Failed Fall Seeds

In a past move, I gained a yard in August, but didn't plant much, thinking the growing season was almost over. I came to regret it, as fall went on and frost didn't hit until November. So when I moved into this apartment last summer, I quickly got to work in early August planting for a fall vegetable harvest.


Radish greens with no radishes underground


Poor little broccoli that died at that size.

I'd done alright growing a few things from seed before, so I thought I would try growing it all from seed rather than starters, since it's so much cheaper -- especially having just spent a lot of money related to the move. However, it was an experiment that largely failed. I direct sowed a variety of cool-weather vegetables - carrots, leeks, kale, mixed greens, arugula, radishes, broccoli, delicata squash, and more, but they all sprouted into little seedlings and then just stalled out.


Kale seedlings, the one plant which actually did get bigger (though not big enough for harvesting) and survived the winter.

I'm not sure why. It shouldn't have been the soil, because I used soil from a few different sources. Maybe it was that I didn't add any compost to the soil myself, but the potting soils I bought had organic matter mixed in, and the garden store owner told me I didn't need to add compost. It may have been the weather, since there was a storm that beat down the two-week oldish seedlings, and they never really recovered. After a couple more weeks, I planted new seeds, but they also stalled out, and I think there was another storm that didn't help matters. It's possible it was something called damping off, which can happen when soil is too wet and fungus attacks the young plants...which is worrisome since the fungus would still be in the soil this year. Another theory is lack of light, since there are several trees overlooking my yard, and trees are at their leafiest in summer when the seeds were planted.

Any gardeners out there have any suggestions for what I could do differently this year?

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Yard Last Summer: Before and After

As I prepare for the season of gardening ahead, I realized that I did not write a single post about my new yard last summer, probably because I was too busy working in it to write about it. It's a grassy 70 by 20 feet, which is big for New York standards and gives us a good amount of space to work with. Unfortunately, the lush and shady trees make gardening a challenge. I also think the patio is awkwardly small - something we're trying to improve this year. It's a constant experiment and work in progress.

Before: the first time we saw the yard last June

After: In Late August, after cleaning, planting and decorating

We moved in to the new apartment in late July, and the apartment had been vacant since April or May, so the first step was just to clean up the overzealous weeds and trim the grass, which my boyfriend did using a scythe and a pushmower. I also dug out lots of weed roots using a trowel.

Under the weeds, I found the remnants of an old raised bed. However, without knowing the provenance of the soil and it being in a shady spot, I chose to plant ornamental plants rather than vegetables in the bed. I did a lot of digging to put impatiens in the ground and decided that I'm never again planting annuals in the ground as starters - only as seeds. Perennial starters - like the hostas and dusty miller - on the other hand are worth it, since they will come back again this year.

I planted an assortment of flowers and herbs in pots, which did fine, and fall vegetables from seeds, which didn't grow (post to come). In the back of the yard we keep a compost bin made out of a trash can (which also deserves its own post). While we trimmed back a lot of weeds, we left the lovely ivy already growing and expanding along the fences on both sides.

Evan's parents gave us a bistro table set, which is perfect for dinners for two. They also gave us the chiminea which extends the use of the yard into cooler mosquito-free fall and spring times. It's technically illegal to have open fires outside in New York City, but the chiminea is much safer than a firepit, and it's only an issue if neighbors complain to the fire department, and so far, so good. 

For entertaining, we made a big table by putting an old door on top of sawhorses. We found several wooden folding chairs on craigslist, that we keep stashed away inside and pull out for extra seating for dinner parties or backyard gatherings. My images of actually having outdoor dinner parties around this table, however, were quashed by tropics-level mosquitos (someday I'll write about that too).

It may still be snowing, but this year, I'm already scheming up what are probably over-optimistic plans of more flowers, more vegetables and fewer mosquitos.

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Turning Up and Down the Heat

In past winters, Crunchy Chicken has encouraged people to join a Freeze Yer Buns Challenge to lower your thermostat as much as you're comfortable. I always wondered, given the opportunity to control my heat, if I would keep my home cold.

Now, for the first time in my adult life, I have an apartment where I get to control (and pay for) my own heat. What I've found is that because our heat is not that expensive, my selfish desire to be warm wins out over my recognition that it's an indulgent consumption of more resources that I need.

Head over to the Green Phone Booth, where I reveal how much I pay for heat, to set off a discussion about the costs and temperatures of our homes during wintertime.

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Recording

I just returned from my boyfriend's parents' house in New Jersey, where we set up a home recording studio for the weekend. I'm working on recording a new solo album, and they have a baby grand that is in great condition for being a family antique. Evan has done plenty of recording before, but never piano, so we wanted to give it a try.

Unfortunately, I got a cold right before the weekend, and a lingering stuffy nose meant I can't use the vocal takes. At least we got down piano tracks that we can hopefully make something of.



To save money (that is the point of home recording!), we took public transportation rather than rent a car to get from Brooklyn to New Jersey. Evan somehow found a way to pack all this gear into a manageable load of backpacks and bags. Of course, we didn't end up needing all of it because we didn't record voice, but no harm done. (Thank you to friends for lending equipment and Evan's parents for lending their home.)



Next step is to record the vocals at home and see if it all sounds good enough after mixing to be released to the world. I've been wanting to record these songs for a while (it was on my list of 27 things to do before turning 28, but I never got to it with all the moving), so I'm anxious to get it out there.



Playing on a piano also made us debate whether we should get a piano for our apartment... Practicing on a keyboard is just not as nice as a piano, but pianos are typically associated with a level of permanence that is hard to feel in the transience of Brooklyn apartment life.

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Reducing Plastic

I was recently reminded by an article in the New York Times about the dangers lurking in plastic. It highlighted a study which "found that endocrine disruptors that are sometimes added to PVC plastic cause mice to grow obese and suffer liver problems"...suggesting that endocrine disrupting chemicals such as BPA and phhalates may be related to American obesity epidemics, among other health issues.

What you may not know is that these endocrine disruptors are found in everyday products all around us, from BPA in plastic water bottles, aluminum can linings, and grocery store receipts to phthalates in plastic wrap, PVC building materials, shower curtains and even children's backpacks (ahem, Disney).

Meanwhile, it was promising to see another study showing how quickly people were able to reduce their levels of BPA and phthalates by avoiding them for just three days. While I try to limit my own exposure to canned foods, I have been using plastic quite liberally for food storage. I've decided that one of my 2013 resolutions is to reduce plastic in my life. Read on for  in post at the Green Phone Booth to learn more about how I'm planning to kick plastic to the curb.

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Patridge Two Ways

As I've mentioned before, I occasionally get to enjoy rare cuts of meat and fowl courtesy of my boyfriend's father's hunts. A couple weeks ago they gave us a whole lot of bone-in partridge breasts. I was in the mood for a comfort food and decided we should make partridge "tenders."

Partridges are so small that when Evan cut the breasts off the bone, they were already perfectly sized for making tenders. I double-dipped each little piece in a beaten egg and a combination of bread crumbs, flour, cornmeal and spices. Then they were fried in a shallow, hot layer of canola oil in a cast iron pan for about five minutes on each side until browned. I let them rest on paper towels afterward to absorb extra oil. They were accompanied by ketchup with a dash of sriracha and a puree of potato and celery root. Not a very colorful meal, but definitely flavorful.



They tasted to me exactly like chicken tenders, which allowed me to reflect on the fact that while chicken is a staple of the average American's diet, I almost never cook it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I ate chicken, except at my parent's house, since it's what my mom always seems to make when I go there. To most people, chicken is a readily available, affordable and conveniently boneless meat. I don't think of it that way at all because I'm not interested in buying chicken from a grocery store. Cage free and free range in a grocery store usually mean nothing more than the fact that there were no cages and that there was a door to the outside that the chickens may or may not have used. Meanwhile, for whatever reason, the farmers who sell chickens at the NYC Greenmarkets sell them whole. If I want to make chicken, I have to accept the responsibility of cooking and making use of a whole bird.

Back to partridge - Later that night, we threw the bones into a pot of water for two hours to boil into stock, with a good amount of meat still clinging on. A few nights later I felt lucky to come home from work to dinner made by my boyfriend: partridge soup with carrots, onions, kale, potatoes, and barley (I try to always have some kind of pre-cooked grain like barley or quinoa stashed away in our freezer).

We have plenty more partridge and pheasant in our freezer, so I'm sure we will come up with a few more unique ways to enjoy it.

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Naturally Risen Sourdough

Here's an update on my sourdough experiments : my first batch without any added commercial yeast rose all on its own! Previously, I'd relied on 1/4 tsp of commercial yeast as a sort of training wheels, but now I'm excited to be able to bake bread without it. It feels empowering to know that if I maintain this starter, I can make bread even if I don't have access to yeast.

Two days before baking, I removed the sourdough starter from the fridge and fed it with 3/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. I covered it with a wet cloth and let it sit on the counter overnight. By the next day, it was dotted with tiny bubbles and smelled quite yeasty. By feeding it and letting the starter sit out of the fridge for a night before baking, it really activates the yeast - unlike the cold in the fridge, which suppresses it.

I prepared the dough by combining half the starter with 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup flax seeds, 1 tsp salt and a little less than 1 1/2 cup water. I went easy on the whole grains this time so as to not hinder the rising process. Since it worked out, next time I'll try adding a greater proportion of whole wheat and other grains. I let the dough sit out on the counter for another night, before baking it the next day according to these directions.

I returned the sourdough starter to the fridge to wait until the next baking. I added just a little flour and water, so that the yeast won't run out of "food" over the week or so. When I'm ready to bake again, I'll follow the same process as above.

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