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~ permaculturist + master gardener

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Tag Archives: spring

love tip #12: spring wild edibles and medicinals

06 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in love tips

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Bloodwort, Columbine, Eastern Redbud, edible, forest, gardening, herbal, love tip, medicinal, permaculture, spring, sustainability, Trillium, woods

It is so important to know what is already growing nearby!

I’ve been busy combing my woods lately and I’ve found many new edibles and herbals/medicinals.  These are all early spring/spring bloomers.

Bloodwort/Bloodroot

Bloodwort/Bloodroot

Bloodroot/Bloodwort — (Caution: Bloodroot must be used with extreme caution and under professional care!)  Medicinal uses: mainly for bronchial problems and severe throat infections, pharma uses mixed with other compounds to treat heart problems, treating migraines, and in dental uses.  The paste is used externally for skin diseases/cancer, warts, tumors and ringworms.  The root has many uses as a dye and anesthetic/expectorant.

Trillium

Trillium

Trillium — The young unfolding leaves are edible raw or cooked as a pot herb.  The root has many medicinal uses as an antiseptic, diuretic, and ophthalmic and can be boiled, grated, and/or made into a poultice for external use on the eyes to reduce swelling or to reduce joint aches and inflammation.

 

 

Dragonfly Columbine

Dragonfly Columbine

Columbine — A flower that is both beautiful and edible.  The flowers are high in nectar and therefore can have a hint of sweetness.  The roots are used to stop diarrhea and the flowers and seeds are used for the liver, jaundice, and kidney stones.  Leaves are used for aches and mouth/throat sores as lotions.

 

 

cropped-dsc02317-2.jpg

Eastern Redbud

Eastern Redbud Tree — Another pretty flower that is also edible raw or pickled while also rich in vitamin C; buds can be used as a caper.  The inner bark can be made into a tea creating strong astringent.  Redbuds are also used to treat fevers, diarrhea, dysentery, whooping cough and congestion.

 

Please remember to use home remedies with caution, and to always ensue proper identification.  The information here in no way substitutes professional advice for ailments and/or use of the plants listed!


 

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Spring chores …

18 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in in the gardens

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chicks, container, dogs, fence, flowers, free range, gardening, kichen, porch, rabbit, spring, transplanting, vegetables, work

… find me busy at work in my gardens and woods.  Putting up fences, building new planting mounds, and transplanting volunteers that need divided or are just growing in the wrong places!

These are three plants needing division because they are crowding themselves.  (The hostas in the middle were divided last year but need moved out from the house also.)

Sedum, Autumn Joy
Sedum, Autumn Joy
Hostas
Ornamental Grass

The ornamental grasses are best burned down in the spring but this large one is right next to an evergreen pine so I have to use pruners on it.

Fence going up at back patio.Fencing is going up around the back patio for the safety of two groups of animals.  I have many stray dogs on my property and they are not all friendly to my dogs.  I’m also brooding chicks and they will be free ranged.  Since I’m not sure how my dogs will behave with them, the fence works two-fold.  (One dog is a little terrier that gets too excited and the other is a Labrador puppy mix that doesn’t know her own strength yet.)  The fence is lined on the inside with rabbit fencing.

Container kitchen garden and strawberries
Shade mixes for my front porch

I also have some front porch pretties and a new container kitchen garden that I bring into my sunroom in the winter.

Tulip Poplar for transplanting

And one last little transplant that I love!  I had many volunteer Tulip Trees (Poplars) in my flower/veggie gardens last year.  In the one year they grew beautifully and now I’m sharing them with friends and moving them to an open field to create some shade areas.

Hope your spring is looking as bountiful!

 

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teaching in the spring!

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in Uncategorized

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flowers, forest garden, gardening, Good Earth Master Gardeners, Indiana, Miss Dusty's Impartation, permaculture, Purdue Master Gardener, Salem Homeschool Academy, spring, summer, teaching, vegetables, Washington County

I’ll be teaching a 9-week gardening course in the Spring!  Info for the course is from my teaching blog, Miss Dusty’s Impartation …

Gardening Course (ALL proceeds to charity!)

NEW!!!  With permission from the Purdue Extension Office, I will be teaching this course with all proceeds going to charity!  Fees for the course will be split 50/50 between Salem Homeschool Academy and Good Earth Master Gardeners (a Purdue University Master Gardener Program) of Washington County, Indiana.  So come out and support great local charities while improving on your own green thumb!

Offering Spring 2015!  Explore the basics of gardening and horticulture with a focus on Indiana climates.  Learn plant basics, soils, plant identification, fertilization and composting, propagation, diseases, pests, and how to create gardens, and even forest gardens, while promoting sustainability and permanence.  Students will be able to participate in hands-on learning labs culminating with an end-of-course field trip.

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first bloom of 2014

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in Uncategorized

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2014, birds, bloom, first, green, leaves, robins, snow, spring, winner

The first bloom of 2014 came to life yesterday.  And, although there is green popping up everywhere under the leaves and snow, this little one is the winner!

first bloom 2014

Not to top that, but the Robins arrived also!

Robin
Robin

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delving into hugelkultur

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in Uncategorized

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compost, easy steps, garbage, gardening, hugelkultur, kitchen compost, manure, Mother Nature, permaculture, plantable, recycle, shredded newspaper, soil, spring, zero waste

***Update July 2014!  The ugly box to this beautiful hugelkultur planter!  The soil has sunken about 18″.  I plan to add my summer compost, a layer of soil and then top with straw for the winter.  I also have to reinforce the sides.  I get about five huge cucumbers a week from these 3 plants and there really are strawberry plants in there also (peeking out the slats.)  I trim the leaves about once a week but the growth is insane.  ALL ORGANIC, NO PESTICIDES OF ANY KIND, not even ‘organically approved’ pest repellants.  There are red ants that I have to fight with on one corner and a few chewed leaves, but nothing that has affected production.

one of the many cucumbers
one of the many cucumbers
Cucumbers with strawberries
Cucumbers with strawberries

Original post:

The minute I read about hugelkultur gardening, I knew that I had the perfect location ready and waiting to be developed.

When we moved to our home last year we decided to get as close to zero waste as possible.  The first step was finding out the recycling rules for our county and not setting up regular garbage pickup, thus forcing us to get back into the strong habit of analyzing every bit of product packaging coming into our home.

'recycled' garbage bin with the first hugelkultur layers

‘recycled’ garbage can bin with the first hugelkultur layers

For us, this meant that the ready-built garbage can bin no longer had a job.  We took the plastic trash cans and placed them in our sunroom with liners to collect plastic and cardboard recycling, leaving the outside bin empty and a bit of an eyesore.

But, being ever the gardener, I hoped to find a way grow vines around it without it collapsing in, and although most often in an open mound, the hugelkultur became the perfect solution.  And with spring looming, I had to get on the job so that the mound will have the requisite two months to settle before planting.

6 easy steps

step 1, a layer of logs and branches topped with leaf layer

step 1, a layer of logs and fallen branches topped with leaves

step 2, shredded newspaper added to rough compost

step 2, shredded newspaper added to rough compost (an easy way to double compost)

step 3, bin to barrow

step 3, bin to barrow

step 4, adding the compost layer with an extra layer of flat newspaper to disparage the racoons

step 4, compost layer with an extra layer of flat newspaper to disparage the raccoons

step 5, final leaf layer

step 5, final leaf layer

step 6, adding a soil layer

step 6, adding a soil layer (straw can be added to help hold the soil on open mounds)

While the steps can vary, I chose to use my winter kitchen scraps as compost and leaves from last fall that had already begun breaking down.  Another option is manure with–or instead of–compost or soil, whatever is readily available to you.

The key is to place larger items like logs on the bottom with smaller, plantable soil on top and after relatively little work, you are composting without the need to flip and turn and worry about temperatures.  Mother Nature will do all the work for you, and you get to grow crops during the process!

Promises to update with pictures at planting time!  Maybe clematis and strawberries?

Now, where am I going to put the asparagus …

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love tip #2: kitchen composting

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Dusty Lynn Baker in love tips

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bin, biodegradable bag liners, charcoal filter, compost, compost pit, crock, garden, kitchen composting, outdoors, permie love, scraps, spring, sub-freezing, winter

Composting is a breeze when you have the right tools, but in the winter season many people neglect composting their kitchen scraps so as not to deal with the frozen earth.  Since I just moved onto my property in October and winter hit extremely early and hard, I don’t yet have a larger, outdoor open compost pit.

Instead, I bought a composting drum to use over winter for storing my kitchen compost which I will then transfer to a pit style compost pile in the spring.  To make it even easier for me, I moved it onto the back patio for winter since the frozen temps (and choosing the right scraps) will keep any smells at bay.

Rotating compost bin (both ends open)

Rotating compost bin (both ends can be opened)

Today we were lucky enough to get up to 35 degrees for the first time after weeks of sub-freezing temps and single-digit nights, so I was able to get the bin open and add a couple of bags of scraps.  (I keep them naturally frozen in my unheated garage when I can’t get the bin open!)  With the extreme temperatures and the bin being only about 1/2 full, there is still enough heat to keep the ice melted under the bin which means the process is working–even in winter!

My kitchen scraps

My kitchen scraps

Inside my kitchen, I use a kitchen composting crock with biodegradable bag liners (much better than cleaning out chunks!) and charcoal filters.  The crock works wonders while also looking nice on the counter and we have never been able to smell the contents, even when standing directly next to it.

So if you aren’t already, save those scraps!  You can feed much of it to the chickens, hogs or goats, or you can save it for the garden compost pile.

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