Do You Know What Type of Soil You Have?

When I took Master Gardener classes a few years ago, we looked at soil maps that plotted the soil type in our county.  What I found fascinating is how accurate it was.  Romie and I had remarked once how you could dig a hole to plant a tree in one part of the yard and just 20 feet away, the soil was entirely different.  One was heavy, mucky clay, and the other was noticeably less sticky.

If you have clay soil, you'll recognize this!

A friend of mine shared a website earlier today on Facebook that looked intriguing, so I thought I'd share it with you. Kelly posted a link to FarmLogs, a website intended to be an aid to farmers, but we're farmers, right?  We grow food and other things that need soil.

When you enter your address, you'll see a satellite photo of your property.  Then you draw a line around the boundary of that property.  The site then shows you a "map" of the specific soil type for that land.  There's other helpful information given too, such as rainfall amounts for the last 24 hours, the last week, and the year-to-date.

Here's my soil map:

Our two types of soil are:

• Nappanee Silty Clay Loam -  The Nappanee series consists of very deep, somewhat poorly drained soils that are moderately deep or deep to dense till. They formed in clayey till on wave-worked till plains, till-floored lake plains, till plains, and moraines.
• Hoytville Silty Clay - The Hoytville series consists of very deep, very poorly drained soils that are deep or very deep to dense till. They formed in till that has been leveled by wave action and are on lake plains.

Yes, that's right - clay soil that doesn't drain very well.  I didn't need a soil map to tell me that, but it's still interesting all the same!

Home & Garden Spring Show 2014 - Defiance, OH

When many home and garden shows are falling by the wayside, Defiance, Ohio, stepped out with one of their own with the Home & Garden Spring Show, in its debut year.  Held in March at the Defiance College Athletic Center, more than 100 vendors opened the spring season with plenty of ideas for homeowners.

My husband and I, with granddaughter Hannah in tow, spent some time at the show on a sunny Saturday.

Expecting daughter, Kara, joined us and gave us a personal tour of the show, as she works for Clear Channel Media+ Entertainment, presenters of the show in conjunction with ProMedica Defiance Regional Hospital and Mercy Hospital. 

As soon as we entered the show, we felt that air of optimism, as many spring shows exude after a long, cold winter.  We're all just ready to emerge from hibernation and DO SOMETHING!

Lowe's Home Improvement was sponsoring a free workshop where kids and parents could build a birdhouse or an airplane with materials and tools Lowe's provided.  Hannah was a bit too young for that activity, but lots of kids were taking part in it and seemed to be having a lot of fun.

There was also a planner there from Lowe's that we talked with about remodeling our kitchen - something we've been wanting to do for several years.  They'll come to our house, assess the situation, draw up a plan, and give us an estimate.







Area wineries were there with tasting opportunities, including Stoney Ridge, Hillside, and Knotty Vines. We didn't partake, but I've personally had wine from Stoney Ridge and can testify to its goodness. Next to the Wine Garden, the local Chief Supermarket had an assortment of cheeses and hard sausage to go with the wine.

Various other businesses of interest to present and future homeowners had booths and we saw things that we didn't know we had an interest in until we came across them, such as Quality Coatings, LLC.  The winter took a terrible toll on our already aging driveway and we took their business card for future reference.

Kircher's grocery garden begs for a fork!

I was lamenting the lack of "garden" at this show, but it seems to be a trend in home and garden shows these days.  Only two garden centers were in attendance:  Kircher's Flowers Garden Center from Defiance and April's Greenhouse from Bryan.

Kircher's was offering a giveaway and had coupons for future use at the garden center.  April's was giving away small containers of yellow violas, which were very popular, judging by the number of people I saw walking around with them.

 I was told that other garden centers were contacted but were hesitant to participate and wanted to see how the show went, being the first year.  But I wish they'd come, because the show would have been all the better had they been there!  Next year!  Please!

April's Greenhouse looked springy!

All in all, we had a fun afternoon in a spacious and comfortable venue.  I applaud the show's presenters and my hope is that each year the show just gets bigger and better.  (Did I mention "more garden?")

The Old Red Barn had a display of repurposed and refinished antique furniture on display.

Little girl (Hannah) on a big chair at the Herron's Amish Furniture display

Homemade Maple Syrup - It's a Wrap!

Maple sap normally looks clear like water, but as the season
draws to a close, it becomes cloudy.

Our first year at maple sap collecting and maple syrup making is in the books.  And it couldn't have been easier.


The collecting season can last from two to six weeks, depending on the weather.  This year, for us here in northwest Ohio, it lasted about four weeks. We knew it was time to start when daytime temperatures reached above freezing, while nighttime ones dipped below that point.


How did we know when to stop?  Once the nighttime temperatures stayed at freezing or above, the sap flow slowed considerably and the sap became cloudy.  This happens at about the same time that the buds on the trees begin leafing out.

When the maple buds start to leaf out, it's time to call it quits on sap collecting.

We tapped three trees - two of them had two taps - and in the end, collected 42 gallons of sap.  It's reported that you need 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. We ended up with about 1½ gallons of syrup.

So would I do it again?  Of course. I'm still kicking myself for all the wasted years we didn't do this. Would it be easier to just buy genuine maple syrup at the grocery?  Absolutely.  That much maple syrup would cost about $150, more or less, depending on the grade. But the experience of making it from sap collected from our own trees is worth more.  And it tastes better because of that, too.  ;-)

There aren't enough adjectives to describe the flavor of homemade maple syrup, but here are some:

scrumptious
delicious
decadent
rich
magnificent
heavenly
ambrosial

We've eaten it on pancakes and put it in our oatmeal.  But my favorite way to eat it is with a spoon right from the jar. 



How long will maple syrup last?  That's kind of a moot point in this house, but unopened, it will keep indefinitely.  After opening, it should be kept in the refrigerator, where it can also be kept indefinitely. Like honey, if it crystalizes, all you need to do is heat it and you're good to go!

The spiles have been removed and the tree will heal the areas where we
tapped by this time next year.