January 2010 Archives

Update on Ferdinand. I admit, he is looking worse, MUCH worse, but I think he may be on the mend. I bought some litmus strips and discovered that the water was very acid--at 4.5 or lower ph. The recommendations I've seen for tomatoes are at about 6.3 so I dug deep into the far reaches of my memory--back to jr. high science--and added some baking soda to the water until my litmus paper showed a color that looked closer to the 6.2-6.5 range. I also discovered that I wasn't using enough nutrients, at least according to what was recommended on the nutrient bottle. So I re-upped the nutrient levels as well. Then I pruned any branches that didn't have any undamaged new growth on them, hoping that Ferdinand will be able to focus its efforts on growing new leaves and--hopefully--flowers. So we'll see. If he doesn't look better in the a week or so, I'm afraid it's going to be curtains and I'll try again, maybe with a variety of tomato that I know a little more about rather than a random seed.

My interest in farming goes hand in hand with an interest in learning how to make traditional foods. Everyday staples that 150 years ago most people made at home, that are now much easier and often cheaper to get in the store. Bread is one example-- probably one of the most common. It's a bit time intensive but not really unusual. Over the holidays I found myself with left over whipping cream- I had intended to use it for a dessert that didn't quite come together.

I had read a bit about using a food processor to make butter out of whipping cream, so I used the magic of the internet to find instructions-- it's incredibly easy if you have a food processor. Put the whipping cream in the food processor. Turn it on. Watch. First the cream will whip, and become very stiff whipped cream, and then it will start to clump up and you will notice its color changing- it becomes more yellow as the fat solidifies. Then, after a couple of minutes, you will see the liquid release from the fat. Now you have yellow butter and white buttermilk in your food processor.

Good Job!! You can stop it every once in a while to watch the process,-- it's exciting to watch the cream transform. I did a little more processing to get more water out of the butter. I put the butter in a glass jar with some water put the lid on, and shook the jar vigorously. Then I emptied the excess liquid that came out. I did this a few times until the water remained clear. I don't exactly understand the purpose of this step but it has something to do with getting all the water out of the butter to help its texture and longevity. I ended up with about 3/4 of a cup of butter and 1/2 a cup of buttermilk from a bit less than a pint of whipping cream. When it was finished, it looked like this:

Last weekend I excitedly transferred the most robust-looking of my tomato seedlings to the 5-gallon bucket hydroponic system. Its roots are nestled in the bottom of a big basket that fits into the top of the bucket. Then, around the roots and the bottom of the stem I put the terra cotta balls that you can see in the photo. The reservoir of the bucket is filled with water, which is pumped up into the brown ring (also pictured) that sprinkles water over the terra cotta balls so that there's a constant low flow of water over the root system. Today, a week later, I am pretty sure that the plant is on its last legs. Poor Ferdinand (that's what I named him). His leaves started to curl under when he was still living in the aerogarden and the transfer only seems to have made matters worse. Now he's getting wrinkly brown spots on his leaves and he just looks... spindly and sick. There are so many variables- is it too much nutrients or not enough or the wrong kind? Is my light wrong? Is the air not circulating properly? Too acidic? Too alkaline? Not enough Mozart? So here's the photographic evidence, alas!