The Little Acre

Eco Farm Conference 2013

Natie — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:44:02 +0000

This year I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to attend the Eco Farm Conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. The conference is held at such a beautiful State Park. Some of my favorite speakers I saw were Sandor Katz, famous fermenter and Bill Olkowski; entomologist and local legend in Berkeley. Both of whom have new books out. I also saw a beautiful film about soil called Symphony of the Soil, which I recommend to everyone. It was a real treat to be inspired durring the darker months of winter, just when I could use a pick me up! Thanks Eco Farm!

Liquid Gold

Natie — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:32:37 +0000

Here are some photos from our first harvest. It has been a beautiful learning experience. What stuck with me the most at the end of the process is that good honey is the result of a hives healthy relationship with nature and the process of getting it from the comb to the table is one that can’t be rushed. Not all honeys are created equal, and that there is no substitute for pure raw honey!

Our friend Rhan cutting the comb, leaving some behind as a guide for the bees to build from. We practice foundationless beekeeping which means we use no plastic guides or comercial wax. It is as natural as you can get in in our type of hive (Langstroth).

Honey comb right after harvest.

In order to separate the honey from the crushed comb we used a gravity filtration system consisting of 2 food grade 5 gallon buckets stacked on top of each other with cheese clothe between the two. The top bucket holds the comb and has holes drilled into the bottom. The honey is filtered down through the cheese cloth, through the holes and into the lower bucket. When a good amount accumulated in the lower bucket we uncorked another hole drilled into the bottom and let the honey flow out into jars.

Viola! Carl making sure to get the last of it out.

The honey all jared up, ready to be sealed and labeled.

The finished product.

Thanks bees!

I just finished processing the wax left over from the honey which I’m going to make into some fancy salves, lotions and candles this winter.

The 3 Sisters Guild

Natie — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:08:30 +0000

For years now, I have heard about and seen others grow the three sisters guild and now I am going to plant the corn, beans and squash that make up the guild. This combination of Native American crops aid and nourish each other . What I have learned about the guild is that the traditional varieties of each crop work best in combination rather than the hybridized or GMO (which I would never recommend) breeds which may produce the fruit we want these days but does not feed into the holistic system like the crops of our ancestors.

The dynamics work like this…

The corn creates a trellis for the beans and squash, and the corn excretes a sugar from its roots that feeds the nitrogen fixing properties of the beans. The beans gather nitrogen from the air and store nitrogen in its roots which is made readily available for the squash and corn.

The guild of the three sisters is grown close together in mounds. The ancient planting style creates: nutrients, moisture over the summer as the tight planting acts as a mulch, keeping weeds out, produces food and can be folded back into a compost pile after the fall harvest. It is a closed loop system!

In the South west there is a fourth sister, bee plant ,which is a great pollinator attracting plant.

To plant the Three Sisters I would follow Toby Hemenway’s advice in Gaia’s Gardens advice which I have summarized below…

First, start a series of mounds depending on how much food you will need.

(you will get 4 or 5 ears of corn per mound (small ears)).

Mounds are 3 feet apart, 2 inches high and 1.5 ft in diameter.

Plant 3 or 4 kernels of corn in each mound.

Smaller and multi stocked varieties are suggested (Black Aztec, Hopi White, Tarahumara sweet).

When corn sprouts build the soil up around them, but do not cover the seedlings.

Two weeks after planting the corn, plant some pole beans (not bush beans).

Old world bean varieties recommended : (Four Corners Gold and Hopi Light Yellow).

Coat seeds with inoculant that is specific to legume beans.

Plant 2 or 3 bean seeds near the edges of each corn mound.

At the same time you start the beans, plant squash or pumpkins between each of the mounds (don’t use zucchini as it is too pushy for this guild).

A vining squash is recommended that will sprawl on the soil.

Keep an eye on things and harvest when things are ready.

The beans will be ready first, then the summer squash then winter (depending on which you plant summer or winter squash or both), then the corn!

After the last harvest leave the plants there to decompose and give their nutrients back to the soil and close the loop on this regenerative and delicious guild!

I am going to plant mine in an old compost pile from last fall that I will divide up into three mounds!

I wish you luck with your Three Sisters or Four sisters!

Spring Plant Sale in Oakland! Get your Starts!

Natie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:25:37 +0000

I have been helping out at Merritt College over the last few months starting seeds for the plant sale held on May 5th! Come get some beautiful plants of all kinds and support their wonderful horticulture program.

Check out their website for more details.

www.merrittlandhort.com

Snails

Natie — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:41:05 +0000

This morning on my run I found thousands of snails in the neighborhood. The best time to find snails is before the sun comes up and during the wet season. Snails can devour your garden in no time. I collect the snails and feed them to my chickens. The chickens are a bit hesitant to eat the snails at first but chickens love eating snails and slugs, but not banana slugs. The slugs and snails provide calcium and protein for the chickens! Yummy!

The Haight Street Hives

Carl — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:25:18 +0000

It’s been a while since we checked on our 2 hives in the Haight so I went and took a look today on the way to the record store. Both are doing really well (lots of activity) and I think we’re going to have to expand again soon. Hopefully we’ll be able to score some honey this summer!

The Chicken Coop

Natie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:26:34 +0000

This is our coop in progress. We have been working on it for about a month when Carl and I have time off together. We looked at a bunch of designs and decided on this “lean to” model. There is a trap door in the floor leading to an enclosed run if we leave them for a day or two our ladies will be safe!

It has been fun to build. We had hoped to find more salvaged materials but that has been a bit harder than we thought. The chicks are getting bigger everyday and are like little piglets eating and pooping everywhere. We have trained them to eat out of our hands and now they seem to like being held. We are still naming them if you have any great chicken names. So far we have Buffy and Connie.

In the fore ground of the photo we have sheet mulched with the following

3 truckloads of cardboard

3 days of coffee grounds from Peets

1 truckload of manure from Grizzly Peak

1 mason jar of fava beans and crimson clover

1 smaller jar of strawberry clover for the paths

Thanks Rhan, for your help shoveling the poo.

Chicks

Natie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:11:45 +0000

Our Chicks! They are growing so fast. light petting allowed.

Roasted Delicata Squash

Natie — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:39:47 +0000

Delicata Squash is so easy and delicious! Get these little guys while you can.

Roasted Delicata

Please note each person will want a half to themselves, plan accordingly.

Preheat oven to 425 F

ingredients

2-4 Delicata squash
Olive oil, butter or ghee (quite a bit)
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper (to taste)
Fresh herbs; thyme and oregano

directions

Make sure you already preheated the oven to 425 F

Cut open the delicata squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.
Place the delicata in a oven safe dish with the insides facing up.
Pour or scoup your choice of Olive oil, butter of ghee in the center of each half filling the vessel at least 1/2 way.
Season with fresh oregano, thyme, sea salt, pepper and anything else you like.
Toss in oven and roast until fork tender 20-35 min. Edges will caramelize.

It is so easy- try it, the delicata will blow your mind!

Gluten & Sugar Free Backyard Apple Pie

Natie — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:50:50 +0000

This Monday my new friends Whitney and Luke came over and we picked apples from our old tree in our new back yard in oakland and we made an apple pie together along with a coconut curry corn chowder dinner. We started at 3pm and ate by 8:45.

Gluten Free Pie Crust & Pie Top

Preheat oven to 375 F

ingredients

2 1/2 cups of Gluten Free Flour mix of your choice (king arthur, bobs red mill, etc)
1 teaspoon flax (ground)
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold butter
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of maple syrup (optional)

directions

Grease a 9″ pie pan with ghee or butter.
Throw all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and whisk the crap out of it (thanks Mom for the family heirloom mixer, takes much longer by hand but is still possible)
Once it forms a ball STOP mixing and separate ball into two equal halves and put in fridge for about an hour or as long as you you can wait (1 ball for bottom one ball for top of pie).
Once you are ready to shape the dough roll one ball to desired pie size or press into the shape of your desired vessel (I prefer the pressing method)
Pre-bake without filling, Line the bottom with pie weights (or a small iorn skillet, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the weights, and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, till the crust is a light golden brown.
Now Pie Crust is ready! Save other ball of dough for later.

Please note this pie crust is larger than the one in the recipe which makes a regular size pie crust.

Backyard Apple Pie without Sugar

Preheat oven to 425F

ingredients

10-13 apples sliced with skin
5-8 figs squeeze the gooey center into the mix with the apples (optional)
2 teaspoon of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of gluten free flour mix
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cardamom
1 tablespoon of ghee or butter
2 tablespoons of rye whiskey, bourbon or brandy

directions

Slice apples.
Once you have melted 1 or 2 tablespoons of ghee or butter in a large iron skillet toss the apples and figs in too.
Sprinkle and coat the apples with lemon, cinnamon and cardamom and gluten free flour tossing to coat.
Cook on high heat. Add the alcohol and cook till the apples begin to soften.
Add maple syrup, coating the apples.
Pour apples and all into your very own pre-cooked pie crust.
Take that other ball of dough and either flatten it out, crumble it up or weave it over the top of the the pie and seal the edges if needed.
Bake at 425F for 35 to 40 min until golden brown.
Eat with whip cream or ice cream!

Whitney holding the finished product.