I stumbled upon an old article on home canning in Slate Magazine the other day by Sarah Dickerman. The article came out last year and the first half pretty much sums up home canning’s history and its resurgence in our new, thriftier and greener lifestyles.  It was all very interesting…until she made a few comments and observations that clearly showed that she just doesn’t “get it”.

First, she states that canning is hard work (I think her exact words were “serious drudgery”) and that it is far from being cost-efficient. But where she really misses the mark is when she says, canning is

“NOT about producing serious food for the future, and its NOT about shaking a fist at industrial food…Rather, its about making and sharing delicious, idiosyncratic things that are also…very pretty.”

Ummm…really? That’s all it is?  Sharing pretty and delicious things?

You know, it would be easy to get all worked up about her words (she goes on and on), but she is just not on the same page as us.

I do not consider canning/preserving drudgery. Far from it! Just as a real home-cooked meal can be an art form, so too is canning and preserving. It is a creative outlet. I’ll admit that I love to share my canned goods with others because by doing so, I am sharing a little piece of my garden. But I preserve the harvest for so many more reasons that that! I can for the flavor, for the knowledge of what is in my food and for the fun of creating condiments that you can’t find in the supermarket.

And I’m sorry, but you CAN produce serious food for the future with canning. That is the whole point! Well okay…it is only part of the point.

People also can because putting up a jar of organically-grown beats, corn or even jam is the best way to be assured of what is in your food. Have you read the labels on your pantry items lately?  Can you tell from reading them if there are GMO foods in there? Can you really compare a can of stewed tomatoes with the flavors of home canned tomatoes grown in the backyard? No.

Industrialized food does not hold a candle to home-canned food in nutrition or flavor. So, yes – I do feel that home canners can shake their fist at industrialized food. Home canners are making a difference in their lives and health by avoiding industrialized food as much as possible. – and for that, I thank them.

Can on Baby… Can on! And let’s have a jar swap!

Well, I enjoy canning don’t think of it as drudgery as Dickerman does. And canned food are not only more delicious

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I have had backyard chickens for several years now in my tiny, urban backyard. I currently have three little cutiepie girls who free range everyday and live in their little green-roof coop at night. (You can watch the TV episode featuring my backyard & chickens HERE)

I was thinking the other day about how much we have enjoyed these chickens. When I started, I learned the usual chicken information..like you don’t need a rooster to get eggs, they stop laying in the winter (because they ovulate according to the length of the day) and the eggs are beyond delicious.

But I have learned other things too. Surprising things!

Below are the top 8 surprising lessons I learned from my chickens:

1. Each chicken has a distict personality. Some are all sugar and sweetness. Others, don’t give a hoot about us. Wait…hoot? No. I mean “peep”. They don’t give a peep.
2. Adult chickens poop about every 20 minutes. That’s a lot of organic fertilizer! And I discovered that if you feed chickens a boatload of blackberries, they will have bright purple poop within an hour! Yep. I know this from experience. (Trust me – little boys find this emensely entertaining.)
3. Children LOVE to see chickens- Especially city kids. Okay, so that is not really a surprise. But until I had chickens, I had not thought about how backyard poultry is a great way to start a conversation with kids about food and eating local. I knew my kids would love having chickens, but I did not expect to influence the neighborhood kids too – especially our next door neighbors. They adore the chickens and I think everyone has learned from the experience.
   

   Double-Shelled Egg

4. Sometimes weird things happen with the eggs! We’ve had double-yolkers, strange shapes and then there was the time we had a fully shelled egg inside another fully shelled egg AND…that egg was huge. Yep – a double-sheller! Read about THAT here.
5. Chickens really ARE easy to take care of.The trick is to keep the flock small. Like puppies, baby chicks can be purchased on impulse and this leads to people having way too many chickens for their space. That leads to sick chickens. Resist the temptation! Keep your flock size at a level you can handle and you can maintain them with minimum effort.
   

   Baby Polish Chicks are So adorable

6. You WILL have to buy eggs at some point.Chickens ovulate when the days are longer. In the winter months, they usually stop all together unless you put artificial light in their hen house. (I don’t) People are surprised to learn that I have to buy eggs sometimes. (I do.) And those store bought eggs are just not the same.
   

   Chicken wire protecting new onion sets

7. You CAN have a vegetable garden and chickens too. It just takes a little inginuity on your part. I block off seedlings with wire and reclaimed fencing. And it is important to remember that if you have too many chickens for your small space, they will do damage. Keep the balance. Only have the amount of chickens your garden can handle and your garden will survive.
8. Somehow, certain chickens always have better “hair” days than the rest of us. I guess it’s a gift.

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In celebration of my blog’s new look and redesign (and the fact that this happened to coincide with the timing of a pre-arranged virtual blog party), I am giving away not one, but TWO BOOKS related to chickens. And there are 7 other ways to win! Check it out…

First up:

Chickens bring so much joy to my own garden and I know many others who want to incorporate little chicken personalities into their own backyards. But wait…What about the fact that they scratch through the flower beds? And don’t they like to seedlings and rip leaves off of plants? And how do we deal with all of that while still enjoying their cuteness?

To answer all of those questions and other chicken advice, we can turn to landscape designer, Jessi Bloom, who just wrote the book, Free-Range Chicken Gardens (published by Timber Press).  This book is awesome – and I am not just saying that because I know her and think she is one of the coolest gardeners around. This is the only book I have seen that tells you exactly how you can have your chickens AND your garden too. It still covers the basics like benefits of chickens, darling chicken coop ideas, pests/diseases, etc. But it then goes far beyond that.

You learn:

• How to design a chicken-friendly garden
• How to keep your plants safe and your chicken’s safe (including barrier ideas/tips)
• Lists of plants your chickens can use for everything from shelter to foraging.
• And fun stuff, like how to train your chicken.

My coop

We already know that backyard chickens are hot. Add in the fact that this book covers CHICKENS & GARDENS and it is no surprise that it is already in it’s 4th printing! That says a lot right there!

But the number one reason to get this book? I’m in it.

Okay…okay…so that is NOT really a good reason to get it. But it was fun to be featured and my green-roof coop made the cut too.

 The Giveaway:

Timber Press is letting me give away a copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens to a lucky commenter of this post. And they are also including a copy of this book: The Fresh Egg Cookbook.

So you get two books if you win! I have not seen the cookbook yet, but any book that gives me new ideas on how to use these delicious eggs is okay by me.

Sorry Contest Closed!

To enter to win BOTH books, all you have to do is comment on this post with any one of the following choices:

• Why you love chickens in your own garden (or why you WANT chickens in your garden).
• Why you really, REALLY need this book.
• A list of cute chicken names. They can be your own chicken’s names or just some you have heard of. (My chickens are mostly named after famous garden designers.)
• A short limerick about chickens. (Such as: “There once was a chicken from Nantucket…” But please keep it G rated)

ONE entry per person please and you must be a US resident to win. You have until midnight, Thursday April 12, 2012 to enter. I will pick a random winner at that time and Timber will ship the books.

More Chances to Win!

This post is part of a blog party and there are SEVEN other fantastic blogs participating. Each blog has their own requirements for what you post in the comments, but it is all easy and fun. Visit each blog and you will have EIGHT chances of winning these two books. And you will meet some other really innovative garden bloggers in the process. Fun Stuff!

Jessi at NWBloom.com

Erica at NWEdible.com

Gen at NorthCoastGardening.com

Angela at MyRubberBoots.com

Annette at SustainableEats.com

Kylee at OurLittleAcre.com

Willi at DigginFood.com

UPDATE!

We have a random winner – Megan! (Megan, I just sent you an email to get your shipping address)

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented. I so enjoyed all the stories, chicken names and poems. Great stuff! I hope you continue to visit here! I have several chicken & garden posts coming up over the next few weeks. {Hugs}

I’m a bit overdue for sharing some of my recent discoveries on the net. Check out some of my findings that just happen to be about what we all love…Food!

1) We all have canning jars, right? (Even those of you who don’t can probably have a few in the cupboard). Well, here is a neat little lid you can put on your canning jar to turn it into a sippie cup for grownups. AND it is BPA free. Seriously! Go here to buy one.

2) Food Forward is an all volunteer, grassroots group of Angelenos who reconnect people with people through food. They harvest and distribute locally grown food from private homes to local food pantries and organizations. What they are doing here is a great example of what can be done anywhere.

3) I love TED talks. Here is a list of the “best” TED talks on eating and food policy.

4) A new food program in Santa Barbara: Grow Your Own Way, aims to teach participants how to grow at least a portion of their own food, gives them the supplies and tools they need to succeed, and requires that they then give back to their community through volunteer activities to help even more people achieve at least partial food independence.

I want to give you a heads up that we have some really cool things coming soon!

First - this site is getting a complete make over. New outfit, hair, make up – the works!  We are very excited to roll out the new look in the next week or so. (Yes, there is even a chicken or two. Stay tuned!)

Second - we are moving our hosting and there may be a few hiccups in the process. I just wanted you to know so that you didn’t think I skipped town or anything. Far from it! The crew is hard at work putting a shine on the new digs. We can’t wait to show you the new look.

So if anything looks weird in the next week or two, hang in there. It’s gonna be GREAT!

The "girls" have been back on egg-laying duty for about a month now and I can't tell you how great it is to have these fresh eggs again. Man, it REALLY sucked to have to buy {gasp} eggs at the market in December!

Thank goodness the days are finally longer and the girls are back on the job. Yeah!

I saw some very nice terrariums at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle last month. Check out some of the ideas below.

(I posted a short video about the show gardens HERE.)

Notice the sand/soil design in the test tubes. (Click on the image above to enlarge) This was common in all the terrariums – large and small. It is an easy thing to do and very effective.

The container you choose can really make a statement. But you don’t need one of these expensive containers. You can create stunning terrariums with garage sale fish bowls and vases. In fact, that is what makes this type of project fun…the hunt for the container.

Once you have the container, get crazy with what you put inside. Who says you can’t put a watch in there? Why not!

And I liked this idea of tucking a tall glass container (beaker, vase or jar) into another planting. It gives height and interest. Kinda funky fun.

It’s Easier Than You Think to GROW

Environmental Stewardship in Our Children

No matter what we do, our kids want to have their noses glued to a screen – be it video, computer or television. Heck! Today’s kids have the strongest thumb muscles in human history! And the rest of their bodies just seem to atrophy with the lack of movement.

You want to peel your kid away from video screen?  You want to instill an appreciation of nature, the environment, and their future?

The wonderment of watching a seed sprout, and a plant transform into something edible (that they normally only see in a can or a package) has a tremendous impact on a child. I’ve seen it with my own kids and the children I teach in outdoor classrooms at various educational school gardens. That’s why I do it.

With every class that tromps out into the garden, there are many students who don’t want to go back to the sterile classroom. They crave the outdoors and the discoveries there. The sights, smells, tastes and the sunshine captivate them! We need to give them more of that.

But, let me make one thing clear -

This is NOT Just About Eating Vegetables!

There are numerous articles on how growing food with kids will make them eat more vegetables while simultaneously getting them outdoors in the sunshine. And that is totally true! But I have learned that there is something much bigger going on here – and it is important.

Gardening with kids helps them understand nature and ecology and THAT gives them a better sense of where we stand in the big scheme of things.

They learn why everything we do can affect so many other things in nature. They appreciate how everything in nature is tied into everything else. And they better comprehend how the integrity of being organic and green is most important when nobody is looking.  (Obviously, the people who work at Monsanto did not have this experience! Things might have been different if they did.)

So what I am saying is that growing something with a child can transform them into a steward of the earth. Growing something makes them care. And let’s face it, that’s pretty important in today’s world. So if you want your child to grow into a better environmentalist with appreciation for nature? Well…you can grow that!

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“You Can Grow That” is a new garden campain by C.L. Fornari, where on the 4^th day of each month, garden writers post about something profound – like how gardening can change us and the world around us. Or…we write about our favorite plant. Ha! Whatever works! 

If you are a garden writer with your own “You Can Grow That” post, PLEASE link to it in the comments below so we can all enjoy it! Thanks! Tweet using #youcangrowthat! hashtag.

This past year, one of the most rewarding episodes I wrote/produced for Growing A Greener World (on PBS) was the one on “Young Farmers”. It was all about who will be growing our food in the future.

The farmers and JennyJackson Farm in GA

As you probably know, the average age of the American farmer is 60 and most farming is done conventionally with the use of chemicals and industrialized methods. But there is a new generation of farmers emerging and they are young, passionate about the envirnment and willing to work hard to grow food sustainably and distribute it locally.

There were so many wonderful people making a difference, it was difficult for me to narrow down where we should film or who we should feature for that episode. But we ended up filming in the Atlanta area and showcased some really wonderful people who I am proud to have growing food for us. (Shown above are the farmers at Jenny Jack Sun Farm in Pine Mountain GA. Don’t you just love the t-shirt?)

Remember that we vote with our dollars. If we buy locally, organically grown produce, we support our local farmers – many of whom are just starting out with sustainable farms. Take a look at this episode (Link Below) and know that with our support and dollars these people can make a difference in the way our country eats.

To watch the full episode go to: Episode 213 – Young Farmers

I just returned from the Seattle Flower Show (AKA "The Northwest Flower & Garden Show") and thought you would like to see the behind the scenes footage of the show. 

You might remember that we filmed an episode on this flower show for Growing A Greener World TV last year. You can watch that episode HERE. And I also did a similar Living Homegrown® Video for the San Francisco Garden Show last year. 

I especially love the interview with Riz Reyes. His passion for the show really shows. We all feel the same way!

Enjoy…