Growing Easy As Could Be

I have a lot of friends who live in apartments in the city, most of whom don't have a lot of space or time to be working on a veggie garden. When I came across this design on the internet about a month ago, it just screamed great urban agriculture to me. This lil' planter only needs a bit of window light, and even better, it waters itself. This is a perfect project if you live in a cramped space and/or are a little bit slack when it comes to plant care. Super easy to make, materials can be scrounged from your recycle container, and the planter is very low maintenance once complete. A perfect way to grow your indoor herbs and lettuce, or start bigger garden plants. It has a top section, where you have the dirt and plant, and a bottom section which serves as a water reservoir, where water is drawn up into the soil by the planter.

What you Need: 

1 Two Litre Pop Bottle with lid 

String or wire (If you want to hang the planter)

2 strips of cotton fabric 2 cm x 30 cm 

Material to darken the container such as newspaper, fabric, tape...

 Step 1: Take the 2 litre pop bottle and cut it in half. I cut it so the bottom half is slightly larger, somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way towards the lid end.

Step 2 (optional): If you wish to have a hanging planter, attach some wire or string to the bottom half of the bottle.

I made three holes around the top edge of this half using an awl. Then, since I had some garden wire lying around, I took three pieces of wire. I threaded the wire through the holes, and twisted it around itself to secure.

 

For the 'hook' that the planter would hang from, I used some pliers to twist the wires together, around in a loop, and twist another couple times around to secure.

Step 3: Making the top half of the planter. The top half of the planter is turned upside down, and sits inside the bottom half of the bottle. Since the top of a pop bottle is slightly larger, is sits quite nicely without sliding down into the bottle bottom half. Here you can see I used fabric to cover the top half. Plant roots don't like the sun, so its better to find a way to give them some shade. Here I took my cotton fabric and glued it to the outside. 

*tip, I also glued the fabric to the inside lip thinking it would look better, turns out if the fabric touches the soil it absorbs moisture and starts to look kind of muddy. Make sure if you use fabric on the outside its not coming in contact with the soil.

Other ideas for shade is to line the container with newspaper, or cover with an opaque tape. I did one planter with black duct tape instead of fabric and it turned out great.

 Step 4: Time for the self watering bit. Here you need your bottle lids, and pieces of cotton fabric. Cut two slits in the pop bottle lid for the fabric to come through. I forgot about the lids and threw them out by accident, so I taped over the bottle top, then cut my slits for the fabric. Thread the fabric through the slits, keep a longer bit inside the bottle top. When the two pieces are together the fabric should just touch the bottom of the bottle.

Step 5: Add the soil! You should now have an empty and dark bottle top, with two long pieces of cotton coming up from the centre of the now screwed on lid. Begin adding soil a little bit at a time, at first keeping both pieces of cotton coming straight up. 

When 1/3 full, spiral one piece of fabric on top of the soil, like the green or blue lines in the drawing to the side. Add another 1/3 of soil keeping the other piece of cotton coming straight up. When 2/3 full, spiral this cotton piece on top of the soil like the other coloured line in the side drawing. Top with another 1/3 soil. You should now have a container full of lovely soil and ready to plant.

 




I planted basil in this planter, but you can try planting anything you like. When you first plant, give the soil one good drenching from the top. This should be the only time you have to water the plant in the traditional sense. Fill the water reservoir up, no higher then where the lid comes down to, and the planter will do the rest. A process of osmosis draws the water up as the soil above becomes dry, keeping your plants happy.  
*I find I need to fill the reservoir every 3 weeks or so.

And these are the little basil plants about 2 weeks after planting. This post is written a couple weeks after I took this picture, they now have 4 leaves and are looking more, for lack of a better word, basily....

Taking The Time To Smell The Roses

Today I've felt so lazy, for no reason I could figure out. I've been almost completely unproductive, but a little while ago I did mange to get myself outside to harvest some wild edibles. 

The wild roses are in bloom, and I'm lucky at my parents house, there is a large patch growing at the side of the driveway and the road. So I collected a basketful earlier today. 

I've got them drying now, to store for later and make some yummy tea now. Later on in the season, the rose hips make a great food source, however the flowers make a lovely fragrant cuppa as well. And they're oh so pretty...

Dandelion "Coffee"

I was working in the garden yesterday, and pulled up this gorgeous dandelion root. 

I hadn't thought it was time yet to be harvesting the roots, however this one inspired me to do a quick first harvest of the summer. 

I pulled up a good handful, which was easy after all this rain, and went to working making them into "coffee" grounds.

These roots are full of lots of vitamins, and when roasted, create a drink very similar to coffee, and very delicious. 

So, this is how you do it.

First I picked a small bunch of roots, cleaned off the dirt, and let them dry. 

Then I roughly chopped the roots, and chopped them more finely in a food processor. Next I roasted the chopped roots. I had just a small bunch (really just a cup or two of "coffee"s worth) so this time I pan roasted the roots.

I keep a dry pan on low heat on the stove top until the roots have changed from off-white, to a rich brown colour, and give off a strong, sweet n' smoky scent.

You could also roast much larger batches in the oven, spreading the chopped roots thinly onto baking sheets. Then roasting the baking sheets at 250 deg F for about 2 hours. This pan roasting method took me somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes.

Once roasted, I let the roots cool off a bit, then ground them more finely in a coffee grinder. I use a french press to make my "coffee" so I ground them to approximately the same texture as coarse coffee grounds. They are a different plant than coffee, and do not grind into as consistent a texture.  This doesn't affect the quality of the drink though. Note - for storage, best to store like any herb, in a glass jar out of sunlight.

From there, I prepared the roots the same as I would coffee. In this batch I put 1 tbsp per cup of coffee into my french press, added the just boiled water, and let steep for 5 - 10 minutes.






Next time I would up the amount of dandelion root to 2 tbsp, the first was a little weak for my tastes.

Then all that's left is to sip and enjoy this caffeine free alternative to coffee.

Beauty of the Day - Luna Moth

This gorgeous creature has been sitting here on the windowsill all day. 

This is a Luna moth. They live in hardwood forests, and this one was most likely feeding off the surrounding birch trees as a caterpillar. 

Its a treat to see one here, I think this is only the second time I've met one in the wild. Its rare to have such large winged moths here, and this one is big. Luna moths can be 75mm (2.95") to 105mm (4.13"). 

The adult Luna Moths don't eat; they don't even have a mouth. They live only for a week, all they gotta focus on is mating...

They have all their action at night, this is when the female releases a chemical to attract males. Night is also the only time that they fly.

I am thinking this one is probably a male since he has a fairly large set of feathery antennae. (The males have the bigger head feathers)

These moths are very sensitive to even light pollution, and according to the websites I checked, were once very common, but are now considered an endangered species in some areas, though they are not listed as endangered by the IUCN or the EPA. 

Info on the Luna moth gathered from Fairfax County Public School's website http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/luna_moth.htm 

and the Insect Identification website 

http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Luna-Moth

I'll Have The Red, Minus the Cow Please

I thought I'd share some research I did today. Earlier today some of us were talking about wine, and how my mother had thought she was allergic to red wine. Turns out, its not the type of wine itself at fault. My mother is allergic to all things cow - and it being a fairly severe allergy, we have all learnt over the years just how many food and drink products contains part of this animal, or other animal additives. She just recently discovered that her problem with red wine was the cow products used to process the wine. Most red wines are fined using gelatin obtained from cow bones. Knowing this, it is still fairly difficult to find allergy safe red wines, or more accurately get help from shop staff in finding the wines at the store. 

If you are vegan or vegetarian, or just like to be conscious of the additives and production methods of your wine, I have found a great website.

BARNIVORE (http://www.barnivore.com/wine#) has a long list of wines, all noted as being either vegan friendly or not vegan friendly, a long with a short description of the processing method. They have done their research well and have created a wonderful resource.

I double checked this site with the Manitoba LC, and found the below Canadian Reds are most likely vegan and should be available at local Manitoba Liquor Marts;

- Cave Spring Pinot Noir VQA, Niagara, Canada  750 ml $20.99

- Inniskillin East West er Mer/Cab, Niagara on the Lake, Canada 750 ml $17.99*

- Inniskillin Merlot VQA, Niagara, Canada 750 ml $16.95*

- Inniskillin Var ser Pino VQA, Niagara Peninsula, Canada 750 ml $14.99*

*All Inniskillin Reds are vegan however not their whites or icewine

- Meyer Pinot Noir VQA, Okanagan, Canada 750 ml $32.99

- Quails' Gate Merlot VQA, Okanagan, Canada 750 ml $22.99

- Quails' Gate Pinot Noir, Okanagan, Canada750 ml $22.99

- Southbrook Cab/Mer/Shz VQA, Niagara, Canada 750 ml $14.90* 

*Southbrook's 2008 Vintage Vegan, and all other reds should be cow free. From Southbrook " We will sometimes use egg whites to fine our red wines like the 2007's, but no gelatin or isinglass is used so for the most part our wines are vegan."

- Strewn Rogue's Cafr/Casa VQA, Niagara, Canada 750 ml $16.01

- Strewn Three VQA, Niagara, Canada 750 ml $34.21

Also, a wine from California which uses no additives at all, I believe it is certified organic and has gotten a good rap. I haven't tried it yet myself but hopefully will soon; 

- Pink Truck Red Truck wines, California, US  750 ml $16.04

Enjoy and Salud!


*Photos by ralphunden (top) and LexnGer (right)

A Different Way of Looking at Things

I just watched a really wonderful Ted Talk, by Chip Conley. In this talk he speaks of an alternative way to measure success for a business or community. And through that, focusing on important aspects of life, such as happiness, which are often overlooked.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/chip_conley_measuring_what_makes_life_worthwhile.html

I am always impressed by people who focus on solutions, rather than the problem, and Chip seems to be one of the solution folks. His business model has been inspired by the country of Bhutan, and their measurements of "Gross National Happiness". I am not familiar with his business, but I really enjoyed hearing his views on GDP vs. GNH (Gross National Happiness). This is a way of measuring the intangibles in life, things like happiness. I found it a very interesting talk, it makes one think a bit, and has sparked an interest to find out more about Bhutan.