From Gene Logsdon

Now comes the test of one’s homesteading stamina: January.  Might as well throw in February too except that by then the aconites and snowdrops have started to nose up through the ground or may even be blooming in sheltered places. But for now,  hang in there and read garden catalogs.

Another way to ride out the depths of winter is to spend time staring into the burning embers of a fireplace and lose self-awareness to the flames. That’s what I do, but losing self-awareness sounds terribly precious. What I am really doing is looking for more excuses to fiddle with the fire, that is, tweak the burning sticks of wood around so it flames brighter.  Fire fiddling is a more or less safe way to compensate for tendencies toward pyromania.

Something in the human psyche loves to play with fire. It probably is something we inherited, genetically or environmentally, from cave dwellers. They fiddled with fire for survival.

Even today, as the peak oil age arrives, fire fiddling can be once more a practical skill, even an art. Everyone knows that fireplaces are not efficient home heaters— most of the heat goes up the chimney. But a master fire fiddler can get twice as much heat out of a fireplace as a beginner.

The first condition of happy fire fiddling is to burn well-cured wood. If the wood in the fire sizzles on the ends like a frying egg, you may keep the fire going okay by mixing in a good dry stick occasionally, but fire fiddling will not be nearly as gratifying nor will be the amount of heat generated.  And the more uncured wood used, the more chance of little whiffs of smoke puffing out into the room before it gets dry enough to burn well. On the other hand, if the wood is cured through and through, rain water on its surface will dampen a cheery flame only briefly.

The second condition is good fireplace design. The proper ratio of hearth depth to front opening is important. So is the angle for the sides to take (a little inward) from front to back as well as the angle of the rear wall from the floor of the fireplace. It should slant inwards slightly as it goes up to the chimney opening.  The details of design have all been studied and debated for centuries. Needless to say, not everyone agrees  and we don’t have very many fireplace masons around anymore with a couple of centuries of experience under their belts. To be on the safe side, we purchased a steel insert for our fireplace, one whose design was in keeping with the best knowledge available as far as we could ascertain. Then we built the fireplace about twenty inches off the floor so it was easier to lean in and fiddle with the fire without bending over so far (and perhaps falling into the fire if one is also at the time fiddling with a martini).

The steel insert afforded us a handy way to increase the amount of heat going out into the room rather than up the chimney too. The stonemason who laid up the stone around the insert built ducts into the wall to draw in air from below the fireplace hearth and circulate it up and around and over the steel jacket. The heated air then passes back out into the room from ports above the fireplace. You can install circulating fans to move the air faster but they are not necessary at all. The heat pulls the air strongly enough through the system on its own. The fire not only throws out heat from the fireplace directly but indirectly through this circulation system.

To add a little more efficiency, our fireplace is in the finished basement of our home so that heat coming from it out into the basement rises up the nearby steps to the kitchen and dining area above. You can actually feel the warm air ascending the steps.

The art of fire fiddling involves the placement of the pieces of wood, or sticks as we call them, so that they generate as much flame as possible and as close to the front of the fireplace as possible without belching out any smoke. The first rule, if one must get formal about it all, is to keep a big backlog at the rear of the fire to throw the heat forward, and then to arrange the sticks in front of the backlog so that there is a bit of a crack between each of them. Then the flames rise cheerfully up through the cracks rather than sulk underneath because of being blocked by the sticks. Ideally, you keep the logs so placed, and then add new ones as the old ones burn up, so that a wall of flame from four to ten inches or thereabouts is always dancing above or in front of the wood. Some master fire fiddlers lay the sticks on top of each other at a sort of angle from each other so that there is plenty of room between the pieces,  or actually rack them up two one way and then two crisscrossed on top of the first two.

You realize the joy and purpose of fire fiddling when for the first time you pry with a poker two pieces of  wood apart and the sulking fire below them suddenly springs up with a sprightly flame in the crack you made.

Making sure there is space  between the sticks is most important when starting a fire— what was referred to in former times with the art of “laying a fire.”  I “lay my fires” on an iron grate that keeps the wood about three inches off the floor of the fireplace. First I lay in the big backlog behind the grate. Then a handful of twigs goes on the grate and then a small front log piece. Then I put two pieces of wood (split chunks no more than about five inches thick) on top of the twigs about an inch apart and parallel to each other. A third and fourth piece go on top of the first two but at slight angles to each other and to the bottom two so that there are spaces between them. Then I light the twigs from below the grate with a twist of paper. Sometimes two or three twists are necessary before the twigs start.

A banker friend of mine who is an avid fire fiddler, says that if you are short of paper and twigs with which to start fires, good, cheap substitutes right now are bank notes and stock certificates.
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See also Gene’s Easy Way To Start A Grove Of Trees
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Gene and Carol Logsdon have a small-scale experimental farm in Wyandot County, Ohio.
Gene is author ofThe Mother of All Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative Impulse (Culture of the Land),
The Last of the Husbandmen: A Novel of Farming Life, and All Flesh Is Grass: Pleasures & Promises Of Pasture Farming
Excerpted from At Nature’s Pace: Farming and the American Dream 1994
Image Credit: Fireplace © Luckynick | Dreamstime.com
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From Jeff Cox

The Earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb—
That which is her burying grave, that is her womb.
–William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet

Of course Shakespeare said it most poetically and best, over 400 years ago. Compost is the source and destiny of life. It’s the seedbed from which healthy plants grow and it’s the decayed remnants of those plants that support the next generation of garden goodies.
Here’s the secret of all good gardens: the garden is only as good as the soil that’s in it. And good garden soil has as much compost in it as possible.

There are really only two ways you can get good artisanal compost at home—make it yourself or let worms make it for you. I’ve done both. Let’s start with making it yourself.

Think of compost as the end product of a furnace. Green and brown vegetable waste such as leaves, kitchen vegetable trimmings, stalks, and weeds (that haven’t gone to seed), are the stuff to be burned. Animal wastes, like manure, are the fuel to ignite them. The proper proportion is three parts vegetable matter to one part animal manure.

Poultry manure gives the quickest, hottest start to the process, but any manure will do. Pig manure is great. Bedding from goat sheds, rabbit hutches, cow sheds, and horse barns are also good. Or go to your garden center and buy sacks of dried animal manure. You’ll find them for sale there.

Build your compost pile on a five-foot by five-foot square place on clean ground. Put down about 10 inches of vegetable waste. Any kind will do, especially green grass clippings, hay, straw, leaves, or whatever you have. Cover this layer with a couple of inches of manure. Wet these layers with a garden hose so they’re good and wet and build another, similar layer on top of them. Wet the second layer. Keep adding layers and wetting them until the pile is about four feet high. Cover it with a tarp. After two weeks, remove the tarp and, using a pitchfork, make downward strokes through the pile and turn the forkfuls onto the bare soil next to the pile. After you’ve turned the whole pile, it should be similar but slightly smaller in size than the original pile, and probably more round than the original. Make sure it’s moist (but not sopping wet), cover it again, and repeat this process every two weeks two more times. You will then have finished compost ready to be used in the garden as fertilizer and soil conditioner in one—and guaranteed to grow great crops of vegetables.

Or let the worms do the work for you. I have two worm bins. You’ll need to find a source of red wiggler worms. These aren’t earthworms—although they’re related. They are garbage chomping worms that will eat their way through your kitchen garbage quickly and efficiently, leaving behind worm castings that are seven times richer in plant nutrients than compost alone. They eat all my kitchen garbage except for citrus rinds, anything in the onion family, and meat or meat products. They are my guys. What can I say? I dump my kitchen scraps in there and at the end of the process, which takes a few months, I have the richest compost in the world.

Having made compost the hard way, and by using worms, I highly recommend the worm route. They’re not particularly cute, but they are efficient and the end result is a wonderful payoff. You should see how plants respond to worm compost! For full details on how to set up a worm composting system, get a copy of Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof. Check your local independent bookstore.

The bottom line is that your garden will be no better than the quality of your soil. And your soil will be no better than the compost you amend it with. Whether you make compost yourself or hire worms to do it, it is at the heart of the organic method.
~
See also Jeff’s What’s the Right Oil for Kitchen Use?
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Jeff Cox is author of The Organic Cook’s Bible and The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide, and numerous other cooking, gardening, and wine books, and lives in Sonoma County, California.
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From Lisa Barnes

When engaging kids in kitchen and cooking activities you may want to serve them something special like a festive hot drink or a snack of granola or trail mix.  It’s one more reason to stay and help, and also won’t tempt them to eat or “sample” too much of what you’re making.  The drink recipe below is great for all ages and takes the chill out of a cold and rainy afternoon.

Of course there’s the usual helping decorate cookies (see last week’s Little Helpers in the Holiday Kitchen) which kids are always up for.  But there are also other tasks that don’t involve desserts.  Below is a recipe for a unique way to prepare and enjoy brussels sprouts that my kids love to make and eat.

Organic Calientito
Calientito means little hot one and this drink is a spiced cider made with spices and fruit. You can use just about any fruit and fruit juice combination here. This is good for the kids at a party when serving adults mulled wine. The name sounds appropriate for my feisty daughter.

Makes 5 cups; 5 servings

2 cups organic unfiltered apple juice
2 cups organic pomegranate juice
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup orange segments
½ cup chopped pear
1 tablespoon organic raisins
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and simmer over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick, Serve hot or wait to cool for younger, sensitive mouths. If serving to younger children, strain before serving to prevent choking.

Leaf Us Alone Brussels Sprouts
Although they are one of my favorites, I realize Brussels sprouts are not welcome by many. I think they get a bad rap because they are usually boiled, bland, and still rock hard in the center. Peeling the leaves and discarding the center core, makes for an entirely different taste and texture. And yes, you and your kids may even have a new green favorite. Note this takes time and patience, but little hands make great peelers.

Makes 6 servings

1 pound organic Brussels sprouts
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil.

Cut off bottom stem or core of each sprout. Carefully peel away the leaves until it becomes too hard to peel. Cut off bottom core again and peel more layers. Continue cutting and peeling until it is too difficult to peel apart.

Place leaves in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and stir until all leaves are coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir again.

Spread leaves onto prepared baking pan in a single layer. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until leaves are cooked and start to crisp with golden edges.

Kids Korner
I brought these to the table to peel while my children were having a snack. It must have looked interesting as both my four year old and 18 month old starting peeling, too. I told them they were Brussels Buddies. My son just kept telling his dad “We’re only eating the skins.”
~
See also Lisa’s Why Organic For Kids?
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Lisa Barnes is author of The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler, Williams-Sonoma: Cooking For Baby, and lives in Sausalito, California.
Image Credit: © Reno12 | Dreamstime.com
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