And the snails go 'nom nom nom'

A while back we planted two strawberry plants in our garden. They were both doing very well, until one night. One of them was attacked by a hungry snail, and was completely annihilated.



The other one is still doing very well, and I wonder if this one will recover.

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart

All rhyming bean jokes aside, we have an abundance of beans beginning to ripen. We planted a bunch of Henderson Limas, and they're all coming to fruition. Some of them are teeny tiny, and others are beginning to really flesh out into actual edible-sized limas.



There's a bunch of small pods, large pods, and flowers that will quickly turn into pods. We're very very excited. Limas may be the first thing that we actually get to eat out of our garden.

Do you see what I see?

It's an itty-bitty baby radish! These Cherry Belle radishes were only supposed to take three weeks to grow, but we're coming closer to three months now. We're finally starting to see some flesh out into full-blown radishes. Our plans for these babies? Salads and baked chips.

The potatoes are up!

I have wanted to say that for so long now. In Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal Vegetable, Miracle, one of her most exciting moments came when the potatoes came up. She shouted it from the rooftops, and I always looked forward to the day when I could say the same.

What does this mean? Basically, after planting the seed potatoes, or little chunks of potato each containing an eye, they send out roots and shoots. Eventually the shoots make it up past the soil, and turn into visible plants. Our lovely purple potatoes that we planted about a month and a half ago have finally made it to that point.



We have three up so far, but we're expecting about fifteen. They're in an especially deep bed, so they should have enough room to grow.

Thirsty chickens

Down at the Stockyard, our local feedstore, automatic feeders and waterers for poultry run about 50 bucks a piece. We haven't really been able to stomach that cost. While we were on vacation, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Phils went out to the local big-box store and purchased a set of automatic food and water dispensers for pets. The chickens love the waterer, but they kept scratching all of the food out of the food bowl, which we've since given to the rabbits.



The chickens kick all kinds of things into their water, but it serves its purpose.




Our little fatty rabbits love the never-ending supply of food too.

Invader in the garden

Every once in a while, we'll hear a dog barking in the backyard, and go out to see what all the noise is about. Rarely do we actually see anything, but finally one day I was out there and caught the intruder in the act.



He was hanging out near the rabbits, barking at them. Every once in a while, we find evidence of something digging into the rabbit cage, and I wonder if this is the culprit. Either way, the pen is pretty puppy-proof, so I don't fear for their safety.

A wonderful birthday present

For my birthday, which was October 7th, Taylor and I took advantage of Disney's free admission and visited Epcot. We were in for a wonderful surprise when we went on the Behind the Seeds tour of the experimental greenhouse.

Here is a step by step of the entire tour:

The first stop was at the sterile lab where they create tissue cultures to clone a few different species of plants, including cinnamon trees, redwoods, and dragon fruit. We weren't actually allowed to go in, but we got to see all of the different cultures growing in the agar gel.



This cinnamon tree was made from one of the cultures in the lab. We got to smell some of the crushed leaves, and it smelled exactly like the spice!


We then got to actually go into the greenhouses! Our tour guide is in the blue shirt on the left. He actually graduated from a high school about thirty minutes from where I grew up.

In the first room of the greenhouse we got to see a bunch of different "ponics"--- aeroponics, aquaponics, and hydroponics.


Here we see brussel sprouts gliding through a wall filled with nutrient sprayers. The roots continually get doused with a liquid that contains all of the nutrients that they need to grow. Because the roots also have constant exposure to air, they get enough oxygen.



A close up of the roots passing under a sprayer



This is kind of a similar idea. These tubes contain absolutely nothing but air, and they pass under nutrient sprayers. The spray hits the roots which grow inside of the tube.



Another really interesting setup. These Styrofoam planters can easily stack a dozen high, and provide great insulation against temperature changes. It also makes low-laying crops much easier to harvest, because you don't have to crouch over.



We then got to release some beneficial insects. These ladybugs gobble up harmful pests that damage crops in the greenhouse.



Rockwool was one of the coolest things that I saw on the tour. It was perlite that was heated and spun like cotton candy to form this fluffy medium. It's formed into seedling trays which can be broken apart and planted directly into the soil.



Then we were in for another treat! We got to taste-test some delicious cucumbers grown in the greenhouse. We went back for seconds.... and thirds.... and fourths...



This was also really neat. By creating this triangular structure, they could grow four times the number of plants in the same area. This was another aeroponics setup where the empty interior is filled with roots that get sprayed with nutrients.



This spiral was another really cool vertical aeroponics system. Nutrient solution drops down the spiral to soak the roots. I'm not sure how well it works, but it sure does look pretty!



Now this little innovation was absolutely amazing. It's probably pretty unbelievable without seeing it, but it was essentially layers of cardboard that made up some of the walls. By keeping them sprayed with water, they cooled the air that passed into the greenhouses. It actually worked, too! If you put your hand up to the wall, it was cold to the touch.



This gigantic poster shows one of the huge tomato "trees" grown in the greenhouse. By choosing indeterminant varieties and trellising them, they can create a plant that grows just like a tree. I think this one particular plant grew something like 35,000 pounds of tomatoes.



Here, our tour guide demonstrates another aeroponics system. Known as a nutrient "film", plants are grown in the holes, and nutrient solution runs through the trench, soaking the roots. The solution can be recollected and reused over and over. They're looking at a similar method to grow food in extreme environments.



This was another one of their huge trellised eggplant "trees".



And what is that huge thing? A four pound lemon. Supposedly it has about a one-inch-thick rind, which means a LOT of lemon zest.



And look! A pumpkin tree!



Here we are in their aquafarm. They raise a bunch of different fish, as well as some alligators. While we were their, two of the gators were doing some very un-Disney-like things as they tried to rip out eachother's throats.



A bunch of tilapia swimming around in one of the tank. We got to feed these guys.

That pretty much wrapped up the tour. It was a really awesome experience, and cost about $15 per person to go. If you're ever in the area, check it out!