Squash

[Queenie O.]

On 3/24/2021 at 2:04 PM, Tommy T. said:

Tonight I will bake the half squash (we gave half to our weekly worker) with butter and brown sugar... We are so delighted to be able to provide some of our own food...

Hi Tommy,

If you or anyone here is interested in making a calabasa squash pie, I'll share my recipe in a post. 

I grow a lot of kitchen herbs in pots,  out on my terrace facing the sea. I use many for cooking and also mint varieties for teas and lemonade. It's fun just to sit by them and smell their fragrance..

[Tommy T.]

1 hour ago, JJReyes said:

Don't forget to purchase 1 kilo of nightcrawlers (earthworms).  They will help aerate the garden soil and leave behind a wonderful fertilizer.  Check around your community for a source.

Thanks, JJ... How much land will that 1 kilo be good for? And, sorry for being ignorant, but do I just dump them on the ground or dig some soil up to help them find their home? I love trying to do things with nature as much as possible. The soil here is very heavy and clay-like, but seems fertile and orchard trees and other plants seem to thrive in it.

[Tommy T.]

10 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

Hi Tommy,

If you or anyone here is interested in making a calabasa squash pie, I'll share my recipe in a post. 

I grow a lot of kitchen herbs in pots,  out on my terrace facing the sea. I use many for cooking and also mint varieties for teas and lemonade. It's fun just to sit by them and smell their fragrance..

Yes, Queenie... I am very interested in your recipe. Thanks for sharing it!

[Queenie O.]

35 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Yes, Queenie... I am very interested in your recipe. Thanks for sharing it!

Okay--I'll post it soon.

[jimeve]

47 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Thanks, JJ... How much land will that 1 kilo be good for? And, sorry for being ignorant, but do I just dump them on the ground or dig some soil up to help them find their home? I love trying to do things with nature as much as possible. The soil here is very heavy and clay-like, but seems fertile and orchard trees and other plants seem to thrive in it.

You put them in compost to help break down the contents. Small farms sell compost that have had night-crawlers to break down the compost. 

We buy the compost in 50 liter sacks from the homestead farms.

 

[JJReyes]

13 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Thanks, JJ... How much land will that 1 kilo be good for? And, sorry for being ignorant, but do I just dump them on the ground or dig some soil up to help them find their home? I love trying to do things with nature as much as possible. The soil here is very heavy and clay-like, but seems fertile and orchard trees and other plants seem to thrive in it.

One kilo or a 100 worms count (in the United States) should be sufficient for a vegetable plot 10 to 20 square meters in size.  I assume you have already been gardening so the soil is no longer heavy and clay-like.  You can simply scatter the earthworms.  Cover them with plant trimmings, dry grass and other composting materials.  Keep the soil moist for at least a week by watering the area, but don't oversaturate.  In time, the worms will tunnel.  

Our neighbors here in La Jolla, California keep earthworms in plastic trays inside their garage.  The composting material includes vegetable trimmings and other kitchen waste like banana peels.  Whenever the neighbors are away, our granddaughter visits and she uses a hand-held water spray gun to keep the earthworm trays moist.  These are serious environmentalists.  Their sink and shower water is set-up to drain into a 5,000 gallon tank.  The soap used at home is special.  It comes from a Texas supplier.  The water is reusable and recycled for gardening.  

[Tommy T.]

On 3/26/2021 at 10:17 PM, JJReyes said:

One kilo or a 100 worms count (in the United States) should be sufficient for a vegetable plot 10 to 20 square meters in size.  I assume you have already been gardening so the soil is no longer heavy and clay-like.  You can simply scatter the earthworms.  Cover them with plant trimmings, dry grass and other composting materials.  Keep the soil moist for at least a week by watering the area, but don't oversaturate.  In time, the worms will tunnel.  

Our neighbors here in La Jolla, California keep earthworms in plastic trays inside their garage.  The composting material includes vegetable trimmings and other kitchen waste like banana peels.  Whenever the neighbors are away, our granddaughter visits and she uses a hand-held water spray gun to keep the earthworm trays moist.  These are serious environmentalists.  Their sink and shower water is set-up to drain into a 5,000 gallon tank.  The soap used at home is special.  It comes from a Texas supplier.  The water is reusable and recycled for gardening.  

Good news! There are already abundant worms cruising through our soil here. One crawled over my foot yesterday and startled me. We see their tracks on the surface in some places where we recently added some "earth fill" or land fill that is mostly earth or dirt (except for the plastic bits, flip-flops and a few rocks. We think it may be river dredgings because it is very silty. So we are going to hold off on importing more worms for now...

I am impressed with your neighbours. I always had the intentions but did not follow through with being a true environmentalist. But we both try. When the budget permits, I would like to try to provide some sort of storage tank for the abundant rain water we receive and use the saved water for irrigating our garden and - soon to be planted - lawn areas. We still have to sort this all out...but not today.

We have not accessed our new compost pile yet, but have been adding to it often. We are pleased to be recycling our leftover or wasted veggies into the compost and look forward to harvesting from it and fertilizing our burgeoning garden with it.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Tommy T.

[JJReyes]

21 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Good news! There are already abundant worms cruising through our soil here. One crawled over my foot yesterday and startled me. We see their tracks on the surface in some places where we recently added some "earth fill" or land fill that is mostly earth or dirt (except for the plastic bits, flip-flops and a few rocks. We think it may be river dredgings because it is very silty. So we are going to hold off on importing more worms for now...

I am impressed with your neighbours. I always had the intentions but did not follow through with being a true environmentalist. But we both try. When the budget permits, I would like to try to provide some sort of storage tank for the abundant rain water we receive and use the saved water for irrigating our garden and - soon to be planted - lawn areas. We still have to sort this all out...but not today.

We have not accessed our new compost pile yet, but have been adding to it often. We are pleased to be recycling our leftover or wasted veggies into the compost and look forward to harvesting from it and fertilizing our burgeoning garden with it.

I remember watching our farm tractor plowing the fields and a flock of native chickens followed behind to eat the earthworms and other insects.  My solution was to keep the chickens caged to give the worms time to re-burrow into the earth.  My father's theory was the exercise (for the chickens to toughen them up) worms and eating green leaves contributed to creating an intense, unique flavor.  So the chickens were set free to follow the tractor operator.  Every Sunday lunch consisted of using these native chickens to prepare soup based on a Jewish recipe.  I can still recall the flavor.  The chickens they raise today using feed does not come close.