Straw Bale Gardening

Springtime means gardening for many people, myself  included.  There was a time when every spring meant  the planting of a  vegetable garden  that  would entail the use of a tractor with plows, harrows, hillers, seeders and  then rakes,  hoes and many hours of weeding.  It gave us all the vegetables we ever needed and more.

On my return to the workforce full time the vegetable garden became a thing of the past.  There was no longer time to spend working the soil and keeping the weeds at bay.  In time flowers satisfied the gardening itch when I discovered how a perennial bed once well established would need minimal care with maximum reward.  

I still missed the just-picked taste of a tomato, pepper, or carrot though, so I have been thinking and reading  a lot lately about alternative ways of vegetable gardening . I wanted to find some way to have a garden without the intensive ground preparation and maintenance of years before. There are lots of options, from container gardening to raised beds but one method caught my eye – straw bale gardening.

I had never heard about it before and came across an article on the internet that explained how one could have a garden without having to prepare any ground at all.  In a nutshell, the straw bales are conditioned with water and fertilizer until the inner portion begins to compost.  At this point you can make small indentations and plant seedlings or spread a layer of potting soil and plant seeds on top.  Slowly, over the season, the bale will continue to compost and the plants continue to grown inside with weeding not being needed.  Just type “straw bale gardening”  in your browser  and  several websites come up that explain the concept  - for example, this one.

 The library also had a book on the subject, and after reading that I have decided that this method is worth a try.  I have just purchased the bales and look forward to this experiment.   Gardening  is a hobby that I think makes me a happier person,  so hopefully I will be able to report success this fall but even if it doesn’t turn out as advertised I will have had fun playing the growing game. 

Patricia Milner, Head of Reference Services

Preserving the Harvest

Remember how exciting it was to prepare the soil and plant seeds and seedling just a few weeks ago? Look what has happened since! Your garden is full of vegetables waiting to be harvested. And so many at the same time. It’s OK. The library has a fantastic collection of preserving and harvesting books to get you started.

I grew up in Toronto, and had absolutely no experience in preserving food and will never forget the first time my husband and I made our first jam in our rural Vancouver Island home. A well- meaning friend arrived with a basket overflowing with plums. They were delicious, but the intent was to make jam. We sterilized equipment, found the perfect recipe, measured the ingredients carefully and created the most wonderful tasting jam. We were hooked. One thing led to another and before we realized it we were preserving vegetables from our garden, fruit from our orchard, homegrown meat and fish, honey from our bees. Our children learned to appreciate homegrown food at all times of the year. Making apple rings and applesauce together was always a happy day. Learning the proper techniques for freezing fruits and vegetables has been successful. I have been making the same recipe of dill pickles for 30 years now, and a family supper isn’t complete without them. I dehydrate most herbs, some tomatoes and some fruit. My children still prefer canned peaches though. My personal favorite is making fresh tomato sauce and pesto. Both of these flavors make me very thankful during our long winter months. 

From my experience it is good to start with small batches of a recipe.  The book Food in jars :

preserving in small batches year-round and The complete preserving book are wonderful for beginners. It is better to start with a small batch that is enjoyed rather than one your family refuses to eat. Read many preserving books, and choose a recipe with ingredients you can find locally. Local farmers have wonderful products and will help you get the fresh ingredients you need. 

Perhaps root cellaring appeals to you. Try reading the book The complete root cellar book : building plans, uses and 100 recipes. Preserving the abundance can be very rewarding. With so many tried and true recipes, it is possible to begin with a successful preserving product.  And if you would like some great information on planting food for harvest, get inspired with the book Backyard harvest.  Have fun preserving the colours, textures, tastes and smells that celebrate this time of year.

Wendy Kearnes – Outreach Services Manager

Backyard Homesteading

This time of year is often highly anticipated for those of us that live on acreage in rural Nova Scotia. The cold winter months are behind us, and the water buckets have thawed. These are days that you have planned and prepared for. Baby animals are arriving! Hens are sitting on hidden eggs and emerging with chicks. Lambs are being born in the sunshine in the middle of a green field. Birds are collecting nesting material. The seeds you started are sprouting.

                                  

 I didn’t grow up on a farm. When I moved to the country and decided to start raising animals, I read many wonderful books on backyard homesteading. It was a fascinating learning about different types of fencing, housing and nutrition prior to bringing animals home. There are so

many varieties of chickens, but which one would best suit your needs? Are you raising animals for food? Where do you buy your first calf? Do you want to make cheese? Maybe you would like to learn to spin wool produced by your sheep!  The Annapolis Valley Regional Library has many wonderful books to help you get started.  You can browse our online catalogue and place holds on items of interest, or visit your local branch and talk to our staff about what you are looking for.            

                                                

Raising your own animals can be very rewarding. My family has enjoyed eating homegrown meat and eggs. I learned the joy of making cheese and yogurt, and spin wool and knit with the yarn produced by my sheep. Over the years we have raised pigs, calves, chickens, ducks, geese, goats and sheep. There is nothing more exciting than opening the barn door in the morning and finding a new and healthy baby. In the beginning we all make mistakes. I learned which animals are best suited for my farm and lifestyle, and that proper fencing really is important. Start by reading about your farming adventure. Talk to friends and neighbors who do farm.

Then roll up your sleeves, put on your rubber boots and get some hands-on experience. You can do it!

Wendy Kearnes

Outreach Services Manager

Starting Seeds

Where have all the flowers gone   

Long time passing

Where have all the flowers gone

long time ago..

For some reason I have had this song stuck in my head the past couple of weeks. Maybe it was something I read, or maybe it=s that time of year. Time to put the cold dark months of winter behind us and start thinking about all those beautiful flowers and veggies that will adorn our gardens for the next several months and well into fall.

It=s time for myself and many others to start those many seeds that we either saved from last year's crops, bought online or in-store, or that were passed on from friends. It=s not hard or very time consuming. A little goes a long way and the diversity is endless.

One of the best parts of my Spring is seeing the first seedlings popping out of the soil, reaching for the sky, (albeit through my picture window for the first few weeks). I always start too many, but that is part of the fun. You aren't limited to your choices and sharing the bounty with family and friend is always a bonus.

Flower, fruit, or vegetable? Watching your gardens come to life with plants you nurtured from seed is well worth the effort. If you need some tips check out our gardening section at your local library, that=s 635 in the non-fiction section. You=ll find plenty of great books with lots of helpful tips, like this one: Mini farming : self-sufficiency on a 1/4acre by Brett Markham, or Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole Turner. Do a search for "gardening" on our catalog online for plenty of great books!

I=ve been going through my seed packets and planning this year's crops. Happy gardening!! I CAN=T WAIT!! GONNA GET MY HANDS DIRTY!!

Tim Jackson has been starting and sharing plants for more than 20 years. He works in Technical Services here at Library Headquarters.

Gardening! Flowers vs. Vegetables

Well, Spring is finally here! The time of year when many of our thoughts turn to the garden. Nothing heralds in the season like seed catalogues, plant sales, new tools, and a sunny warm day.

My first love was the vegetable garden.  The excitement of planning out the year's harvest, waiting for that last full moon so that frost wouldn't kill my tender plants - that feeling never grows old.  Which variety of potato or carrot would we try this time?  Remembering to back off on the turnips so we won't be over-run at harvest time.  Recalling the taste of new peas right off the vine.

Growing your own food is a rewarding project for anyone, from the experienced to the novice.  With so much awareness of what is in our food and the local food movement growing every year it's no surprise that vegetable gardening is becoming a must-try for every household.  Whether you plant in containers, raised beds or full size gardens, being able to watch something go from seed to table is an amazing reward.

When I first joined the library system I came in contact with a different kind of gardening.  Flower gardening was the favourite pastime for many of my fellow library employees, with supporters of both perennials and annuals. This gave me a well rounded introduction to this type of gardening. After lots of advice and starter plants it was not long before I became a convert to the flower garden as well.

To sink your hands into the earth and create beautiful landscapes that are pleasing to the eye and soothing to the soul is an experience like no other. You can stroll through your garden and watch as each week something else comes into bloom, colour and scent changing the picture over and over again. The same principle applies:  you can plant in containers, raised beds or full sized gardens with flowers too.

So think about gardening. Feed your mind with flowers and feed your body with vegetables.  Gardening is the ultimate hobby.  Young or old, big or small, anyone can garden. Whether you just pot a couple of geraniums for your patio or plant an acre of potatoes you will be better off for it.    

For tips and ideas check out our catalogue for books like this

Grow cook eat : a food lover's guide to vegetable gardening

Gardener's color palette : paint your garden with 100 extraordinary flowerchoices

 Dig in -- 

Patricia Milner, Head of Reference Services