Lehman’s Country Life

One of the better value strategies for a low impact, more carbon neutral way of life is to compost. You do not need a huge garden. You just need to figure out the best way to match your own domestic set-up. When you compost carefully you will be given a wonderful by product – humus. This is a dark brown, light and crumbly soil that is gold to all gardeners.

Compost is the natural way to recycle waste and it is truly a miracle in the making. You layer up newspaper and cardboard (brown material) or woody shrub prunings (also brown material) with the moist ‘green material’ – the potato peelings, damp paper towels, tea bags and coffee grounds. You make a compost ‘lasagna,’ alternating the dry and damp in layers. In time, heat and worms do the real work of breaking it down until there is a lovely, crumbly mixture. My first gardening teacher, Delores Keegan, pronounced that the best way to construct compost was to lay down a piece of newspaper, scrap your spuds, parsnips and carrots onto the paper, wrap it all up and then you have the perfect brown and green balance in a neat parcel to deposit in your compost bucket.
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Spring is perfect soup weather. It’s easy, it’s quick, and many times you can leave it to simmer while you work outside. Around my house it is a staple as springtime is very busy on the farm! New baby animals being born, gardens to ready up, tend and plant and lots of other outside chores. Try these recipes on the stove top or in the slow cooker.

Spaghetti and Meatball Soup
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 carrot, peeled and chopped into a small dice
1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
2 small ribs celery chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cups tomato sauce or 1 (14-ounce) can plus 1 (8-ounce) can
3 cups chicken stock, available in a box on the soup aisle
1 pound ground beef, pork and veal mix (meatloaf mix)
1/2 cup grated cheese, Parmigiano or Romano, plus more to pass at table
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It’s been a long winter and it’s so exciting to see the trees begin to bud and the flowers pop through the earth. When the girls were younger we used to put up “things to look for in spring” like birds, bugs, flowers and other signs that yes, it’s truly spring. It’s also time to begin planning for what the garden will hold, how much I need to plant to get the yield I might need for my family and friends.

Home food preservation is a strong practice in our community and valued as a tradition in many families. The planning, planting, tending, harvesting and preserving have come to mean many hours of family time together, working and enjoying the fruits of the yield. In the 2002 edition of the Ball Blue Book, there is a wonderful chart to help guide the planning process. It details the number of plants to purchase or plant for what yield. Another chart below  indicates the number of vegetables needed for a family of four, served how many times a week and then a final number of quarts that need to be preserved to achieve this goal. On the Ball web site (freshpreserving.com) under preserving guides they have similar planning charts to help us plan in greater detail the size and scope of our spring planting.
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Koda, our blue and brown-eyed Heeler/Australian Shepherd, used to go outside to play with Bear, our lovable mutt. Bear may have the head of a Chow, but he has none of the testy qualities of that breed. The two dogs would run and play for awhile and then Koda would be ready to come inside to resume her role as a pampered indoor dog. When our big Bear comes inside to spend the night in the back room, Koda expresses her presumed superiority. She nips him and tries to make sure he cannot move anywhere else in the house except to go directly to his room. I noticed recently that this herding behavior was becoming increasingly hostile. Koda was pulling out Bear’s hair. And all he did in response was cry.

Then a strange thing happened.
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