Welcome to Happy Acres!
Hi, I'm Dave and thanks for visiting. I garden in Zone 6b in southern Indiana, and I blog here about gardening, nature and food.
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How Hardy Is Lettuce – 2013 Edition
I really hadn’t planned on doing ‘lettuce trials’ this year. I pretty well proved to myself with my 2010 trial and 2011 trial that lettuce was indeed very hardy when protected by a cold frame. Last year we had so much snow that it trashed the cold frame covers, and pretty much trashed the lettuce underneath it too. So knew that my cold frame design wouldn’t hold up to a heavy wet snow. This year we had an early winter cold snap that brought us unseasonably cold weather and an early December snow. How would the lettuce hold up this year, I wondered?
cold frames covered in 2013 snow
After a couple of weeks, the snow finally began to melt and I could chance a peek inside the cold frames. I planted less lettuce than usual in the cold frames this year, and more spinach. The season for spinach is so short here that it made sense to grow as much as I can. The season for lettuce is a lot longer, and I figured there is less need to try and overwinter it. I peeked in the first cold frame, which was planted with spinach.
cold frame after snow
Everything looked good in there. The second cold frame had a mix of spinach and parsley. When I opened it up, the parsley looked unfazed by the snow and cold, as did the smaller spinach plants. Now for the cold frame with the lettuce and arugula.
cold frame with lettuce and arugula
The lettuce looked pretty much the same as it did before the snow. The three varieties (Simpson Elite, Winter Density and Red Sails) looked good. To be sure, they’re not growing much, but they are alive and well. A closeup of the lettuce shows the condition a little better.
Winter Density and Red Sails lettuce
So, the plants under the cold frames held up well to the cold and snow. But this past weekend we received 4.25 inches of rain in one day. The main vegetable garden is downhill from the house and is on sloping ground that is prone to erosion. I could see that a small gulley had washed out in the row where garlic is planted. The ground is way too wet to walk in there at the moment, so I zoomed in with the camera lens while standing on the outside of the garden.
gulley washed through the vegetable garden
It looks like most of the garlic is hanging on. It’s possible a few plants got washed away, but I won’t know for sure until the soil dries enough for me to get in there. I will have to repair the gulley and cover up the garlic that is exposed. Hopefully the garlic will not mind being exposed for a few days. Oh well, there’s nothing to be done about it anyway for the time being.
So that’s my report on the hardiness of lettuce here in 2013. Our temperatures got down below 10°F on several nights, but with the protection of the snow covered cold frames the lettuce survived just fine. Which proves once again that lettuce can take quite a bit of cold weather if protected.
French Green Clay Soap
As I promised last month, I want to share the recipes of some of our recent soap creations. I’ll start with one of my new favorites, the French Green Clay soap. This one is naturally colored with French green clay, and contains luxurious Shea Butter along with beneficial Tea Tree essential oil. Powdered clay is a great natural additive to homemade cold process soap recipes. It is often used to add swirls or layers of color to soaps, but with this batch we aimed for a uniform green color throughout the soap.
French Green Clay Soap
Clays from all over the world are popular in spas and other posh settings, where they are believed to have the power of drawing out impurities and removing toxins from the skin. I won’t make any such claims here for this soap, but it is a good way to add natural color without adding any artificial ingredients. Many clays like kaolin and bentonite are used to add a silky, creamy feel to soaps, and others are mildly exfoliating. I think the French green clay adds a nice silky feel to the lather. And it doesn’t make green bubbles, in case you wondered.
testing the lather
For this batch we used PVC pipes for molds. Before pouring I lined the PVC pipe with freezer paper to keep the soap from sticking to it. I have seen plastic liners for sale online, and we may investigate using these in the future. For now the freezer paper works fine for us, though it can make for some minor surface blemishes on the log of soap.
lined PVC pipe molds
There are many different ways to incorporate powdered clay into a cold process soap recipe. One way is to mix it into the base oils before the lye liquid is added. Or it can even be added to the lye water itself. What we did is remove a little bit of the soap mixture after it came to a very thin trace, then mixed in the clay until it was well incorporated and there were no lumps or clumps. Next we added the soap/clay slurry back into the pot with the rest of the soap mixture and used the stick blender to mix it in thoroughly. We could also have chosen to use the slurry to make swirls in the soap. We’ll save that for a later batch. Whatever method you choose, you want to make sure there are no lumps or clumps of clay in the finished soap.
log of French Green Clay Soap before cutting
We let the soap cure for a little over 24 hours before removing from the molds. If the soap should prove difficult to remove from the mold, you can pop it in the freezer for a bit, which hardens the soap and usually makes it easier to free from the mold. After unmolding we cut the soap into slices, then the soap was left to cure for about 4 weeks. Curing allows the pH to stabilize, and for some of the water to evaporate. The curing makes for a longer lasting, better lathering soap.
soap after cutting
The recipe that follows is for a 450 grams/1 pound batch size (oil weight). It can easily be scaled up for larger batches. We chose to add Tea Tree essential oil to this one at the rate of 1 Tbsp/lb of oils, which is about 3% of the oil weight. Tea tree EO is generally considered safe and non-irritating for most people when used externally. The powdered French green clay is also added at the rate of 1 Tbsp/lb of oils. Though we used green clay and tea tree EO, this base recipe could certainly be used for other combinations of clays and essential oils. I can see using the green clay with lemongrass and rosemary EOs in the future, perhaps with a bit of dried ground rosemary leaves added.
This soap includes Shea Butter for its moisturizing qualities. It also makes for a harder bar of soap, with a stable, creamy lather. We use a small amount (up to 5%) of Castor oil in most all of our soaps for its moisturizing and lathering properties. Please refer to the cold process instructions here if you are new to making soap. Always take the proper safety precautions (we wear rubber gloves and goggles when mixing and making the soap).
French Green Clay Soap 
Print This Recipe
(A Happy Acres original)
Olive Oil – 135 grams (30%)
Coconut Oil – 135 grams (30%)
Palm Oil – 112.5 grams (25%)
Shea Butter – 45 grams (10%)
Castor Oil – 22.5 grams (5%)
Distilled Water – 171 grams
Lye – 63 grams (7% superfat)
1 Tbsp of French green clay, incorporated in a small amount of soap mix at very light trace, then added back to soap mix and blended well.
1 Tbsp tea tree essential oil, added at trace.
We ran this recipe through a soap/lye calculator, and you should always run your recipes too before making them. This one at SoapCalc is our favorite.
NOTE: This soap is superfatted/discounted at 7%
For more recipes and soap information, check out my wife’s Soap Recipe page. I’ll be back soon with more adventures. Until then, Happy Growing (and soaping) from Happy Acres!
Wanted: Good Home for Seeds
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”
–Henry David Thoreau
tomato seeds
As I was doing my annual seed inventory last month, I noticed I have a lot of seeds that I saved the last couple of years. As anyone who has saved seeds themselves knows, many plants produce loads of seeds, and it is easy to collect way more than one person can use before the seeds lose their viability.
For instance, I still have hundreds (if not more) seeds from Beedy’s Camden Kale that I saved last year. I had a giveaway for them last year, but I still have way too many. I hate to see them go to waste, so they are going on the block again this year.
Beedy’s Camden kale
This year I saved seeds from Red Ursa kale. I didn’t get quite as many seeds from it, but I still have enough for several people to try it. I got the original Red Ursa seeds from Wild Garden Seeds, where Red Ursa is described as combining “the broadleaf frills of ‘Siberian’ with the color of ‘Red Russian’.”
Red Ursa kale growing in cold frame bed
Both of these kales are great performers here in the garden, and usually make it through the winter with a little protection. If you want to know more about these two varieties, I did a spotlight on the Red Ursa kale earlier this year. And I did a feature on the Beedy’s Camden kale last year.
kale seed in containers
I also have saved seeds from greens like arugula and purslane, and a few extra tomato and pepper seeds. I have two batches of arugula, one of the ‘regular’ leafed kind and one a mix from ‘wild’ types like Rustic and Sylvetta arugula. Most all of these seeds have been tested and have been true to type, but it is always possible that a tomato or pepper crossed with another plant. The pepper seeds came from three varieties I grew this year: Aji Angelo, Aji Dulce #2, and Trinidad Perfume. They are all mildly hot peppers, and you can read more them in my Pepper Roundup Part 1. I also have seeds from the heirloom beefsteak tomato Vinson Watts, and the popular and productive Black Cherry tomato. Rounding out the list are some seeds from our 2013 crop of Calendula flowers.
Calendula flower
Here’s a list of the seeds I have to share:
- Beedy’s Camden kale
- Red Ursa kale
- regular arugula
- rustic/sylvetta arugula
- green leaf purslane (Portulaca oleracea sativa)
- golden leaf purslane (P. oleracea sativa)
Black Cherry tomatoVinson Watts tomatoTrinidad Perfume pepper (Capsicum chinense)Aji Dulce #2 pepper (C. chinense)Aji Angelo pepper (C. baccatum)- calendula (mixed)
If anyone is interested in trying any of these seeds, just leave a comment here indicating your interest and I will get back to you via email. Or you can email me directly. Either way, I will be happy to send them out to you, while supplies last. It’s a great way for me to share my love of gardening, and the joy of growing things from seeds.
(Due to potential custom issues, I am going to limit this giveaway to U.S. residents only)
Pumpkin Smackdown
I debated about what to call this project. Was is a smackdown or a throwdown? Or maybe a bake-off? I finally decided to call it a smackdown, since Merriam-Webster defines that as “a confrontation between rivals or competitors.” In this case the rivals are several varieties of pumpkins and winter squashes I grew this year, and they are competing to tempt my taste buds to see if I will grow them again. The event took place this week, and here is my report on the results.
winter squashes for smackdown
The rivals in this competition included two C. moschata varieties (Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash and Waltham Butternut), two C. maxima varieties (Boston Marrow and Candy Roaster) and one C. pepo (Kumi Kumi). All were grown here in our garden, and were harvested when fully ripe and mature. After curing, they have been kept in the relative cool of our basement pantry area. In the above photo, the Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck is in front, and from left to right we have the Kumi Kumi, Waltham Butternut, Boston Marrow and Candy Roaster.
Boston Marrow squash
To prepare the squashes, I cut them in half and removed the seeds and pulp. Then I cut them in pieces, put them in a baking dish and roasted them in a 400°F oven until the flesh was tender. This took anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes, depending on the size of the squash and the thickness of the flesh.
pumpkin cut up and ready for roasting
After roasting, I let them cool enough to handle, then scooped out the flesh from the skins. I drained off any excess liquid that separated from the flesh, then I pureed the flesh with a immersion blender until smooth.
pureeing pumpkin with blender
This project turned into a marathon, and it took pretty much the whole day to cook and process the pumpkins. By the end of the day, I was pretty much sick of the smell of roasting squash. But I wasn’t quite through just yet, because can you guess what I had for dinner? Yep, baked winter squash!
roasted Candy Roaster squash
Here are my thoughts on the five varieties I baked and tasted. Of course, tastes are very subjective. Most people are familiar with butternut squash, so I’ll try to use that as a reference point. And frankly, since butternut and its close relative the neck pumpkin do so well here in the garden and in the kitchen, they are pretty much my gold standard for pumpkins, and the ones to beat when it comes to taste and yield.
Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck hanging from garden fence
- Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash – the flesh is moist, fine textured, and tastes much like butternut squash. I sometimes describe it as a ‘butternut on PEDs’. The vines ramble, and the plant is prolific. The fruits keep for at least 6 months in storage. I will grow this one again for sure.
Waltham butternut supported by fence
- Waltham Butternut – flesh is moist, not stringy, and very sweet and flavorful after a few months in storage. The rambling vines were prolific, and resistant to SVB. I’ll grow this one again too. (For those with small gardens or a short growing season, the Early Butternut variety has a bush habit and the flavor and quality is similar to Waltham in my experience)
Boston Marrow winter squash
- Boston Marrow – the flesh is moist, with a nice texture and mild taste. The rambling vines gave me one giant squash that weighed over 16 pounds before curing. It isn’t really any better tasting than butternut though in my opinion, and the huge fruits make it difficult to use in the kitchen. Though it’s a good squash for baking, I don’t think I will grow it again – all things considered.
Candy Roaster squash
- Candy Roaster – this one had the mildest taste of all, which to me was not necessarily a good thing. The vines gave me two usable fruits weighing a total of 27 pounds, so it was a good yielder. Given the mild taste though, I don’t think I will grow it again.
mature Kumi Kumi has a tough rind
- Kumi Kumi – the rind is hard, and difficult to pierce. The flesh has a rich flavor when baked, but it is a bit stringy. The texture is fine when pureed. This dual purpose squash gave me lots of squash that I harvested both at the immature and mature stages. I let five of them mature for winter use, and these averaged about 6 pounds each. I will grow this one again for sure, though I think it is better used as a summer squash.
This was an interesting project to say the least. And a rewarding one, since we now have lots of pumpkin puree in the freezer. Plus, I made a batch of pumpkin custard using some of the Boston Marrow puree. That was my reward to myself for my marathon pumpkin baking session.
pumpkin custard
I hope you have enjoyed reading my thoughts on these varieties, and how they performed in the garden and in the kitchen. Next year, I will be growing the Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash, Waltham Butternut, and Kumi Kumi again. And I plan on trying two more heirloom open pollinated C. moschata varieties: Black Futsu and Long Island Cheese. I’ll be back soon with more adventures from Happy Acres.
Posted in Food, Gardening
Tagged Butternut, custard, neck pumpkin, pumpkin, winter squash
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