Community

In the summer of 2014 my friend Mary had a space at the community gardens that are located approximately 5 miles from our home. I believe at the end of that gardening season I suggested to her that she use a space at our place which is only about a half mile from our house. With over two acres to play in, I think we could accommodate her garden boxes.

So, last year this is what her space looked like - 

While her plants were doing well...it soon became apparent that the deer were enjoying the fruits of her labor more than she was. 

Earlier this year Tom suggested that we invite Mary to move her garden boxes over to where our boxes are. It was a suggestion that was well received. 

Now we are at the end of April and the move has been completed with the help of Mary's men (hubby & son).  Here is the private community garden space that I share with my awesomely sweet friend - 

Last week the big move was started by weeding and moving dirt. By the end of the morning Mary and Doug were able to move two of the boxes over. This week the task of moving the three larger boxes after emptying the soil was done. There was a break for lunch and then we all went back to work on different projects. 

Tom started up the rototiller and Evan was interested in trying to work that hurkin' hunk of machinery. After outfitting him in something other than his "good" shoes he got to work with Tom...

He did a pretty good job, and was able to do what I couldn't do. Which is keep control of the tiller and not let it get away.

Overall the day was good. We had some good conversation with good friends and very much enjoyed seeing what our property will be sometime in the future. I look forward to growing some good food and helping our neighbors in the process. With all that I currently have started we will have plenty to put on our table and share with those around us.

A small step toward community gardens!

Less than a Green House, Mostly a Hoop House or...

a GROOPHOUSE

This has been the project of all projects. What I really wanted was something simple to get seeds started in early Spring.

My inspiration -

I liked the idea of this, but I really wanted something more walk-in like so, but not a real greenhouse. I don't know why I didn't want to do a real one. Maybe because it would still be sitting in in the original packaging somewhere in a corner. It is hard to say for sure if it would have gone quicker if we had actually gotten a green house - a decent one for that matter. I do like a DIY project though...so we started visualizing what I thought I might like.

The initial idea was more basic basically like the following only without the raised bed and gravel or bench. After the initial set up it sat for several months - weather related delay. It rained and rained and rained or we were on vacation which took away more time from the project.

However, I don't think that the delay was a bad thing because now the Groophouse looks like this -

The tub was a very late in the project idea...but I think it will be a good thing in the end.

In the beginning I thought that using row cover type material would be best. So we got some of the fabric attached and within a few days the winds whipped up and then we found out that it would not be a good choice. So it was on to Plan B. The only problem was we didn't have a Plan B.

After a few more days of thinking about it I got the idea to use Corrugated Plastic Roofing Panels

Ran the idea past Tom and BOOM idea accepted. This was a couple of months ago...maybe not that long ago. Anyway, some time had gone by and we were working on another DIY project so the Groophouse would have to wait a little longer.

Within the last couple of weeks The frame was leveled and made to look more like a project than it has for a while. Then the space that I want to use for "hot house" veggies was created. That was pretty easy we used our compost and added some fluffy matter and sand. It is good to go now!

The only problem now is getting the panels home from the Home Improvement store that is more than 5 miles from our house...

There WILL be an update!

Spicy Mesclun

These little guys are a couple of weeks old. This is the first time that I'm growing mesclun so I'm hoping that there will be a nice variety of greens. I do have some arugula and spinach started as well - so those will blend in nicely.

I love fresh greens, but will tolerate the bagged salads. Anymore, we will toss a bag into the cart and then promptly forget about while it sits in the fridge. Then of course it all gross and slimy looking. Will need to either quit buying bagged greens or getting something that we'll see when we are not in the growing season.

Looking forward to when we can start harvesting some greens for our dinners.

Baby Bush Bean

Seeing this yesterday afternoon just made my heart happy!

On Our Way...

Way back in 1998 we moved into this old house that sits on over 2.5 acres. Since the very beginning I never had any thought of doing anything to make the land "work" for us. I have enjoyed gardening from the small backyard garden variety to gardens that were well planned out and larger scale kitchen garden. Those were well thought out and pleasing to look at. Which always included flowers and lots of them!

Playing in the dirt and making things grow. Yup, there is great satisfaction in that.

In more recent years as my satisfaction with my job starts to wane I start to think of things that I could do that would not require going to an office every single day and dealing with people...the introvert in me has blossomed quite nicely over the years. Simply put, I'm tired. I need something different to do that brings a certain amout of joy that has been lacking recently.

It's hard to say when this idea that a hobby farm could be created...but I'm thinking within the last 5 years. In the last few years I have been stepping up the gardening thing and starting to think on a more grand scale. As it has been quite a while since we last had a big garden, our garden last year was extended on both sides of our privacy fence that we built a couple of summers ago. Just to make sure that I could maintain the things that I was growing and not forget them, we just stuck to the basics - beans, tomatoes cucumbers leafy greens...and a few more easy to grow items. This year I am going to up the amount I grow and plant whatever comes up in the trays that I have started.

I'm very excited!

I have not quite decided if we should offer community gardening or a CSA or what...but I think sometime down the road (a year or two) we'll add chickens to the mix and see how that goes.

For now I am dreaming of a home business and the chance to do things that will make a difference in the community.

This was at the end of last season.