Permaculture Tip: Perennializing Annual Vegetables - Leeks

The leek is an "annual" vegetable that we may be able to make perennial.

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Leeks are one of my favorite vegetables. They are kind of like a mix between an onion and garlic in flavor, a mix of onion and scallion and shallot in use, and a mix of scallion and maybe cabbage in texture. They offer a great flavor addition to many dishes, and I use them quite a bit.

Leeks are biennial plants. This means that they will grow for a full season, winter over, and then flower the next season. Leeks can be harvested whenever you want them. When younger, they are more tender and can be used a bit more like a shallot. When they are older, the leaves are a bit tougher, and they can be used like large onions or almost like cabbage.

I have bought leeks from the grocery store that still had a bit of the roots left on them. I chopped the lower 2-3 inches off (10-15 cm) and let it sit in a jar of water for a few days, then I planted them in the garden. Be warned that this water starts to stink very quickly. I actually do not think this step is necessary, but I have always been too busy to plant them right away. I know it will be a day or two before I will go outside and take the time (okay, it is about one minute!) to plant them, so I stick them in the water. I have left the leek "bulbs" in the water for up to a week. Within a few weeks of planting them in the soil, there are new shoots growing from the center.

This is also a great way to short-cut planting leeks from seeds.

My thought was that this technique could be indefinitely perpetuated. However, I have not lived in a place long enough to test this theory more than a two seasons. But then I listened to an old Permaculture course taught by Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture. He had a recommendation that cut out a few of my steps. When a leek is ready to be harvested, instead of pulling the whole plant out, just cut it off at ground level. Then let the plant keep on growing... just as if you harvested it and then replanted the root end.

Perennial Leeks! Fantastic!

If you live in an area that freezes, you can overwinter the leeks by covering them with straw or grass clippings, then in Spring just uncover the mulch. The only concern is that after overwintering, the leek may bolt sooner, but you may be able to stop it by cutting off the flower stalk before it grows too large. I need to experiment with this. I will let you know what I find. If you have done this, please let us know!

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Permaculture Tip: Seed Saving in Tic Tac Containers

A great re-use for Tic Tac containers!

This image has been bouncing around the internet for a while now. I most recently saw it on Missouri Permaculture's FB page, so I thought I would share it. I tried to track down where this originated. Everything eventually pointed to a great Tumblr page: Think Outside the Bin, Earth 911. I couldn't get any further than that, so if you know who this image belongs to, let me know. I want to give them credit, thank them for it, and see what other great ideas they may have!

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

New Permaculture App and My Site is Featured!

The Permaculture App by Smart Media Innovations Pty Ltd

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/permaculture./id488630466?mt=8

Okay, this is really cool. A friend told me to check out the new Permaculture app for iPhones and iPads. So I did. As it turns out, my site is one of the main sites featured on this app. I am really not sure how that happened, but I am thrilled!

Screen shot from the Apple iTunes page for the App.

This is directly from my website!

First things first... the App is actually really good. There are four main sections. 

• Tips - right now this section contains only my articles (awesome!)
• Blogs - there are three currently listed. The first is a blog written by a family in France (Permaculture in Brittany). The second is the blog for the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. This is the main Permaculture center in the world. It is what Bill Mollison started and is now run by the genius, Geoff Lawton. Finally, there is my blog (again, awesome!). 
• Courses - A listing of courses available on Permaculture. This is one section that needs a bit of work.
• Videos - a great collection/listing of videos on all things Permaculture (gardening, sheet mulching, lectures, etc.)

Again, I am really not sure how my site was selected for it. I would like to think it had to do with quality content and all my hard work paying off, but it likely had more to do with a random google search! Either way, I am ecstatic about it. This App is a great resource, and I would be promoting it even if it didn't have my content. Check it out!

Permaculture Tip: What to do with your Sprouted Garlic Bulbs

My bowl of sprouted garlic bulbs.

When I use fresh garlic (and you should, too... not that jar of pre-minced stuff!), I inevitably have some cloves start to sprout. Maybe the garlic was older, or the moisture in my kitchen higher. Whatever the reason, a decision has to be made. Can I use it? The short answer is yes. Here are a few ways:

1) Use it as normal. If the sprout is small, and the clove has not become soft, then it will have little influence on the dish. Chop the sprout with the clove, and use it as if it wasn't even there. The old wive's tales you may have heard from your mother or grandmother about sprouted garlic being poisonous or causing cancer or causing ulcers or whatever... all wrong. Sprouted garlic is just fine to eat. No worries.

2) Trim out the sprout. Some people don't want green in whatever it is they are cooking. Some people think the spout tastes bitter, though I have never found it to be so. But if you do not want the sprout, and the rest of the bulb is still firm and still smells like good, fresh garlic, then just cut the bulb in half, right down the long side of the sprout, and peel it out. It is quite easy to do. Then use the rest of the garlic bulb as normal.

3) Plant it! This is one of my favorite things to do with sprouted garlic bulbs. I typically have a pile of sprouted garlic bulbs in my kitchen (see the photo above). When the pile gets too big, I take them outside and plant them everywhere I can. Just place them sprout side up in the dirt and push down until the bulb is covered all the way. Put them in the flower boxes. Put them in pots. Put them in the hanging planters. Put them amongst the flowers and vegetables. Put them anywhere you have dirt. If it is too cold outside, then put them in planters in the house. They grow easily and fast. Leave them in place long enough, and a new head (with a bunch of new cloves) will form.

Note: This works for garlic and onions and shallots alike. I even take scallions (a.k.a. green onions) that still have some roots and plant them as well. Typically, the bunch from the store has just a few too many shoots for the meal I am making. The extras go right into the garden after I trim the wilted leaves off of them. I have at least a dozen scallion plants growing in just one planter near my driveway. It is so simple, takes next to no work, and provides me with fresh, flavorful ingredients... just a snip away!

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Permaculture Tip: Reused Plastic Bottles

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is simple. It is safe. It is effective. It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general. If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know. I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one. Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

This is a fantastic idea that has been floating around the blogosphere and Facebook world for a while now. I love it because it is simple. It is an example of Permaculture Principle Six: Produce No Waste. The hand shovel, while not too strong, is a great dog food scoop, bird feed scoop, animal feed scoop, etc. It is a great way to reuse a plastic bottle before you recycle it.

You can see all the Permaculture Tips by clicking here.

Permaculture Tip: Nature Tending

A perfectly ripe wild blackberry is a thing of perfection!

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/delicious-alabama-wild-blackberries-kathy-clark.jpg

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Nature Tending is a term I coined to describe subtle gardening of the natural world. In Permaculture, we have the design concept of Zones (read more about Zones in this article). Zone 4 is a semi-wild area. It is a place that is only visited a few times each year and is almost entirely left to nature... but not entirely. It is often used for grazing of animals, for collecting firewood, for coppicing, for hunting, and for wild harvesting. This is where Nature Tending works the best.

Have you ever seen a wild tangle of blackberries or a few black cherry seedlings trying to survive in the forest edge? What if we trimmed back some old blackberry canes to allow the new shoots room to grow? The blackberries produced on those developing canes would likely be larger and easier to harvest. What if we cut back some branches from that neighboring walnut shading those black cherry seedlings? What if we piled a little dirt just downhill of those seedlings so that when it rained a little extra water would linger at its roots? What if we took some of the leaf litter and tucked it up under the seedlings to provide a little extra natural mulch? These quick actions would provide a better life for these seedlings, and a better life often means survival. In a few to a dozen years, those seedlings are now large trees providing habitat and food for wild animals and wood and food for us.

These small things, that take only a few seconds each, can pay big dividends in the months and years to come.

I think back to the time when I live in Franklin, Kentucky. My home's backyard was a strip of woodland before the farmer's field of corn and soy. It was chock full of black cherry trees (that made some great jelly, by the way!) and black walnut trees. There were just a few straggly blackberry vines snaking their way through the edge of the field and the woodland. I remember thinking that I wish these blackberry canes were more vigorous and produced more fruit. This would have been the perfect time and place for Nature Tending. If only...

Maybe we won't be the ones who benefit from this. Maybe it is just the wildlife that benefits. Good for them. Maybe we set it up so another person enjoys the benefits of our (very brief) labor, and maybe they become so enamored with the idea of harvesting from the wild that they do the same for others. Maybe it is just a little kid who picks the blackberries while on an "adventure" in the woods, dreaming he is an explorer and living off the land. Maybe he grows up to be the next Bill Mollison or Geoff Lawton or Joel Salatin or Michael Pollan or...

Once your eyes have been opened to the idea, you can see the opportunities for Nature Tending all around.

Permaculture Tips: Diatomaceous Earth and Chicken Parasites

The Red Chicken Mite

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/Uploads/Image/red-mite-infection_large.jpg

If you keep chickens, then you know about keeping a dust box or dust pile available for them.  Chickens coat themselves with fine dust to help rid their bodies of exoparasites (i.e. external parasites: lice, mites, etc.)  The dust creates an inhospitable environment for these pests.

If you add a handful of diatomaceous earth to the dust box every once in a while, it will make the dust significantly more effective.  (You can read more about diatomaceous earth in my previous post.)

This is a very easy technique that keeps your chickens more healthy and more happy.

Happy chickens taking turns in the dust!

http://www.darkbrownegglayers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/wheaten-chickens-035.jpg

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Permaculture Tips: Bring a Bucket!

Don't miss out on an opportunity.  Bring a bucket!

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I don’t know how many times I have come across something that I thought, “If I just had a bucket, I could bring that back with me.”  Typically, this is something that can be composted.  I’ve seen piles of almost black bananas that someone was throwing away, wet paper bags of used coffee grounds, lawn clippings, even fish entrails outside a fishing dock.  I’ve seen muck from the bottom of a pond that was being drained.  I’ve seen piles of horse, goat, and chicken manure and straw.  It doesn’t have to be things that people are throwing away either.  I’ve seen dead crabs and seaweed washed up at a beach, mounds of ash after a small forest fire, mounds of leaves growing mushrooms on the side of the road in the autumn.  All of these would be fantastic additions to my soil increasing the nutrients, minerals, and overall quality by adding more and more diversity to the soil.  All of these things I have had to pass by and think, “What a waste!”

My tip?  Just bring a bucket with you.  Place one in your car or carry one in your bike basket (if you don’t have one, consider adding one).  If you are going to a place that you know will have a lot of material, then bring a couple of buckets.

It doesn’t always need to be for compostable material.  What about when you seen a field that is about to be bulldozed for new construction and there are wild blackberries or lamb’s quarters?  I’ve “relocated” azaleas from a home site that was condemned – the bulldozers came the next week and leveled everything, plants and house together.  You may want to carry a small shovel in the bucket, too.

The people who benefit from surprise opportunities are those that are planning on those opportunities and are not surprised by them.


A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Permaculture Tips: Use Your Car As a Dehydrator

Use Your Car As a Dehydrator
From Organic Gardening June/July 2011

Fresh figs being dehydrated in the window of a car!

http://thetanglednest.com/2009/08/drying-food-in-car/

Ginger Li from Homewood, Illinois explains how she dehydrates mint, basil, kale, Swiss chard, cilantro, dill, etc. by placing them in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  She placed the cookie sheets on the seats of her car, parked in the sun, with the windows just barely cracked to vent the humid air.

I read this as a Reader Comment in Organic Gardening, but I ended up finding many references to it on the internet.  Apparently, this is a growing trend.

Fantastic idea!  Beautiful way to utilize free energy!

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Recipe and Permaculture Tip: One-Minute Bread

An ridiculously easy recipe for a great loaf of bread!

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/kitchen-hack-one-minute-ciabatta-bread.html

Here is the list of ingredients... yes, that is it.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/kitchen-hack-one-minute-ciabatta-bread.html

ONE-MINUTE BREAD

(click here for the recipe)

A good friend of mine (Jake) sent me this link quite some time ago.  This is a simple bread to make, and it is really quite good.  It obviously takes more than just one minute to make the bread, but the active amount of time you are really doing anything with this bread is under ten minutes.

There really are only four ingredients.  I use one bread yeast pack which is the 1/4 teaspoon required.  You can add any number of spices if you want at the end.

I will use this recipe when I want something that is a bit more bread-like than my Beer Bread but less time and quantity than the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  It is great served with a good quality cheese or sliced thin lengthwise and used for sandwiches.

It is so easy!

Permaculture Tip
This tip was told to me by Jake (who sent the link above) a few months after sending me the bread recipe.  

For all you homebrewers out there...  You know when you are done fermenting a batch of beer and you have that stuff left over on the bottom of the carboy?  The technical term is "trub" (it comes from the German word for lees).  Well, this sediment that remains is composed of heavy fats, proteins, and inactive yeasts.  Jake and his friend were sitting in the kitchen cleaning up after bottling a batch of beer.  Jake's friend says, "I bet you that stuff there would be great in bread."  He was right!

This was a brilliant "ah-ha!" moment.

Now, whenever I drain the beer off the trub, I always save it.  I try to use it later that night.  I will substitute one cup of water for one cup of trub in the recipe listed above.  Sometimes I'll use a little more.  I may need to add a bit more warm water to get the consistency of the dough right.  Just experiment and see what works.

We will end up with a richer, more complex-tasting bread that has an amazing flavor.  This is a implementation of Permaculture Principle Six: Produce No Waste.  What we have been throwing away, discarded as waste, is an amazing ingredient in bread adding nutrition and flavor.  What a great idea!

Thanks, Jake!


A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture and life in general.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Permaculture Tips: Duct Tape Cure for Ants/Aphids in Fruit Trees

A Permaculture Tip is an idea that is derived from observing and interacting with nature.  It is simple.  It is safe.  It is effective.  It helps build a sustainable system of agriculture.  If you have any Permaculture Tips you would like to share, please let me know.  I will post it here, give you the credit, and post a link to your blog or website if you have one.  Email me here: kitsteiner@hotmail.com

Ant "harvesting" sugar from an aphid.

http://538357.cache1.evolutionhosting.com/antsandaphids/ants_aphids_sugar.jpg

The idea for this great tip comes from Steve Sysko in the Sept/Oct issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal:

Ants climbing in and around your plants are common.  Most of the time, this is not a bad thing at all.  Sometimes, this can even be a good thing.

I recently heard of how one gardener believes that the black ants in his garden have taken care of his squash vine borer pests.  In his previous gardens in another part of the U.S., he had a lot of damage from squash vine borers, and he knew the telltale signs of infestation and damage.  However, upon moving to his new location and starting a garden, he has not had this issue. He has seen the characteristic burrow in the base of the vine, but the burrow was shallow and had black ants going in and out.  His thought is that these black ants find, kill, and eat the young larvae before it does any damage.  Hard to know if that is true, but if it is, this is pretty amazing.

However, you need to pay attention when you see ants climbing around on your fruit trees.  A few here and there are no problem, but if you see a lot, you may need to be concerned.  Check closely at the shoots and small leaves for aphids.

Ant defending his aphid herd from a ladybug.

http://ic2.pbase.com/g4/82/451782/3/63225289.prFinvvo.jpg

Ants and aphids can develop a symbiotic relationship.  The aphids excrete a sweet substance that the ants eat, and the ants will protect the aphids from predators.  It is almost like a bunch of dairymen caring and protecting their herds of dairy cattle.

If this is happening in your fruit trees, significant reduction in growth and fruit yield can result.  If you can stop the ants from protecting the aphids, which love to eat your fruit trees, then this allows the natural predators (ladybugs, lacewings, etc.) to kill the aphids.

How can you do this without chemicals, toxins, and poisons?  Duct Tape!

Wrap the base of the tree (about 3-4 feet off the ground) with duct tape, sticky side out, for about 8-10 inches in height.  You may need to change the duct tape every few days if either the duct tape dries out (and becomes less sticky), or if the ants that get stuck create a living bridge for the remaining ants to cross over.  Steve comments that it is easier to place another layer of duct tape over the previous one instead of removing the first and adding the second.  Eventually, the ants give up and move elsewhere.  If you had ant and aphid issues previously, you can set up duct tape protection on your trees in the spring before the ants emerge.  This prevents them from getting established, and hopefully does that same with your aphids.  Steve comments that after doing this for a few seasons, the ants never returned.

I love this idea!  A great Permaculture Tip!