Garden | Healing | Health | Food | Garden | Compost | The Greener Seed

Oobleck

TheGreenerSeed — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 20:19:43 +0000

We found a replacement for slime that is not only healthier for the environment, but lots of fun! Have you heard of Oobleck? The great thing about using this material is that when you are finished and need to dispose of it, you are releasing water and rice back into the environment instead of glue. Most of us will not take the time to use proper hazardous waste collection, so glue can end up contaminating the soil and eventually the groundwater. Anything that is thrown into your trash bin ends up in your local landfill.

Do you know what happens when we contribute to the landfill? Since more than half of landfill waste is biodegradable, the waste decomposes and produces by products such as carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming. We can all do our part in the seemingly small choices we make each day.

We discovered Oobleck in a science lesson. Here’s a quick summary for science folks: Matter comes in the form of a solid, liquid, or gas. But there is matter that fits into more than one of these categories! Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid, a substance that behaves like a solid when pressure is applied but a liquid when no force is applied. This matter simply flows at different rates (different viscosity) depending on the pressure applied.

The best part of all this is you can make a non-Newtonian fluid with ingredients you have at home. The recipe is simple. It’s 2 parts tapioca starch to 1 part water, and mix. When you apply pressure, the tapioca starch particles mash together and act as a solid. As you open your hands, oobleck turns into a slimy goo that runs down your fingers!

When finished, we disposed of our organic tapioca starch and water in the sink. From the drain it travels to the water treatment plants. We attended a field trip at the water treatment plants in our county, and discovered that what goes down your drain is filtered, and eventually cycled back into livestock farms, landfills if necessary, or released into the ocean when appropriate.

Poop In The Garden

TheGreenerSeed — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 01:55:41 +0000

I was out in the garden one morning scouting for hornworms on the tomato plants when I smelled something awful. The smell reminded me of a dirty diaper. I followed my nose and discovered a piece of poop in the raised bed. It looked similar to cat feces but I hadn’t seen any signs of a cat in our yard during the day and we have been home every day.

I found a new fresh piece the next morning, and then the next. I looked up North America mammal scat identification; the poop appeared to be similar to that of a skunk. Skunks are nocturnal so it makes sense that we wouldn’t spot the intruder during the day. It is an omnivore but prefers to eat small mammals such as rodents, bugs, crustaceans, birds, and grubs. This seems to be a perfect solution for the mice, rats, voles, squirrels and other garden pests we have had difficulty catching or deterring.

We left the poop to deter other pests such as the recent frequent and unwelcomed squirrel visitor.

The squirrel had visited daily and kept trying to dig up the soil in the raised bed. We had applied red chili pepper powder and the chili successfully deterred it from digging; nonetheless it kept coming back to roam other areas in the garden.

However, since the skunk feces has been found, we haven’t seen further signs of the squirrel or any other rodents!

As for the skunk, it hasn’t left evidence of a return. Most of the garden in the backyard is full of prickly squash leaves. Perhaps it doesn’t like the chili powder in the garden beds. We also grow 6 citrus trees in the back, and skunks do not like the smell of citrus. Either way, it’s scat has unintentionally helped us keep out other pests that have given us headaches for year

Mosquito Bites and What to Do

TheGreenerSeed — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:18:07 +0000

One of the biggest annoyances about gardening is mosquito bites. Mosquitos seem to love me. On a trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, I seemed to be the only one getting bitten in the group of 20. When camping with several others, I end up with several welts while no one else seems to be bothered. Needless to say, I have tried to find out what it is that makes some people mosquito magnets.

I read about blood types. Several studies have concluded that mosquitoes prefer type O blood. There are mixed conclusions about whether A or B come in second. It’s possible that the different outcomes are a result of the type of mosquitos studied. In any case, I am not a type O blood, so genetics should work to my advantage. However, it doesn’t appear to help.

Metabolic rate appears to be an issue in mosquito preference. If you have just exercised, are pregnant, or have a larger body, you may release more CO2 and in effect, more likely attract mosquitoes. To those points, when I have been feasted on by the offending mosquitos, I had not just exercised, wasn’t pregnant, and am not a large individual.

Next, I investigated food items I could consume that would decrease my attraction to mosquitos. I have choked down apple cider vinegar (but honestly could not sustain this change for longer than a couple of weeks). I took vitamin B12, then changed it to a vitamin B complex to make sure I have my bases covered. I regularly incorporate plenty of garlic, onions, basil, chili peppers, citrus, and tomatoes into my diet. I noticed that I would still get bitten, but less frequently, and not always the lone individual.

Mosquitos have become a problem in the suburban city in which we live. We do our part to minimize any sources of water for mosquito breeding, however, it requires a collective effort. And somehow, they have returned year after year once the weather warms up.

Upon recommendation from a friend, I purchased several bug zappers. We have tried the ultrasonic pest repeller, an electric zapper, and then one designed specifically to attract mosquitos using CO2. The DynaTrap Insect Trap (DT2000XLP) appears to be the most successful at reducing the mosquito population around the house, but there still seem to be a few of the ankle biters that stuck around. I’d prefer not to even have one mosquito bite!

The problem with even one bite for me is that the bites welt up to about 6 inches in diameter at times. I have had to seek medical care twice because the bites progressed into cellulitis. I was prescribed antibiotics and was at risk of being put on an IV antibiotic because the infection became relatively serious. I asked the doctor about home remedies to prevent this situation, short of just staying locked up inside the house during mosquito season. Even jeans don’t help; the mosquitos bite right through my clothing! His answer was to just keep the bitten area elevated and iced. However, this solution did not help when I wasn’t on antibiotics.

I kept searching. Eventually, I stumbled upon a better remedy! It sounds counterintuitive, but here it is: apply intense heat to mosquito bites! When mosquitoes bite, they inject proteins under your skin to keep your blood from clotting. The proteins cause itching, but these same proteins are deactivated at high temperatures. If any itching returns, I simply heat again for a few minutes.

When I am away from home, I carry a small device called the Bite Away Stick. One end of the stick heats up to 123 degrees F when one of the buttons is pushed. The buttons are preset to 3 seconds for the initial treatment and for more sensitive skin and 5 seconds for a regular application. You simply hold the heated pad against the mosquito bite.

However, at home, I simply boil some water, pour into a jar, wrap it with a towel and hold it against any bites as soon as possible.

I have found it is most effective to heat your bites right away, before the welts grow. I aim to heat any bites within minutes. However, intense heat has been effective at any stage. Since I’ve been heating the bites, there have been no more trips to the doctors for cellulitis. The welts stay small and do not itch, then the bump disappears within a week.

Brain Fog

TheGreenerSeed — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 06:34:03 +0000

A few years ago, I called a friend and was complaining about how I was always so tired and constantly experienced brain fog no matter how much I slept or how much coffee I drank. I would have a full-night’s rest and wake up exhausted and lethargic day after day. I couldn’t concentrate. I kept forgetting things. I concluded that it must be demands of motherhood; I had never experienced exhaustion like this previous to having kids. However, the brain fog and exhaustion began to feel debilitating. I could hardly function each day.

My friend suggested that I had an issue with gluten. I didn’t want to believe her. It seemed as if everyone was talking about gluten allergies and gluten intolerance and I wasn’t going to be “one of those” joining what I thought was a fad. So in response, I denied the possibility immediately without real consideration. She asked me what I had to lose by cutting out gluten for 2 weeks. I was desperate so I decided to do it.

Two weeks passed and my brain fog lifted. I was no longer tired upon waking up, but just tired during relatively normal times. My curiosity was peaked. I did some reading and saw that just as my friend said my symptoms would improve following two weeks on a gluten free diet. It takes a while for gluten to move out of the body. I wondered why I hadn’t had problems with gluten when I was younger. I found a recurring answer whenever I read about health issues as a result of food. Again and again farmers have made agricultural, environmental and variety changes in order to decrease their costs.

Our solution has been to take more control over the foods we consume. In cooking, we carefully chose every ingredient. After all, it ends up in your body. Similarly, in gardening, we choose what goes in our soil, and are careful to consider pest control and recycling methods that preserve the land, the environment, and therefore ourselves. In buying ingredients, we support others who have the same values and grow ingredients that heal bodies.

It has been with these practices that I’ve limited gluten intake as well as other allergens for the family for 7 years.

Recently, I’ve started creating new recipes for “soft foods” to help create more healing food options for grandpa after his emergency oral surgery. I incorporated helpful ingredients that had added healing benefits (such as cocao powder and cocao butter, coconut oil and butter, blueberries, and Ceylon cinnamon). However, I needed gluten-free and vegan versions so that allergic family members could also enjoy the same recipes.

We came up with a potato cheddar soup that did not rely on any gluten as the thickener. Grandpa and my daughter loved it!

Then we made a gluten free, dairy-free version of blueberry pancakes that were super fluffy with a very slight crisp on the outside. It was a hit with both grandpa, hubby, and the kids!

Lastly, we created a gluten-free chocolate chocolate chip banana muffin that was an instant hit with every member of the family. It came out super moist and mouth-watering each time we made a batch. No one could tell it was gluten-free! Each batch was devoured within 24 hours. The best part of this recipe is that the kids (age 9 and 12) were easily able to make it without help.

All in all, we have had to change our diets to adapt to various allergies and other health conditions, however in the end, our alterations have led us to incorporate healthier healing ingredients and to innovate highly enjoyable options that we can share with everyone!

Which Garden Markers Are Best?

TheGreenerSeed — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 06:35:30 +0000

I’ve tried many options to label plants in the garden. They range from wood craft sticks, to the larger tongue depressors, to painted wooden serving spoons, to Yogurtland spoons, to metal embossed markers. The wood products do not last long with the water and sun wearing it down.The permanent marker writing starts to bleed through the wood with exposure to water. Even with paint or nail polish on the wood, the water somehow gets inside and the wood rots from the inside out. The thick plastic spoons from Yogurtland are sturdy and withstand the weather. However acrylic paint peels right off of it. Permanent marker does stay more visible than on wood. Eventually the marker fades off. The metal steel markers end up rusting in the soil. Additionally, the names are limited to the generic names and labels that are pre-embossed.

We grow so many different varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, beans, squash, basil, dill, and other vegetables and herbs (and we save heirloom seeds) that we needed something that would endure the elements.

One day when my kids were rock painting for fun, I joined in and started painting the different vegetables and fruits we planted. Those original rock markers have lasted us 5 years and counting! Recently they were pictured in a post about the restart of our garden and I received a lot of feedback about the rock markers. I reached out to the kids’ art teacher and he agreed to do a mini art lesson using the Yellow Zebra tomato as an example. Follow along for the painting lesson if you’re interested!

I Can’t Believe I Cloned a Tree!

TheGreenerSeed — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 06:52:13 +0000

This weekend, as part of our ongoing backyard garden project, we needed to trim some of the guava trees back. I never like to cut back trees but in this case, without doing so, the guava trees do not have room for new growth and consequently do not produce much fruit.

One variety we grow called the Mexican Cream guava has become a huge tree. It produces the most delicious fruit! I have not tasted a better quality guava as ones from this tree. Of course I wanted a copy of it!

Last year, when we decided to cut the tree back, I decided to experiment with air layering. I’ve grown many plants by rooting the cuttings but have never tried rooting the branch while on the tree, much less on a huge tree! By air layering a tree, we can guarantee that it will produce fruit sooner than if grown from seed, and the fruit will be as good as the tree from which the branch was taken. Guavas are also not true to seed. That means the seeds inside the fruit do not necessarily produce the same fruit; it depends on what was cross-pollinated with the flower of that particular fruit. It’s possible you can spend years growing a guava tree from seed and obtain a surprisingly different guava variety than you anticipated.

Here’s what we did: After I decided which part of the tree we were going to remove, we scored about a one-foot section each on two of the large branches; this allows you to remove the outer layer of bark. Then we scraped off the cambium layer that is right underneath.

After soaking some sphagnum moss in water, we applied it around the freshly cut area and then wrapped it with a plastic bag, sealing it tight with gorilla duct tape. we finished it up by securing a layer of foil around it. The foil protects the roots from sun once they form and also discourages birds from pecking it.

Ideally, you should check on the roots after a few weeks, or even a few months. I meant to check it sooner but life got busy. Plus it wasn’t easy to check because I needed to get the ladder out and climb up to unwrap it. So fast-forward to a year later. We are working on the yard again because we are quarantined at home. We cut off the air layered branches and to my surprise, both branches had grown roots!

We soaked them in a big bucket of water to hydrate them and planted both branches in large pots! Now we have two more copies of the same guava tree!

Also, since we trimmed much of the original tree, including some areas just starting new growth, I also took several cuttings, applied rooting hormone and put them in loose soil in smaller pots. If those cuttings root, we will have several more copies.

These processes reflect the idea that life wants to continue and grow. I merely experimented and it was successful! Air layering works because it mimics a process in nature where a branch may be broken by an animal walking by or by other life circumstances. It may still be attached to the tree and touching the ground. The damaged branch will root into the ground and become an independent tree with its own life force. Plants want to live on. And because they want to live, if you just provide the right conditions, they will take off and become fruitful, returning the energy back to you, the caretaker.

Guess What Made It All Better

TheGreenerSeed — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 06:13:44 +0000

After a scary 10 days trying to figure out the extent of grandpa’s dental issue, it turned out that he needed emergency surgery to extract four of his teeth. We were simultaneously doing our best to avoid COVID risk since he is an extremely high risk case, having recently had a quadruple bypass open-heart surgery. Of course he had already lost weight because of his heart surgery, and then more recently because he had decided the solution to his teeth pain was to stop eating altogether. On top of it all, he was calcium deficient since he also decided months beforehand to stop taking calcium supplements without any accompanying change in diet. His friends had warned him about kidney stones.

The oral surgery went well. Now he had to be on a liquid diet for 3 days and faced even more weight loss. He is already thin and frail, and very selective about food. He didn’t care much for clear chicken broth, smoothies, juices, or soups. He reluctantly consumed very little of it. He needed something to look forward to.

Chocolate pudding seemed like a good choice for him. He could easily swallow it without chewing. It would meet his calcium needs. And chocolate was his favorite!

The problem with buying pre-packaged chocolate pudding is in the ingredients. For example, Jell-O-Sugar-Free instant pudding contains unhealthy chemicals and chemical food coloring, approved by the FDA in the US ( but not approved in other countries).

Ensure Chocolate Pudding didn’t contain the food coloring but did contain many artificial ingredients. Hunts Snack Pack Chocolate Pudding also contained artificial flavors and chemical ingredients, and palm oil, a non sustainable ingredient that contributes to deforestation. (We try our best to spend our money to support a world we want to see. ) We read enough labels over the years to know that the healthiest way is to make it at home.

My daughter Madi and I came up with a quick recipe that made 6 servings. It took us 15 minutes! It uses real cocoa butter and cocao powder, which is known to improve mood and depression, lower risk of heart attack and stroke, improve blood flow to the brain, aid with diabetes, and have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties (all of which would benefit Grandpa). And best of all, the recipe doesn’t include any artificial flavors, colors, or chemicals.

You may be wondering what is the difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder? Cacao powder comes from non-roasted fermented beans, processed at low temperatures and then milled into a powder. Cocoa powder on the other hand is made from fermented and roasted and then processed at a much higher temperature. Cacao is a superfood for the brain and heart, as it is one of the highest sources of antioxidants in foods, with a high amount of flavonoids. Compared to cocoa, cacao is higher in protein, fibre, magnesium and iron.

Guess what? Grandpa loved the pudding so much he asked to take all 6 servings home, to Madi’s dismay.

She had hoped she could keep a cup for herself after all that hard work. Plus, licking the spoon and getting a taste of the dessert is enticing for any 9-year-old. She understood, however, that the special dessert was meant for grandpa. It was worth it; he visibly had more energy and cheer after his delicious snack.

I promised her we would try the recipe again the next day, but using non-dairy ingredients so that both Madi and her brother (allergic to dairy) could share. We adjusted the recipe to use coconut oil butter. We could barely tell the difference between the two recipes. They added a big organic marshmallow on top, in lieu of whipped cream. If you want to try it for yourself, here is the Decadent Vegan Chocolate Pudding recipe

The First Tomato I Ever Grew

TheGreenerSeed — Fri, 29 May 2020 07:19:41 +0000

I was so bad at growing anything that I used to kill cactus. My friend gifted me a cactus plant once and told me it was nearly impossible to kill, but somehow it died under my care. I bought potted basil from the grocery store, and couldn’t keep that alive for more than one use. I killed mint in a pot; it’s supposed to grow like a weed. So as you can see, once we realized how much better it would be to grow our own food, I was intimidated about growing even a tomato plant.

I decided to try anyway. I chose the yellow pear tomato as my first plant because it would be fun for the kids to try. The uniqueness of the tomato motivated me to face the daunting unknowns in the garden. I started from seed in a small pot by the window, and to my surprise, was able to grow a sprout indoors. When it got a bit larger, I planted the tomato into a bigger pot and left it in partial sun outdoors. Every day I watered it and watched it, encouraged by the steady growth. There still weren’t any flowers yet but the plant grew big enough it was about to need a tomato cage. I made a mental note to buy one in the next couple of days.

One morning, I looked out the window and the plant looked different. I came closer and nearly all the leaves were gone! I had no idea what had happened so I went inside and searched online for reasons why tomato plants would have disappearing leaves. The search resulted in my education on the tomato hornworm. I went back outside and looked carefully. I saw 4 huge hornworms camouflaged so well on the stems I could barely detect them! The kids and I plucked them off with gloves and they enjoyed their new pets for a little while before feeding them to the birds.

Eventually the tomato plant started growing its leaves again. This time I was vigilant about looking for any sign of the hornworm. Anytime any leaves disappeared, I knew there had to be at least one of those pests hiding in the pot. I was going to find it! I would even hide behind my curtains until it came back out and then grab it as soon as it surfaced. I’m not sure if they could see me but I was convinced they knew I was looking for them. By the end of the season, my one plant only produced ONE yellow pear tomato. It was probably the best tasting tomato I had ever had, maybe because of all the determination and effort or maybe because it was fresh from the vine, or both.

What I learned from that experience was that it was possible for me to have success in gardening if i didn’t give up, even if it was just one lonely yellow pear tomato. And maybe the one plant was not the best indicator of how well I could do if I did a little more research. As an academic that’s what I did well. I just never thought to apply it to gardening.

I tried again the following season, and this time I was more prepared. I had learned about planting tomatoes with marigolds and basil to deter pests. I was starting to compost to provide needed nutrition and “live” soil. I also provided my plants with a head start by starting seeds even sooner indoors. That next season, we built a raised bed and I planted 3 tomato plants. We had a very successful plentiful season of tomatoes. It was a joy to see the kids excited to pick orange, yellow or purple tomatoes to try.

Over the years, I have found this attitude to be necessary for my gardening success: Expect to have plenty of failures. Prepare for them, but keep trying. Eventually your efforts will be fruitful (pun intended). Success is inevitable if you do not give up. If I can do it, anyone can.

Mother’s Day Garden

TheGreenerSeed — Mon, 11 May 2020 16:35:00 +0000

We spent our first Mother’s Day weekend in quarantine. The only thing I wanted for this holiday was help to set up our yard for gardening. It took two full days! Luckily the early mornings were cool in temperature. It was nice to be outdoors. However, the work was not easy.

It had been two years since the rodents had invaded the yard. A few years ago, more homes were being built about a mile away. Because of the new construction nearby, the mice and rats were displaced from their homes in the fields. They scattered throughout the neighborhoods and found their way into our yard with all the fruits and veggies. They visited every night that year and took at least one bite of everything that was about to ripen. It was yet another disheartening gardening experience that year. Months of work and we weren’t able to enjoy the literal fruits of our labor. We set traps but it was pretty unsuccessful. We only caught one. And I didn’t want to poison them because it would have unintended consequences on the predators (owls, snakes, mountain lions) that eat them. I was so disgusted by their presence I hadn’t wanted to go outside into the yard since then. So I allowed everything to die except the citrus and avocado trees. Thankfully, the rodents eventually left.

When we were first quarantined 8 weeks ago, I was motivated to start growing food again. We don’t know in what specific areas the virus will spread, but undoubtedly it will ultimately affect food supplies. Growing food takes time. I wanted to get started. Luckily we own three binders full of seeds, filed like baseball cards. We started 8 varieties of tomatoes, 3 types of cucumbers, snap peas, snow peas, chinese cabbage, chinese mustard, 4 kinds of basil, dill, cilantro, spicy peppers, bell peppers, dikon, lettuces, strawberries, huckleberry, butternut squash, Italian squash, watermelon, and zucchini. As they sprouted, I moved them into 3×3 rolling planters we had made a few years back. Since we have limited space and sunlight, the rolling planters allow us to easily move plants to maximize sunlight. I tried to squeeze together items that grow up, items that grow down into the soil, and items that spread horizontally. But I started so many plants I knew we would need to face the inevitable — cleaning up the yard.

This weekend, we picked weeds, raked leaves, and made compost piles from all the organic materials around the yard. Then we harvested all the compost from our 3 worm bins filled with 10,000 red wiggler worms and mixed it with all the soil into which we were about to transplant the new sprouts. We pruned and trimmed old growth to make room for new healthy stems and leaves. We scrubbed down an outside sink-table combo I had bought to wash our veggies and rice outside, so we could give the plants extra water. The results were gratifying. In 2-3 months time, we should be seeing some delicious edibles!

You have the power to grow your food

TheGreenerSeed — Sun, 03 May 2020 03:36:12 +0000

During these pandemic days, we feel a variety of emotions. We have sheltered the kids, who are still young, from much of the grief that’s happening outside our walls. As parents we have felt anxiety, anger, and fear. We are not sure about future plans for employment. We don’t have clarity or full control about what the next months or years hold. Will factories, farms, distribution chains, and supermarkets be able to continue to function? Will the supply chains be broken, and if so, to what extent? We can hope for the situation to stay unaffected but we can also prepare for the possibility that we may not be able to buy food in the same way we are accustomed to doing. As we have seen, our world can change overnight.

What is in our control is the power to feed ourselves. We decided to start growing food again after a two year hiatus. Like many people, we do not have much yard space. We had to get creative. We use pots outside for larger plants like snap peas, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Gardening is not complex. It’s satisfying because you connect to the simplest joys of life, to the earth. You plant a seed; you nurture it; it brings itself to fruition. The seed turns into something vibrant, fruitful, and beautiful. Those impulses are who we are. Nature has powerful instincts to survive. Life will find a way to break through the toughest barriers to flourish, grow, and thrive. Ultimately, growing a garden is nurturing the instinct of life, and then sharing that with others. Let me show you how to grow a garden to abundance.