In addition to wild asparagus and flowers, other products from the land include rhubarb, onions, green onions, radishes, and a variety of leafy greens and herbs. Plus meats, breads, farm fresh brown eggs, and even homemade candy is available at the market.

Enjoy the fruits of your land at the Falls Park Farmers Market this Saturday from 8am to 1pm.

I called the Outdoor Campus and spoke with Lynn Purdy, as I was a concerned that my house is a good distance from the river (as the duck waddles, at least). Lynn told me they didn’t necessarily have to be close to water, and just advised me to try and stay away from the nest as best I could. She also informed me that my neighborhood used to be wetland and that the duck may have responded to some remembered instinct as a reason for nesting in the area–interesting. I also learned that mallards are a federally protected species, not that I would knowingly harm a duck of course, but still, it’s good to know. I alerted the neighbors, who offered to keep their cat, Elvis indoors until the ducklings are either gone or big enough to be safe from his wandering. He’s a fairly old feline, but cats are cats, and a duckling would easy game.

Now while I agree this is a great learning opportunity for me and my visiting grandchildren, it is also apparent that it may be a bit of trouble. It is immediately clear that we will have to be very cautious to avoid disturbing the female, and the nest is only about ten feet from my newly planted garden. She is right where I have stored my tomato cages, so no idea if I’ll be able to access them when they are needed. Additionally, I’ve no idea how aggressive a nesting pair might be. Other concerns are if I will be able to mow the lawn or water and weed the garden boxes? I guess only time will tell. I had also arranged to have a large hackberry removed that is really too near both my house and my neighbor’s new addition, but now feel I should put that off. Not such a terrible inconvenience, providing summer storms stay away!

Piper and I watched from a safe distance all afternoon to see if the mother duck would return. She wandered around the yard for awhile, but then disappeared. I contacted the Campus staff again, and they assured me that she would not abandon the nest, and that the eggs would be all right for some time without her. To my relief, she was back on the nest this morning. I’ll not use the back steps, but walk around the far side of the garage for the duration, and hope if I keep my quiet distance and ignore her she will become accustomed and accepting of my presence in the yard. With luck, I hope to post a photo of that eventual new family.

On a sadder note, we have lost that wonderful show Garden Line. After almost thirty years, the extension has opted to end its production. At first, I thought it was a decision made by PBS because it airs on that station, but learned that it is a decision made by the extension. I don’t know a lot of details, of course, but it would appear it is a funding issue and decided during their recent reorganization. For the record, both PBS and the county educator I emailed responded promptly and very courteously to my inquiries.

This is a sad day for those of us who were devoted to the show. I know I’ve not missed an airing in at least fifteen years. The first time I viewed it, I was hooked. Although there are other good gardening shows on PBS, entertaining and informative in their way, they do not offer the local information that Garden Line provided. That show’s format was based on mostly question and answers from local homeowners and gardeners, with county educators addressing issues with pests or insects, weather, anything that might affect the yard or garden and offering information on new plants and plant varieties. I learned more from watching Garden Line over the years than from any other source. It will be missed for the great service and education it provided. If you are as disappointed as I am in this development, contacting the county extension with your concern might help to bring it back; it’s hard to say. It certainly couldn’t hurt to let them know your thoughts.

For now, here are several web sites offered by the extension to help with yard and garden questions. These appear to be university based through SDSU. They are: igrow.org. and http://www.sdstate.edu/sdces/resources/lawn/index.cfm

And as a word of follow up to my moth posting several weeks back, last weekend I learned that these are called gypsy moths, and I actually had them lay eggs on my ceiling by my patio door! The areas will look about the size of a quarter, and gray/blue in appearance. My go-get-em and stalwart daughter accepted the task of ridding me of the larvae, and was I ever grateful! I have to admit the incident had me off my usual appetite for several days. So be cautioned, and rid your home of these moths at any every opportunity–either trap and release or smack them and return them to the soil from which they came. Smack and return works for me.

And finally, the market is off to a predictable great start. Opening day was a little wet and windy, but my visiting kids were impressed all the same with the quality of the vendors. I picked up several of my hard to find Anaheim pepper plants, and of course there are still lots of other plants for sale. The good thing about purchasing these from the market is you know they are local varieties that will do well in our growing conditions. Thank you, Falls Park Farmers Market!

In addition to flowers, there is plenty of produce. Get radishes, asparagus, rhubarb, lettuce, onions, green onions, herbs and more. And if you like treating yourself, there are baked goods, coffee, homemade candy, and a new favorite, wood-fired pizza!

Get your Mother’s Day flowers and all kinds of other goodies at the Falls Park Farmers Market, this Saturday at Falls Park, from 8am to 1pm.

This season we’re celebrating our 100th anniversary, and we’re kicking it off with fresh and crunchy wild asparagus! Not to mention plenty of meats, baked goods, coffee, flowers and much more. And this year we have something brand new in the market lineup – wood fired pizza!

So get your fridges, pantries and stomachs ready, and join us this summer for locally grown and locally produced food. It all starts on Saturday, May 5 from 8am to 1pm at Falls Park!

All a part of the season, I guess, although I don’t recall having such trouble with them in previous years.  I asked a few co-workers today if they are having similar experience with the moths, and they concurred.  I hope it’s not a sign of lots of insect trouble after the unusually mild winter.  If so, we may be in for a long battle. On a better note, I’ve not seen any earwigs yet, but on completing a bi-annual vacuuming of my under stairs storage area, I found what looked like either skeletal or calcified remains of the biggest centipede ever documented this far north of Missouri or Nebraska.  It literally gave me a shiver.  I couldn’t even bear to vacuum it, but got out the dustpan and broom instead. 

While I hold fast to keeping my lawn and garden pesticide free, I do spray my lower level interior and around the foundation several times a year to keep bugs out of my home.  I didn’t always take this measure until a visiting daughter found an odious bug on her toothbrush, alerting me to the situation.  Now, I very judiciously use a light insecticide around the unfinished areas, the laundry room, under those same stairs, in the window wells and under sink areas, a small concession to a cleaner, more comfortable home.  Even that monster centipede didn’t last very long, and he sure was a big one. 

That brings me to a story of one of my granddaughters and an interior infestation I had to battle some years back. I guess she was about three at the time, and was afraid of bugs in general, especially the large black ants that would turn up alarmingly in unexpected places.  Well, we noticed that was about the same time that when speaking of her extended family, she began to refer to her uncles as uncle this and that, but her aunts were always called by their first names only.  This went on for some months, until her mother finally asked her why she did this. She responded with the predictable alacrity of a three-year-old, “I don’t like ants!”  Well, that made sense. 

This is also the time of year when the yard can quickly overwhelm. Grass is growing enough to need mowing at least once a week if not every ten days, dandelions are in full force and weeds are beginning to cover un-planted garden beds.  The trusty garden hoe is still a great tool to simply uproot small, light surface weeds in open areas, and I have something that looks like a hoe, but is more an opened triangle on the business end, with a soft blade  that works equally as well; it kind of wiggles back and forth as it works through the top of the soil.

And here is a home remedy weed killer offered to me this week by Rebecca Tews from Crooks.  It’s a little scary to use, so a word of strong caution; be careful not to spray it on anything you want to keep.  Like the product Roundup, it will take out anything, but unlike Roundup, it has a long residual life in the soil (Roundup has only a 24-hour residual effect in the soil), making it unsuitable for use in the garden.  But for broadleaf weeds in those difficult places to clear by hand, careful use can work as well as a general herbicide, and if you are critically exacting in the yard, it can take care of your thistle and dandelions. 

Herbicide-Free Weed Killer (not for use in garden beds or around flowers!)  It is non-selective and will destroy any plant life that it contacts.  

1 gallon of white vinegar
1 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap
Mix everything together making sure the salt is completely dissolved (I have seen similar mixtures that you heat on the stove top then cool to dissolve the salt, then add the liquid soap). You can then pour this into a one of those sprayers you can get at any garden center.  Spray this solution directly onto the weeds you want to get rid of, preferably on a hot, windless day.  Store any seasonal leftovers indoors so it does not freeze).

I may try it behind my fence, just the small line under the chain link by the landscape timbers that is so difficult to reach behind. 

Finally, This coming Saturday, May 5^th marks the opening day of the market!  This season also marks the market’s 100th year–quite the celebratory season.  

Look for the following and hope for fair weather, my friends.

Flowers, both as cut flowers and bedding plants.
Flowering baskets.
Bedding plants such as tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, herbs.
Produce:
  asparagus
  spinach
  micro mix
  lettuce
  radishes
  rhubarb
Coffee
Hand made candies
Home canned goodies
Wood fired pizza
Natural beef
Poultry, eggs

We’re off and running.

In the yard, it has been a perfect time to get winter debris work out of the way, get the lawnmower in working order.  Long evenings and cool temps with nice breezes make it a comfortable time, and each year I feel a sense of urgency to get as much done during these days as possible before we are socked with doldrums of humidity and heat we asthmatics dread.  I also see the die-hard lawn enthusiasts around town keeping busy with their de-thatching rakes, and although I have one, this year I will opt for the labor-saving lawn-mower attachment. It’s a bumpy ride, but they work pretty well.

I said hello to a near ninety-year-old neighbor yesterday who was digging dandelions with the best looking weeding tool I’ve ever seen, as it had a long comfortable handle and good eight inches of a below the ground tine, but as it was obviously an antique, I didn’t bother to ask where she had bought it.  I did offer to help dig them, of course, but she wasn’t about to let me have her digger. I hope I’m doing as well at her age. 

It’s also a good time to divide certain plants, and I have an abundance of daylilies this year that need this action. As the area in the back of fence is getting too much for me to handle, co-workers and neighbors will benefit, even casual passers by will see those divisions marked “free” at my curbside in a week or so. I always save the containers my plants come in for this re-use and recommend the practice. I’ll keep a few here and there in my beds, of course, along with some Stella Doro lilies and a few sweet little red varieties, but most of them are destined for give-a-way.  As lilies require fairly frequent division for good blooms (especially the Stella Doro’s), it’s time for this aging gardener to have a few less of them in the yard. 

Here’s something I’ll share that worked for me last fall. We all know it’s a bit of a quandary, trying to save hardy chrysanthemums that late into the year.  One likes to have them in containers and on the door step for decoration, but by the time that season passes, in most years it is way too late to get them rooted for over-wintering in the yard.  Well, I used several of those portable greenhouses (I had bought one on clearance a few years back, one at a yard sale, I think), and honestly, at first considered them something of a white elephant purchase, but have finally found a good use. 

I secured them by taking off the bottom crossbar and shoving them a good six inches deep around my planted mums as well as a few additional late season purchases, then put on the zippered plastic covering and kept the plants well watered until the ground froze.  It was a long shot, but apparently created enough of a greenhouse effect to save them, keeping them (and possibly the immediate soil below) just warm enough to allow the plants to establish in the new area.  I am pleased to say I was able to keep several mums, a small lily and a Limelight hydrangea in this way that may now be transplanted into the yard. 

One other thing I’ve done is to get my pots ready, pots for the peppers and tomatoes, trellises in place, potato containers ready, and fill them with a lightweight planting mix. I find the lighter the bag the better. One can always add in a little compost, and it certainly makes the lifting and pouring a back-saving operation.  Now, when those warm weather plants arrive, I’ll be ready to tuck in a few along with the spikes, herbs and flowering annuals and just enjoy that process.  

The Market opening is rapidly approaching, so mark Saturday, May 5^th on your Calendar.  I’ll be there on opening day with my Minneapolis daughter and her family and look forward to showing it off. 

I just read a vendor’s newsletter on line (Harriet Kattenberg of Seedtime and Harvest), and it sounds like she’s had a good supply of cold weather crops for most of the winter from her protected hoop house.  That spurred me to get out my own cold-weather seed packets (the ones I ordered in January) and check out what might be started now.  I’ve got sugar snap peas, regular peas (never tried them before, and so have no idea how to cook or can raw peas, but I’ll figure it out with my Ball canning book) spinach, kale and two different kinds of lettuce.  So here we go for another year, hoping nature will be kinder than it was to my backyard efforts in the prior growing season.  

This is the year to take the chance and just do it all earlier than usual, I believe.  So this afternoon, my weekend helper (almost 8-year-old granddaughter Piper, a year older and wiser in the ways of the yard) will help me get those seeds in the new beds I had built last fall.

I actually saw tomato plants for sale at Lowes this last week, big plants with big prices, of course.  Tempting as that is, it is actually a bit too early. Temperatures look to be moderating to closer to normal for some time—not nearly hot enough for peppers or tomatoes yet, not even in containers, but I’ll be ready.  I did buy some potted hyacinth for Easter, however, and Lowes has these ready to bloom at a very reasonable cost of around $2 each, then one can then put them in the ground for next spring. 

Not much to write about except anticipation so will mention a new cookbook I just bought. It is Seasonal Recipes from the Garden, by P. Allen Smith.  I always enjoy watching him on PBS (I have Friday’s off from work, and he is on the PBS digital channel, Create) and found this book online for a good price ($17.99 + tax for a nicely illustrated hardback).  I like the way it is organized by the seasons, and most of the recipes look very fresh and simple, very good.  He has some old standards like Lemon Meringue Pie as well as fresh soup and sandwich ideas, and lots of good vegetable selections, like broccoli with lemon and hazelnuts.  Of course, as he is a Southerner, there are some good ochre and cornbread selections, too.  There’s one for Savory Grit Cakes with Oven-Smoked Tomatoes that looks tempting.  I know grits aren’t a northern plains ingredient, but I’ll try anything once.  The Poached Egg and Spinach salad with black pepper and a vinaigrette dressing looks good, as well.   

At a recent family funeral in Indiana, I had the opportunity to sit and visit for some time with a farmer from my hometown.  He and his wife have six children and eighteen grandchildren, and they are very involved in growing and promoting family farming in the area. They had just returned from a recent gift getaway to Hawaii, and so naturally, he had lots of flora and fauna stories to share.  Then the talk turned to growing potatoes  above the ground in containers, and away I went.  I have two brown, plastic garbage cans that lost their tops some years back, and have taken the bottoms off and cut then both into two pieces, each about 18 inches tall. The idea is to use these as the sides for the potato containers, put clean newspaper on the ground, and potato eyes atop that, then slowly fill with clean soil or other planting medium as the vines grow upward.  When mature, the plan is to simply to pull up the container, allowing the soil to fall away, and there are your potatoes—no digging!   If potato bugs and blight leave my crop worry free, I’m anxious to try my hand at canning potatoes on the recommendation of a HyVee cashier, who said this is just the best pantry staple ever to have on hand.

I asked my farmer acquaintance if he thought growing the potatoes in clean mulch would work, as I had read about doing this in another gardening book. That book recommended using straw or dried grass clippings (untreated by herbicides, of course) and then I asked him if leaf mulch might also do the trick, as I have about half a dozen large brown bags full that I saved from last fall.  He thought that mold might be an issue with the leaves, and so I will take him at his word and just invest in some good, clean planting mixture, then simply incorporate it into the beds this fall.  I’ll use the leaves for mulch atop the ground around the vegetables and my perennials instead.  I’ve been saving crushed eggshells all year too, and am hoping they will discourage any slug or earwig activity under the leaf mulch.   

It surprises me how much anticipation the start of the Falls Park Farmers Market spurs in me, especially this year, our year with almost no winter.  I can already smell the bakery fresh bread and see bright jars of winter jam and tomato sauce and chutney, rows of local honey and homemade pastas.  With the temps so warm for so long this late winter and into spring, I’m hoping for a few surprises, maybe some early hothouse lettuce or asparagus, who knows?  Just read a recipe for radish pie, and so here we go again.  Fresh eggs, lovely chickens!  I can’t wait.  Chomping at the bit with everyone for  opening date for the market, and hoping to see all there before May!

miashomemade@gmail.com

1906 S. Grange Ave
Sioux Falls, SD

kyle@skippingstonespizza.com

605-480-2792

Skipping Stone is a mobile wood-fired pizza catering business located in Sioux Falls, SD.  We specialize in a authentic wood fired pizza made with only freshest ingredients.

Products:
Wood-fired pizza

Lake Thompson Honey Company

44244 218th Street
Oldham, SD 57051

605-482-8545

info@lakethompsonhoney.com
www.lakethompsonhoney.com

Lake Thompson Honey Company is a family owned, third generation beekeeping company. The bees our located in Eastern South Dakota, and they run about 2000 colonies. They produce local clover honey, and other honey and beeswax related products right on the farm in Oldham, SD.  They started packaging and selling honey at farmers markets and festivals in 2006.

List of Products

Local clover honey in various sizes
raw honey
comb honey
creamed honey
honey straws
bee pollen
beeswax candles
beeswax blocks
all natural beeswax lip balm
all natural beeswax hand cream
all natural beeswax lotion bar
all natural beeswax and honey soap
beeswax wood polish