Pet Lovin' Messes - An Update on Annabel #SwifferEffect #ASPCA #Sponsored

Oh, Annabel. Our busy, monochromatic (i.e. hard to photograph!) puppy is the focus of our life right now. Weekly puppy classes, daily training and treats sessions, cuddles, walks, and messes. Messes, everywhere messes.

Our homestead normally cleans with rags, reusable towels, and washable mop heads. In fact, it's a regular goal to eliminate disposable products. But there are exceptions to our earth-friendly, budget-lowering habits. Puppy training is one of them.

At first, Annabel needed to be taken out to potty every hour or so - and sometimes pup and trainer didn't make it to the door in time. Then she spent a week recovering from an intestinal bug. And now we're in cold, muddy footprint season. Messes, everywhere messes.

So when the folks at Swiffer offered to send me a Big Green Box of cleaning supplies and mentioned they were partnering to provide supplies to ASPCA shelters too, I couldn't pass it up.

I decided to surprise my favorite four-year-old with a second Big Green Box that Swiffer sent me to share. G is at that perfect age where he can be excited about anything and still helps clean without complaint occasionally. G and his family share our love of cats and dogs too. G says his pets are "cute and fluffy." When I asked what kind of messes their pets make, G's sister K said "they shed on the rug."

Swiffer surveys say 38% of pet owners feel that shedding hair is the the leading source of pet-related cleaning challenges. The Swiffer sweeper picks up 3 times more hair and dander than a broom and dustpan. Annabel is a poodle mix and doesn't shed, but she does track in lots of debris from the yard and has managed to unearth some embarrassingly large dust bunnies by romping around inside. It's nice to have disposables at hand to quickly clean up so we can get back to playing and training our puppy.

G was eager to take his Swiffer stack of products home after he destroyed his Big Green Box during play. Whether he (or his parents) use the Swiffer sweeper and dusters for pet-related or other household messes, they'll enjoy a simpler, quicker chore. And so will the ASPCA shelters and adopters who received cleaning products - thanks Swiffer!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Bonus! I took a short video when the friends opened their boxes. It's totally goofy, from the orientation to the editing to the content. But some of you will love that goofiness, so here you go:

Pet Lovin' Messes - An Update on Annabel #SwifferEffect #ASPCA #Sponsored

Oh, Annabel. Our busy, monochromatic (i.e. hard to photograph!) puppy is the focus of our life right now. Weekly puppy classes, daily training and treats sessions, cuddles, walks, and messes. Messes, everywhere messes.

Our homestead normally cleans with rags, reusable towels, and washable mop heads. In fact, it's a regular goal to eliminate disposable products. But there are exceptions to our earth-friendly, budget-lowering habits. Puppy training is one of them.

At first, Annabel needed to be taken out to potty every hour or so - and sometimes pup and trainer didn't make it to the door in time. Then she spent a week recovering from an intestinal bug. And now we're in cold, muddy footprint season. Messes, everywhere messes.

So when the folks at Swiffer offered to send me a Big Green Box of cleaning supplies and mentioned they were partnering to provide supplies to ASPCA shelters too, I couldn't pass it up.

I decided to surprise my favorite four-year-old with a second Big Green Box that Swiffer sent me to share. G is at that perfect age where he can be excited about anything and still helps clean without complaint occasionally. G and his family share our love of cats and dogs too. G says his pets are "cute and fluffy." When I asked what kind of messes their pets make, G's sister K said "they shed on the rug."

Swiffer surveys say 38% of pet owners feel that shedding hair is the the leading source of pet-related cleaning challenges. The Swiffer sweeper picks up 3 times more hair and dander than a broom and dustpan. Annabel is a poodle mix and doesn't shed, but she does track in lots of debris from the yard and has managed to unearth some embarrassingly large dust bunnies by romping around inside. It's nice to have disposables at hand to quickly clean up so we can get back to playing and training our puppy.

G was eager to take his Swiffer stack of products home after he destroyed his Big Green Box during play. Whether he (or his parents) use the Swiffer sweeper and dusters for pet-related or other household messes, they'll enjoy a simpler, quicker chore. And so will the ASPCA shelters and adopters who received cleaning products - thanks Swiffer!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Bonus! I took a short video when the friends opened their boxes. It's totally goofy, from the orientation to the editing to the content. But some of you will love that goofiness, so here you go:

Meet Annabel

Since Devie the coonhound died in December we've been missing a big dog. Our spring and summer were so busy with the kitchen, guests, travel, and farming that we knew we had to wait so that we'd have the time to devote to training a new dog. We said that after Labor Day weekend, we would start looking.

But when I searched through the adoptable pet listings after Labor Day, something didn't feel right. I didn't want pick a dog, I wanted a dog to pick me. So we told our family we were waiting for a good - a smart, low-allergenic, farm-dog-trainable - dog to come our way.

And not one week later my sister (who works for Capital Area Humane Society) alerted me to a giant schnauzer / standard poodle 9-week-old puppy surrendered by an owner who couldn't care for her. It's always hard to know whether the breed reported to a shelter will be true but this little girl, called Annabelle at the shelter, has the curly, no-shed hair of a poodle, muzzle of a schnauzer, and decently-large paws.

So we welcomed her home. We tried out a few other names, but none are sticking. I looked through the Baillieul family history for female names because Devorguilla and Hawise, our previous dogs, are from Alex's ancient family. And there was Annabel De Baliol, a noblewoman from Normandy alive from 1153-1204. We'll call her Annabel.

Hawise and the cats are keeping their distance but getting used to a new member of the pack. Annabel brings all the energy, napping, pottying, and cuteness of a puppy. She's also whip-smart, sitting at my feet and looking up as if to say "what's next?" frequently.

We've always adopted young adult dogs in the past so this is a new adventure for all of us. Undoubtedly we'll share lots of pictures and updates about her transformation into a homestead helper.

Meet Annabel

Since Devie the coonhound died in December we've been missing a big dog. Our spring and summer were so busy with the kitchen, guests, travel, and farming that we knew we had to wait so that we'd have the time to devote to training a new dog. We said that after Labor Day weekend, we would start looking.

But when I searched through the adoptable pet listings after Labor Day, something didn't feel right. I didn't want pick a dog, I wanted a dog to pick me. So we told our family we were waiting for a good - a smart, low-allergenic, farm-dog-trainable - dog to come our way.

And not one week later my sister (who works for Capital Area Humane Society) alerted me to a giant schnauzer / standard poodle 9-week-old puppy surrendered by an owner who couldn't care for her. It's always hard to know whether the breed reported to a shelter will be true but this little girl, called Annabelle at the shelter, has the curly, no-shed hair of a poodle, muzzle of a schnauzer, and decently-large paws.

So we welcomed her home. We tried out a few other names, but none are sticking. I looked through the Baillieul family history for female names because Devorguilla and Hawise, our previous dogs, are from Alex's ancient family. And there was Annabel De Baliol, a noblewoman from Normandy alive from 1153-1204. We'll call her Annabel.

Hawise and the cats are keeping their distance but getting used to a new member of the pack. Annabel brings all the energy, napping, pottying, and cuteness of a puppy. She's also whip-smart, sitting at my feet and looking up as if to say "what's next?" frequently.

We've always adopted young adult dogs in the past so this is a new adventure for all of us. Undoubtedly we'll share lots of pictures and updates about her transformation into a homestead helper.

No-Till Garden Beds By Hand With A Broadfork

You've pulled out your summer crops. Now what? It's time to prepare the beds for a fall crop, cover, or mulch before winter.

I use a broadfork and Garden Claw to gently aerate and cultivate the soil. No-till methods like this are found to enhance the productivity of the soil, and besides, tillers are jerky, smoky, heavy pieces of equipment to wield.

If needed, I start by pulling large weeds by hand. I try to not let beds get too weedy but sometimes it happens, as you can see in the sunny early-morning garlic bed pictured above.

I begin working the soil with a broadfork borrowed from City Folk's Farm Shop. I plunge the tines into the soil and gently press down on the cross bar. Then I rock the broadfork back to lift the soil gently as I pull the broadfork out. I don't turn the soil here, I just use the tines to aerate sections.

Next I quickly rotate a Garden Claw (available for purchase at City Folk's) to the right and left over the surface of the whole bed. The point of the claw is to break up large clods and loosen any smaller weeds. I keep movements gentle here so as to not compact the soil.

Before I plant seeds or transplants, I go back over the bed with a hand cultivator or rake to remove the loosened weed roots and/or smooth the soil into rows. As needed, I add compost and/or organic fertilizer to build the nutrient potential. At all times I maintain the edges of the bed, piling up loose soil back onto the center as needed.

I've seen the results of this no-till, hand-powered method at Swainway Urban Farm, where the naturally raised beds are now so loamy you can plunge your hands in the soil with almost no resistance. I love the quiet, gentle work of using hand tools to re-build my beds between seasons.

No-Till Garden Beds By Hand With A Broadfork

You've pulled out your summer crops. Now what? It's time to prepare the beds for a fall crop, cover, or mulch before winter.

I use a broadfork and Garden Claw to gently aerate and cultivate the soil. No-till methods like this are found to enhance the productivity of the soil, and besides, tillers are jerky, smoky, heavy pieces of equipment to wield.

If needed, I start by pulling large weeds by hand. I try to not let beds get too weedy but sometimes it happens, as you can see in the sunny early-morning garlic bed pictured above.

I begin working the soil with a broadfork borrowed from City Folk's Farm Shop. I plunge the tines into the soil and gently press down on the cross bar. Then I rock the broadfork back to lift the soil gently as I pull the broadfork out. I don't turn the soil here, I just use the tines to aerate sections.

Next I quickly rotate a Garden Claw (available for purchase at City Folk's) to the right and left over the surface of the whole bed. The point of the claw is to break up large clods and loosen any smaller weeds. I keep movements gentle here so as to not compact the soil.

Before I plant seeds or transplants, I go back over the bed with a hand cultivator or rake to remove the loosened weed roots and/or smooth the soil into rows. As needed, I add compost and/or organic fertilizer to build the nutrient potential. At all times I maintain the edges of the bed, piling up loose soil back onto the center as needed.

I've seen the results of this no-till, hand-powered method at Swainway Urban Farm, where the naturally raised beds are now so loamy you can plunge your hands in the soil with almost no resistance. I love the quiet, gentle work of using hand tools to re-build my beds between seasons.

2014 Garlic Harvest, Curing and Storage

What's the big mess? Just the 2014 garlic harvest in action. We harvested over 100 heads of garlic for ourselves, gifts, and sharing. Here's how to cure and store garlic:

Harvesting Garlic

First, we waited until the bottom sets of leaves of the garlic turned brown. Harvest too early and the bulbs will not have reached their biggest size. Harvest too late (when all the greens are brown) and some cloves may start to sprout.

We harvest by hand by teasing away the soil around the head with a trowel and hand cultivator. Then we gently lifted the head out and knocked off any dirt. We laid the heads on the ground while we worked through the rows. We set aside any heads that were accidentally clipped with a tool or greens broken off to use fresh without curing.

Curing Garlic

Next we needed to cure the garlic to set it in a storage state. It's delicious fresh - milky, sweet, and full flavored - but will rot quickly if not cured in a dark, arid environment.

We bunched up 6-8 heads of garlic by the greens and tied them together. Then we hung them through the bottom of a paper bag for shade. We hung the whole package in the garage, which is dry and holds a moderately even temperature.

Another option, one which Joseph of Swainway Urban Farm employs, is to lay the garlic on a hardware cloth table in the hoop house covered in shade cloth. We didn't want to put shade cloth on the hoop just for garlic, hence we chose the garage method.

It's time to move garlic to storage in two to three weeks when the paper-like wrapping is tight and dry and leaves have fully dried.

Storing Garlic

Garlic stores best in a dry, dark, cool (40 degrees) location. This can be hard to achieve in a humid environment like Ohio. We choose to store in multiple locations to ensure that at least some of the harvest will last until the following spring.

We started by cutting the garlic heads from the now dried leaves and sorted it into piles by variety. Then we set aside the biggest and best heads for the seed garlic we want to replant in the fall. This goes in a paper bag stored with our other seeds in a cool, dark closet.

We put the Elephant garlic in a burlap bag to keep in the kitchen pantry. Elephant is fun to grow and use but it doesn't keep as long as other varieties so we'll use it first.

The rest of the varieties we placed in paper or burlap bags. We layered these loosely in a wooden box to store in a dry, cool closet. We'll check on the garlic often. If the garlic isn't doing well (sprouting, softening, or rotting), we'll freeze cloves or a garlic/oil paste to prolong the harvest.

2014 Garlic Harvest, Curing and Storage

What's the big mess? Just the 2014 garlic harvest in action. We harvested over 100 heads of garlic for ourselves, gifts, and sharing. Here's how to cure and store garlic:

Harvesting Garlic

First, we waited until the bottom sets of leaves of the garlic turned brown. Harvest too early and the bulbs will not have reached their biggest size. Harvest too late (when all the greens are brown) and some cloves may start to sprout.

We harvest by hand by teasing away the soil around the head with a trowel and hand cultivator. Then we gently lifted the head out and knocked off any dirt. We laid the heads on the ground while we worked through the rows. We set aside any heads that were accidentally clipped with a tool or greens broken off to use fresh without curing.

Curing Garlic

Next we needed to cure the garlic to set it in a storage state. It's delicious fresh - milky, sweet, and full flavored - but will rot quickly if not cured in a dark, arid environment.

We bunched up 6-8 heads of garlic by the greens and tied them together. Then we hung them through the bottom of a paper bag for shade. We hung the whole package in the garage, which is dry and holds a moderately even temperature.

Another option, one which Joseph of Swainway Urban Farm employs, is to lay the garlic on a hardware cloth table in the hoop house covered in shade cloth. We didn't want to put shade cloth on the hoop just for garlic, hence we chose the garage method.

It's time to move garlic to storage in two to three weeks when the paper-like wrapping is tight and dry and leaves have fully dried.

Storing Garlic

Garlic stores best in a dry, dark, cool (40 degrees) location. This can be hard to achieve in a humid environment like Ohio. We choose to store in multiple locations to ensure that at least some of the harvest will last until the following spring.

We started by cutting the garlic heads from the now dried leaves and sorted it into piles by variety. Then we set aside the biggest and best heads for the seed garlic we want to replant in the fall. This goes in a paper bag stored with our other seeds in a cool, dark closet.

We put the Elephant garlic in a burlap bag to keep in the kitchen pantry. Elephant is fun to grow and use but it doesn't keep as long as other varieties so we'll use it first.

The rest of the varieties we placed in paper or burlap bags. We layered these loosely in a wooden box to store in a dry, cool closet. We'll check on the garlic often. If the garlic isn't doing well (sprouting, softening, or rotting), we'll freeze cloves or a garlic/oil paste to prolong the harvest.