My Chicago Garden » Search Results » u+pick

2012 Planning

tyler — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:08:54 +0000

I have lots of things to plan for in 2012. All of it is doable, but much of the issue of getting things done always has to do with time slipping away before you can do it. Time is the only thing you can’t get more of, can’t buy more of, can’t trade more [...]

2011 In Review

tyler — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:07:32 +0000

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like taking the time to look back on the year and make plans for the future.

2011 Plans – Didn’t Do

Go raspberry picking Go camping at Staved Rock Go on a family trip to the Dakota’s Go blueberry picking in Michigan

Because we [...]

2011 Scotland Trip Report

tyler — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:41:40 +0000

In mid/late September we spent 11 days in Scotland seeing the sites and being tourists. We worked with McLean Scotland to put the trip together. They also provided us with a driver (the owner of the company, Paul).

Day 1 [ Arrive at Glasgow ]

I didn’t tell Melissa before we left that I had [...]

2011 – Scotland Trip

tyler — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:51:44 +0000

We spent 11 days in Scotland seeing the sites and being tourists. We worked with McLean Scotland to put the trip together. They also provided us with a driver (the owner of the company, Paul).

Itinerary

Day 1 [ Arrive at Glasgow ] I didn’t tell Melissa before we left that I had gotten [...]

Looking back and forth

tyler — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 21:54:56 +0000

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but I do like taking the time to look back on the year and make plans for the future.

Looking back at my plans for 2010 I didn’t do too bad.

2010 Plans

Took a beekeeping class Went camping at Starved Rock Went on a short vacation with [...]

Small farm magazine review

tyler — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:03:31 +0000

I spent 6 hours during our trip back from Columbus, OH for the Thanksgiving holidays to read and put some thoughts together on three hobby/small farm magazines I picked up at a local grocery store. I’ve had a long term obsession with hobby farming and if I live long enough…I will have one of [...]

When I feel that chill

tyler — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:04:55 +0000

When I feel that chill, smell that fresh cut grass I’m back in my helmet, cleats and shoulder pads Standing in the huddle listening to the call Fans going crazy for the boys of fall

The Boys of Fall by Kenny Chesney

Fall is my absolute favorite time of [...]

Best part of blueberry picking is the dairy farm…wait..what?!

tyler — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:00:13 +0000

Last weekend we headed out of Chicago at a normal time in the morning with plans to hit the Mac Wood’s Dune Rides up at Silver Lake. It just so happened that lunch time put us near Benton Harbor, MI so I used my iPhone to do a search for a [...]

Starved Rock State Park – 2010

tyler — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:54:27 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items. [...]

Weekend away

tyler — Mon, 24 May 2010 02:02:35 +0000

Thanks to Melissa’s sister and one of our neighbors who watched our kids this weekend, my wife and I got to have a weekend together. We decided to spend 2 nights at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Rossevelt in Glen Ellyn. Our first choice was to stay in downtown Chicago, but the hotel [...]

First day with the bees

tyler — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:09:12 +0000

Unfortunately my bees arrived while I was out Storm Chasing and so Melissa and the girls had to go pick them up for me. Chris Saad of Honey Trails was gracious enough to not only let me place my hive on his property (hopefully temporarily) but also to hive my bees for me. [...]

Day 9 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:34:08 +0000

9:30am – Late start to the day, but we are in the right position. Last chase day of the trip and the best opportunity for a good storm. Tomorrow we head home.

10:15am – Heading to Little Rock.

12:00pm – Quick lunch stop at Arby’s and back on the road.

2:00pm – Ice cream [...]

Day 1 – 2010 Storm Chase

tyler — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:32:48 +0000

Last night the CoD group made a 5 hour late night push to Des Moines from Chicago, so we could have an easier time at setting up in the morning for the afternoon storms.

12:15am – In Des Moines, IA at the Courtyard Marriot. $65/night, no wireless, tiny room, Clint Eastwood movie on [...]

The bees are coming!!

tyler — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:25:13 +0000

I’m just about finished with my bee keeping class. I have my notes put together and I think I’m ready. I’ve paid my $75 for the bees and I’m anxiously awaiting their arrival sometime in mid April.

I also picked up my bee hive from Honey Trails as well as a couple extra pieces [...]

Honey Trails

tyler — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:21:22 +0000

Woodenware by Honey Trails

Christopher Saad

630.292.3953 5N698 Dunham Trails Rd. Wayne, IL 60184 cbsaad5960@sbcglobal.net

** All prices subject to change (accurate as of Oct 2011) ** ** For pickup only**

!!! Now accepting bee package orders !!! 2 lb packages are $72 plus $4 refundable cage deposit. 3 lb packages are $84 plus [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. [...]

2010 – Starved Rock, IL

tyler — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:35:08 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/4-6/2010)

Picture Gallery: Flickr

We hit the road at 11AM on Friday.

As we did last year, we stopped at Outdoor World on the way down to Starved Rock to pick up some last minute items. [...]

2010 – Ludington, MI

tyler — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:31:19 +0000

Trip Report

for

Ludington, Michigan (8/6-8/2010)

Location: Ludington, MI

Date: August 6-8 2010

Days/Nights at location: 3 Days / 2 Nights

Would we go again?: Yes. But find a place to stay outside Ludington to hopefully save a couple [...]

2009 – Southern Wisconsin Apple Picking Trip

tyler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:18:01 +0000

We just finished our annual U-Pick apple trip to Southern Wisconsin. My younger sister Summer came for the trip. We picked 1/2 bushel of Cortland (my favorite), 1/2 bushel of Fuji, 1/2 bushel of Jonagored and a 1/2 bushel of Liberty.

We spent our 3 days and 2 nights at the Timber Ridge Lodge [...]

Raspberry jam for the masses

tyler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:46:10 +0000

Used about 5 pints to make 1 quart of crushed raspberries. Added 6 1/2 cups of sugar and a pouch of pectin. Looks like I’ll need to go purchase some new glass ware next year, I seem to only have odds and ends left. The rest went into the freezer. We learned a cool [...]

2009 Raspberry U-Pick Trip to Plow Creek Farm

tyler — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:43:52 +0000

We took our yearly Raspberry U-Pick trip to Plow Creek Farm about 2 hours SW of Chicago. We picked 10 pints worth ($2.50/p). I typically make jam/preserves out of most of it…but we save a couple frozen ziploc bags full for putting on icecream. Apple picking in a few weeks! Yeah! Fall is my [...]

Garden Update

tyler — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:06:25 +0000

About 20 days ago I noticed the first signs of a japanese beetle damage and the little buggers crawling over some of the yard. At the end of the season last year I picked up one of those yellow bomb looking Japanese beetle traps on sale. I figured it couldn’t hurt and if it [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 3

tyler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:05:59 +0000

We left CoD around 10am and headed south west towards Davenport, Iowa. At one point Paul decided to head south on I-39 and make a play for southern Illinois but then 30 minutes later called it off and we did a Uturn and ran back to I-80. During a gas stop we picked [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 1

tyler — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:04:18 +0000

Garden Tour – June 8

tyler — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:35:16 +0000

A quick garden tour…

The blueberry bushes from last year. We are still picking off the flowers to encourage growth of the bushes instead of berry production. In the back row are peas and my new zig-zag trellis system. In the front are some beans and in the bottom left corner is a [...]

So much for push mowers

tyler — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:40:53 +0000

When my lawn mower died last fall I decided I was going to switch to something more “green” and use a push mower. Our front yard is rather small and a little work would do me good so I’m the perfect candidate for a push mower. I did research online and from all [...]

2009 – Mackinac Island, MI

tyler — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:33:01 +0000

Trip Report

for

Blueberry Picking / Mackinac Island, MI (8/09-13/2009)

Location: West and North West Michigan

Date: August 9th – August 13th

Would we go again?: Absolutely! But probably not the same trip.

Weather Forecast: Chance of rain Sunday and Monday, beautiful the rest of the trip

…Research [...]

2009 – Starved Rock, IL

tyler — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:08:25 +0000

Trip Report

for

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois (6/12-15/2009)

Location: Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

Date: June 12 thru June 15, 2009

Days/Nights at location: 4 Days / 3 Nights

Would we go again?: Absolutely!

Weather Forecast: [...]

Spring Poem

tyler — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:14:17 +0000

I heard this poem on a Celtic music CD my wife picked up at the Wheaton Public Library. My kids love it. Sierra (the oldest) goes around humming/doo-dooing the famous Scottish pipe and drum marching song “Scotland the Brave“. That song gives me chills. I’ve told my wife that when I die I want [...]

Spring is here!

tyler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:49:05 +0000

We had our traditional first day of spring on March 15. At our house we start spring on the first Sunday we can eat out at Scooby’s.

One week earlier the girls and I got our worm compost bin built and started. Now we are just waiting for the [...]

First Storm Chase of 2009

tyler — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Last wednesday (5/13) I took a day off from work and went storm chasing in south western Illinois just over the border into Missouri. That’s me near the driver side in the picture to the left. Drove nearly 1000 miles in 16 hours but we were able to get our eyeballs on what [...]

Are bees coming to the garden?

tyler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:01:14 +0000

Native/Wild bees come to the garden all the time. But what I’m talking about are the managed honey bees. Back in April 2008 I contacted the Illinois Bee Keepers Association expressing interest in adopting a colony and allowing someone to place an apiary in or near my garden. I traded emails with the [...]

Last week + First frost is here!

tyler — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:25:02 +0000

Time to break out the frost protection and/or take your last harvest. If it doesn’t frost tonight, it will tomorrow. And there’s a possibility of a hard freeze and snow at that!

I took the opportunity between 40mph wind gusts to run out and do my last harvest of beans and green tomatoes. Wind chill [...]

2008 U-Pick Apple Trip

tyler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:29:38 +0000

We spent the last 3 days up in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin, just over the border from Illinois. It’s a beautiful 1 1/2 hour drive from Wheaton, IL through some of the best farm country in the nation. (though not the most beautiful, that’s reserved to south west Wisconsin/north west Illinois/north [...]

Official start of fall

tyler — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Sorry for the delays in posting. Here’s a rundown of September.

Four weekends ago we harvested the red clouds potatoes

Two weekends ago I made my order for garlic from Seeds of Change. My notes from last year say they should arrive in November sometime. I’ll be growing a soft-neck variety next year [...]

2008 U-Pick Raspberry Trip

tyler — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:47:20 +0000

On labor day, our family took our second annual U-Pick Raspberry trip down to Plow Creek Farm, about 2 hours south west of Chicago. Prior to leaving I had researched on their website to make sure the season was up and running and how the crop was doing. I noticed that blackberry season was [...]

Back in the swing..sorta

tyler — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:26:05 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posts. It has taken several weeks to get back to normal..sorta.

I was able to harvest 12+ cucumbers but was only able to use a handful for my refrigerator pickles. I ended up using one to make an absolutely wonderful cold salad using the lemon infused olive oil from [...]

Permit Station

shozu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:39:08 +0000

At the permit station to pick up our wilderness permit. Then off to the lodge and dinner.

Garden Tour (7/9/08)

tyler — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:53:26 +0000

I needed to start planning to put the garden to bed for a few weeks while we go on vacation. So today was as good a day as any to walk around and do a tour and start cleaning up before we leave on friday.

The north side of the driveway we planted last [...]

2008 – YRSF, Iowa

tyler — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:59:51 +0000

Trip Report

for

Yellow River State Forest, Iowa (5/16/2008)

Location: Yellow River State Forest, Iowa (Paint Creek Trails)

Date: May 16 thru May 18, 2008 (cut short due to multiple issues, see below)

Reason/Goal: Equipment shake-down / first backpacking trip [...]

Garden Tour (5/10/08)

tyler — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:02:52 +0000

What a wonderful day to play in the garden! The temperature was wonderful and prospects of rain tomorrow. So I took the opportunity to do a quick look around the garden to see how things were doing.

My wife and I hit the the Native Plant Sale in Wheaton a weekend or two ago [...]

A couple questions answered

tyler — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:17:02 +0000

1) What are you using for the seed potatoes?

I maintain a planting diary that is fairly up to date with the latest information about the garden. If you check the diary you’ll see that I planted Red Cloud potatoes and Kennebec. The Red Cloud’s I got from Moose Tubers (a Fedco company) and [...]

Hey! It’s green in here.

tyler — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:07:33 +0000

Sprouts are up! Sierra and I also planted a couple butternut squash. My wife noticed us doing this and informed me that I had never started squash indoors. That caught me by surprise, but she’s right. Hurm…wonder if it will make any difference. Last years squash crop was _EXTREME_.

First picture is from a [...]

Bluegreen Resorts – Free Vacation?

tyler — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:35:31 +0000

The family and I were wandering around Outdoor World a few months ago and couldn’t sneak past the free vacation people that are always there. In fact, lately I’ve been upset that Outdoor World has associated themselves with them. Usually I wave them off with a grunt and move past as quickly as possible. [...]

Quick update

tyler — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:53:37 +0000

A bunch of things are going on at the same time….I’m still putting together the seeds I need for the garden this year. I think I have everything but cauliflower, I can pick those up somewhere local. There is a new layer of 8 inches of snow in the garden, with another 10 inches [...]

Freezer Bag Cooking

tyler — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:50:32 +0000

My wife and I are getting excited about our backpacking trip to Yosemite and we started thinking about food options for 6 to 7 days in the high country. We had seen the REI choices and frankly I’m not exactly thrilled. I heard about "Freezer Bag Cooking" over on the practical backpacking forum and [...]

Get out in nature!

tyler — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:43:39 +0000

My wife and I have decided to take a family trip out to California to see the grandparents (my mom/dad) and the extended family. My family loves Yosemite National Park and I’ve been going there since I was a kid. I’ve only been to the "high country" or "high seirra" a couple times, one [...]

Cold frame completed

tyler — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:59:31 +0000

I got the cold frame completed this weekend. I had to buy about $50 more of material because of mistakes I made during construction. I wasn’t working from a plan so I knew I ran the risk of things not lining up just right. I also added two handles on either end for easier [...]

First Frost Tonight? I Hope Not!

tyler — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:36:21 +0000

The great folks at the National Weather Service are forecasting 38 degrees across the Chicago area but the computer model point forecast is showing 35 degrees tonight for Wheaton. Ouch! That’s one degree below their 36 degree cut off for frost. That’s a good 3 days ahead of my planning, but well within the [...]

Cold frame it is

tyler — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:21:15 +0000

I did some basic math and measurements and some architectural type drawings and figured out that a greenhouse would just not work…at least like I had been thinking. So I went back to the cold frame plans.

I remembered I had a book called “Four Season Gardening” that had some plans for a cold [...]

Getting Ready for Fall

tyler — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:38:40 +0000

Actually it’s already fall, but we won’t bother with the details. I took about 10 apples from the batch we picked at the U-Pick farm yesterday and made apple butter.

While the apples were cooking down, I went out in the garden and ripped out the butternut squash. I harvested another 8 squash off [...]

U-Pick Apples 2007

tyler — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:43:37 +0000

Our family started a tradition of sorts last year of visiting a U-Pick Apple orchard at least once a year. This year we visited Royal Oak Farm up on the border of IL and WI. Holy Cow! That’s an orchard. They have over 10,000 apple trees of over 24 varieties. We spent the night [...]

Plantings for a Fall Harvest

tyler — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:27:03 +0000

I cleared out the cucumber plants today. I harvested another 10 or so before I pulled them out. There’s no point continuing to harvest the rest of the year. I can’t handle the amount I have now! My sister in law also came over to pick up some cucumbers. She’s going to make some [...]

Episode 13 – Garden Update

tyler — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:18:49 +0000

In this episode I’ll give another update on the status of the garden. But before I get into that I had a few people over the last month ask me to mention a gardening related event that some of you may be interested in. If you, or your organization, live in the Chicago area [...]

Episode 11 – Getting Started Again

tyler — Sun, 20 May 2007 03:52:13 +0000

Over the last two months we’ve been moving in to our new house and getting all the emergency repairs done, like a new roof and plumbing in the laundry room. A few weeks ago we had a load bearing wall removed in the kitchen to make room for a more open floor plan in [...]

Episode 7 – Getting Started Managing a Compost Pile (Part 2 of 3)

tyler — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:00:16 +0000

…Composting Part Two – Getting Started Managing a Compost Pile…

This is part two of our podcast series on compost and composting. I mentioned in the previous podcast that we are heavily leveraging the Rodale Book of Composting. You may find it useful to purchase the book as we move through the series. I [...]

Episode 6 – Compost. Gardener’s Black Gold (Part 1 of 3)

tyler — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 18:23:23 +0000

…Composting Part One – Black Gold…

We are starting a three part series on composting, that black gold that every gardener dreams about…or should dream about. If you’ve never worked with really good compost you don’t know what you are missing. If you listened to episode 4 on the square foot gardening technique, you’ll [...]

Episode 5 – The Basics of Organic Gardening

tyler — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 01:05:44 +0000

Before we get into the meat of this podcast I need to apologize for not getting out the podcast on Wednesday as I had planned. My family and I are currently trying to relocate from northern Kentucky to an, as of yet not purchased, home in the western suburbs of Chicago. I’m doing my [...]

The Garden

tyler — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:18:29 +0000

The Chicago area is on the edge of Zone 5 and Zone 6. Make sure you know your zone before you take any advice about planting times, growing techniques and the like from this website. Wheaton is technically in the 5b area.

For the past 10 years I’ve been part of a resurgence of [...]

Episode 2 – Picking a Location to Grow Your Vegetables

tyler — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:12:37 +0000

…Picking a location to grow your vegetables…

This is part two in our four part series on ‘Getting Started with a Vegetable Garden’. This espisode will cover recognizing the right site for your garden.

But first a personal note. I’ve finally moved up to Chicago and will be living in a corporate apartment [...]

Episode 1 – Getting Started with a Vegetable Garden

tyler — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:39:14 +0000

…Figuring out what you want to grow and how much you want to grow…

This four part series is on ‘Getting Started with a Vegetable Garden’. This episode will cover figuring out what you want to grow and how much you want to grow. Part two will cover picking a location to grow. The [...]

Coming Soon

tyler — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 03:19:14 +0000

No garden exists. That’s right..no garden. Well, how can I do a podcast on a garden that doesn’t exist? Because that’s the point of the podcast. You will be able to follow along as I move from my current home in Northern Kentucky, with its garden, up to the Chicago area with no garden. [...]

U-Pick Apples

tyler — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:14:21 +0000

Saturday we drove south near Lexington, KY to a U-Pick Apple farm. Great fun was had by all. We listened to a banjo player, watched a chainsaw wood carver, took a ride on a hay wagon and feed some corn to some lambs and a donkey. Oh yeah…we picked Golden Delicious apples and I [...]

Fresh raspberries

tyler — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 02:26:31 +0000

We took a family outing to a local U-Pick farm and had fun picking raspberries. Later in the evening we made home made raspberry jam! Yum. This definately clinches it. We have to have berries in the garden next year

[...]

First attempt at canning

tyler — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 02:37:59 +0000

I couldn't wait for our pressure canner to arrive so I went and purchased about 5 pounds of cucumbers to make into bread and butter pickles. After canning they are suppose to sit for 7 weeks before eating. Argh!! I actually wanted to figure out how much 5 pounds (about 12 medium size) would [...]