Food In Front

Impulsiveness

2010-05-13T09:42:00.000-04:00

I know I'm leaving for the summer, so why in the world would I jump off that bridge???

This morning on the way home from dropping off the kids I made an impulsive decision and acted on it. You know that vacant lot right behind the Fujiyama? Well there is a sign that says free dirt and a phone number. I called it, and asked if we could use it as a community garden. I don't know anything about heading something like that up. I don't have money for that. My life is a mess, as in I can't get anything I'm supposed to do done, so what am I thinking????

Who knows.

Helping Hands

2010-05-13T00:58:00.004-04:00

Helping my friend move her square foot garden.

Gotta lay down some cardboard to kill the grass.

Fill her in.

Gather plants (not weeds) from old SFG.

We got the new garden all planted out but it started raining so the pictures had to stop. Darn. Ended up with a bunch of onions leftover. So I got to bring them home with me.

Muddy and soaking wet.

Her too.

2010-05-11T17:46:00.002-04:00

More cute garden items. How about garden labels. Try this or this.

I like the first one a lot but worry about what is leaching into your soil. The second ones are too cute and will carry the kids personalities forever. They could be sealed with a spray and since they don't touch the soil no worries about chemicals.

So fun.

Garden Organization

2010-05-11T10:45:00.002-04:00

Just found a cute idea for keeping yourself and garden organized. Look here.

Thank you to Shelley Inspired!

Carpet the Trees

2010-05-07T11:50:00.004-04:00

Half the time while Nate is mowing he can't even find the blueberries because the weeds are taking over. So I cut up some old carpet to wrap around my plants like a christmas tree skirt.

The Elders, or my work slaves.

Apricot tree and little Guomi bush behind it. Did not flower this year.

Blueberries

Little treats the cats leave all over the yard. Poor Cardinal.

Beautiful Plant Shelf

2010-05-05T16:09:00.005-04:00

Love this site. http://www.knock-offwood.com/

She hacks pictures like this one, and tells laymen (idiots like me) how to build them easily. I can't wait till she get around to this one I submitted. I am like # 200+ or something.

I found this shelf at Oakland Park Nursery this morning. Isn't it beautiful!

Perennials in back

2010-05-05T13:01:00.005-04:00

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Pears

Leek

Blueberries

Mint and Leeks

Daylillies

Coming back on its own!!!

2010-05-05T10:14:00.004-04:00

Spring is the time when perennial garden shines. So much is growing, food, flowers, life, and I didn't have to lift a finger! Love it! This is what is coming up on its own in the front yard.

Chives and Hostas

Mint
This was one small plant last year.

English Lavender one of my favorite smells

Rosemary one of my other favorite smells.

Sage, parsley, and mystery plant.

Thyme is a great ground cover. The Lemon grass didn't come back.

I assumed it would. But it didn't.

These are either ground cherries, or tomatillo starts. I use them interchangably anyway lol.

Chives, strawberry, and Mum in containers.

Second year grapes. I'm soooo excited.

Yarrow

I also have a million wonderberry starts so if anyone wants one just let me know.

Walking onions I never picked last year

Lettuce all right here in one big bunch. So weird.

I let my lettuce go to seed last year and harvested thousands of seeds. The rest apparently went right here. I love it when Mother Nature does my job!

Lambs Ear

(of the huge bunch I replanted from my friends yard this is the only one that is really thriving)

I don't know what this is. Probably a weed but it is pretty.

I only have about a thousand of these little guys popping up everywhere. I will have no shortage of tomato plants this year.

Tarragon comes back and gets huge. I have six or seven of these guys around the yard.

The strawberries are coming!!!!

Bored Gardeners

2010-01-03T16:30:00.003-05:00

What do bored gardeners do in the winter?

Play with their kids christmas gifts.

And put the video on You Tube.

My Favorite Mail Ever

2010-01-03T16:05:00.002-05:00

I look forward to getting my seed catalog all year. My four year old and I sit down and read through it together.

Winter Garden

2010-01-03T15:59:00.002-05:00

Last photos of Fall

2009-11-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how Huge this purple (broccolli or cauliflower) got to be.
A gift someone leaves in the garden several times a week.

The carrots

Walking Onions

These were a huge surprise. They didn't flower in the spring but I left them alone and all of a sudden purple everywhere.

The color was amazing.

Lambs ear. Can be used as toilet paper.

The tomatoes are all done and out.

The berries and tomatillos are still hanging in there.

The herbs

Those wooden boxes will be used next spring for the potatoes. So I can build up the soil and then remove a box at a time to get to the harvest.

I got the boxes free from a street construction site. They were used to keep huge pipes together.

Love my english Lavendar and the Yarrow

Beans beans beans

2009-10-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

Christmas Beans. Its a treat everytime you open a bean pod and see this color coming out. Amazing.
Seed collecting.

Melon and spaghetti squash

Pile of beans

This is only a small small portion of the tomatillos and ground cherries that I harvested.

Fall in Front

2009-10-15T09:42:00.000-04:00

Sunflower head
Leek

Chives, grapes, rosemary, strawberry

Mums

Naranjilla, takes too long to fruit for my zone. Could have brought it in for the winter but I didn't. Wish I had.

The Celery did really well. I have a ton of it chopped and frozen in the freezer.

Lemon Grass, Fennel, Sage, Basil, Parsley

Wonderberries

Tomatillos are productive little plants. I had soooo many of these.

Wonderberry, and Naranjilla.

The amaranth canes on the ground. These things were seriously tall.

BackYard in Fall

2009-10-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

My two Pear trees
Raspberries.

Strawberries. These did very well this year.

Nasturtiums climbing up the apricot tree.

Pumpkins

2009-10-12T09:29:00.000-04:00

Proud harvester.

Seed Collecting

2009-10-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

Chires baby corn - I let them dry, scraped all the kernals off, and now they are ready for popping.
Basil seeds I think.

Lettuce seeds

Radish seeds

Watermelon Seeds

Fava Beans (good nitrogen fixer)

Garden out of control

2009-08-19T23:24:00.000-04:00

The corn is growing well

Squash and tomatoes
Eggplant & Tomatillos

Herbs

Harvest time

2009-08-12T23:31:00.000-04:00

Onions. I picked some of them too early.

Wonderberry Jelly!!!!

So good on toast

Cucumbers and beans

Spaghetti Squash

14 more days

2009-07-25T23:13:00.000-04:00

Peppers

Roman Candle Tomato
Golden giant amaranth

A forest of Amaranth

Much pondering in the garden.

My brother and his girlfriend are visiting.

Potatoes on the right. Guess they aren't supposed to be so close to the tomatoes.

Staking

2009-07-11T23:04:00.001-04:00

Finally got around to staking the tomatoes up. I have abt 50 tomato plants between the front and back.

7 days later

2009-07-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

Seven days of growth.
Its getting greener.

Field Trip

2009-07-10T14:07:00.003-04:00

Today was an exciting day in the yarden. I had my first drive by visitors. A minivan full of kids with two adults drove by, stopped, backed up, parked and unloaded. They asked if they could walk around. I was thrilled! So I chatted and chatted and showed them everything, they ended up with enough stuff to have a meal, lol. They are from a local school and have planted their own garden recently. They took pictures and will feature my garden in their newsletter. :) So cute. I invited them to come back in a couple weeks when the tomatoes will be going CRAZY.

2009-07-09T22:54:00.001-04:00

Garlic Harvest. So lovely. I braid the leaves together and hang them from a nail in my kitchen.

Pathways

2009-07-02T22:45:00.001-04:00

Irish Moss looks so pretty between the flagstones.

July 1st

2009-07-01T17:44:00.006-04:00

Photo update on the front yarden.

Soon to be delicious grapes. This is the only set I will get this year, but next year I hope to have many many more!
This one strawberry plant is spreading like crazy. The runners are settling in and sending out their own runners. Great groundcover, and I will have lots of strawberries next year.

One of my friends said of my front yard "Its not like your growing corn out there." Um, well, ok. This is my attempt at a three sisters guild. Corn for the beans to climb up. Beans to fix nitrogen for the corn and squash. Squash as a ground cover for the corn and beans. Knee high by fourth of July, not these babies.

These are the experimental garden berries. Mine are very small but I think thats my fault due to a late transplant. I have had to berries off the Naranjilla (top left plant). None from the wonderberry yet.

My Golden Jubilee tomato. Can't wait.

My daughter running the maze. They do this everytime I open the front door. You couldn't convince me they had more fun when it was grass because they didn't.

Green is filling in. I cut back most of the lambs ear. I need more greenery though. Always more to do isn't there.
My 8yo is planning her own birthday party and want to include a garden scavenger hunt. (her idea I swear) Her friends will have to find tomatoes, corn, Stevia, and others. I was bursting with pride and delight!

What is important to you?

2009-06-29T15:21:00.002-04:00

My priorities are (in no order)
Home, Family, Testimony

I want to live my life with these values:

Simple
Green
Frugal
Natural
Healthy
Moral
Sustainable

I know I can't do this all in one day, so I want to change one little thing at a time.

How to get a FREE cedar fence

2009-06-29T10:47:00.005-04:00

Apparently its not hard at all. All you have to do is remove some old leaning pine trees from the back corner of your property. Then pile up loads of dead branches, and dump all your compost right on the ground. Don't ever chop down the weeds either. Let them get as tall as you are and you are bound to get your free fence!

Ok honestly I do feel a little bad about letting the weeds go. They look atrocious and will spread like a nightmare. I have lots of excuses but they are admittedly pretty lame. I love the fence. :)

I do wonder about the timing.. This same neighbor walks the neighborhood everyday. My backyard has been the same for about a year. The privacy fence has only come up since the front yard garden was put in. I think he just hates ME more than my yard. He will leave the sidewalk and walk in the street to avoid me, and won't even say hi back when my 3yo waves and says hi.

Planting Party

2009-06-27T22:33:00.000-04:00

Women from church came over for a gardening class so I had them out in the yard planting beans. They were so pretty.

The Banc

2009-06-26T15:27:00.003-04:00

Restless thoughts today have yielded an idea.

I want to create a BANC.

Bucket of
All
Natural
Cleaners

How cute would that be.

I have a friend who cleans houses and she makes her own cleansers. Wouldn't it be great to make some buckets that contain ALL that you need to keep your home clean naturally, and cheaply.

They would make great gifts, wedding gifts, food storage items, etc. I will begin looking into this soon. Maybe we could do it as a group at my house. She could come over. The bucket would include all the scrubbies, spray bottles, etc, etc that you would need. Any ideas?

My first Salad

2009-06-25T10:09:00.003-04:00

Ok it may be my first AND last because its hot here and I didn't get my lettuce started on time.

But it tasted wonderful. I even made a homemade italian salad dressing. So yummy.

There are Gentilina, chard, spinach, and a little bit of celery leaves.

Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and spices. Yum.

Clintonville Heros

2009-06-23T15:02:00.001-04:00

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/06/21/lawngarden.ART_ART_06-21-09_B1_M1E8A8L.html

This is a link to an article in the Columbus Dispatch. It is about the two families in Columbus that have taken on the Lawn and won. They have their Food In Front too!

So cool.

Homestead Tour

2009-06-17T22:23:00.003-04:00

I went with Simply Living to see this Homestead. They do all the things that I have always dreamt of doing. Of course seeing it in real life I realize its probably more work than I could handle. But it was a wonderful day, meeting like minded people, drinking raw milk (yum), and getting a wicked sunburn! So glad I went.

This is one of their two cute mini donkeys.

Followed by their giant hog.

They use this terrifying tower of doom to observe the wetlands they built on a part of their property.

These beauties are Dutch Belted Cows. A nearly extinct heirloom breed of cows. Good milkers and meat animals. Most heirloom breeds are hardy and dual purpose.

And this is a shot of their house. I LOVE the stairs.

Ran out of room for pics. Have to split this post up.

Groundcover

2009-06-10T15:50:00.004-04:00

Most of my neighbors have been very nice about the whole thing. Its really not all the drama. We have a nice sidewalk that people walk their dogs on so I see quiet a few people when I'm out gardening. They ask questions, and wish me luck. I tell them to keep checking up and feel free to sample the veggies when they come in.

They do however seem perplexed and ask me what plant this is.
I admit it is pretty sad looking. lol. This is Lambsear. It is the softest plant you could ever feel. I transplanted it from a friends yard, it sat in the sun for a couple hours with no water so its kind of droopy. Understatement. I'm sure they are questioning my sanity at planting this pathetic thing anywhere yet alone right next to the sidewalk. My intentions are pure, I swear! Lambsear is almost a weed, and it will do a great job of keeping all the soil from falling onto the sidewalk. If it doesn't perk up in a couple weeks I will have to pull it and try something else. Like Oregano and thyme.

Here is my favorite little garden visitor. My daughter, 3yo wearing my gardening hat. Just had to throw that in.

Work in the Garden

2009-06-09T00:46:00.002-04:00

This is my view sitting in the middle of the garden and looking around.

New Melon I'm trying.

This is the Dark Lolla Rosa lettuce. Very pretty.

Spinach

The backyard

2009-06-04T12:02:00.000-04:00

For those who are wondering how "bad" the backyard is here are some pics of it.

My favorite place to sit and watch the kids play.

My keyhole garden. I made it a bit too big. I had to throw some flagstones in there so I can walk and reach everything. Raspberries and blackberries are along the fence, Apricot tree in the foreground, two pear trees in the background. Swing is shaded by a crabapple tree.

The asparagus bed, and the Aprium tree. Blueberries are behind the playhouse.

Can't wait till everything starts producing.

Food In Front

2009-06-02T18:01:00.000-04:00

It all started out innocent enough. A simple gardening book from the library. Who knew it could ruin my reputation and send the neighbors into a tizzy. It began with Gaia's Garden, that led to Edible Estates, then Food not Lawns. By this time I was truly lost. No turning back, ruined and cast from normal society forever. I began making plans, they led to this.

Cardboard, bamboo stakes, pink string, flag stone, and piles of horse manure. Ahhh, good times.

This is how it looks right now. Its about half planted out.

A little path to encourage passersby to come in and take a stroll, into my evil garden TRAP!!!!

You may think that everyone is sooo excited to have this in their neighborhood. WRONG.

Inevitably someone is upset with me about my front yard Garden or yarden. I was out watering when she walked over. She lives two houses down from me, and was out mowing, weeding, and edging her lovely lawn. A little old lady that has never so much as said hi to me in the two and a half years we have been neighbors.

I can't remember the conversation exactly so I won't recreate it. These are some of the things she said to me.

Maybe you should move somewhere in the country where this wouldn't bother anybody.
What you did in the backyard was bad enough but in the front.
Why would you do this.
No one on this whole block will ever be able to sell their homes.
You have destroyed our property values.
I'm really really upset about this.
I've lived here for forty years and this is the worst thing I have EVER seen.

My response:

Ummmmmmmm
What???

I'm sorry you feel that way.
But if a house doesn't sell it won't be my fault.
Maybe I should live in the country but I don't. I live here.
I'm not going to undo this.
I want to have food for my family.
I can see your really upset about this but I don't think its as bad as you think it is.
I hope we can still be kind to each other as neighbors and decent people. (She walked away without a word after this)

My husband Nate and his friend Pete wanted to go beat her up. lol. Defend my gardening honor.

Pete was funny. He said, "Whats her problem, drug dealers don't garden, lazy jerks don't garden, criminals don't garden."

I'm remembering some things about our neighborhood. We have had seven break ins over the past little while, a woman got assaulted by somone on our street. Years ago the police had a shoot out, and swat teammed a house down the street that was dealing drugs. BUT my garden is the WORST THING she has EVER seen. I don't suppose she will want to sit down, get to know me, and learn why I'm doing this. lol

I feel sorry for her. Her worries are unfounded, and unrealistic, but they will cause her pain. I'm sorry about that. I wish I could ease her concerns.

That was my very first confrontation with someone and it was uncomfortable but I was pleased with how I held it together, remained calm, and stayed polite. I'm not looking forward to doing it again but I think I could if necessary.