Composting with Chop and Drop in the Garden and Containers

My former compost "barrel" next to the winter compost pit.

I lost the area where I kept my compost barrel and winter compost pit. I still have a garden, so I had to find a way to deal with garden waste.

Our Powell River Garden Club had Linda Gilkeson as a guest speaker. In addition to her excellent information about garden pests and growing techniques, she introduced me to a method called chop and drop. I later read more about it on the Terra do Milho website.

Chopped leaf mulch under the broccoli.

Chop and drop is a form of mulching. It's a good method during the growing season when you only have a small amount of plant material for disposal. Chop your trimmings into small pieces and drop them on the ground around plants. You get the benefits of mulching. For me,it was also a way to dispose of organic waste without taking all the way to town it to town to recycle center. 

Chopped carrot and beet tops protecting my garlic bed.

When the growing season came to an end I had lots of plant material for disposal. I decided to try using my empty half 55-gallon barrel planters for winter composting.

After the first layer of soil came chopped plant matter and Rot-It.

I removed all but the last 6 inches of dirt in the bottom. I layered that with 6 inches of chopped plant matter and a sprinkling of compost accelerator. I use Old Gardener Compost Builder: Rot-It.

Two plant containers with layers of compost processing.

I continued with layers until the barrel was full. I have several barrels layered in this manner. In spring I'll plant my tomato, squash and pepper seedlings in the barrels. The decomposed matter with feed the roots of my new plants.

How do you handle composting? Have you tried the chop and drop or barrel layering method? How did it work for you? -- Margy

Riding the Duck Lake Forest Service Road Region

Westlake Woodlands logging map.

We went on a fall quad ride to explore the region you can access from the Duck Lake Forest Service Road. We invited our good friends Dave and Marg to join us. First, we enjoy riding with them. Second, Dave knows the trails around Powell River much better than we do.

We went on a Sunday when loggers know to look out for the public on our backroads.

We drove south of town to the junction of Highway 101 and Duck Lake Forest Service Road, a well maintained backcountry mainline.

Parking out of the way on a side sput.

A short ways up the dirt road are spots to park.

The area in which we rode was part of the Westlake Woodlands managed by locals Doug and Ron Fuller. They offer a free online map that can be used with Avenza GPS map app to track your route.

Dave, Marg and their dog Crystal.

Unfortunately, we didn't take ours since Dave was leading. It would have been a great reference for future rides.

While I can't share the exact route, we left Duck Lake Main to follow several old logging roads through the lush second growth forest.

The Blue Trail Connector back to Duck Lake Main.

Many old roads and trails are maintained by local ATV, biking, horseback riding and hiking organizations. Being close to town, they are well used and enjoyed by many. Yet, on our ride we didn't see any other quad riders and only one hiking group and a man walking his dog.

East Lake

We stopped at East Lake for a picnic. There are log benches, a fire ring and a dock that would enjoyable especially in summer.

Picnic stop.

We continued through the area with a stop at West (Hammil) Lake. The weather was already changing from mostly sunny to mostly cloudy.

Clouds hovering over West Lake.

We'll go back on our own to explore the Duck Lake area while our quads are stored in town.

A rare picture of us together thanks to Dave.

Thanks Dave and Marg for sharing your trail knowledge and friendship with us. If you come to visit Powell River, I highly recommend using Duck Lake Forest Service Road as a starting place to explore the backcountry. -- Margy

Insulating a Canning Pantry

Pantry storage in the corner of the bathroom.

When we added a bathroom, I included a pantry for storing home canning, dry goods and other non-perishables. It may seem strange to have a pantry in the bathroom, but when you live in a small home using space wisely is important. Plus, it's on the north side, the coolest place during hot months.

Now that I do more home canning, I am worried about freezing temperatures while we are away on winter holidays.

I asked advice on my favourite Safe Canning Recipes Facebook page. Here's what I decided to do. I started by putting bubble wrap around the back and sides of my pantry shelf.

Then I covered the canning jars with a folded bath towel. To monitor the temperature I'm using a digital thermometer.

Lastly, I put cardboard (from our new BBQ) over the top of each shelf that has canning jars and let it drape over the front.

When the front doors are closed, it should make good insulation to help prevent my canning jars from freezing.

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, Accidental freezing of canned foods will not cause spoilage unless jars become unsealed and recontaminated. However, freezing and thawing may soften food. If jars must be stored where they may freeze, wrap them in newspapers, place them in heavy cartons, and cover with more newspapers and blankets.

Do you live in an area with freezing temperatures? How to you make preparations? -- Margy

Sharpening the Saw

Elementary principal days.

When I worked for the school district, we talked about "sharpening the saw" in a metaphysical sense. It came from reading and putting into practice the seven habits of highly effective people advocated by Stephen Covey. It was about renewing the four dimensions of our lives, the physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional states.

Moving to our float cabin on Powell Lake took care of all those dimensions for Wayne and I in one fell swoop.

Our float cabin home at the "wall" in Hole in the wall.

One test in self sufficiency was getting and preparing our own wood for winter. Summer and fall driftwood gathering seasons.

The barge helps gather driftwood.

We prefer pieces that don't require splitting, but sometimes larger logs float up to our cabin and beg to be taken. All of the wood has to be cut to size to fit into our Kozi wood-burning stove.

A driftwood log that floating into our water lease.

An important step was learning about chainsaws. Our good friend and mentor John helped Wayne pick one that would fit our needs, a Stihl, and taught him how to use it. And use it he does. 

Preparing firewood for the floating woodshed.

Wayne does the chainsaw cutting, I help with the splitting. In the beginning we used a stump on our wood storage float. That was work!

After ten years of doing it the hard way, Wayne got me the best present, an electric log splitter that runs on a gas generator. Since I'm the photographer of the family, here's Wayne and John giving it the trial run.  Yes I know, we were so excited we didn't put on our regular safety equipment: boots, gloves, safety glasses and ear defenders.

Finally comes the task I like best, sharpening the saw. John taught me how to do it. Each tooth on the chain has to get uniform attention.  Sharpening the saw has now taken on a whole new meaning.

I know it's right when I can feel the edge just catch the skin of my finger after several strokes with the file. A felt pen mark ensures that I go around the chain one time before reversing the saw and filing the teeth that face in the opposite direction. If I do my job well, the saw cuts through the wood like butter.

One good thing about Wayne and I is that we each like different parts of the same task. When we work together as a team, the result is better than if either of us did it alone.

It may not be what Covey had in mind, but our saw is both physically and metaphysically sharp. How about yours? -- Margy

Off the Grid Float Cabin YouTube Video Reaches Over One Million Views

You may have read about this on my Margy Meanders blog, but I think it's amazing enough to share again here.

Back in 2012, I sent pictures and video clips about living off the grid in our float cabin home to Kirsten Dirksen in Spain. She has a YouTube channel that focuses on tiny homes, simple living and other interesting topics. Kirsten took the raw images I sent and put them together into a video for her channel.

A look at the YouTube page with our 1,000,000+ views.

Little did I know that the video she created would become so popular. This month it crossed the 1,000,000 views mark and is still climbing.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here it is. You can view it right here or go to YouTube for a larger version.

Thanks Kirsten for sharing our story with so many people.

Do you want to learn more about our float cabin home and off the grid living? Click on the Float Cabin Living topic in the sidebar or visit my Margy Lutz YouTube page. You can also visit the Powell River Books website and check out some of Wayne's Coastal BC Stories books that are available in print and eBook formats.  -- Thanks, Wayne and Margy

Woodstove Safety

When we first got our float cabin, I was a little afraid of the wood burning stove. It was hard for me to get used to a fire burning in a small metal box in the middle of my living room. I had no prior experience with such a thing in my Los Angeles city-folk life. But when the nights (and days) got cold, we quickly overcame our trepidation and started using our Kozi stove.

Wayne's chimney pipe cleaning tools.

When our friend John built the cabin he installed our stove to minimize fire danger, but it's up to us to keep it that way. We watch the stove's components to make sure they are in good condition and replace any that seem worn or damaged. So far, we've replaced the door gasket twice. Fortunately, stove supplies can be found in most hardware stores, at least here in the north.

Wayne on the porch cleaning out the horizontal wall and exterior chimney pipes.

Cleaning the inside chimney and sealing a joint.

Chimney sweeping is crucial for safe wood stove use. Even with our thermometer to monitor fire conditions, creosote and ash build up in the chimney pipe and on our stove's smoke shelf. On a sunny fall day (at least a non-rainy one) we don't build a fire.

First, Wayne goes up on the porch roof to clean the exterior pipe and chimney cap. Next, we go indoors to disassemble and clean the interior pipe and the stove's smoke shelf.

I'm amazed how much buildup there is in just a few short winter months. But on the other hand, our trusty stove is running almost 24/7 that time of year.

If you have a woodstove, do you have any installation, care or maintenance tips? Any funny, or even scary stories? Let's hear them.

Want to find out more about our float cabin living? Try reading Up the Lake. If you use a Kindle or e-book you can get a copy for free at Amazon or most online booksellers.

For more information about all of the Coastal BC Stories books visit our website at PowellRiverBooks.com. -- Margy

Cabin Baking: Banana Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Getting organized.

I wanted something sweet for dessert using two things from the freezer, grated zucchini and a mashed banana. I found a recipe online that looked perfect. A bonus was I had everything else I needed on hand. Running to the store isn’t easy to do from up at the cabin.

Banana Zucchini Cake

I used a recipe from Real Housemoms. It was called bread, but easily doubled as a cake. My modifications are in italics.

Ingredients

Beat wet ingredients together first.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed banana (about 2)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup zucchini shredded

Mix dry ingredients and stir together.

1 cup walnuts chopped

Directions

Beat oil and sugar together. I don’t have mixer so I used a whisk.

Add the mashed banana, egg and vanilla. I only had one mashed banana in the freezer but the batter was plenty moist.

Blend in nuts and raisins (optional).

Mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add them to the wet ingredients. I’m lazy. I mix my dry ingredients together on top of the wet before combining wet and dry.

Using a spoon, fold in the zucchini and walnuts (I used pecans). 

I used a baking dish not a loaf pan.

I had 2 cups of frozen grated zucchini. By the time it thawed and I discarded the water it was one cup. I also added one cup of soaked raisins.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in the batter. I wanted to frost it as a cake so I used a baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

I chose a frosting recipe from All Recipes.

Ingredients

Cream the ingredients together.

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. I didn’t have enough cream cheese so I made half a batch.

All dressed up and ready to enjoy. Yummy!

I let the cake cool and then spread the frosting on top. Because of the butter and cream cheese, I kept the leftovers in the fridge. But they weren't left over for long. -- Margy