Sometimes an Herb Garden is Just an Herb Garden

By coincidence, I've received copies of the NY Times article "The Femivore's Dilemma" from three different people recently. It seems my status as a working mother, pescetarian, farmer's market shopper, composter and farmer in our suburban backyard garden makes me a likely candidate for the new movement of self-sustaining feminists who not only serve their families organic food, they feel compelled to grow and harvest it themselves.

While I admire the women who have the time and fortitude to raise their own chickens, grow all their food, and take up beekeeping as a hobby, I just don't have the time at this stage

in my life. The truth is, we grow tomatoes, peppers and herbs in our backyard because Katie likes to help tend the garden and it gives us a another good reason to be outside with our children. We shop at our local Farmer's Market because it's a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning and we live in glorious Northern California where the Farmer's Market produce is beautiful and delicious. We compost because we can and should, but truthfully, we haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet. We have fresh limes in our margaritas during the summer because the lime tree came with the house. The good things we do, we do because they fit within our lifestyle today.

I hope that someday I'll be able to indulge in a more rural lifestyle. In fact I have dreams of living like Tim and Karen Bates of the Philo Apple Farm. But for now, the herb garden is just an herb garden.

Galvi Envy

I've noticed in the last year or so a modern rural decorating trend spreading itself across America. It could be that the recession makes simple design more appealing to Americans, it could be the popularity of The Carneros Inn in Sonoma County, CA or it could be that Martha Stewart made the trend hot 20 years ago and it's never quite died down. Either way, I like it.

The element I like most is the creative use of authentic galvanized containers. They're perfect for my house: they're simple, they look great and they're impossible to break. (see previous post Everyone Can Use a Little Luck to understand the importance of that specific point.)

My favorite ideas are:

Hanging galvanized pails for storage

Feed troughs used as planters

Buckets used inside for flowers

Little buckets used for organizing

Or lined with parchment on the table

And the ultimate indulgence, fountain made from a feed trough

A great resource for the authentic pieces is my local Alamo Hay and Grain. If you don't live in my neighborhood, though, Dover Parkersburg has a great assortment and will ship anywhere.

Whether the trend stays trendy or not -- no matter. Durable, low maintenance things that look good are always in style at the Furber house.

Everyone Can Use a Little Luck

I recently asked some Suburban Zen readers a simple question: "What's Your Secret?" My intention was to learn what people like me do to keep the level of contentment high, and the level of stress low in their homes. I was surprised that all the responses were very similar, and all credited a positive attitude and joie de vivre as their secret. (Except the one reader who said her secret was that she kissed her husband's best friend the night before her wedding. I don't judge, but that's not really what I meant.)

I'm with you readers: I'm also a huge fan of the power of positive thinking, in fact that's what helps me turn a blind eye to the mess in my family room most weekends. I'm also a big fan of good luck charms. I like the symbolism they represent for our children: you make your own luck, but a little extra help can't hurt.

My favorite good luck charm in the Furber house is our money tree.

Chinese legend is that a money tree can bring money and fortune to its owners and is a symbol of affluence, nobility and auspiciousness. I don't know about that so much, but I do know that JP and I bought a money tree seven years ago and sold our house the next day. Since that day, we've been convinced that the money tree is one of the things standing between us and destitution, so we tend the tree very carefully and get a little nervous when a leaf or two falls off.

Even the kids have adopted our superstition. They're very careful not to disturb the money tree and often will give us advice on how to tend it. A few weeks ago Jack was doing what Jack does sometimes (flailing around crashing into things) and he knocked over the money tree and broke its pot. The Furber family swung into action as if my wedding ring had been flushed down the toilet, and now the money tree is enjoying its new home in a much bigger pot. And wouldn't you know, right after that happened I came into a little unexpected money. Hmmm.

Resolution #4 -- Compost

Sounds easy, right? Not always.

The behavior modification required to save our compostable items dictated that the composter we chose would have to be easy to install and use because all of our energy would have to be funneled into learning how to and remembering to compost.

JP searched high and low for the right one that would be simple, easy to use, would fit in our back yard , and would be easy to operate for any of the Furbers charged with putting out the compost. And one of us is six years old, so I’m talking really easy. JP combed the market for the best composter that met our criteria. Little did we know, that our constraints of space, time and mental bandwidth were not the only things we needed to take into consideration. We also…

…had to estimate how much compostable material our family unit produce, and how would we use the fruits of our labor in our limited suburban landscape. This decision helped determine the size of compost bin(s) we would need.

…learned that it is best to have one complete batch cooking at a time. For rookies like us, an important question arose: what do you then do with what is accumulating? For serious composting efforts one needs a serious composter with two chambers. A two chamber composter allows for one batch to cook while compostable waste accumulates in the other. The other option is to have two separate compost bins. In the end, we chose to purchase just one single chamber compost bin to get us started, knowing we can always add another one later.

…learned that there is a lot to learn about composting. Ratios of Green (1/3) to Brown (2/3) ingredients are critical for success. Adding fresh topsoil to the compost helps, along with some “red” worms is a definite plus to speed the process. That trail led to the question of where one acquires red worms: is it too much to hope that they can be purchased at the same place we buy our crickets for Jack’s Australian tree frog? Turns out mail order is the best place to buy them. We got ours from Sonoma Valley Worms. Ask for the red wigglers.

…learned that location in our yard is an important consideration. Our summer-time temperatures often exceed 100 degrees. Direct sunlight will be too warm for our composter. In winter, we may have the opposite problem. Our cooler weather may not create enough heat to effectively compost quickly enough to keep up with our household compost waste.

We eventually narrowed our search down to the Compost Wizard 12 Cubic Ft Tumbler, and the Ecomposter because they were small, and easy to install and use, and both products had great reviews.

Our final purchase was the Compost Wizard, which is now installed in our backyard and cooking our compost as I write this. The research paid off, and so far were happy with our purchase. The Compost Wizard arrived fully assembled with minimal packaging. It is made from recycled polyethylene plastic. It sits low to the ground, on a rotating platform that even our six year old Katie can rotate it weekly.

Time will tell how good our compost is. Our mild January weather is not ideal for cooking compost! More on the results later…….

Once the compost bin was installed, we realized we had another challenge: unless we wanted to walk to the backyard with every apple core and banana peel, we needed a container in the kitchen to collect scraps until we were ready to make a trip to the composter. There are many fancy and beautiful compost crocks on the market from which to choose. However, because we fundamentally believe that the most green thing of all is not to create anything new, we decided to repurpose a vintage enamel bread bin that had previously held snacks in our pantry. A little household odor absorber from Gaiam attached to the lid eliminates any stinkiness, and problem solved.

Now You Know, I Carry a Purse by Guest Blogger Laurie's Dad

My wonderful daughter invited me to guest blog. I thought I could write about my garage which is a standard garage in terms of design but not in terms of use. But instead she has asked I write something about living through recessions. She seems to think I have lived through a few……….ye gads, I am not that old.

During challenging financial times it is always good to buy only what you need; not what you want. Now think about your needs carefully. You may think you need something when in fact you only want it but have convinced yourself you need it. An easier way to think about this is to stop all impulse buying. You will save tons of money. When Laurie was young we implemented that rule during tough times but trips to the Dairy Queen were always an absolute need !

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Garden is the key word folks. I recall a time in the 70’s when we rented a tiller and plowed up a large section of our Colorado back yard. We planted all kinds of fun foods to save money and eat healthy. All went well until the sunflower plants ripened and attracted every kind of living bird within a 70 mile radius. The neighbors were not pleased.

Nothing beats a family trip to the local theater to see something on the big screen. There are ways to cut costs here too. Go to the first showing of the day, always a lower price. Even some days of the week have discount evening showings. Skip the candy counter but do stop at the popcorn stand. Get one and only one bag of popcorn…….the biggest popcorn in the house, the bag or tub with the free refill. Take it to your seat, take out the paper coffee filters in your purse, fill one filter per person with popcorn and voila, popcorn for all. When the purchased tub or bag is empty, go get your free refill and do it all over again. Easy, fun and keeps all those hands out of the popcorn tub too.

This was fun. Thanks sweetie for inviting to use your space to ramble. I love you lots, dad.