2024 December Edition
Tall and (Small) Tales from the Great Basin of Northeast Nevada
Deck the halls with boughs of holly! It is true that nature has been used to decorate and celebrate holidays for as long as any of us can remember. Be it a wreath made with evergreen sprigs and pinecones or a bit of mistletoe hanging over the door, with a little imagination and some bounty from your garden, you can add some whimsy to your holiday decor!
News from the garden
The time is getting closer as we move to the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice is a time when winter officially begins, but so does the hope for spring! If you have not tried your hand at winter sowing, put a day after the winter solstice in your calendar to try this technique. A refresher on winter sowing can be found below in Last, but Not Least!
Innovations and Ideas
Ok, the rumors are true: The Optimistic Farmer is officially online! Check out our website at theoptimisticfarmer.com! We're trying our hand at some fun candles accented with botanicals! Remember to use candles with care and never leave a lit candle unattended.
Ideas are flowing as we navigate dotting the i's and crossing the t's, so look for new creations reflecting the joys of each season!
Inner Work
There are regions around the earth where people have long lives, well longer than most, beyond 80, which honestly seems pretty young. These regions have been deemed Blue Zones, and reading about them is quite interesting. The food they eat, the exercise they do, the philosophies they live by may differ, but there are also threads of consistency. Fresh air, gratitude, healthy food choices, friends, and family—maybe there is something to it all?
Plants in Science:
Chill hours are such an interesting concept; winter is the time that most plants spend in dormancy! Dormancy is a time in a plant's life cycle when growth is basically suspended! Luckily for us, this is just a temporary state, and there may be some action going on behind the scenes during this downtime.
Chill hours are necessary for many fruit trees in order to produce fruit in the spring. We may not fully understand why this is the case, but it is believed the chill time is necessary to kick off the production of hormones in the tree that will be used for bud and fruit development. So "chilling out" may be more beneficial than we think!
Chill hour charts can be found online for your neck of the woods. Here in the northeast Great Basin, we receive around 1,800 chill hours during the winter, so most fruit trees that can survive the winter here will likely get the required chill hours needed to produce fruit.
Last, but Not Least: Winter Sowing
Winter sowing seems like an oxymoron—I mean, come on, who sows in the winter? Well, it turns out not only can you sow in the winter, but it is also actually a pretty cool way to get your plants started for spring planting. For those of you with a deer-in-the-headlights look, winter sowing is easy-peasy! Hopefully, you have been saving a few gallon milk jugs, and if not, start saving now or find a family that uses a lot of milk and see if they can save a few for you. The milk jugs act as mini greenhouses in the winter sowing process.
Sometime after the winter solstice, even as late as February, you can start your winter sowing. Simply cut the gallon jug nearly in half, fill the bottom half with dirt and whatever seeds you want to try. Tomatoes, marigolds, squash, morning glories, peppers, corn, spinach, onions, dill, oregano, pomegranates—really, the sky is the limit. If it will germinate, give it a try. Labeling can be tricky because the permanent markers may fade away, writing with a ball point pen the name of the seeds on some foil furnace tape, tucked into the jug is a great method to identify the plants months down the road.
You can then duct tape the jug back together or simply tuck the top half into the bottom half, set the jugs outside, and basically wait! Keep the top off the jug so winter's snow and rain will water the seeds, and just in time for planting in spring, you will see germination from your jugs. If you have a dry winter, you may want to add a little water from time to time, but generally speaking, patience is all you need.
Check out our website at www.theoptimisticfarmer.com
Comments