Organic Sustenance

Toma White

2007-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

Remember those tomatillos from last summer? Well, I tried to eat some of them on two different occasions and they gave me the shits. Oh well. I harvested the rest of the little buggers and put them in a cooler to ripen for a couple of months. I was hoping to find a use for them since I hated to see them go to waste. Well, I decided to turn them into wine...and Toma White was born.

Toma White

1.5 lbs tomatillos
1 cup of white grape juice
2.5 lbs of sugar
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 gallon of water
1 orange, juice and zest (no pith)

After the first week of fermentation, I tried a bit as I moved it to a secondary fermentor. It actually tasted good. I little harsh, but good. I was pleasantly surprised, and it should be a lot better once it has fully fermented and mellowed out more.

too much mail?

2007-01-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, you probably get a lot of unwelcomed junk mail. I used to just throw some of it away, and tried to recycle some of it as well. However, I have realized in the last few months that shredded junk mail makes a good mulch or compost filler. Armed with just a standard office shredder, I have been shredding and mixing most of my junk mail in with kitchen scraps in the compost bin. In most cases, this provides a decent green/brown balance that will hopefully keep decomposing over the winter. By next fall I should have some usable compost for the fall garden cleanup.

seasons change...

2006-11-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

The growing season in NH is done now, so I have focused my attention on other things. One thing I have gotten into is wine making. There's a ton of info on the net about this and I have done enough research to have *some* idea what I am doing. I currently have a couple of small mead batches cooking up plus a big carboy full of red wine (on the cheap). Stayed tuned for more on this...

great time of year

2006-10-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

I really love this time of year...the smell of wood burning, the chill in the air, and the brilliant colours of the New Hampshire foliage.

CFL bulbs

2006-09-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

I bought some CFL light bulbs to try out. They were $8 for 4 of them. These were 14 watts bulbs, which are about the same as a 60 watts incandescent bulb. So far so good. We'll see how long they last and if I notice any difference in the power bill.

garden beds part 3

2006-09-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

I have filled in the beds with garden soil, mixed in some compost and finally covered then with a weed blocker and some mulch. They should be good until spring now. The weed blocker will let worms and nature do their work without letting weeds take hold.

raised bed garden part 2

2006-09-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

I placed the two beds in an area that gets pretty much full sun, although the wind can be bad at times. The next step was to pull up the sod and turn it upside down. This will kill the grass and when it decomposes it should help fertilize the soil. This takes more time than you'd think. I also sprinkled some left over peat moss and bone meal on the soil. The next step will be to get some garden soil and fill the beds.

raised bed garden

2006-09-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have started to prepare for next spring's garden. I am going to go with a raised bed, which should allow the plants' roots to get nice and deep (since we have poor soil as well). I opted for two 12' x 4' beds, which were pretty easy to build. Here's a picture of the finished product.

tomatillos

2006-08-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

I found some 'guests' in my garden this year and had to do a little research to find out what they even were. It turns out they are called tomatillos. They likely came from the compost, which is nearby. They are often found in salsa, and I bet that's what was composted. In any case, I'm glad they aren't weeds. I'm looking forward to sampling them soon.

first taste of my own veggies

2006-08-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

I put in a small garden this spring with some peas, beans, carrots and cucumbers. The peas have had a rough time and most of them have died. I'm not sure why. Anyway, I grabbed a bunch of beans the other day and boiled them up with some salt and butter - delicious! Japanese beetles have caused a lot of damage to the bean plants though - I'll be ready for these guys next year. I don't want to use any pesticides if I can help it so this may require some research.

In addition to the garden, I planted some Jerusalem Artichokes I got from my friend Tim and some potatos. These plants have done ok (especially the hardy JAs) and I should get a decent harvest this fall.

composting short film

2006-08-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

I did a short film a couple of years ago about composting and the changing seasons so I thought I'd throw it up here.

container gardening

2006-08-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

In the interest of starting small, I bought a few plastic pots today and plan on planting some things for the fall/winter. I'll keep all these in my office, which has two windows. One is a south-facing window where I'll put the plants that require the most sun and the other is a southwest-facing window that still gets a decent amount of sun. This is a trial run for me, so I expect to make mistakes. So far, I have some herbs (parsley, oregano, catnip, rosemary) and veggies (peas and tomatoes). I don't even really like tomatoes that much but maybe eating my own will make them taste better somehow. Peas, on the other hand, I am a huge fan of. Especially fresh from the pod.

2006-08-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

This blog shall serve as sort of a running list of ideas and links and concepts we come across in our quest to get to living a life more along the lines of how we want to be living. A life less reliant on the normal systems and structures of "normal" society. The title Organic Sustenance is in refernace to creating a life that is more in tune and in line with a natural form of living, being more a part of the cycle of life and nature. Living more harmoneously with our environment, not wasting, and blindly harming the world we live in.

Some general topics we will most likely will focus on, but not limited to will be, alternative energy sources such as solar, wind... being off the grid, alternative home structures such as smaller homes, yurts, cob and straw bail building...., Composting, Recycling, gardening, homesteading..... bicycles, alternative fuels..... and also easy everyday things to incorporate into your routine that can make a big difference, such as recycling, reusing plastic bags etc....

The Paradigm shift

2006-08-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Paradigm shift has begun.