Bits of Green

It's only been 9 days since I started these cold weather greens. In another week they'll be ready to transplant into grower pots. Three weeks after that, they'll move outside into either a greenhouse or a cold frame.

Did the Hive Survive?

Our friend Lauren wrote to ask how the beehive did last year on our roof. "It would be great to know how to do something like this without breaking the bank" she said.

In May 2009, we shared the story of meeting Noam, who wanted to relocate his hive from Pilsen to Wicker Park in Chicago. One thing's for certain, Lauren: the way we got started was low-cost and could work for you. I just put the word out that we'd like to host a hive and my nephew ultimately made the connection.

Here's Noam doing what he does well.

The story of our first summer with the bees is pretty straightforward. We observed. I didn't read as much about beekeeping as I promised myself I would, so I didn't participate beyond tagging along behind Noam like some bee-struck puppy.

I like to be there when he lights up
the tobacco in the smoker.

Art put a live video feed on the hive, linked to a monitor next to my computer, so I could watch the bees labor while I did. Those bees were like clockwork, returning en masse with nectar between 2:30 and 3:30 each day.

We also got to view the "beard" bees create in hot-hot weather, when they drip down the outside of the hive because it's too hot to go in.

Having bees on the roof was joyful. They buzzed around happily, visiting blossoms and zooming off to Chicago's parks to get nectar from blooming trees. When I'd go to the roof to water the SIPs, as I filled them I'd see bees exiting the overflow holes. They're so smart.

And that's the elegant thing about hosting a hive. With periodic visits from our expert, we just enjoyed the ride. Which is not to say it all unfolded without a hitch. Early in the process Noam discovered that the queen he'd installed had been killed--murdered, apparently, in some mysterious Agatha Christie way.

Mon dieu! This beekeeping business was filled with intrigue. (You can read more about it here.) Would we need to obtain a new queen?

Noam recommended patience, and the next time he came over we were giving an impromptu roof tour to Sheryl and her husband Behe (pronounced Bee, somehow appropriate). That's Sheryl below, standing among the broccoli, with a very nice camera, a good eye, and a l-o-n-g lens. She didn't necessarily want to cozy up to the hive, but she made most of the beautiful pictures in this post.

Thanks, Sheryl!

Noam did an inspection and the news was good: a newly promoted queen was doing her work and the girls were making honey.

We were Queenright.

The first thing you learn as a novice beekeeper is that girl bees do all the work (stop me before I editorialize). The drones are there to...have sex with the queen. Period.

In autumn, 2009, Noam told us we had some honey...with luck enough to leave in place to sustain the hive over the winter. From the department of the obvious: Chicago's frigid in the winter. Would the hive survive? Like other mysterious aspects of beekeeping, we couldn't know. Hives certainly do survive here, but then again some don't.

Which brings us current. As I check the monitor down here from the warmth of my office, I see drone bodies tossed out willy nilly onto the snow in front of the hive. Drones are useless in the winter. Someone's cleaning house. That's good news.

Our first year with bees was so captivating that we're sponsoring a second hive this summer. My chance to veil up...


Postscript: check out this vid for some live bee entertainment as Kirko-Bee-0 moves a hive from its home in a shop-vac to Erik and Kelly's place in LA. Hi Homegrown Evolution!

The First Seedlings Are Up

Most have germinated in the past few days, some only 4 days after I planted them. It's a nice reminder that the slush and snow of the past few days will be ending before too long.

Lettuce, spinach and chard.

Asian greens

My utility closet is warm, perfect to start seeds.

It would be a stretch to say that we had lunch to celebrate the tiny greens. We just like to cook for one another.

Art and H2 brought over a walnut/beet/rooftop greens salad to go with the Cauliflower Kofta with tomato/cashew gravy and spiced pilaf I made.

For dessert, a bitter orange cake. Good stuff.

Seed Starting List for 2010 - Warm Weather Plants

I'll start the warm weather plants, those that aren't direct seeded and are frost intolerant like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and most herbs, the first week of March. By that time all the cold weather starts will have germinated and been transplanted to larger containers, freeing up the seed-starting trays for the second round of seed starts.

Last year's seedlings, hardening off.

I'd encourage everyone to start their own seeds. It's not that hard. Check out this post on Seed Starting for more info.

If you'd like me to start any (from the list below) for you, email me or leave a comment on this post by March 20th. I have space under my lights to start an extra 100 warm-weather plants. For $3 you'll get a 3-4" tall plant in a 4" grower pot. No delivery, you'll need to pick them up at my house, near Division and Wood Streets in Chicago. I did it last year and found it was a nice way to meet some of our readers.

I'm keeping track of all the starts on this Google Docs spreadsheet.

H2 made an inventory of all our old seeds. I added the few new varieties we've picked to grow this year and came up with this list.

In addition to some of our own saved seeds, we have seeds from:

Franchi (Seeds From Italy)
Hudson Valley Seed Co
Johnny's Seeds
Renee's Garden
Seed Saver Co
Victory Seed Co


Eggplant
• Pingtung Long
• Udumalapet
• Listada de Gandia
• Diamond
• Black Beauty

Herbs
• Basil 'Cinnamon'
• Basil 'Genovese'
• Basil 'Mrs. Burns Lemon'
• Basil 'Purple Dark Opal'
• Basil 'Lettuce Leaf'
• Bee Balm
• Black Cumin
• Borage 'White'
• Chickweed
• Chives
• Curled Chervil
• Dill
• English Lavender
• English Sorrel
• Greek Oregano
• Lovage
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Saltwort
• Stevia
• Summer Savory
• Thyme

Peppers
• Carmen
• Napolean Sweet
• Pimento
• Purple Beauty
• Rooster Spur - hot
• Santa Fe Grande - hot
• Sweet Chocolate

Tomatoes
• Black Cherry
• Black Prince
• Brandywine Yellow
• Carbon
• Cherokee Purple
• Kellogg's Breakfast
• Matina
• Rose
• San Marzano
• Stupice
• Valencia

Direct Seed and/or Miscellaneous Seeds.

While these aren't for sale, I wanted to keep track of the other seeds we (might) use. It's amazing how many varieties we've grown in the previous three years.

Amaranth, Burgundy
Beans, Climbing French
Beans, Empress
Beans, Fin de Bagnol
Beans, Hidatsa
Beans, Red Swan
Beets, Bull's Blood
Brussel Sprouts, Catskill
Cabbage, Red Acre
Carrot, Scarlet Nance
Cucumber, Lemon
Cucumber, Sweet Armenian
Green Onion, White Lisbon
Kolhrabi, Delicatesse Blue
Melon, Banana
Melon, Delicious 51 PMR
Melon, Ha Ogen
Melon, Moon and Stars
Melon, Thai Golden Round
Morning Glory flower
Okra, Clemson Spineless
Purslane
Radish, French Breakfast
Scorzonera
Squash, Delicata Honey Boat
Squash, Erik K's Mystery
Squash, Summer Mix
Sunflower, California Grey Stripe
Sunflower, Giant Grey Stripe
Sunflower, Lemon Queen
Sunflower, Vanilla Ice

Seed Starting List for 2010 - Cold Weather Greens

It's time. Hard to believe with all the snow still on the ground.



We're starting our cool-weather (organic, heirloom) seedlings in the next two weeks. They'll be ready to move outside, under a cold frame or into an unheated greenhouse, in 4-5 weeks.

I'd encourage everyone to start their own seeds. It's not that hard. Check out this post on Seed Starting for more info.

If you'd like me to start any (from the list below) for you, email me or leave a comment on this post by the end of February. I have space under my lights to start an extra 100 cool-weather plants. For $3 you'll get a 3-4" tall plant in a 4" grower pot. No delivery, you'll need to pick them up at my house, near Division and Wood Streets in Chicago. I did it last year and found it was a nice way to meet some of our readers.

I'm keeping track of all the starts on this Google Doc spreadsheet.

We'll be starting the warm-weather plants, like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, around March 15th. I'll put a list up in a couple of weeks of those varieties. [Updated, link here.]

In addition to some of our own saved seeds, we have seeds from:

Franchi (Seeds From Italy)
Hudson Valley Seed Co
Johnny's Seeds
Renee's Garden
Seed Saver Co
Victory Seed Co


Many of our early-season starts could just as easily be direct seeded after it warms up. However, we've found that starting them inside extends our growing season/yield.

Here's a list of the cool-weather plants we're starting:

Arugula
• Arugula
• Wild Arugula

Asian Greens
• Baby Bok Choy
• Braising Mix
• Savoyed-Leaf Tatsoi
• Smooth-Leaf Tatsoi

Broccoli Raab
• 'Piracicaba'

Greens
• Chicory 'selvatica de campo'
• Collards 'Champion'
• Cress 'Upland'
• Cress 'Wrinkled, Crinkled, Crumpled'
• Endive 'Full Heart Batavian'
• Mustard 'Indian Mix'
• Mustard 'Red Giant'
• Swiss Chard 'Rainbow'

Kale
• Dinosaur
• Lacinato
• Lacinato Rainbow
• Red Russian
• Red Winter
• White Russian

Lettuce
• Black Seeded Simpson
• Carmona
• Green Salad Bowl
• Mesclun Mix
• Marveille des Quatre Saisons
• Paris Island Romaine
• Red Salad Bowl
• Red Velvet

Spinach
• New Zealand Spinach
• Spinach 'Bloomsdale'

Butchering and Eating a Pig - Part 2

On January 28th, I butchered half a pig from Slagel Farms in front of a few people. Six different cooks used almost all of that pig to create this menu over the following two Sundays. Anna of Turning Fork Supper Club pulled it all together. [Part 1 has the butchering info/photos. I also did a separate post on cooking the pigs' head, here.]

My original idea of turning The Spectacle in on itself to end up with something more honest fell a bit short; setting aside what I wanted, on its own terms, I couldn't have asked for anything more from my adventure with a pig.

A few pictures from the two dinners--









From dinner number two:












We were very happy with how it all turned out and I'd encourage any of our readers to give it a try.

Some numbers.

From the 94 pound half pig we made -

• 25 appetizer portions of testa
• 25 appetizer portions of pork terrine with tenderloin inlay
• 40 appetizer portions of sausage
• 40 appetizer portions of rillettes
• 25 servings of rib pasta sauce
• 5 pound cured shoulder roast - 10 servings
• 15 pound house cured ham - 30 servings
• 18 pounds porchetta (belly wrapped around loin, stuffed with fennel) - 30+ servings
• 1 pound cracklings
• 16 quarts gelatinous pork stock
• 10 pounds cotechino sausage (need some more pork shoulder for this) - will serve 15-20
  

Only the shoulder roast and the cotechino sausage weren't served at one of the two meals.

The ingredients cost roughly $450, with the pig accounting for a little less than half of that. I'm guessing that it took about 150 hours to put it all together.

More photos in the slide shows.

Dinner #1 -



Dinner #2 -

Have You Used 100% Coir in Covered Sub-Irrigated Planters (SIPs)?

If you've tried using 100% coir as growing medium for SIPs, we're eager to hear about your experience.

A compressed block of coir: fiber from coconut shells

Both Bruce and I have used some coir, along with a larger quantity of peat and a little perlite, in previous years, but haven't yet tried all-coir as planting mix.

Coir seems to retain more moisture, and in a covered SIP like the ones we use, we're concerned about soggy growing medium.

Covered SIP

Leave info in comments or email us. And thanks...

Butchering and Eating a Pig - Part 1

Eight days ago, Art and I picked up half of a 190-pound pig from Mado Restaurant, where it had been dropped off by the Slagel Farm delivery truck. Soon it was lying on a table in my living room, and shortly after that people began showing up. They came to watch me butcher the pig for the two subsequent Sunday dinners we were holding with some new friends.

[All pics by H2. A previous post that traces the path from rooftop gardening to pig butchering can be found here.]




We started out with the conceit that every part of the (half) animal would make it onto our plates. The menu derived from that decision informed how I cut up the pig.

First I broke the carcass down into its primal cuts: Shoulder, saddle, and ham. From there I cut it into the pieces that would be used by the cooks: Hock, trotter, leaf lard, fat back, boneless saddle for porchetta, coppa, deboned shoulder for sausage, backbone and ribs.

As I was doing this I answered questions from the group. They had all come to learn how to do it themselves, or were just curious how a pig became meat. In either case, in a few days they'd be eating what I was cutting up.

















Here's the slideshow of the entire butchering process.




The first dinner was a success, and a great deal of that was due to Anna at Turning Fork Supper Club. The second dinner is this Sunday. We have lots of good shots of food prep: terrines, testa, sausages, soup, porchetta, and plenty of pictures of people enjoying themselves. More on that in the next post.

[Updated 2.10.10, Part 2 is here.  A separate post on cooking the pigs' head is here.]