My Composting Conundrum - GARDENERS I NEED YOUR HELP!

Yesterday it rained, the day before I spent writing for three different blogs, so Tuesday must have been the last time I ventured into my backyard.

Spring Has Sprung
 
As I stepped out about an hour ago, I noticed that life had spring up all over - I was overcome with weeds throughout the walkway, at least three baby maple trees  springing up within the weeds (how apropos for Arbor day!), the peach tree is in bloom, my tiger lilies have grown up to my knees and the wisteria is readying to climb all over the back fence again this year. After witnessing all of that I don't know why I was surprised when I opened my compost bin, but having visited it and layered it only three days ago, I was. The last thing I expectd to see in my compost bin was this:

 It's beautiful. It's exciting. However, I have no idea what it is!

And one more thing - it's not alone!

Here's another baby one

And the other corner...

A couple of weeks ago I gave up my hopes of having a hot compost pile when I discovered that all of the "brown" materials I had been using were among the slowest to decompose. Alas, without steam emanating from my pile I simply had to trust that I was doing the right thing and that, in time, my rich soil would be produced. One issue with a compost pile that is not hot is that any seeds added to the mix will not be killed with the heat. ...Although I consciously understood I there would be no hot compost, I seemed to have forgotten that very important detail about the seeds until seeing my beautiful new babies.

The Good News

As an insatiable optimist, I am always looking for the positive spin on things. So here are the pluses:

• The soil in my bin can support life, perhaps even better than I can! (I am never very good at growing anything from a seed.)
• My goal this summer has been to grow food in my backyard, while I am still waiting for my tomato and asparagus plants, potato and pepper seeds to arrive (along with a nectarine tree!!) some food has already started growing! I am on my way!

The Puzzling Part - Gardeners WHAT DO YOU SEE?

I called this post "My Compost Conundrum" for a reason - I am completely confused. I have no idea what I am growing back there and I am afraid I might kill it if I just start digging it out to find out! Here are some of the things that I have put in the compost bin that may have had seeds with it:

• bell peppers ~ this would be awesome since the bell pepper plants were all sold out and I am relying on my ability to grow something from a seed (see above for reference to my lack of confidence in this area) to get my bell peppers going in the back.
• pumpkin ~ while cleaning out my backyard I noticed someone simply moved a jack-o-lantern from the front of the house to an ignored corner of the backyard after Halloween. I shoveled the orange goo (which did include seeds) up and threw it in my compost bin.
• apples ~ I have been eating apples like crazy lately and I have been chucking the whole cores right into the compost. Could I have an orchard growing in my bin?
• potatoes... maybe? ~ I have put potato skins/peelings in the compost. They might have included "eyes." I worry about this possibility because I know if you grow potatoes in a patch of soil, then that soil should not be used for potatoes or a number of other plants in the following growing season. If they are potatoes is my compost ruined?? 
• zucchini ~ I feel like I had to compost a part of a zucchini that got gross because I didn't use it in time. It was either a zucchini or a yellow squash - something like that. I was sad about it, but flt a little bit better about it knowing I was composting it and not just throwing it away.

Beyond that, I am stumped. I am sure I will be thinking of new things every hour, but those are the biggies. I know one of you fabulous gardeners took one look at those pictures and knew INSTANTLY what we are looking at here - so let me know!! Even if it is not on my list above, that probably means I just forgot to list it!

My Questions for ANYONE to Answer

• What the heck am I growing in my compost bin?
• How did this happen? Is my compost too wet? Is it because I didn't turn my compost? 
• Is this good news or bad news for my compost?
• How and where should I transplant these plants? Should they go in a pot/container, or into my garden?
• Did this ever happen to you?
  

The Greening of My Thumb

HAPPY EARTH WEEK!!

This is Phil.

I often joke around that I have a blue thumb. I want to be a good gardener and  friend to plant life everywhere, but the facts are the facts. 

This year, while on my search for sustenance I have also been trying to "green my thumb". I kept a basil plant in the kitchen, bought two ivy plants, a mini money tree (I can hope!) and a lovely plant I call "Phil" (he's awesome and he's a philodendron!).

So far, although there were some ups and downs, I think I have done pretty well based on my own history. Phil and one of the ivy plants nearly doubled in size since coming home. Money tree had a rough winter, but we came through it. The other ivy plant had to be cut all the way down to nothing and is slowly coming back with three little sprigs of life. The fact of the matter is - for the first time in my life all the plants are at least still alive.

It is with this great leap of progress that I felt it was time to take a giant leap (of faith??) forward:

Yesterday I embarked upon: My First Food Planting!

OK, OK, it is not a full-on vegetable garden.

It is not even a vegetable plant.

Well, let's face it... it's not even a plant yet.

Yesterday, I set out to plant my first seeds with great anticipation that later on this summer I will be able to harvest some SEEDS! It is actually quite hilarious when you think about it... Why didn't I just break into my seed packet right there and start noshing away?

I'll tell you why! Because in the amount of seeds I am going to yield from just one of those seeds will astound you! The magic seeds I planted yesterday were sunflower seeds!

I hope I followed the directions correctly, because sunflowers are just about the most fun flower there is and their seeds are a pivotal part of my favorite trail mix.

Nicole's Favorite Trail Mix: almonds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and dried blueberries (if you only have one kind of dried berry, that's OK, too!).

I didn't have a ton of space to devote to my sunflowers since I am saving space for some vegetable plants I am saving up my pennies for this week, so I only planted 10 or 11 seeds in front of my shed. If they all sprout up, it will look pretty amazing (even though it might freak out my dogs!).

I was reading about sunflowers in my favorite new book today, The Backyard Homestead and I learned of other fantastic things I could do with them if I didn't want to wait around for the seeds. Perhaps you too, will be enlightened of other ways you can enjoy sunflowers in your kitchen while watching them grow in your garden. Did you know that you could eat the immature buds? Or, if you would prefer to see the big flowers, you could wait for them and put their petals in a salad or a soup? I had no idea! Now I don't know what I am going to do!

The one good thing is - I have time on my side. I can mull it over as I watch my beauties grow, because right now there is nothing more that a truly odd-looking rectangle of soil dug into in front of my shed.

According to my seed packet, if I have done everything correctly and if I treat them right between now and then, I should see seedlings in 7-14 days.

...I am very nervous about this. (I asked Phil to say a prayer for them!)

Any tips for this blue-thumbed gardener? 

Any ideas of what I should do with the sunflowers?

For other sunflower growers out there - do you keep them for yourself or share them with the birds and the squirrels??

CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME BOOK!!

Then Something Sprouted...

One year ago today, A Seed Was Planted... and with it, this blog was born. March 12th is my blog-iversary!

I can vaguely remember the day, a Friday night, when I wrote that first post. It was the end of another long week, I was battling for my career life at school and well-aware that I was feeling sicker and sicker by the day. The more I listened to my new audiobook (Eating Animals) and remembering all those books that I had read before it, I knew I wasn't helping matters with what I was eating. My life has dramatically changed since that day, and the epiphanies I had in the first weeks of writing this blog count for a large part of that shift.

At the time I was writing straight out into the big wide-empty. I wasn't sure anyone would ever see my blog, read my words or share my sentiments, but it seems that seed that was planted that day has grown into a seedling of its own. I am a better and healthier person because of Searching for Sustenance and am forever grateful for having this little space in the blog-iverse to continue to grow. For those who have joined this search with me I am forever grateful for the support and the company!

In a search just now to find a nice picture of a seedling to add to this post, I found a beautiful poem that, in many ways, expresses how I feel about this blog as it grows in my mind everyday. It is called The Seedling and it is written by John McGrael. I simply love it.

The Seedling

A Poem by John McGrael

One night while I was dreaming,

A tree grew in my mind.

Though little but a seedling,

I took refuge in its pines.

On the morrow, cold and dreary, whilst walking through my thoughts,

My eyes stuck on a seedling, so I walked towards its lot.

Then my thoughts were thinking, "how strange, this could not be...

For I am in a city, yet this seedling grows on green!"

But O, I looked around me. I looked upon an open field!

Its as if my thoughts were running, through a mystery revealed.

I found my sanctuary, in the field my mind had found.

I took refuge in it's flowers, and the seedling's soothing sound.

I would visit this place often, the depths of thought and seed.

My thoughts had learned to think, and in those thoughts was peace.

That evening walking home, through the city, from the dreaming;

I felt like I was leaving from; my home, the field, the seedling.

I felt as if this city bound me, that I may never soar.

When a raven perched upon a bush, whispered to me, "nevermore".

--- 

That night I was the dreamer,

The tree grew more and more.

Its leaves forever greener,

Echo "nevermore".

Again whilst I was dreaming, I walked into the field,

The seedling now a gentle tree, a mystery revealed.

I slept upon its branches, and ate its fruit with ease.

I marveled in its aura, I listened to its leaves;

And then I knew the mystery, that had been revealed.

For it was in the leaves, and it was in the field.

As long as I was with them, I was as carefree as the breeze.

Nourished by their scent, I could live among the trees.

Now conscious, walking through the city, I took asylum in the thoughts.

I could not stay within this city, I needn't live for naught.

So in my mind, I left the city, went to the field where I could soar.

For now I understood, the city bound me nevermore;

And when I made this realization, the tree grew towards the sky.

Now a mighty fortress, and a beauty to the eye.

So now I walk the city, with conscious thought and word.

From my mighty fortress, leaves echoing the bird.

And in this sweet asylum, in this sacred lore;

There is a sweet raven, whisp'ring "nevermore"!

© 2009 John McGrael