Spring is a time of renewal

I am renewing myself this month with an overwhelming excitement about my life and then plans I have made for it. I just returned from a transformative weekend at the Quillisascut School of Domestic Arts. I went with a good sense of where I wanted my life to go, and after five days of amazing people with their love of everything local, fresh, and good, I am ready set my ship full steam ahead.

Today I am working on my business plan for Deep Roots Design. I will continue to work on my marketing strategy, price structure, and products/services we will offer. I think it will look very similar to AmyPennington's GoGo Green Gardener in Seattle, WA. I was so fortunate to have her as a teacher/mentor this past weekend at Quillisascut. I was able to run ideas by her and get valuable advice in return.

I also came across this fabulous website, Foodista, a very fun website similar to Wikipedia, but is everything food. I will be trying some new and inventive recipes soon!

As for the garden, this week is transplanting. I will be getting onions, broccoli, and cauliflower in the ground. I will also be direct seeding radishes and peas as soon as the soil has dried out a bit. It's been pouring down rain for two days, so my transplants are getting some much needed moisture, but I know they'd like their roots in some real dirt.

A new addition to our little backyard farm is Bennie and Layla. Bennie (Eggs Benedict) is a Black Australorp and Layla is a Buff Orpington. We built them a chicken tractor using reclaimed materials with a total cost of $4 for some wire and connectors. The Moscow City Ordinance allows for six laying hens per family, 25 chickens up to 12 weeks (for meat) and no roosters. We were a little worried at first that Bennie was going to be a rooster because she was so aggressive. But she's a good 'ol gal who is just beginning to cluck.

They are so helpful in the garden. Right now we've got them on a mostly bare patch of soil where we will be planting corn and tomatoes later on. They are rototilling and fertilizing the area for a few weeks before we plant. Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen which can burn plants, so if using chickens in your garden rotation, be sure to wait at least three weeks before planting into an area they have fertilized. They will eat most anything green or squirming and scratch through anything else, a great sanitation crew.

I am looking at this beautiful sack of lentils and thinking "I need to learn to make Indian food." I am trying my hand at a simple daal tonight. The recipe goes something like this: 1 cup lentil to 3 cups water, boil for 30-40 minutes covered, uncover and add Cumin, Coriander, Tumeric, and Cayenne and salt. In a separate pan, saute minced garlic and mustard seed in organic canola oil until garlic begins to brown then add to lentils. Serve immediately. I have some garlic naan in the freezer to eat it with and maybe some braised kale on top. I'll let you know how it turns out!