First Snow of the Season – Be Prepared

OK – so I’m exaggerating a little. When I got up this morning there were only a few flakes coming down and its too warm for them to stick. The effect, however, is enough to get me to thinking about the sort of winter we will have this year. The weather service is using the catch all word ‘variable’ to describe what we can expect. Sounds like a copout to me. Why can’t they just say, ‘We have no clue?’

Whatever the outcome, it’s a good idea to make sure your vehicle(s) are well stocked and prepared for inclement weather. As a matter of course, make sure to check your tires and battery before the advent of really cold temps. These are the two most often experienced problems that motorists have this time of year. Also, if you live in a rural area, make sure to put together a little survival kit in case you get stuck somewhere far from home. Key items would be a fully charged cell phone, candles to help keep warm, food, a good thermal blanket, a whistle and flares. This stuff is a pain to cart around, but if you’ve ever gotten stuck far from home on a dark night as I have, it can really save your bacon.

Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans

Kentucky Pole beans have been around for quite a while. 'Kentucky Wonder' was first introduced in 1877 by Ferry-Morse Seed Company and is still a very popular variety today. I grow them mainly because I like the taste even if they are more susceptible to disease and pests. This is because, unlike bush beans, they are in the garden for a longer period of time. They sell online for about $2.65 for a two ounce package or about 160 beans. That makes the per bean cost about one and a half cents each. That’s pretty expensive if you consider that the average home gardener my only plant twenty seeds or so per season. By the following season, germination rates and therefore seed viability will not be as good. Many go ahead and buy new seed each year. Alternatively, you can prolong the ‘freshness’ factor by keeping them in a sealed container in the refrigerator during the off season. Another way to save on these and all seeds, for that matter, would be to go in with friends who also have a garden and share the costs. By far the best way to save, when it is feasible, is to let some of the pods or fruit go ahead and mature on the vine towards the end of the season. Beans are great sports for this type of treatment. You just leave them on the vine and let them dry out. By October or so, you can go out and harvest them easily. The picture I have published in this blog were harvest this date from the few remaining vines out in my garden. Even though the pods were few, I got over 60 beans that will be stored over winter. Come this spring, about 20 or so will go into production. I plan offer any excess seeds to local gardeners to trade for seeds I might not have. That’s also another good reason to keep track of people who like to garden in your immediate area. You can trade seeds to you hearts content.

Drivers Be Careful Who you Follow!

Avian flu aficionados. Here’s something new to worry about. Apparently cars driving behind trucks carrying chickens to the slaughterhouse were found to be teeming with poultry bacteria…

Next time you’ve just cruised down the interstate behind a truck full of chickens or Thanksgiving turkeys, you just might want to wash your car. This, because a study led by a team of Johns Hopkins scientists finds that tailgating such feathered cargo can significantly increase your exposure to poultry-borne bacteria. A report was posted in the premier issue of "The Journal of Infection and Public Health," which will publish research on the epidemiology, prevention and control of infectious disease.

In the study, test cars followed poultry trucks as they traveled from farm to slaughterhouse. After these road trips, researchers discovered that the interiors of cars that had their windows down were teeming with a wide variety of bacteria. And many of the bacteria were strains known to be resistant to several common antibiotics. In this age of avian influenza and antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs,’ scientists are exploring all possible pathways of disease between humans and animals. This case shows just one way to keep from being exposed to pathogens that can cause you harm. This article was gleamed from Scientific American.

Empire District Park in Forsyth Missouri

I decided to take some time off today and hang out in local park here in Forsyth Missouri. It's called empire Park by the locals and comprises a large area of manicured lawns next to Taneycomo Dam where some of the best trout fishing in the United States can be had. This is because the water is really cold. It comes down strezm from the base of Table Rock dam by Branson and feels like it is freezing. I guess the fish like it, however. Personally, I like to come down to walk on the well maintained concrete path that cuts throught the middle of the park. alsong the way there are benches to rest on or you can just find yourself a nice patch of grass and watch the boats go back and forth. Scttered strategically around are picnic tables, some of which are covered. There are also restrooms, boat launch areas and plenty of good spots to fish from shore if you want. At this time of year (November), we still get fdays that see 60F or better. The park on such days is lees crowded and affords anyone a chance to get out to commune with nature. did I mention there are a lot of ducks here also. I counted over 60 during my walk earlier today. So, if you live nearby and have some spare time, please come on out and enjoy! You can view a video on this topic at 'Empire District video'.

A Branson Pot Luck Thanksgiving Lunch

Thanksgiving fareThis past Tuesday, November 25th, agents and their brokers at the Carol Jones Annex in Branson Missouri held a potluck Thanksgiving lunch that was very good. During the event, the mood was upbeat and happy as we dined on succulent and diverse dishes brought in by many of the agents and brokers. It was a smorgasbord par excellent and I was amazed at the diversity. Even in challenging financial times, I think we are all very grateful to live in a country like America and to have the great fortune to be involved in the real estate profession. But I digress.

The food offered for my inspection included all manner of side dishes that complimented the main offerin of turkey. In addition, my personal diet notwithstanding, there was a plethora of pies (some homemade) to tempt even the most discerning taste buds. My hat goes off to all who attended and especially to those who made the time to bring such great food for all to share.

FS Chili Recipe

The FS stand for Fast Slow, which is what this chili is all about. It goes together fast and easy, but takes seven plus hours to cook. That’s because this is a crock pot dish.

Ingredients:

1 lb beef stew meat, chopped into small pcs.

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 6 oz can tomato sauce

1 15 oz. can Red Kidney beans, drained

½ bell pepper, chopped

½ large onion, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

1 pkg Chili mix

Directions:

Set a small or 2 ½ quart crock pot to low.

Place the beef into a freezer for about twenty minutes to firm up the flesh. This will make cutting it into small pieces easier. Remove from the freezer, separate and cut into small pieces. All meat to warm to room temperature then place in a frying pan to which a tsp of olive oil has been added. Cook for a few minutes over medium high heat, stirring enough to brown the meat evenly on all sides. Drain and add to the crock pot.

Chop up the onion and bell pepper into small pieces and add these along with the other ingredients (not the Kidney beans) to the crock pot. Cover and cook for about seven hours. About thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, rinse and add the kidney beans. Serves 6.

Cooks Notes:

A couple of things to know. One I used a commercial chili mix (in my case McCormick’s Original Chili) because I wanted to keep the preparation simple and fast. Second, the chili is going to look really dark and red when you serve it. Almost like BBQ sauce with lumps. Don’t let this bother you, however, it is a very good tasting blend.

Cold Frame construction - Using 2x4's

In response to numerous requests (actually only 2), I wanted to clear the record on what you need when building a cold frame. Actually any materials will do. I’ve seen cold frames made out of plastic, wood, concrete and blocks of soil. Any material that will; act as a thermal barrier, can be tilted to face south and has a lid that admits light will work. I built mine out of 2x4’s as I had a pile of them lying around so the price was right.

I built the frame by working from the top down. That is I started by measuring an old window frame I scored from a friend, measured it and then cut four pieces of lumber to creat a frame. I then too another piece of lumber and four ‘legs’. Two measured 14 inches and two 9 inches. There were nailed to the four corner of the frame to which were added more lengths of wood until I have a box that measured about a foot and a half

deep. There was no bottom to this box. I merely dug a hole in the ground that was also slanted back to front. I then layered in a sheet of weed blocking material, placed the frame over it and then affixed the window sash to the top with the aid of two hinges. During the construction, I used about forty galvanized nails which cost me a few dollars at the local hardware store. Other than that and the labor, the cost to build was nothing. My only other cost was involved in purchasing three cubic feet of potting soil. I used Miracle Gro for CF#1 and Scott's Premium potting mix for the second one. Both are good. You can use whatever soil you choose, just make sure it is weed free.

Cold Frame Plants

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update on cold frame #1 (CF1). I have romaine lettuce, spinach and radishes growing here. As you can see by the picture of a spinach plant, the plants are getting bigger. Growth is not as fast as in the summer, but in view of the below normal temperatures we have had lately (daily temps in the 50’s and nightly in the 20’s) here in southwest Missouri, I am happy they are surviving at all. For added protection, I have made sure to place covers over the frames and even have rigged up two 40 watt light sources to help keep the internal temps in the high 40’s even when it has gotten as low as 24F.

The cooler growing environment is resulting in slower growth. That’s a given. What interests me, however, is the overall effect slow growth will have on the morphology of the mature plants. I do know that in very warm conditions, plants like lettuce and spinach will have a tendency to bolt. Bolting is very common in plants like these when they begin to form flowers and seeds in response to stresses like too much drought, light and heat. I am making sure to give my plants about an inch of water per week, light in the late fall and winter is now as severe and they are definitely not getting over heated. Even under full sun, with the lids closed, I am lucky to see internal temps in the mid 60’s. So when can I expect my first harvest? Perhaps sometime in late December. That’s my best guess at this point.

Internal cold Frame Temperature Data

After having constructed two identical cold frames and then planting vegetables in them. I began to think about what might happen if it got really cold this winter. I know that most lettuces and many cole crops (Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards, and kohlrabi) can survive brief bouts of freezing temperatures. What would happen, I wondered, if it got really cold out there. To that end, I decided to place two wireless 900 MHz temperature sensors into both cold frames just to monitor what was going on.

As luck would have it, last night it did get into the 20’s. I had the opportunity to graph both the ambient outdoor temperature and also the internal frame temps in 30 minute intervals. The graph above is a result of one of those experiments. Note: The Davis reading referrs to the outside ambient temperature.

The results were pretty interesting. For one thing, at 4:30 PM, I switched the sensors just to see if CF2 was really colder than CF1 and yes it is. That may be due t the fact that CF1 has a layer of plastic wrap over the glass which creates a small airspace that may indeed raise the insulating value a little. All other factors being equal, it may have increased the insulation enough to raise the internal temperature about 1 to 2 degrees.

The constant warmth of the ground also creates a warming effect as can be seen by the differing slopes of air temperature versus internal cold frame temperatures. I calculated that it will have to get down around 10 above zero before I would need to go to added measures like turning on an electric light bulb inside the frame. Some night if we do get exceptionally cold I will plan to stay up and record that event to see exactly what would happen.

Romaine is the Game

How can such a beautiful and healthy vegetable come from such a small seed? I choose to grow romaine lettuce in both my cold frames this winter for two reasons. One it is on the list of the American Cancer Research as a cancer fighting agent, and two it like cold weather and will mature inside of 60 days. It also does well in confined spaces needing just an 8 inch spacing between plants. Unlike leaf lettuce, romaine will also keep for long periods in the refrigerator and adds a lot of crunch to any salad.

Since I have about twelve square feet of growing space, I will be able to grow at least six plants in each cold frame while still having plenty of space for spinach and radish plants. By starting six new plants every third week, I will be insuring a steady supply of greens throughout the winter. Mind you, as a bachelor, I’m only feeding myself.

Got er Done!

Today was Sunday and it was nicer out than I had thought it would get. we started this morning at 27F but finished with the low fifties. The painting of the frame went quickly as did the did of the hole it would go in. I think the hole deal was about an hour or so. I have also equipped this frame with an internal wireless temperature sensor that is very closely matched to the one on the other frame. right now they bot are in close agreement with CF1 reading 55.4F and the newer CF2 reading 53.1F. As it turned out I did not have to purchase any vermiculite as by mistake, I bought three bags of Scott's Premium potting mix. This was a lot more money than I wanted to spend for this project, but since its done I went ahead and filled CF2 with 2 bags or 2 cubic feet of the stuff. I also have three trays of starter lettuce and spinach plants hardening off in the garage. I will plant these out into the new cold frame sometime early this coming week. The weather service is expecting temperatures to go on a roller coaster ride with cold fronts coming into our area every other day or so. I'm not too worried, however as early this morning when the temperature read a frigid 27F, the atmosphere in CF1 was a balmy 59F. I had covered it last night with two layers and made sure to leave the small 40 watt bulb on also.

CF2 on the Way!

It's now mid November 2008 and we are now entering the time of year I like the least. The next fourteen weeks will see some of the coldest weather of the year and most of the trees will be bare. Thank goodness for my cold frame with its spark of spring greenery inside. It will soon have a friend when I install a twin unit next to it. I'm in the process of painting the frame and still need to purchase a soil amendment (vermiculite)to add to the 3 cubic feet of Miracle Gro potting soil bought at a store last week. I now have three trays of plants (lettuce and spinach) that need to be planted out soon, so I need to get to it as they say. The new cold frame will be referred to as CF2 and the original CF1. CF1's plants are going great. I'll try and post a current picture sometime soon. The average temperature in that frame has been about 54F which is near the ideal temperature to grow lettuce and spinach at.

Over the next weeks they are forecasting a series of cold fronts about every other day with lows getting into the twenties. This will be a real test to see how well these guys can surviive.

Cold Frame #2

Yes, I’m at it again with the building of my second cold frame in less than a month. Does one man need two Cold Frames? Apparently, yes they do. Winter is coming and the price of lettuce at the local market is at an all time high. I love my salads (it’s a diet thing) and with lettuce at almost $2 per head, I now have plenty of incentive to grow my own.

The addition of a second 36 inch by 24 inch frame box will give me another 5.8 square feet of growing space. So, the two combined will allow me to grow about 12 to 14 plants at any one time. If I start 4 seeds every two weeks that will assure me a steady harvest of lettuce though out the wintertime and on into spring.

The construction will be documented in a video call Building a Cold Frame Part 2 and will be published on You Tube, I hope.

I had been concerned about the survival of young lettuce plants when it gets really cold outside. Recently we have seen temperatures that have dropped down to the low thirties and I am happy to report that conditions inside the box have remained in the fifty degree range. I have also installed an electric cord with a light bulb on one end to help warm things up in case it gets really cold outside.

Cold Frame Update