy Ave. View property details, photos, street view, and get real-time updates with the largest and most trusted rental site.

10/24/2022

well alrighty then.

Another unique Irish culinary invention , that I mentioned in an earlier post ,is buttered eggs, a unique and tasty way to preserve eggs.

Invented in time immemorial , probably due to the proliferation of butter on the island, the Irish developed this way to preserve eggs. It became so popular that exportation of buttered eggs to England numbered in the tens of thousands of dozens every year during the English colonial times .
Rubbed over freshly laid eggs the butter will melt forming a thin protective layering

Because the shell is porous, it absorbs the butter to form a more protective seal. Curious, I took one home. Soft-boiled, it tasted fresh from the hen, the yolk the color of sunshine, the white carrying with it a whiff of cream. Today buttered eggs are a delicacy, largely vanished from Irish farmyards and pantries. You can't butter eggs by machine, as it’s an intimate practice involving the hand . Every one needs to be done by hand. Farmers' wives used to say it was a task most difficult to execute in winter, when the butter was harder and their hands were colder. So perhaps in addition to the egg and the butter, what I taste is the memory of an Irish woman whose palm coaxed butter lovingly all the way around a fragile shell, hoping to preserve it for as long as she could.

That might seem counterintuitive. Why waste butter on the outside of an egg? But clever Irish farmers had hit on buttering eggs as a way to preserve them during winters, when hens produce less. Taking freshly-laid, still-warm eggs, farm families rolled them in their buttery palms. The butter helped solidify the hot, brittle shells, sealing off the yolky contents from the outside air.

Buttered eggs take on a shiny gleam. And, as an added bonus, the taste of butter permeates the egg, making it even richer when cracked opened and cooked. Eggs preserved this way keep for up to six months in a cool place and I have had them last even longer . It’s not surprising that buttered eggs were a Cork specialty, seeing as it’s also home to the Cork Butter Museum, a tribute to the region’s status as a butter-producing powerhouse.

They can be found at markets in Ireland and I make them regularly as a homestead speciality. If you keep chickens or know someone local who does , then you can too !

10/22/2022

annual psa-
leave your leaves. if they're on grass, run them over w a mower. anywhere else, leave them. rake in spring if you must, but again, you should just let them feed your soil.

if you must rake them, they are always welcome here.
hoping to do a new hugelpile before it gets too cold, so extra welcome this year.

tia.

10/18/2022

psa

You’re not lazy, you’re just really passionate about helping the pollinators 🐝 🦋