Panic set in again at the Half-Acre Homestead this week as we got a late season Frost Warning issued for southwestern Indiana. Just a week before, our normally conservative agricultural extension agent had given the all-clear signal that people could go ahead and plant their precious seedlings and begin the gardening season.

Mother Nature had a different idea though when she ushered in some colder air from our good friends up north. We literally had just replanted a wave of rogue tomato seedlings and some rogue pumpkins that have sprouted up around the yard. To make it even worse, we planted them on the hillside out by our little pond which gets a considerable amount of frost compared to the protected confines of our square foot garden.

Luckily, with a 7 month old in the house, we have a stockpile of baby food jars in the garage. We never know when these might come in handy so we always keep a basket or two of them around. We were able to turn a basket full of baby food jars into an easy, DIY cloche that would protect our seedlings from two nights of frosty temps.

If an early season frost sneaks up on newly planted seedlings, turn a baby food jar into an easy DIY cloche to protect them.

After two nights of frost, we were able to lift the jars on Friday and found all the seedlings had survived. Safely tucked away in their jar, warmth and condensation helped them through the night. Well, most of them. Our Darling Daughter Everly thought the already dead raspberry cane out by the pond needed some extra help so she loaded it up with baby food jars.

While it wasn’t useful in protecting the long-departed raspberry cane, it made for a nice rustic art installation on the Half-Acre Homestead. We shall call it “Bottle Bush”. In the meantime, try to track down a friend, neighbor or relative who has a little one and get your hands on a basket of your own, easy, do-it-yourself garden cloches. Enjoy!

Everly's art installation out by the pond was created using a dead raspberry cane and several baby food jars. I think the effect is rather rustic, almost primitive.

This was the first rotating funnel cloud I saw as it moved over Huntingburg and Jasper. This funnel would go on to touch down in Henryville, Indiana causing devastation and death. March 2, 2012

We were jolted out of bed at 5:30am last Wednesday when the tornado sirens went off. A tornado was reported on the ground in nearby Harrisburg, Illinois 60-miles to our southwest and tracking our direction. The last time significant damage reports preceded a weather alert for us was a major wake-up call.

Last year, the Half-Acre Homestead was hit with a wall of straight line winds in excess of 80 miles per hour. It toppled a large cinder block barn up the road from us and ripped the roof from two other pretty substantial buildings in our area. That came after the storm blew out windows in a community 30 miles to our west. So, needless to say, we don’t ever not take the warnings seriously.

Within about a minute, Homestead Hottie and I had both girls rounded up with pillows and blankets in hand. A supporting cast of characters like Everly’s teddy bears and Thomas the Tank engines also made their way downstairs and into the “storm shelter” of our lower level bath tub. Talina jokes that she can tell how much each of the girls is growing by how much less comfortable it gets to have all three of them sheltered in the tub for an extended period of time. Wednesday’s tornado was on a direct track for the homestead but veered south and tracked along the Ohio River, hitting the town of Newburgh.

We got a break on Thursday only to have to deal with more of Mother Nature’s insanity on Friday. There was no TGIF throughout the Midwest and South as forecasters warned of a deadly outbreak of tornadoes. Waking up Friday morning, I could already tell the atmosphere was at its boiling point. I just had a feeling deep in my gut that something bad was going to happen, especially when I can see ominous thunderheads building at dawn’s first light.

I headed to work, a 40 minute commute from the homestead, and watched the radar with each new update. As soon as tornadoes touched down in Missouri, I knew it was time to go. With super-cell storms racing across the plains at 60 miles per hour, severe weather can be on your doorstep before you even know it. By the time I hit the road home, a funnel cloud was confirmed over the top of the homestead. Our airport just down the highway had evacuated the control tower and was sheltering passengers and staff in the baggage claim. A couple of frantic calls to the house while I was on the road proved my girls were either in the bath tub holding a mattress securely over their head or that my house was gone.

This was the last rotating wall cloud to pass through our area on March 2, 2012. It dropped golf-ball sized hail just north of the Half-Acre Homestead

I drove under two rotating funnel clouds on the way home and pulled into the Half-Acre Homestead driveway just in time to be pelted with pea-sized hail. I joined my little family hanging out in the downstairs bathroom and munched pretzels until the all-clear call was given. We were spared once again while communities further to our east took direct and devastating hits. Looking at the scenes of destruction so close to home is just horrifying.

Homestead Hottie and I are both weather nuts. We watch the radar constantly and enjoy blustery, stormy nights. We feed our severe weather kicks deep in the summer by watching one of our favorite shows: Storm Chasers. We hope, one day, to maybe go on a tornado chasing expedition. By all indications this is going to be one long, rough and particularly deadly tornado season. Hopefully this week we can get some peace and quiet from the weather department so jangled nerves can be mended and communities can try to pick up the pieces wherever they may have been blown to.

All varities of squash have set nicely this year but so far nothing has matured. Every plant has been attacked by squash vine borers and died.

We had an early tease of a warmup early this spring but then the weather turned cold and downright nasty. Cool, rainy weather stuck with us through the end of June but that now infamous 2011 Heat Bubble has built up and doesn’t seem to be looking to leave anytime soon.  Our garden plants were slow to start and are now battling high-heat and humidity.

As a result, this past week marked the arrival of the first ripe tomato. It’s happened significantly later this year than last. Our spring planted squash plants (pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash) are all dead now, thanks to an outbreak of squash vine borers. The wasp-like insect lays its eggs on squash seedlings. The grub-like infants grow in the stem of the squash plant, boring out the inside of the steams as they eat. Eventually the plant can’t exchange water or nutrients and withers. We’re hoping a second planting will start producing in enough time to save our squash season.

Our popcorn patch has wasted no time shooting up toward the sky and looks to be producing quite a few ears of future popping goodness. Eggplants have also been extremely slow this year both growing and with fruiting. Etna bush beans (used for drying) have been doing very well and produce abundantly. Our pole beans on the other hand have yet to set pods even though they’re covered top to bottom in blooms.

Hopefully things will eventually catch up but if they do, we’ll probably already be gone to The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee to welcome our newest member of the family into the world. How does your garden grow this year?

Today, I was out in the the front yard talking to one of our neighbors when all of a sudden, I felt a piercing pain in my right hand.  I immediately looked down to see a wasp planting his rear end  into the palm of my hand.  Sure, it stung and still does nearly an hour later.  But, I just brushed the little guy off and let him go about his day and thought how lucky I was it picked me!  Sometimes it’s just the simple little things that put a smile on my face.

Add to that the usual madness that surrounds spring weather here in the Midwest.  We’ve started our yearly battle of cold air taking on warm, moist air and have already had some severe storms because of it.

Tuesday night was no exception.  A strong, wavy line of severe thunderstorms formed out in the plains to our west and barreled into our area, sometimes racing at 90+ miles per hour.  We kept an eye on the wall of tornado watch boxes steadily marching toward us on the National Weather Serivce radar and put our severe weather plan into place.  Without a basement, we must resort to taking shelter in the downstairs bathroom which requires a little bit of prep to make our stay more “comfortable”.  Pillows and blankets make a trip to the dry bathtub more enjoyable.

We knew the situation was serious when windows started getting blown out of homes about 60 miles to our west in Illinois.  Wind gusts were topping 100 miles per hour with the cluster of storms headed right toward us.  About 15 minutes before the line’s arrival time, we woke up our Darling Daughter and locked ourselves in the bathroom.

Several trees around our house were ripped from the ground, some landing on the nearby railroad tracks.

Listening to our emergency radio, we heard the TV station get hit with a tremendous force of wind and hail.  At one point, even meteorologist Jeff Lyons had some worry in his voice and indicated they might have to move to shelter in a moment.  Just about 5 minutes later, the storm finally hit us with a tremendous roar and energy that only Mother Nature at her rarest can dish out.  A cell that was tornado warned was moving right over the top of us.

We emerged from our bathroom storm shelter about 30 minutes later and found we still had a roof, four walls and all of our windows (minus one screen that blew out).  Our neighborhood is newer and pretty much void of any big trees associated with the upper Midwest.  After 2008’s terrorizing ice storm and living beneath three huge trees gripped by the thick frozen coating, we knew trees over the house were trouble.  This lack of big trees proved to pay off for our area, with no real damage to be seen except a neighbors mangled backyard trampoline.

Metal debris from a nearby building was strewn through this soybean field at Kansas & Hwy 57

Driving to work yesterday I got to see what that full force of wind did to our area.  The airport weather station a mile to our south measured a peak wind gust of 76mph during the storm but just to our north, the impact seemed to be much worse.  Trees snapped like twigs were strewn all over the Indiana Southern rail line, on driveways and along the shoulder of Highway-57.  Railroad crossing gates were left bent at 90-degree angles and wrapped around support poles.  A nearby soybean field was littered with house-sized sheets of metal ripped from an industrial building across the street.  Shoe Carnival’s huge distribution center was closed after a portion of the roof was ripped off and tossed into a pile.  A concrete block barn across the street was leveled, pieces of twisted metal left wrapped in electrical wires across the street.

This concrete block barn took a massive hit, leaving a pile of rubble beside Hwy 57

This barn seems to be a total loss. Some corrugated metal roof sections were wrapped around power lines across Hwy 57 from this barn

A bulge can be seen in the middle of the roof at the Shoe Carnival distribution center. Two days later their roof is repaired.

To me, just a weather nut, it looked like the storm cell that hit us was indeed producing at least a weak tornado.  Our area has endured straight line wind events topping 60+ mph before with just some minor tree damage.  This was something completely different.  Luckily no injuries were reported and crews were busy picking up the pieces the very next day.

We’re under the gun again for severe weather on Friday, just enough time for us to catch our breath and do it all over again.  But hey, nature’s yearly temperature clash keeps things interesting as usual around the Half-Acre Homestead.

The neighborhood I grew up in used to be a grapefruit grove. So consequently at the high point of my childhood home we had 12 grapefruit trees surrounding us. It was a daunting task trying to figure out what to do with so much fruit. As a kid I used to sell brown paper bags full of grapefruit for $5.00 and the best days to sell were days when you knew there were a lot of tourists in town (Fiesta Bowl, Super Bowl, Parada del Sol, etc.)

We definitely couldn’t eat the fruit of 12 trees and there wasn’t much inspiration surrounding grapefruit either. Sure we would end up eating a few as a “breakfast treat” or at least that’s what my dad would try and convince us of the supremely sour fruit. I do miss the intoxicating scent of all the citrus blossoms in the spring though and the sight of hundreds of bright fruits adorning trees in your own yard. Now that I’m older, I do have to say that I’m a fan of citrus and miss the plethora of the harvest sometimes. And, since I’m on my quest for sustainability I’ve also discovered a lot of different uses for the warm weather fruit.

The December issue of Sunset magazine had a great recipe for homemade Rosemary Limoncello. Limoncello is an intensely flavored liqueur typically served as an after dinner drink on Italy’s Amalfi Coast and adjoining Sorrento Peninsula. This is the perfect time of the year to make this homemade liqueur in the desert southwest because of the availability of lemons. If you don’t happen to have good access to lemons in your neck of the woods, you can order direct from some citrus orchards out here. The recipe recommends using Meyer lemons because of their fragrance. But you can also achieve excellent results using Eureka lemons. A local Arizona citrus orchard is McClendon’s Select. The Limoneira Orchard in Southern California offers Meyer lemons through their mail order business. Ojai Citrus also does mail order with mixed boxes containing a variety of citrus choices. You could also get a nice variety of swing-top glass bottles to put your limoncello in for giving out to friends and family once it’s matured. To me, it sounds like a great and different way to enjoy this year’s citrus harvest. If you have a favorite recipe using the refreshing flavors of citrus, let us know about it!

Rosemary Limoncello

Courtesy: Sunset Magazine, December 2007 edition

You will need:

18 lemons (washed and dried)

one 4-inch rosemary sprig (washed and dried)

2 bottles of 100 proof vodka (750ml bottles of Stoli or Smirnoff)

4 1/2 cups sugar

1) Peel lemons with a sharp vegetable peeler, taking only the zest (top layer) and avoiding any white pith. Put rosemary in a 1 gallon glass or ceramic container with a tight seal. Add zest to jar.

2) Pour 750ml. vodka over rosemary and zest; seal container. Let sit undisturbed in a cool dark place for about 40-days.

3) On 40th day, in a saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add sugar. Cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Let sugar syrup cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

4) Pour syrup and remaining 750ml. vodka over lemon-vodka mixture, stir and seal container. Let sit in a cool, dark place for another 40 days.

5) Pour limoncello through cheesecloth into a large spouted pitcher and divide among gift bottles. Limoncello will keep indefinitely in the freezer. Recipe makes 10 2/3 cups and will fill ten 8.5 oz. bottles.

There’s been a lot of talk about how harsh our everyday, household cleaners really are.  Not only to ourselves but also to our environment.  We’re beginning to see some, commercially produced cleaners that are more natural and biodegradable.  It’s a small niche market right now but as the green movement picks up, more and more companies are turning to more sustainable options.  Not only will it be better for our environment in the long run, it will also protect our children from allergic reactions, poisonings and illnesses in kids associated with chemical-laden cleaning products.

Smaller companies like Seventh Generation are working to produce more natural cleaners and more sustainable lifestyles.  The Burlington, Vermont company lends its employees up to $5,000 to buy a hybrid car or make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes.  They also reimburse employees up to $500 for alternative commuting costs and gives them another $500 to buy energy efficient appliances.  The company also participates in a reforestation program in New Orleans.   Another company making environmentally friendly cleaning products is Method.

Even cleaning giants like Clorox are entering the green age.  This month they’re releasing their new line of cleaners called Greenworks.  The eco-friendly products will be sold right alongside their normal line and will apparently cost about 20% to 25% more.  As part of their move to get on the green movement, the Clorox company also purchased Burt’s Bees for $950 million back in November.

I’ve been interested in making some environmentally friendly cleaners at home.  I recently bought two different books that have different formulas and recipes for homemade cleaners.  I picked up Homemade: How to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh and More Naturally and 1,001 Secret Household Hints and Formulas.  I’ll of course post my thoughts on these books when they finally arrive.  I’m hoping they turn out to be helpful in our pursuit to continue living in a more sustainable way in 2008.

Do you have a homemade or store-bought cleaner that’s environmentally friendly and works great?  Post a comment and let us know about it!