Propagating Jasmine

My dad asked me to propagate some jasmine for him.  It had been planted on the arbor of a house they bought a couple of years ago and since I had not heard of yellow flowered jasmine I was not completely confident in his ID of it.  The vines are numerous, evergreen, cold hardy and drough-tolerant, oh and they smell like heaven.  First I wanted to identify it to be sure.

I looked on several websites and confirmed that it was Carolina Jasmine. Other species have white flowers and are less winter hardy so I am pretty sure that the Carolina yellow vining species is what we have growing here in Zone 7. 

• First I got out my rooting hormone powder. 

• Then I removed the petals and leaves from the bottom 2/3 of an 8 inch cutting of NEW vine. 
• The older woody stems will not root as easily as the flexible new growth. 

• Then I wet a few inches at the base of the plant and dipped it into the rooting powder. 

• Here is where the controls for my scientific experiment come in.  What can I say I will always be a science nerd!

I decided to use three different mediums and placements for planting the propagations.

1. I used water with a bit of rooting hormone powder mixed in and placed the vase out of the way on the kitchen counter.  
2. I used a soil starting mixture and put my container in the greenhouse.  
3. I used regular potting mix and placed it in a sunny spot on the windowsill. 

I expect to see some new roots in 4-6 weeks, I will update you then.

Which method do YOU think will work best?

3 Minute Consult: Vertigo in Women

Springtime is upon us, pollen is in the air wreaking havoc on those of us with allergies.  Another common ailment I have been noticing with increasing frequency is vertigo in young, middle and older aged women.  Today I wanted to share some of what I have found and add my own thoughts.

Vertigo attacks occur more frequently in women and can increase with age.  It is a subtype of 'dizziness' categorized by a whirling, spinning sensation.  It affects the vestibular system (inner ear) through altering fluid balance. 

The main type of peripheral vertigo is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.  Symptoms of BPPV include nausea, vomitting, fullness, pain or ringing of the ears, and imbalance.  It is due to calcium carbonate crystals in the inner ear becoming unbalanced.  The crystals can be realigned by a medical professional through the Epley maneuver.  However, crystals can shift again and it would have to be performed again.

This is much more common than central vertigo which is caused by injury occuring in the brain or brainstem ie. stroke, trauma, tumors, multiple sclerosis, migraine headaches and many others.

Since most people experience mild, yet persistent symptoms most folks just treat symptoms as they occur.  The drug of choice for vertigo is meclizine (brand: Antivert).  It is technically an antihistamine like Benadryl or Claritin, but it its claim to fame is its anticholinergic properties.  Meaning it is really, really, really DRYING of all secretions.  Think dry mouth, dry eyes, dry EARS!  It is believed that by decreasing the fluid in the inner ear meclizine renders some benefit.  It also has the added benefit of decreasing nausea and not so great for daytime, but great at night side effect of drowsiness.

So just to be prepared if you notice your vertigo symptoms occur more frequently during certain times of the year or under certain stressors you can pre-medicate to prevent symtoms.  Chlorpheniramine would be a great choice to provide anticholinergic effects without being as sedating as meclizine and is also a great antihistamine.  So if you have seasonal allergies you could also follow this advice for preventing allergy symptoms before they start!

Organic Salad Greens Farm to Table

I had tried to grow lettuce in my raised garden bed in the past, unfortunately without any success.  When my husband bought me a small greenhouse last year I was excited to try extending our growing season so in early February we set it up. 

The lettuce seedlings I had been growing in starter pots was the first to get transplanted out there.  I also transplanted some and sowed some of the same lettuce seeds into the raised garden.  So that I could compare the results, my results surprised me!

Lettuce seedlings started mid January

This is the lettuce not long after transplanting in mid February

I did not keep very good records :(  Whoops!

The lettuce at the end of March, ready for harvest

Greenhouse to table in about 6 weeks

No pesticides, herbicides or fungicides 

Totally organic, even the soil!

What would this salad be worth in the grocery store, I wonder?

Another of the lettuce mix just after transplanting

The lettuce mix today.  It made a beautiful bouquet, but if I had planted it further apart it would have had more room to grow.

The reason I cannot show you the pictures of the seedlings and transplants that I set out in the garden is simple, because the seeds I sewed in the garden never germinated (probably too cold, wet, etc.) and the chickens ate the transplanted lettuce.  Whoops again...

So I have decided that greenhouse lettuce is the way to go.  I think that next year I will try growing out in it more during the winter and sewing seedlings and transplants every two weeks or so for a continued harvest.  That is what makes gardening such fun, there is ALWAYS something new to try!

Grandma's Apple Pie

I was really craving apple pie the other day so I decided to make one using my grandma's recipe.  It was delicious!


Ingredients:

• 6 cups thinly sliced apples (about 4 large)
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Let sit 1 hour to soak.

Spoon mixture into prepared pie crust.  Top with second crust, cut slits in the top.

Bake at 425F for 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is brown.

What came first the chicken or the egg?

I just wanted to give everyone a chicken update.  We had another chick hatch today and we have two left in the incubator still.  We have had great survival rates so far (100%) for hatched out and store bought chicks.  Now we are up to 16 chickens total. 

1 Dominicker rooster

3 Australorpes hens

1 Wyandote hen

1 Rhode Island hen

4 Easter Egger chicks

1 Rhode Island chick

5 mixed breed chicks from hatching

Here they are scratching at our kitchen floor. 

Big difference between 1 Day and 1 WEEK old chicks!

Mama Rem keeping an eye on them.

The best part about having pet chickens. FRESH eggs!  Do you have any idea how old store bought eggs are?  Well neither do I, BUT I do know they aren't "fresh as fresh can be"!  Some studies show organically raised and free range chickens have 4 times lower rates of salmonella than traditional laying farms. 

So ugly, he's cute.  Pretty energetic for being about 6 hours old!

Since it does take supplemental feed to keep our chickens from going hungry because they are not ALWAYS free ranging (just when we are home to supervise) it does cost a little to keep them.  So to offset the costs of feed we have decided to start selling some of our excess eggs.  We will keep a special piggy bank just for chicken expenses.  The money from selling the eggs will go in the bank and the money for feed will come out of it.  At the end of the year we will see how we did!

 

 

 

 

 

Biggers Bed and Breakfast in Hardy, Arkansas

I had the weekend off work and the weather was not going to be permissive for any work outside, so my husband and I decided to take a little weekend getaway for Spring Break.  We stayed at Biggers Bed and Breakfast in Hardy, Arkansas in the relaxing and romantic Shangri La suite.  It is perched on top of a very high bluff and has sweeping views of Spring River below.  On a clear day they say you can see about 9 miles.  We had a jacuzzi, gas fireplace and a balcony with an gorgous view; it was so relaxing we never even turned on the tv.  This morning the fog was really heavy on the river, but as the sun came up I was able to get some really gorgeous pictures even though it was cloudy and cold.

The gazebo.

They also have a restaurant on the property, The Bluff Steakhouse.  We had dinner there last night and my ribeye was so melt-in-your-mouth tender and perfectly cooked I am already craving another one.  They also have a great bar and wonderful cocktails.

From the sunroom, you will have the best table view around.

The pool area, which although we did not test out due to inclement weather, would be so much fun to lounge around on a hot, summer day.

We had a great time and cannot wait to go back!

Frozen Tomato Seedlings, Anyone?

Since usually I get to brag about how well our garden does, I also have to be completely honest here and record my non-successes.  I don't want to gloss over how easy it is to grow your own food from seed because it does take alot of work and care, therefore I must tell you about my first (of many, I'm sure) major gardening failure of 2013.

The COLD SNAP occurred this past Wednesday night, I was caught totally unaware. Thursday morning our thermometer showed 27F and yet it still didn't hit me that I had left the tomato seedlings in the greenhouse.  They had been out there for two weeks looking great and having no problems staying out there overnight when the lows were mid 30s.  Nope, it did not hit me until I checked on the after work and I found this...

:(

Frozen to death, the lettuce still looks great though!

So sad.  I moved them inside immediately, gave them the pep talk of their lives, set them under a heat lamp and slunk into a very bad mood.

All my hard work!  For nothing!

The next day it snowed 5 inches...wait, what?  Wasn't it 80F last weekend?  And wasn't last March the warmest March on record?  And didn't I plant my Roma tomatoes the first of April last year?  Am I not in (Ar)Kansas anymore, Aunt Em? 

And about a day after THAT I finally got over it, trimmed the dead leaves and began a search and rescue mission for survivors.

As I snipped off dead leaves under the grow light, I could still see some bright green leaves hanging on for dear life!  So I sucked it up, repotted the survivors, said my apologies and started replanting. 

I salvaged 14 out of 36.  Geez I feel like the Grim Reaper of tomato plants.

9 Arkansas Travelers

1 Amish Paste

2 Chadwick Cherry

2 Russian Gypsy

Although its not a huge loss I was disappointed by not having enough Amish Paste in particular.  I was planning on counting on them for the majority of my canning tomatoes, so I decided to resow some more seeds.  I do think its fitting though that the variety that best survived (Arkansas Traveler) was cultivated and saved for generations here in Arkansas and it was best suited to survive our manic weather patterns.

I still have plenty of time, I was just hoping to get them to harvesting size before the summer heat decreases their production and I have to fight off the blister beetles and hornworms.

Oh well, I can still make due, but it made me stop and think how lucky we are to not HAVE to depend on our garden to put food on the table.  How much more disappointed I would be if my gardening failures meant no food on the table?  So I will not gripe too much more about my bonehead mistake and I will say a prayer that the gardeners around the world who depend on their harvests will have a bountiful year ahead.