Chickweed as Soil Fertility Indicator and Poultry Food

This pervasive, low-growing annual weed was brought here by European immigrants who treasured it as a vegetable, but even though I am wild foods forager I find the taste and texture too weedy raw....I will try it chopped into stir fry and omelets and soups as it is VERY nutritious. Known botanically as Stellaria media, it is a classic weed indicator of soil health.....in fertile, pH-balanced, nutrient rich soil high in nitrogen it grows lushly, as it does in untended areas of my yard.

If one grabs the plant at the base, it pulls up VERY easily. I let it grow in various beds as meeting my chickens' and quails' needs for raw green plant matter daily is a challenge......chickweed helps to fill the void when I don't have other weeds that chickens like or spare greens from my garden.

You may recognize it from the photos as it is very widespread, absent generally only in dry, alkaline soil regions. The tiny leaves are perfect for the small bills of poultry. I hear that ducks love it too. John

Spring in Tampa

Lots of folks who move to Florida end up as homesick for their northern homes as I did for Tampa my fifteen years in Denver where I had gotten trapped by a badly "upside down" mortgage. They ache for a northern autumn and spring as I ached for the scent of warm saltwater and our endless growing season and balmy summers. Many folks especially miss the spring bulbs like the tulips and blue hyacinths and daffodils I loved in my Denver yard at 1684 Willow Street that saved my sanity after each seemingly endless winter. While they are no substitute for daffodils, I would ask those folks to soak in the cheery, FRAGRANT beauty of Florida's tabebuia trees......just think of them as thirty foot tall daffodils! Here is the stunner in my neighbors Charlie and Shirley's yard, highlighting his wonderful old truck he keeps pristine. I can't think of a fragrance to compare the thick sweetness to....but it is lovely. John

my posting at TBO.com about the reclaimed water issue

The simple fact is that the current reclaimed water program has been very poorly received by the public is that due to high levels of salts and chlorides, it damages and kills a great many varieties of trees, shrubs and other vascular plants, a fact that the city continues to ignore or minimize. Injecting water purified by reverse osmosis, or letting it percolate into the aquifer via wetlands ponds, would address many issues, including the damage to plants, wasting 50 MILLION gallons of reclaimed water DAILY by dumping it into the bay where it affects salinity, AND meet new EPA guidelines for discharging nitrogen into the bay. Mr. Miranda's plan is also MUCH cheaper than other other proposals involving building two more STAR type water treatment plants and laying a vast network of piping across Tampa. I hope that homeowners whose yards have been damaged by the current reclaimed water would bring it to the city's attention and consider suing for lost landscapes and trees.

John Starnes

Cultivating Catnip

Luvyu

Angel

Catnip flower spike

A common problem for folks TRYING to grow fresh organic catnip for their feline friends is protecting it FROM cats, theirs and others, that will buzz a plant down in minutes. Solution? Grow it in hanging baskets they can't reach. Catnip is very easy from seeds. When I lived in Denver I noticed soon after moving there in the fall of 1987 that it does SO well there it reseeds to the point of being seen as a noxious weed. Here in Tampa it does best as a winter annual when the climate is cooler and drier.

Spring is springing in Tampa!

I don't recall getting "spring fever" before my fifteen years in Denver enduring those seemingly endless winters, but I sure got it annually there! It saved me from "cabin fever" and "winter dimentia". Oddly, I get it deliciously here in Tampa since coming home in November of 2002. I love that sudden wind through my soul triggered by that shift in sunlight, and certain fragrances on the air. Yesterday I caught a whiff of a wonderfully heady sweet floral aroma in the parking lot of my liquor store, then noticed their viburnum hedges in full bloom...so I HAD to take a close up sniff. And I noticed at my gym at Ballast Point Park yesterday there are red buds in blooms at the entrance. That means that very soon we will be awash in Formosa azalea bushes and species amaryllis in full glorious bloom, with the air heavy with the scent of citrus trees in bloom.

The last few straggler migrating robins are passing through, feeding in yards and on berries, and I am nearly done planting final waves of cool weather veggies as I get ready to sort and start seeds for the wonderful long hot steamy (hopefully wet) summer ahead. I hope you enjoy these photos from previous springs.

Man I love "spring fever".....I get even more manic than usual! John

March: Basics of Urban Farmsteading Class

There is wonderful security and satisfaction in being able to prepare many of our meals from abundant gardens around our homes. Imagine FRESH omelets and meat from a backyard henhouse, or expensive "exotic" crops such as arugula, Barbados Cherry, cassava, chaya, papaya, many herbs and staple crops for Thai and other ethnic cuisines fresh your own yard. But where to start if you have a "normal" yard of high maintenance lawn and ornamental shrubs? Organic landscape consultant and garden writer John Starnes (St. Pete Times, Fine Gardening, Florida Gardening) shows how to make the transition in stages based on your time, temperament, budget and goals, using his jungly south Tampa "urban farm" as the classroom.

Learn the ease of "sheet composting" vs. buying an expensive compost bin, using household graywater to nourish your crops and cut your water bill, cheap and easy organic pest control, plus a very effective, low-labor method for killing lawn areas in place and turning them into productive gardens. You will receive a detailed class handout, but be sure to bring a notepad and pen, and, if you wish, a camera, as people tell me that my classes are very information dense.

I will be teaching this class twice more om March 14th and March 27th, from 11 AM until 1 PM, from 11 AM until 1 PM followed by a 30 minute Q & A session. The cost is $25 per person, or $20 per person in carloads of four or more to help foster considerate parking for my neighbors. My address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue Tampa 33611, which about 6 blocks south of Gandy and 1 1/2 blocks west of MacDill Avenue. I hope to help folks eager to transform their yards into sources of sustenance, personal independence, and spiritual satisfaction.

Come see how little the freeze affected my food supply, and enjoy fresh raw nibbles as we walk amongst the free range chickens.

John

Water Wise Container Gardening Class

We have here in central Florida been blessed with a damp cold El Nino winter after easily 20 years of dry winters....so to me, all that moisture compensates for the extensive freeze damage. Hopefully, we are all making wise water use a central focus in our lives as Florida's population continues to boom. So I've invented an alternative method of making home made container gardens that grows food and flower crops well with much less water, and that can be made for free to just $10. As a result, despite my yard being an urban farm, my June 2009 water use bill was just $1.35!

This class teaches you how to make your own from free recycled plastic containers, how to create a great soil mix for it, and easy ways to maintain and sustain yours using cheap and/or dumpster-dived supplies. This simple design avoids the problems that many have experienced with others often described as "self watering containers" and that can cost $100. You'll see several of mine in differing styles and stages of growth to help you decide what works best for you and your space and budget.

I love how they use VERY little water vs. my growing the same crops, including my beloved Old Roses, in my in-ground gardens. Growing food crops in this manner can also allow a gardener to avoid using Tampa's and St. Pete's reclaimed water that has caused severe difficulties for many folks due to the very high levels of salts and chlorides. Plus one is not supposed to eat raw veggies grown with reclaimed water, which rules out growing fresh salads and herbs from one's own garden!

Special attention will be paid to the very common problem of nitrogen deficiency often encountered in container gardening whether one makes one's own soil as I do, or purchases it in bulk or bagged.

You will get two packs of very hard to get vegetable seeds that will thrive all summer long in your Water Wise Container Gardens. The cost of the class is $25 per person, or $20 per person in groups of four to encourage car pooling due to my limited parking. This class has been very well received, so I am teaching it again on March 13, from 11 AM until 1 PM, with a 30 minute Q & A session following.

My address is 3212 West Paxton Avenue, Tampa FL 33611. Phone is 813 839 0881, e-mail is JohnAStarnes@msn.com. RSVP is not required but helpful in my planning each class. Come learn how to grow your own organic produce for a fraction of what you pay in the stores while slashing your water use and bill and avoiding the toxic-to-plants reclaimed water.

Happy Gardening! John Starnes

Basics of Home Poultry Raising Class

Many folks these days are considering, or have followed through on, pursuing a long time desire to raise backyard chickens for fresh eggs or even meat they know the origins of. But if one does not know some key basic data, enthusiasm can result in great needless expense, losses to racoons, and a long-imagined "fun" hobby offering frustration instead of omelets and humane lives (and deaths) for the birds.

This class covers how to make a predator-proof hen house cheaply or even for free, how to feed chickens cheaply or even for free (chicken scratch from a feedstore surprises people with its cost), preventing disease without using antibiotics, hatching fertile eggs for free chickens, insuring a quality life for your birds, and how children can help easily while learning where food REALLY comes from......children 12 and under can attend this class for free.

I have been asked to teach this class again, so I am twice in March, on March 7th and March 21st, from 11 AM until 1 PM, with a 30 minute Q & A session after. My address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue, Tampa FL 33611, about 6 blocks south of Gandy and 1 1/2 blocks west of MacDill, jungly yard on the south side. The cost is $25 per student.

Please bring a note pad and pen as we will cover many points. You will receive a pack of winter greens seeds to sow next fall to provide raw green plant matter VITAL to having healthy chickens. I should be able to give each person a fresh egg, too. 813 839 0881 to RSVP. See you then! John

Cooking What You Grow and Raise Class

I love to cook for myself and friends, and my spicy savory contributions to potlucks are always very well received, and for years people have said I should teach cooking classes...so here goes!

We'll use produce, root crops, herbs, spices and eggs from my urban farm to create a fresh omelet, spicy fried African yams (true yams, not sweet potatoes) and a basic salad dressing using home-brewed kombucha tea. We will harvest some items fresh from the gardens and henhouse, then work together in my small kitchen to cover how to use healthy oils and various spices to cheaply create authentic tasting ethnic cuisines, such as Thai, Mexican, Ethiopian and Italian. Healthy eating can be tasty eating!

I am teaching this class on March 20, from 11 AM until 1 PM. The cost is $20 and one onion (yellow, white or red) per person (I can never have enough onions!). My address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue Tampa FL 33611 813 839 0881 JohnAStarnes@msn.com

RSVP is helpful in my planning how to make the best use of your time as we discover the joy of creatively cooking the fresh harvests from our gardens. See you then....show up hungry! John

March: Basics of Spring and Summer Organic Veggies and Herbs Growing Class

There is an unfortunate, widespread myth that summers are too hot, muggy and buggy in Florida to grow a successful organic garden here, but nothing could be further from the truth. Healthy soil and choosing subtropical and tropical crops that LOVE the heat is the key to fresh abundance from your yard for that long hot half of the year when so many folks let their gardens go barren and weedy.

In this class you will receive a handout with a long list of heat-loving crops, plus I will give you seeds of two kinds that utterly thrive each summer here. Be sure to bring a pad and pen as folks tell me my classes are information-dense. Growing these summer crops organically is easy in good soil and full sun, as very few pests attack them, but we will cover those few possible problems and how to deal with them cheaply and without using poisons. The class will be offered twice in March, on the 6th and 28th, to give you time to plan the summer garden, prepare the soil, and acquire the needed seeds and soil foods. The cost is $25 per student, and my address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue Tampa FL 33611 813 839 0881 JohnAStarnes @msn.com

RSVP is helpful in my planning how to best teach this class. Just think....as your winter garden fizzles out each spring, you can phase in six more months of productivity with a whole new range of tastes, textures and nutrition! See you then. John

Basics of Spring and Summer Organic Veggies and Herbs Growing Class

There is a widespread myth that summers are too hot, muggy and buggy to grow a successful organic garden here, but nothing could be further from the truth. Healthy soil and choosing subtropical and tropical crops that LOVE the heat is the key to fresh abundance from your yard for that long hot half of the year when so many folks let their gardens go barren and weedy.

You will receive a handout with a long list of heat-loving crops, plus I will give you seeds of two kinds that utterly thrive each summer here. Growing these crops organically is easy as very few pests attack them, but we will cover those few possible problems and how to deal with them cheaply and without using poisons.

The class will be offered on February 28 from 11 AM until 1 PM, with a 30 minute Q & A session after, to give you time to plan the summer garden, prepare the soil, and acquire the needed seeds and soil foods. The cost is $25 per student, and my address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue Tampa FL 33611 813 839 0881 JohnAStarnes @msn.com

RSVP is helpful in my planning how to best teach this class. Just think....as your winter garden fizzles out each spring, you can phase in six more months of productivity with a whole new range of tastes, textures and nutrition! See you then. John

Cooking What You Grow and Raise Class

I love to cook for myself and friends, and my spicy savory contributions to potlucks are always very well received, and for years people have said I should teach cooking classes...so here goes! We'll use produce, root crops, herbs, spices and eggs from my urban farm to create a fresh omelet, spicy fried African yams (true yams, not sweet potatoes) and a basic salad dressing using home brewed kombucha tea.

We will harvest some items fresh from the gardens and henhouse, then work together in my small kitchen to cover how to use healthy oils and various spices to cheaply create authentic ethnic cuisines, such as Thai, Mexican, Ethiopian and Italian. Healthy eating can be tasty eating! I am teaching this class on February, the 27th, from 11 AM until 1 PM. The cost is $20 and one onion (yellow, white or red) per person (I can never have enough onions!).

My address is: 3212 West Paxton Avenue Tampa FL 33611 813 839 0881 JohnAStarnes@msn.com RSVP is helpful in my planning how to make the best use of your time as we discover the joy of creatively cooking the fresh harvests from our gardens. See you then! John

Free Hose Guides for the Garden

Fancy, heavy gauge metal curtain rods are a fairly common dumpster find at upscale condos and apartments. Stuck deeply into the ground where needed, they can make sturdy, attractive FREE hose guides.

Vitamin D and IBD

One more reason to spend lots of time in a sunny garden or farm so the bacteria on our skin can use sunlight to make natural Vitamin D since it does SO much for human health. I quit using deodorant soaps in the 70s as they kill these beneficial bacteria that are SUPPOSED to live on our skin.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/20/vitamin-d-fights-crohns-disease.aspx

Edible Flowers

Calabaza, male flower

Hybrid Cannas

native Swamp Hibiscus/Mallow

Nasturtiums

Violas

native Lotus

Yard Long Bean (and all Vigna flowers)

Clitoria terneata

Daylily

Hybrid Hibiscus


I love to dress up a meal with edible fru-fru, even when cooking just for me. All these flowers make beautiful tasty plate garnishes, plus are lovely added to salads. John