Fourth of July 2021 Garden Update | Farming While Black | Stay Safe and Enjoy Summer

GREEN Organic Garden Podcast

The audio version of this post starts out raving about three great reads from Chelsea Green Publishing including my favorite read of 2021 so far Leah Penniman’s amazing memoir about Soul Fire Farm which combines African American history - the real story with farm techniques every gardener and market farmer should know as well as some religion/spiritual stories, songs to sing, advice on education and working with students and sooo much more! Just love this book so much!

https://videopress.com/v/g98ma2L8?preloadContent=metadata

Then there’s Jesse Frosts book coming out July 20th and Alan Bergo’s boom out now! Lots of amazing reads from my favorite publisher (now that Rodale’s is gone they moved from 2nd to number 1)

Then I talk about what’s needed in the garden this summer and all the lessons I’ve learned with this landscaping job I took on. The amazing thing with this job is how confident I am with exactly what this person should be doing but I have lived in Montana for a long time now and I definitely know the new homeowner learning curve!

Especially from a gardeners perspective! Start small! This year I’ve probably killed almost as many plants as I’ve grown!

I’m still eating on this arugula from spring

Mike picked these yummy radishes yesterday

The mini farm growing strong

My zinnias snapdragons and marigolds container garden 🪴

See my arugula growing strong it liked the greenhouse finally had to move it cause it’s just too hot in there

Listen here to the audio version read the computer generated unedited transcript below:

Speaker 1 (0s): Hey, green future growers. Welcome to season three. I'm your host Jackie Murray buyer. If you're new to the show, I hope you'll subscribe on iTunes for free or follow on your favorite podcast app and let's get, Hey everyone. This is a January buyer, your host here to help inspire you on your journey to create, grow, and enjoy a green, organic Oasis. So let's get growing.

Hey listeners. It is me live on the mic. Jackie Murray buyer. It's technically Tuesday, June 29th, 2021. I just got off the mic with Alan Burgo, who wrote foragers chefs, book of flora, recipes and techniques for edible plants from garden field and forest. He was so eloquent and just, I hope I did him justice.

So I have three Chelsea green publishing books to talk about today. So there's Alan's book. That's just amazing. Jessie frost books coming out July 20th. So you probably will hear some replace a interviews. And then I've also been reading Leah Penniman farming while black, which is gotta be one of my favorite books that I have read in 2021.

She just like cheeks, the whole, she's got black history in there that it's like a must read for every student teacher, just like so many things the way she puts it all together. She's got inspiration for when you're in your garden. She talks about her education center. She talks about like, everything you need to know on how to grow a tomato from start plant a curate, like what your soils should look like, like how far they should be spaced out what tools you're going to need, how to deal with interns.

Like anything you possibly want to know about gardening farming. If you're a market farmer, you've got to get her book, just support her. I'm. So in love with, I wish I would've got farming while black, when I first interviewed her, I had no idea somebody recently recommended it and I bought it and I was just, it just is amazing. Especially like I did this whole, I spent a lot of the pandemic reading books about, you know, like black lives matter and black history and just different people of color authors.

You know, one of my favorites was when they, you a terrorist by Patrice colors, I think is her name one of the founders of the Buckeyes movement. I guess there's also the movement for black lives, which is a little bit different. But if you're interested in social justice, I can't wait to release my interview. I did with Kat who's down in Arizona, I think, or New Mexico who talks about being a Wolfer.

And, but she's working on like a social justice program for helping three, you know, systematic prison to pipeline moving. Especially I'm having a personal thing with one of my students from years ago, right now who just recently was sent to prison. I'm just heartbroken over it and spoke with his mom. And of course it's mental health issues. And there's that whole piece, like we just need more compassion.

We need way more mental health in our country. And one of the great ways to do that is, you know, helping and Leah pediment talks about that. They have a program where they were able to get prisoners to come do 50 hours on their farm and take some classes and learn. So not only are they gaining a skill because they're learning how to be gardeners, but they're also able to, you know, get out of that.

And that's another thing like even when I just read Kamala Harris's book, which I wish I would have read before the election she talks about. And I think I've mentioned this few times being a compassionate prosecutor and also in the, when they call you a terrorist book by Patrice people who get out of prison and the how hard it is to then get a job and how hard it is to make a living after you've been released to prison, not to mention how many people have been picked up and put in prison for, you know, our crazy cannabis laws that were, you know, created by the what's his name that owned the forest and wanted to sell the newspapers and wanting to cut down the trees and didn't want him to grow for paper.

I mean, it's just crazy our history in the United States. And so when you're celebrating your 4th of July, like I didn't, I wanted to see something on June 10th with the new June 19th holiday. And so I'm just kind of trying to tie it all together today with these three, but, and then Jesse frosh and another, the great market farm, but the no tell movement, his book is coming out July 20th.

So anyway, for the 4th of July, I hope that you will be, you know, just appreciating our freedoms that we have and your time in the garden and what you can do to, you know, cure for our planet. Like, that's what I love. I've been writing birthday cards to a lot of my guests this year. I always wanted to send them a thank you note. And I just thought, there's no way I can afford that.

It would be so expensive to buy the stamp and print the cards and everything. But this year by, by doing the birthday card thing, it's just been like, you know, a few cards each month. And, and just getting to like, think about my guest and send them a little personal message has been, I don't know, just a, just an interesting way to end this pandemic year and kind of, I always used to be really big on birthdays and then I, I kind of got away from it.

And so it's really nice to get back into that. I don't know where I'm going and sending them a piece of our garden. Usually like I'm sending everybody a painting from Michael Mike's garden. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about how much time I've spent in the garden this year. Like, because of the pit. I don't know when I was in New York, visiting my mom and hanging out with, I mean, from you leave strong the golden mustard of the year. Cause even after we went to visit her, we were like texting and calling each other. And just, it seems like our friendship has really blossomed since I got to see her garden.

And I learned so much from her even like on Facebook, I'm constantly learning from her. And then my own piece, I got this landscaping job when I came back. And so I've been like helping this woman who built this new house, she wants to plant a greenhouse and she's got like her whole landscape, like the house, like it's just totally torn up. And it's so weird because like, I have never felt so confident that I know exactly what she should do, but of course, you know, I've lived in Montana for 27 years.

I know how hard it is to build a house and start from scratch. You know, we were six years without running water. And then even when we put our first well in it, wasn't, you know, we certainly couldn't garden and we can barely keep like one bed growing. Now, even with the second while biking are still like, it's just constant under monitoring. Are you watering? Like we're yelling from one part to the other. Mike takes care of the mini farm and his hoophouses. And then I'm kind of trying to handle like the orchard and the beds around the garden, but I've grown more this year.

So my goal this year, if you remember, was to grow more marigolds, India snapdragons and some flowers, which I kind of bombed on the sunflowers, but Mike picked that up, but I did get more than he is and snapdragons. And so if you are listening and it's July 1st and you haven't planted anything or you're struggling to still get that garden going, I really to encourage you to check out two books, these other two books, Melissa Norris is, you know, the Philly garden plan where she talks about pick one thing.

What's one thing that you can grow tomatoes or, you know, lettuce or just curates or like what's one. Oh, and that was the other thing this year on YouTube live, there was this woman and she just the smile on her face when she's like my carriage sprouted, my carriage, probably like the only thing she grew this year was curious and that they sprouted and they're coming up to see her excitement was so, so Joel overwhelm yourself.

If you're just starting out, don't think you're going to grow an entire homestead this year. Just pick one thing. It's not too late to plant a seed. Another thing I've heard from listeners is their struggle with herbs. They tried to go in urban. They couldn't, well, I've killed more plants as many plants this year as I've grown. I'm just still like, but I also like my rugala that I planted the beginning of March in these just two pots that have been down in my little greenhouse. I just brought them into the house house the other day.

They're not outside all the ones I transplanted outside bolted. They're just gone to see the bees growing the flowers. I'm going to keep the seed. So I don't have to spend so much on a regular seed next year, but I just took a tub literally last week and put a new set of a rugal as seeds in it because they keep thinking these two pots are can't possibly keep going, but I'm surprised. Like I just pick a very small bouquet of root. Rugelach like every two to three days out of these pots, they're still growing.

And when I say pod, so they were probably 10 inches in diameter, maybe 10 inches tall that Mike planted for me back in March, one of them, I took half of it and planted out in the garden. And like I said, it bolted, but the rest of it is just filled in. And these two pots have kept me going with plenty of a Ruger left from my salads for my sandwiches. And so the other day, Mike and I went down and picked the spinach.

The spinach was just about to bolt. Then he is the spinach in the mini farm where I generally do not like to go because I don't want to pick anything that's down in the ground. I want raised beds. I want something I can sit on the edge of. I can't stand like the dirt in my shoes, walking in between his rows. Like even though he's got lots of mulch down, I just feel like my feet gets super dirty in there. You know, some of his things haven't grown enough.

So there's still dirt while he's waiting to mulch. I'm like the cucumbers are just barely like, you know, there's just too loose popping out of the ground. So just think, I can't believe how much has mini farm has grown. Now that being said, like the peas, I feel like, like, I'll go out the driveway. And by the time I come back in the driveway, after going to town, they're like three inches taller. Like things are growing like crazy in Montana. We've had three days of a hundred degree sheet or we're in the middle of like a week of a hundred degree heat.

It's just, it is all about staying cool watering super early. He's been out there like just at the break of Dawn five o'clock in the morning watering for hours. And then this week, oh, today he finally brought in the radishes the purple way and red radishes that are so good. And Megan came taught me a couple of years ago that you can actually slice radishes and saute them, which I never knew you could do. I always thought radishes, you just ate raw.

So eating sauteed radishes, the spinach has just been amazing. The other day I made, what did I do? I fried two eggs. Oh, this is my other secret. Or that coconut, or like, I've never been a big fan of coconut oil or is that what it is? Coconut oil, whatever, that white thing that you buy the jar of. But I keep mine in my fridge. I know Dacey keeps hers on her counter. Maybe you can keep it on the counter, but like you only need that.

Tiny is barely a little bit like cook. It seems way more expensive than olive oil, but actually, because you only need like the tiniest little bit of coconut oil to cook eggs. And unlike if you want something fried really crispy, I feel like crisp things up better. Just like I am. So in love with coconut oil, like a grilled cheese made with coconut oil, instead of, you know, butter Jemele burns it like olive oil kind of gives it a funky taste, avocado oil, super expensive.

Coconut oil is so much in many ways it's more affordable because you only need the tiniest little bed. I just can't believe. I wish I would've known that secret. So I've been cooking things in more coconut oil. The spinach has just been incredible. When I was talking to Alan, I was telling him if I have to pick the spinach, I'm not leaving this or act that just comes up all over the wild spinach. And he works. The leaves are like three times as big.

They are judged just as sweet. They almost have like a sweet, peppery flavor mixes right in with my spinach. So good. Lamb's quarters. Another one that grows wild around here that you can make sure I do them with your spinach. So I blanched some of it, but the rest of it, I've just been like eating like crazy, like, so we've had a huge, much bigger spinach harvest than we ever have, which I'm surprised. Mike's like you bought these spinach seeds. I'm like, I don't remember buying spinach because usually I just grow beet greens and then switched to Swiss chard when it comes up, let's see my kale beds.

So I finally followed Lisa Ziegler's cover the kill with the Agra bond, which I'm kind of frustrated with because you gotta take the Agra bond off to water. But Mike did help me get, get a kind of set up in a way that it's not as hard to move as it has been. In other years, I put brand new, fresh Agra bond that he scored. These people like were like, come get these boards.

And they gave him like some free Agra bond, never been opened, some weed barrier. She just scored like a whole bunch of really cool stuff. Some planters from these people that were moving and they were just like, you can have all this other stuff. So I got fresh Agra bought. So my tip for Agra bond is by a garbage can because like we never really had anywhere to store before. And the other, the old stuff that I bought years ago, it did last longer than I thought it would.

It held up better. But in some places it's re more because like when we weren't using it, it, it just didn't get put away. So I got the fresh Agra bond out this year. So I've covered the kale. I've covered my broccoli. I have some broccoli. So we're going to have some comparisons. I have a lot of experiments going this year, places where like I put chicken fertilizer versus straw or not chicken fertilizer, chicken compost versus our own compost.

Like we bought some chicken compost from some police out of Missoula that these people hauled up to your BRCA. It was $85 a yard, but because we bought three yards of it, Mike put it all over a lot of the mini farm he was able to do. And then I was able to do like the irises that I've never had anything in years. It's going all around our fruit trees down in the orchard. If I ever get time to get down there, all of our bet, a lot of our beds, anywhere that we didn't have a place to put our own personal compost.

Cause we never have enough compost wipe a tomato bed that has our compost and it, to me, the bed that has the chicken poop show, we're going to compare those. And I was able to get the Oregon spring tomatoes from territorial seed that micro Lee lakes. Cause he said they have a shorter harvest or hoping they're to go red. I have 15 Roma tomato plants that I grew from tomato seeds this year that are growing so nicely. I think I'm going to get a lot of Roma tomatoes, making sure they're getting lots of water.

So hopefully I'm not going to have that tomato and rot this year. They've lots of miracles because I put in a ton of miracles. Mike planted the pollinator border around the mini farm this year. So it goes, snapdragons in IAM Marigold. And then there's like a little stretch of basil Snapdragon marigolds in the stretcher. Bazell the Bazell hasn't really germinated. So I don't know what's up with that. I'm going to replant that. Or if it's just slow going or it needs this heat, it's gonna come up.

If I should have grown it in doors, instead of just sprinkling the seed outdoors. But I'm pretty excited about that. But the miracles have the blooming. They're just huge. I can't believe how big our marigolds are, but the snapdragons and the zinnias are just about to start blooming. So I'm about to have a ton of color. Let's see the purple rockets were the first things to bloom the chives. We've had lots of purples here.

Bells are just blooming this week. So these three things are all purples. And then about how some reds and yellows cause of my zinnias, my snapdragons the marigolds are yellow coming on. So the bees are happy. We went and bought bees from where was that guy from? I don't know. I went down to Polson to get 'em and Erica went to Polson and got bees this year. So it's interesting. We both went to Polson and got bees.

Our hive is totally full of honey. Mike said is like overflowing of bees and honey, he just put this against super on. If you follow me on Instagram, I think I posted the picture of him down there the other day, putting the second super on. I don't know. Cause they take all these pictures to post on Instagram and then post to the website and just, I don't know what happens. Like I get in the house and then I'm overwhelmed with like trying to pick which pictures and upload them. And plus like I'm tired and I don't know.

It just seems like I take the pictures, but do they get posted? But I think they did. And then Instagram shares them to Facebook. I still have to go in and show them from the Facebook page to the podcast, the Facebook podcast group, which I haven't been so good about. I've not been on Facebook at all. Barely been on Instagram. So I'm sorry if you're following me on social media, I haven't been in...