Making End of Season Fermented Vegetables

Using basil and tiny eggplants from my rooftop, along with green plum tomatoes and grape leaves from the community garden, I'm trying Sandy Katz's recipe from his book "Wild Fermentation".

Clockwise, starting from the upper left corner: Dill seeds and black pepper, green plum tomatoes and baby Green Thai and Little Fingers eggplant. Garlic, grape leaves, basil and one little hot pepper.

All packed in a plastic container. Not having a glass, or ceramic, crock, Katz's advice was to use a "food grade" plastic container.

The brine poured in and the veggies held under with a plate. I'll check for mold, skimming it off the surface if present, and wait 1-4 weeks for them to cure at room temperature.

Toward A Permaculture Window Box

We've been working on a way to have window boxes that don't require replanting each spring. Reflecting my own evolution in how we use planting space, over the years we've shifted from filling our very public, street-level window boxes with masses of colorful annuals to what you see above: 99-cent seed geraniums for early color surrounded by every herb that will grow in the strong south sun.

An easy proposition, that: there is mint, borage, sage, cilantro, six kinds of basil, rosemary, and thyme. MIA: oregano and many other less common herbs, washed out by our record rains (2013's 27.54 inches of rain makes this Chicago's wettest year to date on record--Tom Skilling).

It didn't take much effort to get the permaculture windowbox idea started. We took the gone-to-seed, herb-filled window boxes from last summer, helped them drop their seeds into the box in mid-October, and overwintered them outside. Uncovered for the spring rains, it wasn't long before we saw all kinds of sprouting--from thyme and basil to marigolds (lower pic, at left) started from seed last year.

Below are the self-seeded marigolds--French-Sparky variety from Bountiful Gardens--in mid June, healthy and bushy, along with basil (the self-seeded plus new plants we started this spring) and nasturtium, the latter a gift from a friendly neighbor.

Somehow the borage didn't re-seed, so we restarted it from seed in early 2013. And there it is, blooming at left below.

I also sprinkled on some seeds gifted me by a friend from a packet of Victorian perennial wildflower mix. Plenty of diversity yet to come, this year and in future if we let them go to seed.

Patience is a virtue in the case of these window boxes: there's no early spring splash. Instead you have a nice slow build to this in late June:

Passersby regularly sample our herbs, and that makes me happy. My favorite group was a medical student walking with his mother-father physicians and fiancee. I watched them from afar for 20 minutes, identifying everything in each box. Joining them, I found their tour had resulted in a single unidentified variety: stevia, which I urged them to try.

Beyond sweet!

Growing Food Connects Neighbors

 

Sunday was one of those days that took on the rhythm of growing and the connections it fosters. 

Here's an example. New friend Brad (below) saw this blog and said: I want to do that. Lacking tools, he emailed Bruce to see if he'd share some for drilling out a few SIPs. Brad wasn't sure where Bruce lived but gave it a shot.

And it turns out they live a scant five blocks apart. Here's Bruce and Brad, with his newly produced five-gallon SIPs (buckets secured from Whole Foods), standing in front of the partly shingled chicken coop.

I met Brad when I arrived to start transplanting the 200+ seedlings that needed to go into larger pots, among them a diverse selection of basil (below), pepper, and eggplant.

He generously volunteered to assist (muchas gracias), and we quickly established a groove, forking up seedlings, labeling grow cups, and re-establishing plants for their final four-week stint under the indoor grow lights. Click this photo to see a trio of extra-vital pepper seedlings, thanks to Bruce planting three seeds for every one requested.

He hedged his bets and as a result we have many extras to share.

In the middle of this, other friend Brad (who blogged this week about his expansive SIP-laden rooftop), stopped by to say hello with own his tiny sprout in tow. (Is GRG being taken over by Brads? We can only hope.)

Talk turned to SIP growing, a hot pepper called Lucifer's Dream (thanks for the seeds, Debbie), seedling sharing, new-friend Brad's southern-exposure deck, old-friend Brad's rooftop cold frames. And homebrew, a project both Brads are immersed in.

Is there a summer tomato-tasting, homebrew toasting in our future? Most excellently, yes.

In this way and many others, 
growing food not only infects us but connects us.

More Chicken Coop Anatomy

Yesterday we posted this photo about our field trip to the in-progress chicken coop.

Clearly, Bruce has been busy.

Here's today's view, with the three nesting boxes built out on that same wall. In final form, a hinged door will allow the hungry omelet maker to lift and remove eggs.

Here's an inside look showing the perchlike board edge chickens will land on. From there it's a quick hop into one of the nesting boxes lined with fluffy bedding for a comfortable egg landing.

Indoors under the shop lights, our half dozen basil varieties are up. Click to enlarge and view the Purple Dark Opal basil from Seed Saver's Exchange, already revealing its genetic destiny.