and so we grow...

Welp, she's planted. The seeds are in the ground and now we begin the period of nurturing and patience to see if these little seeds will germinate and grow something good for us to eat.

DAY: 1

from furthest row to nearest: turnips, collards, lettuce, kale

from furthest to nearest: (I think!) collards, kale, lettuce, radishes, and a leftover strawberry plant

Normally I plant a garden both Summer and Fall but with a new baby and it being so overwhelmingly hot, and with Summer gardens being so high maintenance, I opted out... in fact I really totally neglected my garden this Spring and Summer. I just haven't had the money to buy pine straw and mushroom compost and all that... or the energy to pull weeds. But I realized that the compost pile I started a couple years ago and left to finish decomposing was ready, and if I put forth some effort I could get some manure. So I got out there and got to it in time to plant for Fall. 

My raised beds were refreshed with my own compost. Then I took a trip to our friends Rob and Kim's house to get into the manure pile behind their barn that had been sitting and aging for over a year. I shoveled seven garbage bags full of PERFECTLY aged manure. Didn't even smell! :) Totally free, except for the use of a little muscle and gas.

Also, I am crossing my fingers about my seeds... they are a year or more old, and I am hoping they will all germinate. I put an extra (or two) in the hole against my better judgment just in case... if they ALL germinate, I will have to thin quickly. Nothing worse than messing all of the seedlings up in the thinning process. That is one of the most fascinating things to me ... the life stored up in just one little seed. We underestimate it... and in doing so we mess up it's chance to really become all it was meant to be. So many spiritual applications!

I "do" my vegetable gardening via the Square Foot Gardening method which really means I work with the space I have to get the yield I want, in perfect soil, with minimal pest issues as a result, among other benefits. It also means I don't have to use pesticides (which I don't anyway, except Neem Oil in Summer). By now I should be able to certify organic, but I am not sure that's worth it since I really only have about 40 square feet of gardening space!

Shiloh helped me get everything blended and raked out and even helped me plant. It was a fun experience for her and I can't wait for her to see the results of our efforts!

I will post a daily pic of our growth progress. I hope to harvest in November before our first real freeze. Though my collards and kale can over winter...

we started out on Tuesday... Shiloh brought the kitchen sink out into the yard.

one of my raised beds and bags of manure

observe... lol

my sweet one <3... who shortly hereafter bonked his head, and we were done...

and this was our work resumed on Wednesday morning... notice Shiloh wearing her baby and my old madras Kangol cap :) that's my girl :)

the smaller bed...

now we've mixed in the manure... it's all smoothed out now, thanks to Shiloh :)

planting collards, kale, lettuce, turnips, and radishes

reclaiming water that had accumulated in our dump wagon to water the beds

Shiloh made me promise she could have a turn using the big watering can. 

my wild growing Lantana (Miss Huff variety is perennial )... 

Jack (cat) in the blueberry bushes, Shelby (dog) and some dead azaleas I need to take out 

 I'll be posting a photo every day of our progress and hopefully we can do a time lapse! I should do the same for my hair... ha!

Love B

over Sunday morning coffee...

A couple of times over the last month Jason and I have found ourselves on the front porch double rocker, drinking coffee while Shiloh naps and Dakota plays on the computer talking about all that we want to do or wish we were doing with the house and the yard and ways to make money doing what we love... This leads to much longing and hopefully results in some momentum towards change. I feel like there is a gentle prodding towards a different path by the Holy Spirit but I am not sure if he is preparing us for the bottom to fall out or what... just not sure where he is in all of this? That's a whole 'nother discussion for a whole 'nother day.

The garden is doing well - though there've been many hard lessons learned along the way. Seems like with every season I learn something new about what to do and what not to do. I also would like to expand it to the side of the house, and put in some rows. I am just not getting the volume I'd like - would like more room for error I guess, and more space. I'd also like to be able to depend on it for food should Jason or I become unemployed or our budget was cut somehow. Not to mention, it's kind of been hard to grow squash and cukes in my square foot garden (you have to grow them UP).

I've put together some great dishes from the things I've grown which I'd like to share. I'm craving a BLT at this very moment...

On another note, I have slowly been building a small business in my mind, crafted from all the things I know I CAN do and make and all of that without putting too much pressure on myself to learn something new. The truth is I know how to do a lot of things and I think if I were to put them all together I could have a nice stand at the farmers market selling homegrown and handmade things that people would buy. I gotta get on that... I need to get the sewing machine out this week while I am on furlough and start trying to put those ideas I've had into action. I'm not looking to make a lot of money I just want to try to make enough extra cash to keep the family fed and clothed.

So much to do, so little time... here are some pics of the garden for your enjoyment. I'll try to blog more regularly I guess.

check this out: Nature's Garden Delivered!

Friends, I must share with all of you the wonderful Nature's Garden Delivered ) (link is also under my "other web goodness" gadget...

This is a delivery service of ORGANIC, LOCAL produce! I have done CSAs before, and they are only a bit cheaper but you do have to run out and pick up the food yourself. The CSA I was part of was about $21 a box for a 10 week season and it was less than half the size of what I get in my box.

My sister Lori found out about them from CNN - she works for Turner and ... well... here's our IM exchange about it from a few weeks back (thank you gmail for saving our chat):

10:54 AM me: woo hoo!
digging that Nature's Garden
10:55 AM Lori: are you loving nature's garden delivered???
me: yes
I am so going to do this
10:56 AM Lori: they are so good. they called me this morning to follow up on my order last night. awesome. i asked him about co-ops and if they were cheaper. he said they were cheaper but require you to go pick up your food at the co-op pick up site...not as flexible as delivery. so, you can always ask them if there is a co-op in your area and if it is cheaper....
so excited!!!
10:57 AM me: so they deliver to your house???
Lori: the menu for this weekend delivery comes out today around 10am. i will forward it to you.
yes- they deliver to your house!!!
me: oh my gosh.
I am so excited!
how did you hear about this
10:58 AM Lori: i was reading some testimonials of people surviving the economy and the guy who runs this in atlanta left a testimonial. i googled the company and signed up. i love the no commitment part. it's worth a try, you know?
his testimonial was on cnn.com.
me: awesome
10:59 AM me: thank you so much for sharing
Lori: i thought of you the minute i read it. i will show it to mom too. she might like it....
me: yeah!

So I've been doing this now for two weeks and I think I am going to switch to every other week because we get so much in the small box. Like I said - I get a small box (boxes come in tiny, small, medium or large) for $38 and it has TONS of BEAUTIFUL produce in it. And it's beautiful and fresh and a wonderful treat for the senses. Jason and I have been eating the heck out of the golden delicious apples and the oranges - absolutely the best oranges I've ever had.

Today I spent our post-house cleaning hours washing, sorting and cutting up the lion's share of our delivery, plus what was leftover from last week.

This week we got:
- Probably the biggest butternut squash I have ever seen
- TONS of sweet potatoes - I have so many sweet potatoes, y'all, I am gonna have to do something fancy with them!
- 4 golden delicious apples
- 4 YUMMY oranges (2 already gone!)
- 3 grapefruit
- 2 head of broccoli
- 1 head of green leaf lettuce (BEAUTIFUL)
- 4 bananas
- 1 head celery
- 2 lemons
- 1 box strawberries
- 4 or 5 roma tomatoes

Woohoo! I love fresh organic and LOCALLY GROWN food!

yeehaw for muffins (two recipes)

Since we've been on a super tight budget over the last month I've learned to really stretch a dollar and when it comes to the food front, it's easy to do when you're not eating out. I love to cook - it's one of my favorite things to do, so making things from scratch, while extremely economical, is always pleasurable.

I have this "Essential Vegetarian" cook book by Diana Shaw (http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Guide-Foods/dp/051788268X) that I use from time to time. It has an excellent reference for use in cooking of the basic staples of the vegetarian diet (grains, beans, etc) as well as a guide to the many types of grains and vegetables and how to cook them. I love how hearty each dish is - so pure and simple but so good and warming to the soul. Anyway, she has a great muffin recipe in there that I've modified a little bit. I've been making these muffins each week, changing them up each time to keep it interesting. Of course, a hot muffin with butter and a cup of coffee (decaf in my case, since I'm nursing) is hard to beat, especially with the cooler morning temps rolling in with the change of the seasons (come on, Fall!).

So here it is... with my modifications:

Heat oven to 500 degrees... grease a muffin tin. I prefer not to use paper cups because I like how the muffins look when they come out without the paper.

2 cups whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill is the best) or 1 cup whole wheat + 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup flaxseed oil
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk or even plain yogurt
1/3 cup raw sugar, honey or agave nectar (you don't have to use as much honey)
fruit and/or nuts or your choosing (I've used fresh peaches, frozen blueberries, and dried fruit as well as pecans and walnuts - I like roasted nuts best and frozen fruit best)

As simple as it gets: mix the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients including the fruit if you choose to add fruit. DO NOT OVER-MIX... you only want the wet and dry to be barely moistened.

Fill muffin cups almost to full. Pop in the oven and after closing the door, drop oven temp to 400 degrees - this gives the muffins a nice lofty top. Cook for 28 - 30 minutes. Allow to cool in tins for about 5 - 10 minutes before removing from tins. Makes about 9 muffins or so.

Today I tried a new recipe because I just went grocery shopping and bought mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries) and wanted to just try some oats and yogurt in a recipe. So I found one online and modified it again to see how it would taste. They turned out pretty good - didn't get the nice muffin top but still delish.

Again, oven @ 500... grease muffin tin...

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups WHOLE oats
1/2 cup raw sugar, agave nectar or honey
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup yogurt - I used full fat organic yogurt from Stonyfield Farms
4 TBSP flaxseed oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1+ cups frozen berries

Mix wet, mix dry... put em in your muffin tins and in oven. Drop oven temp to 400 after putting the muffins in the oven. Bake for 28 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Yummy!