July 15 or 22, 9:30-12 – Financial Security Advice (location TBA)
August – Canning using the cannery equipment. If we bring it here we can can anything we would like as long as it isn’t liquid. (Anyone who is interested needs to contact Christine Francis by the end of June so we can reserve the equipment.)
September 16 , 9:30-12 – Native plant tour (location TBA)
October 14, 9:30-12, at Amy Rippy’s – Canning demonstrations (bottling) Meats, fruits and vegetables
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June Gardening
(from Pat Welsh’s Southern California Gardening a Month to Month Guide)
Do the last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop has occurred. The trees naturally drop an overload of fruit but there might be more to do. Clean up the fallen fruit before it rots and spreads disease. (If it isn’t rotten, chop and add to compost pile.)
Pick outside leaves of lettuce. Pick beans (not early in the day when the dew is on, because doing so can spread rust and mildew) and summer squash daily while still small, but pick tomatoes when fully ripe.
If you didn’t side-dress the rows with fertilizer last month, do it now. Most crops need additional nitrogen at some point during the growing season except beans (unless they show signs of distress). Too much nitrogen for beans prevents them from bearing. Corn needs additional nitrogen and plenty of water when they start to tassel out. The best time to side-dress tomatoes with additional nitrogen is when they start to bloom.
Water regularly and deeply.
It’s not to late to put in seeds – you will just harvest later. (Corn, cucumbers, green beans, lima beans, leaf lettuce, okra, peppers, pumpkins, New Zealand spinach, summer squash, winter squash, melons, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, radishes, turnips and tomatoes.)
Heat lovers such as eggplant , peppers and tomatoes do well and grow rapidly when put in from transplants this month.
Pest control – continue to release beneficial insects and arachnids. (Identify in a book like Starcher’s Good Bugs for Your Gardens) Wash off aphids with soapy water. Handpick large bugs and beetles. Mint, (which is very invasive – try planting it in a 1-gal. can to keep them contained) basil and dill are said to protect tomatoes from hornworm. Marigolds as well as other herbs are also very good to combat pests. Plant them near and in your garden beds.
Clip runners from your strawberry plants. Keep the ground deeply mulched with pine needles or straw. Sprinkle bait under organic and plastic mulches against sowbugs, snails, and slugs. Don’t let the plants go dry now, or fruiting will stop.
Do the last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop has occurred. The trees naturally drop an overload of fruit but there might be more to do. Clean up the fallen fruit before it rots and spreads disease. (If it isn’t rotten, chop and add to compost pile.)
Pick outside leaves of lettuce. Pick beans (not early in the day when the dew is on, because doing so can spread rust and mildew) and summer squash daily while still small, but pick tomatoes when fully ripe.
If you didn’t side-dress the rows with fertilizer last month, do it now. Most crops need additional nitrogen at some point during the growing season except beans (unless they show signs of distress). Too much nitrogen for beans prevents them from bearing. Corn needs additional nitrogen and plenty of water when they start to tassel out. The best time to side-dress tomatoes with additional nitrogen is when they start to bloom.
Water regularly and deeply.
It’s not to late to put in seeds – you will just harvest later. (Corn, cucumbers, green beans, lima beans, leaf lettuce, okra, peppers, pumpkins, New Zealand spinach, summer squash, winter squash, melons, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, radishes, turnips and tomatoes.)
Heat lovers such as eggplant , peppers and tomatoes do well and grow rapidly when put in from transplants this month.
Pest control – continue to release beneficial insects and arachnids. (Identify in a book like Starcher’s Good Bugs for Your Gardens) Wash off aphids with soapy water. Handpick large bugs and beetles. Mint, (which is very invasive – try planting it in a 1-gal. can to keep them contained) basil and dill are said to protect tomatoes from hornworm. Marigolds as well as other herbs are also very good to combat pests. Plant them near and in your garden beds.
Clip runners from your strawberry plants. Keep the ground deeply mulched with pine needles or straw. Sprinkle bait under organic and plastic mulches against sowbugs, snails, and slugs. Don’t let the plants go dry now, or fruiting will stop.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Additional Notes for Alternative Cooking Demonstration
1. CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Training: This free training originated from the police, fire, medical, etc. teams being overwhelmed in a recent fire. The communities are training citizen voluteers to be available to help in a future emergency. They teach (basic medical, search/rescue, how to safely enter buildings, triage, organize people, etc.). You get a vest, a hat and a card that gives you access to areas otherwise blocked off. Jean, my friend from Vista raved about the training she is getting by doing this. If you are interested in getting this training you will want to apply soon for the CERT Training. See more information at:
If you live in San Diego City, they are now taking applications for the next class in October (6 weeks of classes):
http://www.sandiego.gov/fireandems/cert/classes.shtml
If you live in San Diego County, not in San Diego City (ie., Del Mar, Solana Beach, unincorporated areas, etc.), each city has their own arrangement. Del Mar and Solana Beach team up for a 4 week training. Call the contact for your city from the website below to find out more info and to put your name on the list:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/community/oes_jl_CERT.html .
2. To get rid of gophers: Ace Hardware has the "Underground Exterminator" for $17.99. See at: http://www.acehardware.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=gopher&origkw=gopher&sr=1
This is a rubber coupling that takes the carbon monoxide from your car, through your garden hose and into their tunnels. It humanely puts them to sleep, including those in the nest and they don't see/smell it coming. All the other methods I have seen are about a 50% kill rate since you have to get them into a trap, eat the poison or be near the bomb to work. I haven't tried it yet because my gopher went to my neighbor's yard, but I have it handy for the next time. It has gotten 5 star reviews on the internet.
3. Mickie Cross demonstrated a dehydrator. It is available at Walmart (ship to store) for $44.88:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1120727
If you live in San Diego City, they are now taking applications for the next class in October (6 weeks of classes):
http://www.sandiego.gov/fireandems/cert/classes.shtml
If you live in San Diego County, not in San Diego City (ie., Del Mar, Solana Beach, unincorporated areas, etc.), each city has their own arrangement. Del Mar and Solana Beach team up for a 4 week training. Call the contact for your city from the website below to find out more info and to put your name on the list:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/community/oes_jl_CERT.html .
2. To get rid of gophers: Ace Hardware has the "Underground Exterminator" for $17.99. See at: http://www.acehardware.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=gopher&origkw=gopher&sr=1
This is a rubber coupling that takes the carbon monoxide from your car, through your garden hose and into their tunnels. It humanely puts them to sleep, including those in the nest and they don't see/smell it coming. All the other methods I have seen are about a 50% kill rate since you have to get them into a trap, eat the poison or be near the bomb to work. I haven't tried it yet because my gopher went to my neighbor's yard, but I have it handy for the next time. It has gotten 5 star reviews on the internet.
3. Mickie Cross demonstrated a dehydrator. It is available at Walmart (ship to store) for $44.88:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1120727
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Alternative Cooking demonstrations
Here’s what I heard at our Provident Living Group meeting today (June 10, 2009):
To combat the rats, mice, moles, rabbits that destroy gardens, fruit on the fruit trees and get in your homes -
.When planting fruit trees place “Gopher Cages” in the bottom of the hole before you put the tree in and backfill. This will take care of gopher problems.
.Place “hardware cloth” 2’ high in a circle around the trees. This will take care of bunny problems.
.Place “hardware cloth” in the bottom of raised beds stapling up the inside of the beds (or outside) before you add your soil. This takes care of gophers for 5-7 years. (After that you need to empty your beds and do it again.)
.Ace hardware sells a product called “The exterminator” (Nancy will verify this). It is a fitting for your car exhaust pipe that attaches to a hose up to 300’. Place the other end of the hose into a mole hole (If the hole is exposed it is actually an abandoned hole – you must find a lump of dirt and dig around to find where the currently used hole is). Run the car for about 30 min. This will gas out all the tunnels and kill the moles and their young.
.A rat skull can compress to about an inch in diameter. To keep them from climbing into your house through small openings, plug up the entry with steel wool.
.To rid your garden of rats/mice build a tube with 3” in diameter PVC pipe. Fit two sides together on either end of a “clean-out” center (it is essentially a hole to allow you to pour the poison pellets into). You then fill the pipes with about two cups of PCQ (purchase a 12 lb. bag at Grandjettos in Encinitas). You will need to check the pellets every day to see if you need to refill. This poison causes internal bleeding and takes about 7 days of continuous feeding for the rodents to die.
.Rabbit problems? If anyone has any suggestions on how to eliminate rabbits, I would personally love to know! We have tried every thing any website has suggested and nothing takes care of the amount of rabbits we have on our lawn each day. (Human hair will be drug off for some birds nest. Human, coyote, and bobcat urine gets washed away with sprinklers or rain. We’ve also tried pepper, chili powder and paprika.) I know not having any bushes where they can hide all day is your best bet.
Now on to our demonstrations –
Thanks to Mickey Cross for demonstrating solar oven cooking and dehydrating. Thanks to Jan Smoot for demonstrating dutch oven cooking. The best thing for me was to realize all those things are fairly easily done, giving me courage to put my own hand to all those things. All the food was fabulous!
I have some hand-outs on using your solar oven, dutch ovens and a dehydrator. I will be glad to share with anyone who wants a copy. These particular cooking alternatives come with their own directions which will educate you on how to use them correctly.
Here is a great source for emergency preparedness items: Emergency Essentials www.BePrepared.com/store (I’m going to get some 72-hour kits for my kids that live away for Christmas. They are currently on sale.)
Nancy brought up the subject of CERT training. (I think that stands for Certified Emergency Response Team). The City of San Diego is providing free training. She will let you know that information.
Sherrie Wall is leading the way and has purchased a great 8’ X 8’ raised garden. She’s researched the best price for this great garden system with a gate and it’s really attractive as well. She found it at Leisure Time Products Inc. for under $600. Call 800-765-4138 for more information. (It took me $500 to form my own beds which aren’t anywhere near as nice looking or as practical.)
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