Inexpensive Grow Light Shelf Unit for Seedlings
After having a relatively bad run of some of my vegetables last year in the garden, I researched exactly why. I know this might be obvious to a lot of people, but I had no idea that the growing season in Tennessee was much too short to grow broccoli from seed in the garden without starting from seed. After some research I noticed that everyone starts their seeds inside for the plants that aren't able to grow full term in a shortened season. I know, obvious. I also wanted to grow all of my tomatoes from seed, so this gave me a chance to get to it.
As you know, from an earlier post, I had started some broccoli seed inside. Well, I'm here to say that they didn't make it. They all were very leggy and also suffered from a small cold spell. Again, I set out and researched as to why my plants were so leggy and what I found was that I wasn't getting the seedlings enough light. Not only was I not giving them enough light, I had the light source much too far from the seedlings themselves. I had to find a remedy for that and here is what I did. Grow light shelving!
I looked at all kinds of grow lights and most of them are quite expensive and consequently became a DIY challenge. First of all, I had a couple of shelf units that we were going to use to organize the garage but were never used. They are shelving units much like this:
- Plastic Shelf Unit for Growing Lights
The shelf unit already had holes at the end of each shelf, which I could use to hang my growing lights. What I ended up using for growing lights are just your run of the mill fluorescent shop light. The ones found at your typical big box store or local hardware store. The lights I purchased were less than $11 at my local hardware store:
- Shop Light for Growing Seedlings
I simply hung the lights on 3 of the shelf bottoms and I now have a wonderful growing light shelf unit. I also purchased a simple timer so that I could keep the lights on 16 hours a day. The timer was just under $4 at Home Depot. I've now started seedlings for 6 different types of tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, eggplant and more broccoli. I'm very happy with the results and we plan on planting snow peas and transplanting the broccoli this weekend. This is a very cost effective way to get a setup going for starting your own seeds. If I were to buy the same shelf unit with the lights I used, the total cost would have come to about $45. Well worth the ability to start your own plants before the planting season. Here are a couple of photos of our setup:
- Growing Light Shelf Unit
- Growing Light Shelf with Seedlings
Longer Days, Winter Fading…
Oftener than not about this time of the year things begin to really drag down on one's mind. The cloud-filled days stack up, the ice is muddy, there's not enough time to make it home to work in a daylighted yard and a sense of urgency for spring causes one much anxiety. The want of fresh cut grass lingering in the air, fresh picked strawberries tinting your hands a tad red, incredibly hoppy beer disappearing quickly from the bottle and the sun's light sticking around a bit longer with each passing day. This year I'm trying to see the incredible parts of these last few weeks of hard winter and I was lucky enough to capture one yesterday morning with the camera. Here's hoping the birds return soon and the cold finds it's way back North.
Sunrise at Eskew Homestead, February 17th, 2010
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale Clone Recipe
As most of you know that read this blog, Sierra Nevada was one of the first micro-breweries to gain widespread distribution and therefore has become one of the more popular breweries in the States. They brew really great beers and I'm partial to their Porter, but I think their Celebration Ale is their best beer. It has an incredible mouthfeel and the balance of this beer is wonderful. The bad part is that it's only available during the winter and well, that's not long enough for this chap. So, here's a recipe that I think is pretty close.
Yields
5 gallons/19L, all grain
OG = 1.064
FG = 1.014
IBU = 60
SRM = 12
ABV = 6.4%
Ingredients
Grain
11.5 lbs - 2row pale malt
1.0lb - crystal (35 °L)
.5lb Carapils malt
Hops
11 AAU Chinook hops (60 mins) = 1.0 oz of 11% alpha acids
8.5 AAU Cascade hops (30 mins) = 1.7 oz of 5% alpha acids
0.66 oz Cascade hops (for the dry hop)
0.66 oz Centennial hops (for the dry hop)
Extras
1 teaspoon of Irish moss (15 mins)
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)
Process
Mash at 156 °F for 60 minutes. Boil wort for 90 minutes, adding hops as indicated above next to the specific hops. Ferment at 66 °F. Dry hop in a secondary for 5 days at 60 °F after primary fermentation is done. Bottle/Keg.
Extract Options
If you don't want to bother with the all grain version (although you should) you can replace the 2row malt with 5.5 lbs of dried malt extract and 1.5 lbs of 2row malt. Steep the crushed grains in 120 fluid ounces of water at 156 °F for 45 minutes and then follow the rest of the process above for the boil and fermentation.
Broccoli Seeds Sprouting
Click for fullsize
Just over a week ago, I started our broccoli seeds inside. Last year, as I stated in the previous blog post, we didn't plan our garden out very well. We did have quite a few vegetables last year, but broccoli was not one of them. The reason we didn't have any broccoli was because I was unaware that the growing season is too short here in the Southern Interior for broccoli without starting your seed early inside and then transplanting to the garden. Well, that and the fact that when the broccoli did try to make florets, the deer were on it in no time. This year I started the seed early (42 plants) and have a plan to use row covers to keep the pests out. I'll create a write-up about the row covers at a later date when I set it all up.
Starting the broccoli seed was very easy. Since we don't have a greenhouse on our property yet, I had to settle on something a bit cheaper. Strike that, a lot cheaper. Like less than $10! I bought a couple of Jiffy Greenhouse kits from the Ferry Morse Seed Co. You can buy some of your own by using the link at the bottom of this post.
The process of starting seed is quite easy.
- Use peat pellets, like those in the Jiffy Greenhouse, or just buy a bag of vermiculite soil or peat and place in planting containers/egg cartons, etc. Anything will do.
- Water the peat or vermiculite a bit and let it expand until it's like a sponge and then fluff the surface and level.
- Sow 2-3 seeds per pellet or every couple of inches if using potting soil. Cover lightly with peat.
- Place the dome cover over the tray of peat pellets and keep it in a warm location away from direct sunlight. I kept mine in the pantry and left a fluorescent light on 11-14 hours a day.
- When first seeds start to sprout, prop the lid open. When all seeds have sprouted, remove the dome and place in a sunny location. I kept mine in the pantry with the light on.
- After first true leaves appear, cut back all but the strongest seedling in each pellet or group of seedlings.
And that's it! Once you are ready to transplant the seedlings, it's best to harden the plants by placing them outside in the shade for several days and bring them in at night. All the while gradually exposing them to full sunlight. Once hardened, simply dig holes, place the seedling(s) in said holes and firm soil around it. Water.
Garden Layout Diagraming
Last year was the first year we started gardening at our new home. Our soil is quite rocky on our property so we decided to plant our vegetable garden in raised beds. We also utilized the square foot gardening method. One thing is for sure, we didn't plan our garden very well last year as we were busy with so many other things, not to mention a trip to Disney World right in the middle of planting season. This year, though, is different.
Last year we started with 4 - 12'x4' raised beds. This year we are adding 2 more beds and we've taken the time to layout and diagram our garden for each raised bed. I think this will not only help us during planting, but also help us in logging data with regards to the garden. The software I used to diagram the layout is called Dia. It's an open source software application that you can use on your Linux or Windows computer for free.
Download the original image. Right Click > Save Link As... - Very large (3526 x 1687)
Garden Diagram Dia File - Open this file in Dia and design your own layout!
Rogue Shakespeare Stout Clone Recipe
This is one of my favorite brews from Rogue brewery located in the Pacific Northwest. I had experimented with different recipes for this when I was younger, but could never quite get it right because the yeast I would use was not even close the yeast needed for this brew. Now that the yeast is available, I think this recipe is right on the money. Try it out in your home brewery and let me know if it turns out how you expect. I'm posting an all grain and a grain plus extract process. Get brewing!
Yields
5 gallons
Assumes: 70% efficiency, 5.5 gallons at end of boil
OG: 1.060 (15 P) IBU: 69
All Grain Version
- 11.0 lb (5 kg) Great Western 2-row pale malt
- 0.5 lb (227 g) 120L crystal malt
- 0.5 lb (227 g) chocolate malt
- 0.5 lb (227 g) rolled oats
- 3.0 oz (85 g) roasted barley
Mash at 150F (65C) for 60 minutes. Sparge at 175F (79C) to collect 6.5
gallons of pre-boil wort.
Extract Plus Grains
Steep speciality malts, roasted barley and oats in 150F (65C) water for
20 minutes. Strain, add 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) light malt extract syrup, then
proceed with the boil.
Boil
- 1.oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5% AA (90 min)
- 1.oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5% AA (60 min)
- 1.oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5% AA (30 min)
- 1.oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5% AA (knockout)
- 1 tsp (5 mL) Irish moss (20 min)
- Wyeast Pacman
Boil 90 minutes with the additions shown above. Cool to 60F (16C) and
pitch yeast. Ferment at 60F (16C) for one week, then siphon into
secondary. Hold in secondary at 60F (16C) until fermentation is
complete, then bottle/keg and condition.
French Bread Recipe
We've been trying out new bread recipes lately and everything had been turning out pretty dense. We wanted to try out a simple French bread recipe, but as I read a lot of different recipes and books/blogs about it, I found out that everyone does it a little differently. So, I figured why not try my own take on it and this is what we came up with.
Ingredients
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- Pinch of sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour and salt. In a separate container, combine the pinch of sugar, yeast and 2 cups of warm water. Let the water mixture sit for 3-5 minutes so the yeast can start to eat.
- Add water mixture to the large bowl of flour and salt. Mix until well blended using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining flour as you are mixing.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead in enough flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes total. Shape into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn once. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled. What I like to do is turn the oven on for about 30 seconds to a minute and let it warm up a bit. This is where I place the dough to rise. Don't let the oven get too hot, though. You should be able to keep your arm within the stove without it being uncomfortable (80-90F)
- Punch dough down, and divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into large rectangle. Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edge with water and seal. Taper ends.
- Grease a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes.
- With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until bread tests done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on a wire rack.
And that's it! Below you can see a couple of photos I took before I put the bread in the oven and after I had taken it out. Also, I've added the recipe as an attachment. It's in an Open Document format. It should open in your word processor of choice. We support open platforms and open source software, so we use OpenOffice. Enjoy!
Click Here to Download the French Bread Recipe document
And it begins…
So, my wife and I have decided to start this new blog so that we can share information with others that we've learned and continue to find out about living a simpler life, homesteading, cooking, art and gardening. We made the decision to head down this path a couple of years ago and we feel like we might have some things to share and we are hoping to find like-minded people that want to share in our experiences. We hope to keep everything here up to date as best we can and hopefully there are some people out there that will find something enjoyable here.
Tate, Amy, Daniel & Ruby
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