Our Garden - Pictures!

Photos from 6/20:

South-east corner, above. Left to right: Chard, butternut squash on trellis, green beans, snacking tomatoes, onions.

Northeast corner, above. Left to right: Tomatoes, onions, carrots behind the onions, cucumbers, cabbage behind them; fresh tilled spot with beets behind.

North-west corner, above. Left to right: Various peppers , a zucchini in between bare spots, a bare 1/3 row in front of the carrots, then the canning tomatoes.

Snacking tomatoes - we have one each of Sungold, Tangerine, Sugar Baby, German Striped, and another red slicing tomato. These are just for eating fresh; the canning tomatoes are Big Bog to be pressure-canned this year. Everything is organic! The mulches are straw and wood chip; pine mulch is next. This is a learning year =)

September Market

The vendors are changing. One is leaving, his fields ready for winter. At least one, possibly two more (that I know of!) are coming. I'm very much looking forward to the second - she has a spinner's flock, with colored wools, breed for wool & meat. Today's finds - several acorn squash, in a rainbow; two pie pumpkins, butternut squash, bitty tomatoes and fresh basil, a loaf of bread.

Also, I can try the pickles I made. Yay!

Balcony Gardening

I've cleaned the garden, mulched, and re-arranged. I do need to go back out and pull up the collards and cabbage - I lost them to cutworms. I hadn't taken any precautions, now I know better! And they ate them up in less than a week. Next time - toilet paper tubes around stalks, and cornmeal on the soil. Also more crushed eggshell might be a nice deterrent.

The picture shows the lettuce (since bolted) and a new parsley plant from the nursery. The wood in the front just looks nice and is essentially garden sculpture. Both of the garden stands you see were discards from others.

So, this summer I got a few salads worth of greens and a bit of chives. The fall planting will be when the heat breaks in September. I hope.


Related Links:
Self-Sufficiency Garden: Talks about gardening, including fruit trees, in small spaces like balconies and condo 'yards.' Includes specific varieties to try, and sources for them.
Journey to Forever: Very useful site. This page has links to more information and books about kitchen gardening in containers, without necessarily costing a great deal.
What to Plant Now: at Mother Earth News. Shows 8 US regions, and each region has suggestions for sowing (indoors or out) or transplanting, for March to September.
How Much Veg to Plant: at Grow Organic Food. Summarizes how much to grow to feed a family of two adults and three children, in regular garden rows, with suggestions for how much to harvest for each meal. The information can easily be used for most situations, I would think.

Market Day

Tomatoes, squash, bell peppers for drying, green beans, goat milk soap, more peanuts.

Market Day

Today was a local Farmer's Market. Peppers for drying and for dinner; bison meat; onions and cucumbers for Bread & Butter Pickles. The yellow squash are already steaming for dinner. The peanuts are yummy snacks, grown locally & processed on her farm.

Dried foods

I've dried a few things for our pantry, for winter's use. Celery, carrots, mushrooms, and green pepper.

I dice the veggies, then dry them long enough to snap when bent (about 24 hours for me), and often toss them in soups that spend the day simmering in the slow-cooker for dinner. So much more can be done, but I'm still learning. This is the first year I've done much with it, and I'm enjoying it!

• Shredded Carrots: 3 cups fresh = 1 cup dried (33%)
• Diced Carrots: 2 cups fresh = 1/4 cup dried (25%)
• Celery: 6 cups fresh = 1 cup dried (15%)
• Green Pepper: 6 cups fresh = 1 cup dried (15%)
• Mushrooms: 2 cups fresh, diced = 1/4 cup dried (25%)

Related links:

National Center for Home Food Preservation: Drying

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Agriculture: Drying Food

Ideas: Eating Local

I'm trying to get as much local food as I can this year. To help, I've created my own list of local farms and farmers markets, within a 30-mile driving radius. That makes about a 2-hour drive, round trip - about the most I really want to do. The hundred-mile radius put me into 'full day trip' ranges - especially when I allowed for traffic!

The nearest farmers markets - there are 3 - are all about the same distance away, in different directions. I went to one the weekend of May 30th and another this past weekend. There was a wide variety there - jewelry, goat milk soap, herb plants, breads & canned goods, hand-blown glass, paintings and hand-painted items, fresh seafood, and pastured meats, in addition to the expected veggies. One is also next to a wonderful yarn shop, and I came home with food plus wool rovings to spin (Icelandic, Swalesdale, and Superfine Merino)and a bone crochet hook for my mother. I'll visit the last one this weekend.

If you'd like to do something like this for your area, here are some sites I found helpful:

100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change

Local Harvest: Farmers Markets, CSAs, Family Farms. Ordering online is available (fleeces, yarns, soap, baskets, honey, more!)

Pick Your Own.org: Where to find Pick-Your-Own Fruit & Veggie Farms

Slow Food USA: Supporting Good, Clean, and Fair Food. Also supports heritage foods and livestock breeds.


Also, try searching on your state or town's name (or the names of towns near you) with "farmer market" and see what you find. I used Google maps to estimate travel times and distances to the markets.