The easy answer is growing plants without soil in a nutrient rich solution. There are several ways to set up a hydroponic system but each have a few things in common.

• They must allow enough room for the roots to grow.
• They must offer proper aeration for the roots so they do not drown in the water.
• They must offer a pH balanced and nutrient rich solution specific to the types of plants you are growing.
• They must offer sufficient lighting of the proper spectrum to support photosynthesis for proper growth

What is aeroponics?

Aeroponics is a division of hydroponics that suspends the plants above the nutrient rich reservoir.  The roots are fed the nutrient laden water either by drip irrigation, misting, fogging or highly aerated bubbles.  The most widely recognized aeroponic system is the Aerogarden by Aerogrow.

If you have the cash to lay out for the Aerogarden it is a very nice system that has all the necessary parts, pieces, nutrients and even seeds to make a small seroponic system work.  Whether it’s for flowers to britghten your mood or herbs to brighten your food there are a number of plants that can be grown in the Aerogarden appliance.

If you are more frugal and like DIY projects search for homemade aerogarden and you will find a number of alternatives.  None of them are as pretty as the aerogarden and it will take some time and expertise, but the DIY systems all seem to be practical and will grow plants.  Make sure you have enough space to accommodate a Rubbermaid tub with a lid and an external lighting apparatus.  Space issue and the potential for marital problems because of a loud ugly tub sitting in the front window.  The only place I have that has the space is the back porch, but it is way too cold out there right now so I’d have to rig up heating to.

Year Round and Urban Applications

Upon doing further research on hydroponics and searching on ebay I came across another idea – vertical hydroponic gardens.  I searched how to make a vertical hydroponic garden and I found a grass roots movement called WindowFarms.org.  They encourage the use of hydroponics to grow herbs, greens, and fruit crops year round in available window spaces.  Their system can either be purchased or built with readily available tools and items and repurposed plastic water bottles (they suggest using ones made by Nestle).  Their community forum and blog, our.windowfarms.org, offers the opportunity to read about the experiences of others using the windowfarms idea and how they have succeeded, modified and improved the basic windowfarms concept.  So whether you are a gardener that longs to have fresh produce from your garden in the dead of winter or an apartment dweller who does not have an outdoor space available for gardening a window farm is a space saving way to “get your green on” .

Huge storm trundles across Midwest, South – MSNBC

Oct 27, 2010 … As it howled across the Midwest and South on Tuesday, the storm packed wind gusts of up to 81 mph Tuesday, snapping trees and power lines, …

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Savage storm blasts Midwest – USATODAY.com

Oct 26, 2010 … A fierce storm rocked the Midwest with screaming winds, … Only minor injuries were linked to the storm by late Tuesday but it caused …

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Another very windy day today across the Midwest brings back memories of the ugly storms that slammed our region yesterday. Monday night to Tuesday morning was unseasonably warm. It made it hard to sleep. Early in the day despite the wind the girls and I wanted to go out and play. By the time we got ready to step outside it had started raining. It was only light rain so we decided to go out for a few minutes. We barely got up to the swingset when the raindrops started to sting. The wind picked up and so did anything that wasn’t nailed down. It was time to go inside.

No sooner did we get in the door that my phone started ringing. It was DH telling us we should get ready to take cover. The radar images showed that a nasty storm was headed right for us and there were at least four unconfirmed sightings of tornadoes to our west. Right away I asked Yeyda to get her’s and her sister’s pillows, some blankets, and books and take them to our little bathroom. It is the most interior room of the house and the only one without windows. That is our storm shelter since we do not have a basement .

This was taken after the storms had passed. The girls decided to play in here, thus the mess .

I ran around getting flashlights, water bottles and snacks as well as jackets and ID to take in the bathroom with us just in case. Bonbon was very frightened because the winds had seriously picked up and the rain was falling so hard and fast you couldn’t see anything out the window. She kept saying, “Mommy, ouside, ouside Mommy,” in a very worried tone. I just kept asking her to go back to the bathroom with her sister and sit and wait for a few minutes. I opened a west window to see if I could hear the tornado sirens of the nearby town, but I couldn’t hear anything with all the wind and rain. DH had said the sirens had already gone off in the town where he works and they were 20 miles to the east – the storm hadn’t reached them yet. The storm roared through and shook the house and by 11:30 the Tornado Warning was lifted. DH called and left a message that a guy that works for him got a message from his brother that a tornado had touched down just 20 miles west of us. I thought this was odd since most of the storm had past us according to the radar images.

Needless to say this ruined our outside playtime for the rest of the day. I need to cut down the rest of my plants and harvest what hasn’t yet been ruined by frost. Hopefully, I find some more that is still OK. The other day I picked up a few tomatoes that apparently had rotted on the vine. They looked OK but tasted terrible so I had to pitch them.

Winter blues seem to be setting in early with me this year. I don’t know why. Going from being outdoors everyday to almost nothing at all is hard to get used to. I need to be less of a chicken and go out even on cold days.

As the world began to modernize and there came a need for the heads of households to work in industry outside the home the family farm began to die.  Farmers began focusing on the cash crop if they could even farm anymore at all.  Food had to be purchased more and more often.  Then as women entered the workforce they had less time to cook homemade meals from scratch.  Thus they started relying more and more on processed foods with flavor enhancers, preservatives and artificial ingredients.  People started to forget what REAL food tasted like.

Enter the fast food chains with McDonald’s at the helm.  Don’t get me wrong I eat at McDonald’s on occasion, but I don’t feel that it is the best way to feed a family in a healthy manner.  Adding layers of convenience makes people complacent.  When people, especially in this economy, are working extra hard to make ends meet even working more than one job time is precious.  What suffers then is our health because rarely will people give up excess television, soda pop, cigarettes and junk food when time and money are in short supply.  So we become complacent, sedentary, and fat with no idea where our food comes from or what is being done to it.

Our family buys it’s fair share of processed foods and junky items, but it is minimal in comparison to many people we run into at the grocery store.  You’ll see our cart topped up with fresh veggies and fruits and their frozen counterparts, whole grain bread, multi-grain cereal and crackers, eggs and milk, cheese and yogurt.  Rarely do we purchase pop or cakes and cookies.  Sadly too often we see the mom with four scruffy looking kids buying the fattiest ground beef, bologna, processed cheese, white bread, pop and chips with not one vegetable in sight.  Sure that stuff will fill your belly, but what is it doing to the rest of your body.

My DH is lactose intolerant.  We believe in part that it is because of the immense amount of processing that is done to cow’s milk before it is brought to market.  Because of modern dairy farming practices it would be very foolish to drink a glass of milk directly from the dairy farmers holding tank without having been pasteurized.  Modernization in some part makes the process lax or lazy because there is always some antibiotic or treatment that can be done to overcome the problem.

This explains the issue with eggs that the nation recently faced.  Instead of people being willing to take control of their food source they leave it in the hands of the mega farmers.  Did you know that eggs come out of the chicken with a built in protection called bloom?  Eggs are porous and will over time dry out.  This also means that they will readily absorb liquids that come in contact with them.  The bloom is a liquid secreted by the hen as the egg is laid that seals the pores and prevents it from becoming contaminated.  If the egg stays in the nest the bloom will slowly dry and eventually start to flake off.  In an egg processing facility the eggs are immediately washed clean of the bloom and SOME of these facilities will re-coat them with an edible mineral oil that acts as an artificial bloom.

Now, if the eggs were laid by hens in your own back yard and you were diligent about gathering them there would be little chance for any chicken poop to get stuck to the shell.  This would lessen the need for washing them immediately as they are gathered allowing the bloom to stay in place until you are ready to use the egg. Wouldn’t that be better?

There are many people that do think this is a better solution.  This is evidenced by the growing number of “urban farmer’s” that have cropped up over the years.  Urban chicken coops, chicken arks, and chicken tractors have become increasingly popular.  A small family really only needs 2 or 3 egg laying hens in their back yard to provide enough eggs for themselves.  With a fenced in back yard or a chicken tractor the hens can eat in a fresh part of the lawn and fertilize it at the same time.  Their habit of scratching will work their poop into the grass so you aren’t left with piles of poop to pick up.

Goats are even growing in popularity.  Like chickens they fertilize where they eat.  As browsers they will eat weeds and plants that we and other animals stay away from including wild blackberry bushes and poison ivy.  A doe that has kidded could be used for milk also.  Seen as a pet with a purpose they can trim your trees, cut your grass, pull weeds, fertilize and when need be provide a delicious family meal.

Other commonly eaten foods have come under scrutiny for the increased use of antibiotics, growth hormones and excess grain consumption.  Like beef and pork these practices leave the meat big, poorly marbled and flavorless.  Not to mention we are unsure what the residual growth hormone in the meat is doing to our bodies.  A growing number of farmers are moving more to a practice of all organic farming.  Pasture fed cattle and hogs provides us with incredible flavorful cuts of meat and delicious truly organic milk.

As more of the population becomes aware of how our food is produced I believe they will become more willing to move towards more organic, natural and fresh sources and preparations of food.  Our “fast” food industry needs to accommodate this trend in the way they buy and prepare food and do business as a whole.  This trend will also affect the huge retail chains like Wal-Mart and Kroger because people will not be satisfied with bland, over processed junk anymore.

Dry them! If you cut back your plant several times through the growing season it helps to keep the plant tidy and gives you herbs to dry for later use. Mint, thyme, oregano, sage, basil, rosemary and any other herb you’ve found in the spice rack at the grocery store can be processed this way. First of all cut the plant back so that there are still a few inches of stem and leaves above the ground so it’ll continue to grow. Take the stems you’ve harvested and wash them very well in cool water taking care to not remove too many leaves, but get rid of the bugs, worms, dirt and cobwebs that have gathered between the branches. Shake off as much moisture as you can and then spread the stems in a singe layer on a towel. Allow them to dry for a few hours turning every so often so that they dry evenly. Once most of the water has dried off tie the stems together is small bunches and hang them upside down inside a paper bag or pillow case in a dark corner or at least out of direct sunlight. I hung mine on my north facing back porch on a clothes line that was strung there before we even moved in and never took down. The paper bag or pillow case is intended to keep dust and bugs out but still allow some fresh air in that will help dry and not rot the leaves. After a few weeks or even sooner depending on the humidity you’ll have dried herbs in your bag.

Remove the dried stems from your bag and carefully remove the leaves by running your thumb and forefinger or your closed hand against the direction of the growth down the stem. The resulting mass of dried leaves can be stored as is or crushed and put in an airtight container. This will give you wonderful flavors of your summer herb garden well into the winter and following spring before your plants, if perennial, come for another season of growth.

With the advent of transportation and improvements in refrigeration over the last century many of us can and do enjoy vegetation in our diets year round. During these colder months we can look forward to finding fresh versions of these veggies in our grocers produce section:

* Broccoli
* Brussels Sprouts
* Collard Greens
* Fennel
* Leeks
* Pumpkins
* Sweet Potato
* Turnips
* Winter Squash

You can make delicious sautes, sauces, soups, salads, and slaws out of these bountiful veggies. If you’ve ever seen Good Eats with Alton Brown on Food Network you know there are endless ways to prepare these winter vegetables in tasty and interesting ways.

Wet, heavy, slippery snow started to fall in blankets across the landscape. Great for plants, bad for driving. I called my mom who’d come to visit us earlier in the day with dad and they were on their way home at about 8:30 PM. They’d been trying to get a hold of my brother because he had stayed to work late with DH. Dad wanted me to convey the message that if he could stay where he was to do so. The roads were treacherous and the visibility low.

By the time I called DH to let him know they had already left the office. The next 45 minutes was tough. This will be 4 years since our bad accident that left my husband broken and my car in pieces. The last thing anyone wanted was for that to happen again. I had a knot in my stomach and I thought for sure I was going to lose my supper. Finally at :15 after 9 DH walked in the door and I could relax. Then my thoughts went to my brother. He lives with my parents an hour north and therefore in the middle of the heavier snowfall.

Thankfully he was also OK. I called him an hour after my DH got home just to make sure he’d made it home OK. He said you couldn’t even see the main roads and that the country road they live on was like a washboard with drifts of snow 5″ deep. Yikes.

Today we are in for lots of wind, rain and snow. There is actually a wind warning in our area. You can hear the wind howling or “talking” as my daughter calls it outside the house. It’s a little unnerving. Hopefully we didn’t leave anything in the yard that will get blown away by the 70 MPH gusts.

I did get one small watermelon from my garden this year. There were about a dozen sweet dumpling squash I was able to harvest. I might make some soup or pies out of them. Next year my plan is to make the garden even bigger so we can have more of a variety.

Green Mini Greenhouse: The Basil Flat

I had forgotten how many varieties of basil I had until I went through my seeds the other day.  This will be my second attempt to get some decent plants out of these seeds.  Instead of using store bought peat pots or plastic trays in this mini greenhouse I used my hand rolled newspaper pots that I made a few years ago.  There was enough room for 11 rows of 7 little pots.  I labeled the lid with the seed name and L for left and R for right and the base with L and R so I could keep tabs on which row was which.  They were planted, watered and set in a south facing window with the cover on and vents closed on 4/14/09.

These are the seeds planted in the mini greenhouse from left to right:

• Cinnamon Basil
• Purple Basil
• Italian Sweet Basil
• Dwarf Bush Fineleaf Basil
• Spicy Globe Basil
• Greek Basil
• Fino Verde Basil
• Summerlong Basil
• Siam Queen Thai Basil
• Lime Basil
• Easter Egg Plant (no this isn’t basil, but I had an extra row )

Flat 1: Tomatoes and Peppers

I have a myriad of tomato and pepper seeds.  Since they have similar requirements for temperature and light I decided to plant them in one flat together.  The flat has 16 rows of 8 cells each.  The seeds were planted, watered and covered and placed over the top of my 30 gallon aquarium on 4/14/09.  The temperature above the aquarium and aquarium light is about 80 degrees providing a warm enough temperature to encourage germination.  After 3 days some of my tomatillo seeds (that are 6 years old) already started to sprout.  Yesterday morning, the 17th, I moved the flat to the south facing window.  This morning I noticed that one of Robbie’s Tomatoes had started to sprout.

These are the seeds in Flat 1 from left to right, and bottom to top (or front to back):

• King’s Choice Hybrid Tomatoes/Beefsteak Tomatoes
• Robbie’s Tomatoes/Spike’s Tomatoes (unsure of varieties, harvested from relatives gardens 2 years ago)
• Mom’s Tomatoes/Mystery Hot Pepper
• Olena Ukranian/Italian Market Wonder/Bonny Best/Golden Queen – only had a few seeds so I planted 2 of each
• Costoluto Genovese/Cosmonaut Volkov/Marglobe VF/TigerLike Tomatoes – 2 of each
• Assorted Tomatoes/Speckled Roman Heirloom
• Tomatillos
• Delicious Tomato/ Mystery Tomato
• Jelly Bean Hybrid (commercial ’07 pelleted)/commercial ’08 pelleted/harvested ’07 fermented
• Chile Arbol
• Chile Bola
• Chile Guajillo (4)/Cajun Tabasco (2)/Cuban Hot (2)
• Chile Ancho (aka Poblano)
• Green Bell Pepper/Red Bell Pepper
• Jalapeño Early Pepper/Serrano Pepper
• Marconi Red Pepper/Cayenne Pepper

Milk Jug Greenhouse 1: Mary Washington Asparagus

In this milk jug there are 19 hand rolled newspaper pots with Hoffman Seed Starter mix.  There are air holes cut in the top and sides and drain holes in the bottom.  The pots were seeded and watered and placed outside on 4/16/09.  The Mary Washington Asparagus seeds from 2004 season were put in warm water and allowed to soak for 10 days (hope it wasn’t too long; I kind of forgot about them ).

Flat 2: Herbs and Veggies

This 10×20 flat was filled with 8 9-cell trays.  Each tray holds one variety of seed.

These are the herbs and veggies planted in flat 2 listed as laid out in each tray (since I didn’t plant them in rows per se):

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Well then here is the start of my planting for the 2009 season. I truly hope I didn’t get started too late. I think this afternoon Yeyda and I will go outside once the baby falls asleep so we can start cleaning up the yard. It feels phenomenal to have the windows open finally after being trapped in the house for so many months.