Tag: gardening

How a Three Sisters Garden Inspired Change on Our Homestead

~ Crystal Sands ~ 6 Comments

I wrote earlier this year about planing my first Three Sisters garden this year. I have been reading about the Three Sisters method for years, but I first learned about it when my daughter was in high school. She learned about the native peoples here in Maine and taught me then about the Three Sisters method, and I was intrigued. In my reading I learned that many Native American cultures practiced this method of farming, even Cherokee, which meant a lot to me because my great grandmother on my dad’s side was Cherokee, and so much of what I do from keeping chickens to making jam is inspired by her.

The idea behind the Three Sisters method is that you plant corn, beans, and squash together, as they will help each other out, creating a symbiotic relationship allowing for more food growth. The corn grows tall and straight and gives the beans something to grow on. The corn, of course, also has shallow roots, which means it will not compete the with squash. The beans use the corn stalks to wrap and grow upward toward the sun. Beans fix nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. Corn needs a lot of nitrogen. The squash grows wide on the ground and provides ground cover. It blocks out the sun on the ground to help prevent weeds. I also found that the shade means the soil retains water better.

There was a part of me that thought this whole system was just too good to be true. I talked to my husband, Ron, about it for years, and he seemed skeptical. He has he ways of doing things and isn’t always open to change, but the more I read, the more I was convinced this was a method to try.

This year, I told Ron I was just going to try myself. I asked if he could leave some space in the garden for me to have my own space. He agreed and gave me a great space. I was late to plant because of the epic rain in June, but I decided to go ahead and plant because the corn would at least make it before the first frost, and I could hope for a late frost.

I read to plant the corn first, about a week ahead of the other two. I had a hybrid corn seed Ron had leftover, an heirloom pole bean seed, and a beautiful long pie pumpkin seed–all from Fedco Seeds here in Maine. I couldn’t find much information about how close to plant things, so I just guessed. I had some anxiety about this because I am such a novice in the garden, but after a week, I thinned the corn and then just planted a bean seed on one side and a pumpkin seed on the other. When I finished planting, I just so happened to run into my neighbor and her grandson working in their garden. I told them I was trying a Three Sisters garden.

My neighbor’s grandson is involved in water rights here in Maine and has worked a lot with Maine tribes, so he knew about the Three Sisters. I told them I hoped it would work. “It’s been working for thousands of years,” he said. I doubt myself so much that I wasn’t convinced but was thankful to finally get to try.

My measure of success was going to be getting corn to grow. And grow it did! The corn grew and thrived. The beans grew and thrived as they reached up and wrapped around the corn. The pumpkins flourished at the bottom of the jungle of corn stalks and bean leaves.

And the best part was that did nothing but watch and admire. At first, Ron told me I was surely going to have to fertilize the corn, but I told him I read that you don’t need to. It was a rainy season, but there were a few dry spells when Ron had to water his corn in the main garden. I never had to water my corn after the initial planting. I did not fertilize further, and the corn and beans and pumpkin plants flourished. I also only pulled weeds twice early on. Once the pumpkins were going, weeds just couldn’t grow very much. My garden literally took care of itself.

Ron, who had been so skeptical, was convinced. He kept saying, “look at how green everything is.” He kept asking me if I had added any fertilizer beyond the little bit of organic coop poop I had used when I planted the corn. I never did. I didn’t even add fertilizer when I planted the beans and pumpkins. I was in a big hurry and just put in the seeds and hoped for the best. Ron was impressed, and I am telling you it takes a lot to impress this man. He even went and got our neighbor, a certified master gardener, to show her and explain the process.

Sadly, the hurricane that visited Maine this weekend destroyed my Three Sisters garden, but most of the corn was ripe enough to eat, and some beans were ready. I am planning to try to raise the corn stalks back up or pull them, just to give the pumpkins a chance since it looks like we might have a late frost this year. The corn has been delicious, and I have to tell you I felt so proud of myself that my first time in my life to try growing corn led to such a success. And the whole garden just took care of itself. Even though the hurricane was a disappointment, the learning from this experience is a game changer for us.

As my husband and I get older, we are finding it more challenging to keep up the pace of summers growing food. I have been trying to convince Ron to maybe reduce the garden size, so we can see him more in the summer months. I think he’s listened, but most importantly, he plans to grow his corn and cranberry beans and squash and pumpkins using this method. The Three Sisters method of planting is a quality of life enhancer for us. We get more delicious organic food with half of the work.

I guess there’s a reason this method has been working for thousands of years.

Everything Everywhere All at Once–or Prepping a Tiny Farm for a Hurricane

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

We have a hurricane or tropical storm headed toward Maine tonight. If you are in Maine, you know this. If you are not in Maine, please know this is not super common for us. We are such a treed state, when storms come when the leaves are still on the trees, power lines are going to go down. Since we live in a rural area, we have a generator, but it doesn’t run our whole house. We lose hot water and can’t bake anything. We can use the microwave, but we have to turn off everything else in the house. Still, I’m thankful for the generator. One time, we went eight days without power. I don’t know what we would have done without a generator.

I was talking to someone today who acted like everyone was overreacting about the hurricane coming to Maine. I thought to myself, she’s definitely not a farmer. I am not overly worried, I suppose, but it takes a lot of work to get even a tiny farm ready for such a storm during harvest season. We are worn out from prepping for this hurricane because our garden is in full harvest, and we can lose a lot of food to high winds.

We hope it’s not bad, but you cannot take any chances when your year of food for your family is on the line. Groceries are so expensive. Right now, tons of things are at harvest, so Ron and I have spent the last three days harvesting what would normally take us about two weeks. We have been picking or processing some big batch of something every single night since we learned the hurricane was likely going to bring trouble. Last night, I was up until 1:00 AM finishing the pizza sauce.

Garlic, onions, pears, corn, tomatoes all have had to be picked and processed. I’m still going on the pears because they were small but extra plentiful. We got about five times the amount of pears as we did last year, and I treasure them. Still, it’s a lot of work peeling those pears. I wonder if there is a more efficient way. Next year, I’ll be looking into this if we get another pear harvest. Today, I spent about four hours peeling pears. I’m pretty slow with a knife, I think. If anyone reading this has advice on processing pears, I would love to know what you do.

On top of this, Ron has had to get the generator ready, get gasoline for it, and sharpen the chains on his chainsaw because we live amongst so many trees. A big storm is not just a concern for our house and coops, but we have fencing around most of our property. Storms take out our fencing on the regular.

Tonight, we were scrambling to bring everything inside and button up tight for the winds. It feels like I am all over the place trying to remember everything. I found a shovel leaning against the coop, and I had to bring in any plants I could. I brought in all the chicken waterers. I think we are ready, at least we are as ready as we can be.

I won’t let the baby chicks out tomorrow, and I’ll see what the big chickens and ducks want to do and keep a very close eye on them. If necessary, I can lock them down too. I think we have everything that might blow away brought inside, and we harvested every bit of food we could from the garden. But the corn is just now ripe. Most of it is still on the stalk and needs just a few more days. I am going to be very sad if the beautiful corn I grew in my three sisters garden gets wiped out.

Crossing my fingers. And to those in Maine who read this, I hope your electricity stays on, your trees stay upright, and your garden survives.

The pears are ready!

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

I am behind on everything, as I always seem to be this time of year. My teaching load increases; homeschooling starts; and it’s still harvest season. This morning, when I went out to take care of the chickens, I saw two pears had dropped from the trees. When I let the chickens out, they were on those pears so fast, which is interesting to me because they won’t eat apples.

Tomorrow, I have try to can those pears, as it’s the biggest bunch we’ve ever had, but I am a little nervous because we have never had enough pears to put up. I am worried about messing up and ruining the pears. Surely, I can do this.

That reminds me: My three sisters garden is doing amazing. After I planted it, I told my neighbor and her grandson about it. Her grandson, who works a lot with the Native tribes here in Maine said, “Oh, it’ll work. It’s been working for thousands of years.” The only thing I could think was that I would probably find a way to ruin it anyway. But I have not. So far, it looks like I’m definitely getting corn and beans, and if this warm September continues, I might get some long pie pumpkins. I am trying to work on feeling more confident. I swear, if I can grow delicious corn, that will surely be a boost.

I also found a great home for one of Ruby’s roosters this morning. He was the sweetest one, and he got to go the best home. It was the farmer who told me last week about how intelligent chickens are. It turns out that she was looking for a young rooster. What a lucky boy!

She drove about an hour to get him because she wanted to make sure he came from a good environment. This is critical if you are getting a chicken from someone else. You can’t know everything for sure, but you have to at least look at the environment they have been living in. It’s always risky to take in an outside chicken and introduce it to your flock. I was happy for her to come and see where our chickens live. It’s a very good chicken life. I did make sure I cleaned the coop this morning though, just to make an extra good impression.

It’s funny. It’s kind of like cleaning your house when company comes over, I guess. Our coop is not fancy at all, but it’s sturdy and safe–and it’s nice when it’s all freshly cleaned.

Anyway, tomorrow is pear canning day. Then, Monday, I have to make another round of sauce from the tomatoes and peppers. Somehow, I have to finish the online annual this week too, and we start homeschool on Monday. It’s a busy fall already.

Just Enough

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

We finally got enough tomatoes to make our sauce. We live on this sauce for meals throughout the year, so we’ve been a little worried about the tomatoes. Thankfully, we had just enough today for our first batch. I think we will get enough for one more batch, and that will do us because we still have some left from last year when we had such a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Last year, we processed 125 pounds of tomatoes, had about 75 pounds for farm shares, and gave away 50 pounds. This year, I think we will be fortunate to get 50 pounds in total. Those horn worms came during a time when our son was at music camp, and we were swamped. Those little caterpillars did big damage. But it’s okay because we have just enough for sauce.

It’s a long day making the sauce because you have to pick all the veggies, wash and peel the tomatoes, make a puree out of the onions garlic and peppers, and then it all has to simmer for six hours. Oh, and you have to stir it every 15 minutes. I have just one round to go, and then it’s time to can. It will be a late night, and this is real slow food. It’s totally worth it though. Slow food always is, I think.

Also, the baby chicks are doing so great. They are just perfect!

Slow and Steady (or Gardening without Sunshine)

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

It has continued to be a gray, rainy summer here in Maine. We have had a few breaks and nothing like we saw where it rained all of June. Still, it’s been wet and gray most of the time.

Some foods in the garden have done well. The greens have been amazing. They have done so well that Ron just kept planting them over and over, so we could keep eating salads. The green beans also did well. The beets finally did something, and after so much carrot drama, we are now eating carrots. In fact, every single night, we eat from our garden, and I am thankful for the beautiful food full of good nutrition.

But I’m a little worried about the last things to finish every year–things like the corn and the tomatoes. Our tomatoes have struggled extra this year because of a horn worm outbreak. We found 21 of those very hungry caterpillars, and two plants were pretty much just gone. Those horn worms are so hard to see. It’s like they wear invisibility cloaks. Somehow, they match both the stems and the leaves from the tomatoes perfectly.

On top of the horn worm buffet, our tomatoes are lingering green because we just are not getting very much sun. This morning, I woke up and couldn’t believe how dark it was outside. Hopefully, the tomatoes will ripen. We depend on them heavily for sauce and soups.

The corn is another worry. Ron has a corn patch, and I planted my own corn in a three-sisters garden. I am seeing tassels, which is very exciting, but oh my goodness, we need some sunshine.

I’m crossing my fingers for a warm September. It’s possible. Two years ago, we didn’t get our first frost until after Halloween. Of course, last year, we had a frost in mid September.

In the meantime, we are eating well from the garden. It has been a “slow food” summer for sure and a year to learn extra patience about growing food in times of climate change. We spent years learning how to grow food in drought and hot summers. There has been a bit of a learning curve this year.

I would love to know how your gardens are doing. Where are you, and what has this summer been like for you?

Summer Harvest

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

We are in the thick of summer harvest, and it is both wonderful and terrible. Mostly wonderful. Still, it makes for some long days in the garden or kitchen or both.

Today, I processed 12 quarts of blueberries. Some were frozen. Some were for jam. Some were for pie filling. It’s been a bumper crop for our blueberries, but we have just 8 bushes old enough to product, so we also visit a farm north of us and pick from their high bushes. The blueberries are giant this year. It has been fun to pick them, though the heat has taken a toll for sure. They are so yummy it’s worth it. Plus, the heat broke yesterday, so I am hoping to go pick one more time.

The green beans are also ready, and the raspberries are still going a little bit. We have put up 14 quarts of green beans so far, and more will have to be processed tomorrow afternoon when I get home from taking my son to music camp on the coast. Summer harvest makes for some late nights.

But I learned a long time ago that that can’t sleep on that garden. When things are ready, they are ready. If you want to eat from the garden all year, you have to be ready to process a lot of food in a short amount of time in the summer and fall.

Of course, I am so thankful that we have so much to harvest right now. Food is so expensive at the store. It is wonderful to have all of this food to help feed us all year. This year started out more than a little worrisome, and we lost some things. Overall, however, things are looking really good right now. We didn’t get many beets, and most of the cabbage rotted; still, we had a couple of each. And the onions and garlic look great. We just started eating the onions in our dinners.

The carrots are coming and look beautiful. The potatoes are doing well, though Ron has had to treat them for blight. Mainly, the tomatoes are gorgeous. Oh, how I hope they keep going! It looks like it might be a good year for them. Oh, and my three Sisters garden is coming along so beautifully. I’m going to need a long summer for everything to make it though. Ron says that’s the only way the melons and watermelons are going to make it–a late frost will be key.

You never know what might happen these days. Last year, we got our first frost mid-September, and then it got hot again. That was a bummer. But the year before last, we didn’t get our first frost until after halloween. That was nice but scary at the same time. Maybe we’ll get something in between this year.

Oh, and Mary Jane is hanging in there. She had a great day yesterday and even slept on the roost. Tonight, she didn’t make it up on the roost though. I saw her get into a nest box for bed. Last night, I was in awe that she was sleeping on the top roost, and then I saw she was leaning on someone. It was a small, brown chicken who was just sitting there patiently, allowing the giant that is Mary Jane to lean on her. I went back into the house to get the flashlight because I had to see what chicken was allowing this.

It was Bianca! That hen is the sweetest hen in the history of ever.

Oxheart Carrots or the Fourth Time’s a Charm…I Hope

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

After three failed attempts at carrots this year, today, Ron planted carrot seeds. I told him I couldn’t plant them this time because I was cursed. I want those Oxheart carrots too badly. Maybe my desperation is creating negative energy.

But I think, after much investigation, we have figured out what happened to the last two rounds of planting. The first round was washed away by rain. We have some carrots in random places popping up. Those are pretty much the only carrots we have so far this year though. It took some sleuthing, but we now know that either slugs or cut worms ate the next two rounds of carrots.

I kept telling Ron that something was slaughtering the carrot seedlings, but he was skeptical because we have never had a problem like this before. I finally got him to believe me, so we planted again thinking surely the slugs or cut worms would have moved on by the third planting. Yesterday, I was so excited to find that we did have some seedlings popping up from the third planting. To test what was happening, I used tiny rocks from the garden to make circles around four seedlings. If we still had them this morning, we were probably going to be okay without the fourth planting.

Sadly, this morning, only one of the four seedlings remained.

I know I have said this before, but this year just keeps being tough on the garden front. We need sunshine so badly. We can get regular organic carrots from other farmers, but one of the varieties of carrots we plant is a French heirloom Oxheart carrot. I cannot get these anywhere else around here, and I adore them. They are a variety of France that has been around since ever and are great for rocky soils like we have in Maine. They are short and chunky and perfect for chopping up into sticks for stir fries–hence my desperation in planting. And, as organic gardeners, we can’t use pesticides to help in this situation. .

So Ron planted the carrots today in a different part of the garden. Additionally, since we know it’s either slugs or cutworms eating our carrot seedlings, I covered the area in crushed eggshells. This should work in keeping them away from the carrots once they sprout. It’s kind of like using Diatomaceous Earth, only the shells won’t wash away so easily in the rain–and we’re having a lot of rain this year.

Ron and I were talking this weekend about which is worse–this much rain and cold and cloudiness or the drought from last two years. We both agreed the drought is worse. But we are definitely having to use our critical thinking skills and just be tenacious to get things to grow this year.

*photo credit: Pine Tree Garden Seeds

Lucy Lives and Other Stuff

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

Lucy is still alive–and maybe in that last rally before death. I am not sure. The night before last, I was pretty sure she was within a day or two. But since she was still alive the next morning, I decided to give her one last spa day to freshen her up and pamper her a little bit. I only give spa days when a chicken needs a good scrub, which is rarely, but since Lucy has had health problems, she has a poopy behind. It was good to get her cleaned up.

Anyway, she came in, had a warm bath, ate treats, was still mostly indifferent to me–as this is Lucy’s way–and her energies have been lifted ever since. I mean, I know she’s going to die in a few days, but I am so happy she’s having a little rally. My gosh, she’s a trooper with a strong will to live. Tonight, when I was collecting greens from the garden, she was right there as I fed spinach to the flock.

We have been very busy this week. We also moved the meat chickens out of the garage and into their big house and yard last night. They are pretty little, but we decided to go ahead and let them make the big move since the weather is mild, and they are mostly feathered out. As we moved them from one side of our property to another, Ron and I got many steps in. One at a time, we carried 25 birds from the garage to the back side of our property where there is a coop and lots of trees and logs for the chickens to play in.

It’s a hard thing keeping meat chickens, but I won’t think about the end right now. As I carried each little chicken, I just focused on making them feel loved and telling them how wonderful it was going to be to get to play in the trees, grass, and sunshine. They took full advantage of their first day in their new space and played all day and found so many worms and bugs. It was cool to watch their instincts kick in. Without any mama to teach them, they just knew what to do. As we engaged in acrobatics and caught each of the 25 birds for bedtime tonight (in a couple of days, they’ll do it on their own), I saw some really full crops. Yeah, those little chickens had a great day in the sun.

And speaking of sunshine, we got a second day of sun today. I am so hopeful the strawberries are going to ripen. I think a couple will be ripe in the morning. They were close this afternoon when I last checked. Sadly, more rain and gray skies are coming, but maybe it won’t be as much as it had been. Last year, we baked in the sun. This year, we rarely see it. It’s a challenge for sure, but farmers and homesteaders always learning and adapting. The good is coming. It’s just a little different and a lot slower.

I’m really worried about my carrots though. Three plantings and still only partial sprouting. I still have much to learn, obviously.

Strawberry Season 2023–or the Waiting Is the Hardest Part

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

I took this picture exactly one year ago today. It was the first small batch of strawberries, and I was so excited because there were so many more berries nearly ripe and coming soon.

Strawberries are my favorite food in the world. As a child, all I wanted for my birthday was a strawberry cake. My great grandmother had strawberries in her in-town garden and would make strawberry jam, which I am still convinced, on homemade bread, is the best, most comforting food in the history of the world.

I love the strawberries.

This year, it feels like we are forever away from strawberry season still. It has been cold and gray and rainy, and everything in the garden feels stunted and slow. I have patience for the other things, like the radishes and beets. I am having a hard time waiting on the strawberries.

I just weeded the strawberry beds this morning and studied the state of things. The plants look great, and there are a ton of green berries. But they are all so green! It looks like it will be a couple of weeks before we have strawberries, and I am bummed about this wait. It’s all we can do though, I guess. Just wait and hope for sunshine.

Tom Petty said, “The waiting is the hardest part.” Those are wise words.

Purple Cauliflower

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a wild year with the weather, which means the garden is off to a bit of a bumpy start. I have had to plant carrots three times now. I had to replant once when heavy rains came and washed away the seeds. We knew rain was coming, but it was way heavier than expected. I had to replant the second time because of flea beetles. Those things are vicious.

The greens are doing great. We eat them every single night now, but other things are stunted by weeks of cold, rainy weather. The radishes, for example, just haven’t had enough sunshine.

Thankfully, we have the greens and the rhubarb, and we have this beautiful purple cauliflower coming. Doesn’t that just look like the most beautiful plant? I am so thankful Ron is growing these. I love the beautiful purple color, and I have never eaten purple cauliflower. Isn’t that going to be a treat?

I would love to hear how your gardens are doing. We had one day last week where the high temp was 94 degrees. In two days, the high was 49 degrees, and we had to light a fire in the wood stove. I just talked to a friend in the south, and she is having to cover her garden thanks to cold temperatures like she has never seen in a southern summer.

It’s a challenge right now for sure. I am thankful for the skills we have though. We learn something every time we have to pivot, adjust, adapt, and figure out how to grow food in the midst of some pretty volatile climate action.

At least we have this beautiful purple cauliflower coming.