Bungalowjungalow

How To Plant A Fruit Tree

June 2, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

Some friends of ours chose a nice sunny spot in their yard, cleared the “land”, and decided to make it (and call it) an orchard. What a novel idea…the size of one’s yard doesn’t matter, anyone can have an orchard! One can even train fruit trees, grapes, and/or berries along a fence for a surprisingly large harvest (kiwi comes to mind, too) and still have an “orchard”…the term is subjective if you ask me. The key is to be creative and just work with what you have. So, inspiration set in for us, and we made ourselves an orchard this weekend. We chose 4 different dwarf fruit trees – one apple, one pear, and one plum …all multi-grafted trees so they will self-pollinate, plus a sour cherry tree (sour cherry trees self-pollinate). We didn’t know how to plant a fruit tree before this weekend, so just in case any of you are wondering, too, here’s our simple version of how to do it:

Dig a hole twice the width of the pot the tree came in, and about as deep as the pot. Take the tree out of the pot. Take a shovel and loosen the roots. Place it in the hole:

Fill the hole in with dirt. Next, take a hose and turn it on so it trickles. Place the trickle near the tree base, and leave it there until the ground is soaked:

Next, take one bag of steer manure and spread it all around the tree base.

You are done!

A neat organization we’ve just learned about is the Home Orchard Society – you can visit them at www.homeorchardsociety.org

Posted in Skills and crafts for kids, Urban Farming | Leave a Comment »

Homemade Salad Dressings

May 28, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

We are finally harvesting salad stuff from our garden. I’m always late to get my first greens into the ground even though I think about it all winter long…one of these years I’ll make it by the beginning of spring when stuff like salad greens can first be planted (and thrive). So, now to dress them up: Making salad dressing used to really scare me – it seemed so complicated. Since last summer I’ve been slowly overcoming my salad dressing anxieties and have discovered that it’s really not hard, it just takes a little extra time. (Which sometimes I have, and sometimes I haven’t…thus an extra bottle in the fridge.) These are two dressings that I love and make regularly, I hope you enjoy them, too. If anyone out there has any tried and true salad dressing recipes, I’d love to receive them! You could jot them down on my comments if you feel up to it. I thoroughly enjoy reading comments people leave me but am not in the habit of posting them up…but I’ll be sure to post any recipes I get so others can enjoy them as well!

Green Romaine, red Romaine, buttercrunch, spinach leaves along with radishes just picked and washed:

This is my favorite creamy dressing…so delicious. I tend to use this one with parmesan and/or croutons. Good used in a Ceasar salad, but also provides good back-drop for more flavorful veggies…definitely worth the extra effort!

Creamy Italian Dressing (compliments of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons white wine or white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

1/4 teaspoon oregano, crushed

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

2 Tablespoons milk (or a bit more if desired)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a metal whisk.

Bungalow’s Vinaigrette

Good with greens mixed with various things such as dried cranberries, and/or pears, diced apples, or maybe a little citrus fruit, or sunflower seeds, etc.

1/3 cup salad oil (I usually use a plain tasting oil like canola, sunflower, etc.)

1/3 cup white wine or red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard

1/4 teaspoon celery seeds

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1 garlic clove, crushed or minced

Whisk (or shake if you have a shaker) all together and enjoy! Note: Either the celery seed, parmesan cheese, and/or garlic can be omitted to make a simpler vinaigrette. One thing I’m learning about vinaigrettes is that you must have the oil and the vinegar, and the rest is really up for discussion!

Posted in Cooking and Baking, Urban Farming | Leave a Comment »

We have A Rooster!

May 24, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

“You’ll know you have a rooster the first time he crows”, or so said our chicken-expert friend. So, Thursday morning when we heard a very peculiar sound at 5:30 AM for the first time we were suspicious. “What is that sound?”…we were baffled as we awoke to something that sounded half-way between a yell and a moan. (We later learned that it takes a while for their “cock-a-doodle-doo” to develop.) After searching the house and checking on the kids, we pin-pointed the sound to a certain chicken that was sitting right in the middle of all 7 chickens sitting in a row on a perch. “Well, maybe it’s just a hen with some sort of problem.”…so we gave it another morning. Sure enough, at 5:30 (on the dot) the next morning the same sound came from the same chicken, and then again on Saturday morning. If we had lived on a real farm we would have cooked us up some fried chicken, but since we live on an urban farm we sold him back to the feedstore from where he came. So, now we are back to just little hens – or so we hope. Happy to report that the last few mornings have been very peaceful.

Here he is (or was) looking very much like a rooster in this picture:

Posted in Around the Bungalow, Humorous Stories, Urban Farming | Leave a Comment »

An Apron Wardrobe

May 21, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

Dishes are my personal battleground these days, dishes along with laundry. Nothing makes my home feel more restful then when my dishes and laundry are in order. Is it just me, or is anyone else out there fighting the same battle too? It’s funny, nowadays women don’t talk much about everyday things such as dishes or laundry unless it’s in a negative light. There generally aren’t many happy thoughts shared about housework tips, or even encouragement when it comes to homekeeping. In fact, it almost seems taboo to feel proud of when things are in order, or even - gasp – enjoy wearing fun aprons. It is funny, because housework is a large part of many of our lives whether we’re full-time homekeepers or not…I’ve heard there once was a time when things were different (although not perfect). I love to hear stories of those times from my grandmother…maybe there will be a revival of a happy housekeeping attitude someday - yes maybe, I hope. As for me, I’ve been thinking about starting an apron wardrobe. I have this vision of a long, artsy-looking apron with patches and pockets all over it, maybe some funky buttons, too. I haven’t seen it anywhere except in my mind’s eye – but I’d like to own it someday soon. What about you guys – any apron ideas, too?

My rather boring coffee-cup apron, but it does the job for now:

Where many battles have been fought, won, and lost:

However, if you ever stop by for a visit, don’t have your hopes up…When my house is messy, I have a choice: Either keep people out, or invite people into my disaster…I tend to lean towards inviting people in, it’s more fun that way.

Posted in Around the Bungalow, Cooking and Baking, Keeping Things Tidy | Leave a Comment »

A Backyard Afternoon

May 19, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

We’ve been having good days and bad days over here as we’ve continued to struggle with illness. Lately, I’ve felt like a little gopher that just peeks its head up to look around when it can – then after taking a quick peek, it must hide again to work hard on a task. However, all of our heads were “peeking” out today, and it was definitely one of our better days. We spent most of it in our sunny backyard while I made frequent trips to the laundry room to work on our enormous pile of laundry. We let the little hens “free range” all afternoon – it’s so fun and relaxing to watch them peck and scratch, eat worms, and make their chicken noises. However, it was a challenge to catch them all when it was time to go inside for dinner…they are getting fast!

Watching our little hens:

In the cherry tree with his favorite chicken, the “Rhode Island Red” – note the hen in the background, too:

Washing, washing, washing…I’m actually glad to be washing these cloth diapers again. Lately, I haven’t had the energy to use, wash, or enjoy all of our cute, cloth diapers, so we’ve been using disposables. It may sound crazy to some, but I enjoy making them all fresh and fluffy, and diapering our little guy in soft fabrics.

Would you like a luscious radish?

Or, how about some fresh greens for your salad?

Maybe some potatoes and onions?

Posted in Around the Bungalow, Keeping Things Tidy, Urban Farming | Leave a Comment »

Clutterless Moments

May 15, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

Clutterless, clean moments are becoming so rare around here these days, that I felt the need to take pictures. Today was our house cleaning day – everything smells and looks so fresh that I wish I could bottle it up. With three busy little boys, a 2 year-old lab, and 7 chickens, moments like these are a kind of sweet, serene bliss…

Even the chicken coop got cleaned!

Posted in Around the Bungalow, Humorous Stories, Keeping Things Tidy | Leave a Comment »

The New Hen House

May 11, 2010 by bungalowjungalow

Some good friends of ours (who have become wonderful allies in chicken-keeping), gave us an amazing urban farming gift – a chicken coop! They have decided to take a break from chickens, and have taken up honey bees instead. (We loved seeing your hives by the way!) On Saturday we drove out to their farm in the county, and brought home this coop – a perfect home base for 7 happy chickens. For better or worse, the boys are in there with the chickens half the time now too…what is it they say about the immune systems of farm children? Here it is in our backyard…