Speak to me of worm bins

So it's the time of year where I need to start thinking about next year's garden. And that includes considering soil augmentation. The soil at Fwigf is pretty good, however I only have one small plot. This means I'm not able to engage in any true crop rotation without doing a lot of session planting. And even then? I am going to wear down my soil in a few years. Unless I start supplementing.

Now, Fwigf is an organic practices only garden. This means I can't go and pick up a container of synthetic fertilizer, I need to get manure or compost. I don't know if you've looked at price comparisons, but covering a 400sqft area with enough manure and/or compost to make a difference in soil quality does get kind of pricey. And I am time rich but cash poor.

The obvious answer is to start a compost pile/bin. Or this would be the obvious answer if I didn't have a pair of inquisitive jerks who insist that EVERYTHING is either food or something to knock over then roll in. I think my dogs are really goats in disguise. Maybe a cross between goats and something larger, like say an elephant, given the noise the fuzzy heathens make going up and down stairs. But I digress. A compost bin/pile is not something that is feasible given my current space/living situation.

Which leads me to researching alternatives. In my travels (read: finding blogs and wiki articles through google) I've come across the idea of using worm casings. They are apparently a low nitrogen growth enhancer. A little goes a long way apparently, and they have the added benefit of being organic which means I can use them at Fwigf.

They are also hella expensive to buy. Probably because worms are small and worm casings are basically worm poop. Small critters produce small poop (the exceptions being human babies and puppies, both of which contain a little known quirk of anatomy which allows them to pull poop from sector Fecal Five, the poop dimension).

The good news is I can in fact raise worms and harvest worm casings at home. For pretty cheap since I'd have to feed them things like table scraps and coffee grinds. You know, things I'm currently throwing out because my Heathens won't let me have nice things like a compost pile/bin.

I have never raised worms however and have no idea where to start. Should I just go dig up a bunch of earthworms? Perhaps enlist friends with toddlers and make use of the slave labor to dig worms up offer free babysitting? What do I need to start? Is this a thing I should even consider? Anyone actually try this?

Red Noodle Beans

Chinese red noodle beans were an experiment this year. I'd never had them before, either eaten or grown. Honestly I decided to grow them because they look cool. Yup, that very mature and well researched reason. But the seed was inexpensive, it was a heritage type of bean, I had the space. I decided to go for it.


Seriously, don't these look cool? (Image from http://www.cherrygal.com/images/RedNoodleNew.jpg)

We planted a single row of them in Fwigf. I proceeded to spend all summer worried about them. The reviews said they grew like kudzu, mine were a bit short. They were supposed to get 8 feet tall, they were barely three feet by mid-July/early August. They hadn't put off a single flower or bud and it was approaching mid-August. I had written them off as a loss resolved not to plant them next year and chocked it up to a learning experience.

Then they exploded.

No seriously. In two weeks I went from 3 foot stalks with nothing happening to an over grown hedge putting off massive beans by the handful. For context on size, each bean is roughly 18-24 inches long. They go from blossom to full bean in 3-4 days. I have roughly 10 pounds sitting at home. That we harvested today. This isn't counting the maybe 3-4 pounds I dehydrated for soup mixes last week.

Apparently noodle beans are fantastic in stir-fry. They can also be used instead of green beans in any recipe. I'm debating the pros and cons of making green bean casserole (the kind where you use the can of cream of mushroom soup and fried onion strings) using these instead. In fact? Screw it. I'm going to do it.

But I'm going to can them first so I can do it for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll do a mix of these and green beans in the casserole for Christmas. Red and green beans swimming in white. That's festive right? Gross sounding. But festive.

Peppers

Today we're going to talk about drying out and preserving peppers. Specifically hot peppers. I can't can them because I only have a water bath caner, and trust me you really want to can those in a pressure caner. So what else can you do to keep peppers? I'm going to look at 2 different things today.

1. Roasting then Freezing

This is honestly what it sounds like. Cut your peppers in half lengthwise. Preheat your oven to 375, coat with a little olive oil, put your peppers on the pan cut side up, sprinkle lightly with salt. Roast for 20 minutes. Once they cool put them in your freezer. I'm doing this with jalapenos. You can then use the roasted peppers as a substitute for fresh peppers in cooked dishes.

2. Drying

There are a few different ways to dry peppers. You can dry them on the line (like I had set up for corn) but it takes a few weeks to dry them out completely. Leave them whole since it'll cut down on rotting before they're dried. Just tie them up and leave them in a place with open air circulation.

You can dry them in the oven. Set your oven as low as it goes (Generally 120-150) and leave the door open partially. Flip the peppers every hour so they don't scorch. If they start cooking your oven is too hot.

Dehydrator. This is the easiest way. Seriously. Cut them in half and stick them in the dehydrator until they're dry.

No matter what drying method you use keep the peppers in an airtight container. They can last for a a year or so. You can also grind them into chili powder..

Food storage and pets

So everyone knows the best way to ripen tomatoes is to keep them on your counter after you pick them, right? Right. Well I can't do that anymore. At all. Why? Because my cat is a jerk. She has decided that she enjoys the feel of her fangs sinking through the thin tomato skin into the pulpy goodness below. She has discovered that round tomatoes are fun to knock off the counter and chase.

Did I mention my cat is a jerk? Because she is.

But this brings me to a very important topic:

Pet Proofing Preservation

So how many of us have a beloved fur ball that just can't wait to mess up their stuff? The vast majority? Yeah. Not everything can go into pet free rooms (which are only pet free until the fuzzy bandit figures out how to open the door) or totes (which collect condensation, so are bad for things you're trying to dry). So how the heck do you keep your food (and your fluffy jerks) safe?

Carefully.

Basic kitchen safety covers most of our problems. Things like making sure your pet isn't underfoot while taking your jars out of the caner. But what about the boiling hot jars sitting on the counter? All breakable and enticing to mischievous four foots? I have no idea. Thankfully Minerva (the aforementioned tomato killing jerk) isn't interested in the jars while they're hot. Once they cool they go up on a shelf that she (so far) can't get to.

But the tips that I have so far are as follows:

Keep anything breakable/edible out of pet reach.
Keep dried things in totes with a well fitting lid
Accept a certain level of loss comes with owning pets.