I have an organic spinach habit that’s breaking our bank.
Paleo fare is full o’ greens, and I have to say: I feel my best when I eat greens at least twice per day. But at $3.19 a pop for a 5 oz. container of fresh, organic spinach, we are going broke with my salads, green smoothies, Leann’s aloo palak, etc. Last week we realized that we need to grow our own greens, and we need to start NOW. Although spring has sprung here in Germany, it’s a bit too early to start our standard container garden. A cold frame, however… A cold frame makes an early (or late) garden do-able. **A cold frame is basically a mini-greenhouse. Click here for more info.**
our cold frame
After a full year of coveting a cold frame, we finally bought one. We planted our little garden in a mixture of soil and our own compost that has been festering and rotting (literally) for a full year! This was our first experiment with making compost. I didn’t think it would work, but amazingly, when I lifted the trap door at the base of our compost bin I was rewarded with rich, fertile, black and tan striated compost. I was overjoyed… Yes, overjoyed that I had made dirt. As I lovingly gazed at my rich, soft soil I was struck by the femininity of gardens and dirt.
“Dirt is feminine?” But of course! First, there’s the obvious: Mother Earth. Gaia — “the great mother of all.” Without our Mother Earth, we would not exist! At least not on this form, on this planet. Our earth is made of organic matter — rich, complex, warm, and fertile… Like a womb. Meant to nourish and grow tiny seeds, which will in turn grow into plants that nourish (and grow) our bodies. And our bodies will eventually return to the earth. Birth and rebirth — what a cool cycle! It feels great to be a part of it in my tiny way; living and breathing, working the soil, planting seeds… And making compost.
Do you want to try making compost? We are certainly not experts, but here’s what we did.
Step One: Make or purchase a composter. We bought ours on amazon.com, and it has served us well!
Step Two: Layer on organic matter (egg shells — crushed!, banana peels, veggie peels… No meat), then add a layer of leaves (or newspaper shreds), then add a few shovel-fulls of dirt. Every time you add a layer of organic matter (veggie scraps, dead flowers, etc.), repeat the layering of leaves/newspapers and dirt.
Step Three: Wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Depending on your composter, you may have to turn it with a pitchfork. We didn’t turn ours… We just waited a year (a full year!) and when we lifted the trap door, we had beautiful compost. Maybe we got lucky… But boy, it was easy.
Looking forward to hearing about your garden. Do you normally grow your own vegetables?
Lisa — we usually do a little container garden and grow some great spinach, herbs, etc… We also (last year) did those upside down tomato plants (I believe they’re called “Topsy Turvey”). In Oregon, we had a fairly large raised bed and grew zucchini and green beans too… I love gardening, and dream of “living off the land” one day.
Wow, I didn’t know these things existed! Very cool. It’s really unfortunate though that spinach is so expensive there?! That’s just ridiculous. Good for you for taking matters into your own hands!
Brianne –
I find it sad that healthy food is so expensive. I am constantly amazed at how much cheaper it would be to buy bad food than it is to try and buy healthy fruits and vegetables. We’re big supporters of growing your own food, and supporting local farms to supplement our pantry.
Good luck with the cold frame!
Sarah
Yep — organic produce is almost non-existent in the commissary (the grocery stores on base), and very expensive when it is available. I have heard that German produce, in general, is lower in pesticides (and almost like buying organic, even when it’s conventionally farmed) so I try to shop “on the economy” as much as possible. But growing my own is always more satisfying… Especially now that I’m even growing it in my own dirt!!!
Sarah — have you considered taking advantage of a CSA? There are quite a few in the Portland-Metro area, and we loved ours. I can’t remember what it was called… Something “sunshine.” We picked our box o’ produce up at the Beaverton Farmers’ Market every week… It was so fun! Produce shopping DONE!
I’ve learned that Germans aren’t big on spinach. In fact, I’ve only managed to find it at one store consistently, “Real,” in Homburg. A small box of tiny, succulent, organic baby spinach leaves that were so tasty! BTW – I love your cold frame! If there is one thing we are dying to grow, it’s spinach and collards! Do you remember when they magically showed up for an “entire” week at the commissary for $3/lb.? Yikes!
Love your compost pic! It looks amazing and happy, happy! FYI for some of your readers who don’t want to wait for a composter to ship from amazon.com, we found our at Toom for 20€. I’ve seen variations at other German gardening/home stores as well. We are excited to use ours this spring as well…actually “G” is excited about it…I’m not a fan of the illustrious and coveted garden-meister, Herr. Earthworm — gross.
Kimberlee –
Great info about the composters at Toom — I wish we had been “brave” enough to explore our local options before we purchased our composter from Amazon! We had only just arrived in Germany when we bought it online, and the idea of going out “on the economy” to buy home-related items was overwhelming. Ah, how things have changed.
Your comment about Herr Earthworm cracks me up. A friend of mine had a “worm bin” that you would have LOVED (hated).