Tuesday

Life and Garden via Instagram



From the top, L to R:

1. Produce basket from our nightly harvests 2. Making fresh rainbow salsa
3. Refrigerator pickles 4. Eggplant Crisp
5. Cohen's Red Mini Bell Pepper 6. Cale's huge pumpkins
7. Making garden veggie soup  8. Cale's favorite place to be

Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Harvest Days


July 8, 2013

July 9, 2013




July 12, 2013

July 16, 2013


 This posted is linked to the following: 5 Minutes for MomThe Jenny Evolution

Friday

Grow Your Own: Fixing the Broken Food System

I don't often force my opinions on others. And for the most part I am of the opinion that people have freedom to choose. I don't care if you stay-at-home or work. I don't care who you marry. I don't care who you believe or don't believe in. I don't care who you vote for. We all should have the freedom to make those choices for ourselves with out fear of retaliation or loss of rights.

Things get a little hazy when it comes to more global issues. I do care if you throw your trash somewhere it shouldn't be. I do care if you pollute the air. I do care if you recklessly and thoughtlessly hurt the Earth in various ways, because the truth of the matter is we are hurting the Earth, and ourselves,  and for the most part the people of this world just don't care. And that's not right.

But today I am going to voice my opinion, my opinion about food and the current government run food system we have in the United States. I have been reading Joel Salatin's Folks, That Ain't Normal and while his words aren't completely new to me, they do get my heart pumping and my brain screaming about all the people in the world who just don't realize or care about what they put in their bodies or how it got there. About how some people in this day and age don't know where their food came from or what is in it. About how out of touch we are with the fact that we are leaving one of our most basic human needs in the hands of someone else, who may or may not have our best interests at heart.



Just down the road from where we live is a tomato farm. A huge farm with acres of tomatoes. It's a beautiful sight to see. That is until you see the warning signs. These aren't your run-of-the-mill No Trespassing signs, but danger signs warning you of the health risks the chemicals used on the fields might cause. When they spray the fields the workers wear what look like Hazmat suits. The beautiful fields are also marred by rows and rows of red, ripe tomatoes. Not on the plants, but wasted on the ground. Only the green tomatoes are wanted. I would suggest donating those ripe tomatoes to homeless shelters, but I am not sure I would endorse giving Hazmat tomatoes to the less fortunate either.

I  believe that our current food system is unnatural. It's unnatural that food be shipped for thousands of miles. Its unnatural that milk in it's natural form is illegal to buy or sell. It's unnatural to eat watermelon in Maine in December. And it's unnatural that some children today don't know how, when and where the food they are eating came to be, or worse yet that the food they are eating is so far removed from it's natural state that they might as well be eating cardboard.

But how do you fix a broken system? That's a big job. The only current solution I have is that every capable person should be growing something. Anything.


Live in an apartment?

  • Grow plants in pots on your deck or balcony. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, strawberries and a ton of others do well in containers. 
  • Ask the managers of the complex about starting a community garden on the grounds.

 

Live in the city? 

  • Look into local cummunity garden plots available for rent
  • Can you grow on the roof of your apartment building?
  • If you have a sunny window or room for artificial lights you can grow plants such as greens, roots, and herbs that don't require pollination. 

 

Can't afford it?


Gardening doesn't have to be expensive. You can get seeds as cheap as $0.99. Are they heirloom? No, but they will grow into food nonetheless. The local Dollar Tree sells reasonably sized bags of potting soil. Plant your seeds in recycled egg cartons, use milk jugs with the tops cut off and holes poked in the bottoms for containers on your deck. And remember that one zucchini plant, one tomato plant and a container of bean seeds can give you virtually free food all summer long.

Don't have time?


Yes you do. If you have time to read this article you have time to plant a couple plants. Big gardens have the potential to be time consuming, but 1 or 2 dozen plants or a few pots on the deck will add less than 15 minutes of extra time a day. Not having time is an excuse and I am sure most people know that.

 

Have a big back yard?


What are you waiting for?! Get growing! And don't forget to share or trade with neighbors and friends who may not be able to grow as much as you.



The only way to fix a broken system is by taking it into your own hands and hope that everyone else does too. We grow a lot, but still are much too dependent on a grocery store for our food. But we are a lot less dependent compared to 5 years ago. If every able-bodied person began to take back control of their own food, we'd get a whole lot closer to a more natural, healthy way of living and eating. It all starts with one person taking small steps to fix a problem. Start small, work your way up, but the most important thing is to start.

Note: All quotes in this post come from Joel Salatin's Folks, This Ain't Normal. No matter what your thoughts are on food and farming I recommend reading this book. If you agree with him it might help push you on to the next step. If you are still eating McDonald's and buying processed foods on a regular basis, it just might open your eyes. 

This post has been linked to Freedom Fridays From the Farm Blog Hop, The Clever Chicks Blog Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop, The Backyard Farming Connection,

Sunday

Garden Update: July 6, 2013

 We got rain. All. Week. Long. I feel like I have said that before, but this has got to be the rainiest year I can remember having in a long time. It seemed like every time I tried to get in the garden it would start pouring. But, rain is a good thing. And everything is growing really well because of it.

This is one of Rylan's Moon and Stars Watermelons. It's either red or yellow inside, I am not sure which.


The tomatoes are huge. And I have followed my normal pattern of planting way too close together and it has taken on a jungle feel. Some are towering over my head and the kids like to crawl through the tunnels beneath the plants.


Here are a couple: Chadwick Cherry, Yellow Pear, Rylan's Golden King of Siberia and Green Zebra. The Farallones are huge and the last picture is of the Super Sioux, which is really nicely formed.



 The eggplant, pepper and cucumbers have take off. We have a garter snake living in this bed. We often find it under the cucumber vines or between the eggplant.



Red Lipstick peppers and Red Mini Bells....


Large Red Italian Pepper and Rylan's purple jalapeno...


 Apple Eggplant and Ping Tung Eggplant...We've also picked a couple Black Egg and Purple Long


And Dragon's Egg Cucumber.  These have a very nice flavor. We also picked a couple of Rylan's White Wonder and a Suyo Long.


Tonight Lakin helped me top the basil. It was getting taller and closer to flowering so we cut it down. This is the second major pruning I've done this year, but I got enough to make more than a quart of pesto tonight.


My Calendula and Chamomile and Cohen's zinnias. He's growing 4 or 5 different varieties.

 

 Then the summer squash, beans and okra... Cale's white bush marrow squash and his big pumpkins...he's aiming to take the prize in the biggest/heaviest pumpkin contest in the fair.

 
 


 This was tonight's harvest: Basil, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers....


So how does your garden grow?

This post has been linked to the Homestead Barn Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, The Backyard Farming Connection, Tuesdays with a Twist, Tuesday Garden Party, Tuned-in Tuesday, Tuesday Greens, How Does Your Garden Grow?,



Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Mountain Tops







Pictures taken: June 30, 2013 from Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

Linked to Wordless Wednesday on The Jenny Evolution, 5 Minutes for Mom