Weekend Wrap Up

Pumpkinzilla

Swiss Chard are coming along

I got to eat our first squash of the year this weekend.

No rest this weekend. My daughter and her friends went on their campout and despite my fears for what could go wrong-hey I'm still the Momma Bear- everyone had a great time. They navigated major highways, pygmy rattlesnakes and miscellaneous dangers adeptly and I couldn't be prouder. My daughter called on the way home to say she had been the recipient of a ticket. I was ready to blow my stack with visions of skyrocketing car insurance racing through my head until she clarified, "no Mom, I got a tick!". Phew, a tick I can handle, a ticket that's a whole 'nother ballgame.

As for me, I spent the whole weekend having a much needed and quite rare Me Getaway. I attended a two day defensive shooting class and brushed up on my personal protection skills. I had a wonderful time, relieved a little stress, burned up a lot of ammo and came away with quite a sunburn. If you love to shoot there's nothing better than a weekend at the range shooting at paper bad guys from behind barrels.

Lastly, I took some pictures of the gardens progress. I did absolutely nothing in the garden this weekend and the grass around the raised beds has gone wild. Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight after work. That pumpkin plant my niece insisted on planting, Pumpkinzilla, has grown completely out of the bed and is roaming Tokyo ready to swallow cars, chickens and whatever gets in its way. The squash bugs tried to kill it but even they failed. I will enjoy getting my sweet revenge when I carve up the pumpkins for pie at the end of summer.

Grow, Baby, Grow

Two pumpkin plants only made it into the garden due to the pleas of my son, niece and nephew. They will enjoy watching the growth of these giant pumpkins. I planted them on separate corners so they can sit just outside the raised bed once they grow beyond the confines of the planter.

The squash plants have just blossomed this morning. I know it won't be long now before I have plenty of squash and zucchini. Even if all other veggies fail you can always count on those two to prosper.

Cherry tomatoes are now visible on all the tomato plants. I can't wait to taste these babies in a tossed salad with dinner. My early girl tomatoes got a late start and most will likely end up canned for sauce.

Garden Update

Well the garden is coming to life and I couldn't be happier. Most every square has some green blooming and if won't be long before I have fresh veggies on our table. The radishes are just about ready to pick. I'll need to add the trellis netting this week as the vining tomatoes, squash and cucumbers are really coming along.

The only problem I've noticed so far is that something is snacking on my swiss chard. I've lost a few seedlings over the last few days and I am debating how to nip this problem in the bud, so to speak.

I was also a little disappointed that my herbs don't want to cooperate. I've planted one square each of oregano, rosemary and parsley. So far there's no signs of germination. I decided to reseed and cross my fingers. All in all, despite these annoyances, I am quite pleased with my first try at square foot gardening.

Eggs for Onions

This week I made my first real barter of homestead goods when I traded a coworker some onions from their garden for some of my free range eggs. Both my coworker and I are relatively new to homesteading and this is the first time either of us has made a barter trade of homegrown items. He was able to start his garden earlier than I so he had onions ready to go. I have had my chickens laying now for almost a year and he just started with some chicks this month. They won't be laying for a few months yet. It was satisfying to be able to trade the fruits of our labor and everyone gained in the bargain.

Salad Bar

The garden is complete. A little time and sunshine and we'll have our own salad bar just outside the back door. The radishes have already started popping through the ground and the beans should be next. Since I've put up the fence the chickens have largely ignored the garden and I hope to keep it that way. I still need to add the trellis netting to the trellis posts but there's time for that. I am very pleased thus far with the Square Foot Garden technique. Give it a few months and I will know whether the extra time and effort up front was worth it. It does indeed appear so far that there will be much less weeding and watering required.

Garden In Progress

I have all four of my 4' x 4' raised beds constructed. I spent the better part of today digging the sod out from under these beds and lining the bottoms with weed fabric. I had read that you could forgo digging up the sod but in my experience that has never worked and within a few months grass will work its way up through the garden despite 6 inches of topsoil obstructing the sunlight.

Tomorrow I hope to complete the last of the sod removal and then I can fill the beds with composted topsoil.

Composting- One Gal's Trash

Now that the garden vegetable's are sprouting I am so glad that I started that compost pile a few weeks back. With the temperature rising daily as we head into Spring it will only be a few months before I have usable compost for my garden. My 17 year old son and I put together a 3 foot square composter from old two by fours and scrap plywood. We set it behind my shed, out of view, and fenced it off from the chickens. So far we have had no trouble finding ingredients for our compost stew. Any trash of plant origin is fair game. Banana peels, coffee grinds, eggshells, grass clippings and shredded newspaper are prime composting material. Avoiding meat, bones, grease and dairy and frequently turning the pile will keep it from attracting flies and maintain happy neighbors.

Our Little Corner Amid the Chaos

It's been a year and a half since I decided to carve my little .15 acre of suburbia into a homestead and turn our postage stamp plot into a more self-sufficient resource. In that time our family of four has managed to change our lifestyle toward a more simpler, organic one. Some changes are small ones, such as drying our clothes outside on the line. Perhaps our most dramatic change has been the addition of chickens to our urban backyard. I'm always looking for ways to live more frugally and work more healthy choices into the mix. Recently I've begun baking our own wheat bread, pressure canning food and making our laundry soap from scratch.

Gardening has always been confined to a few container tomato plants on the patio. This year I've decided to expand and have just completed four raised 4' x 4' planters in our backyard. I'll be trying my hand at square foot gardening and by the end of the weekend my 10' x 10' garden plot will be finished. The chickens will be so disappointed, poor babies, when the poultry fence goes up around the garden. I only hope I can keep the other pests at bay and bring in a decent crop. I have seeds sprouting and ready to transplant including: green beans, peas, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, radishes, carrots, spinich, swiss chard, tomatoes, watermelon, parsley, oregano, rosemary and some marigolds. Now that should keep me busy.