Early Garden Update

The early garden seems to be going well to date. Above is the first bunch of radishes I was able to harvest just a couple days ago. They're always fun to plant, since they mature so quickly. My dad planted radishes with me when I was just a little guy for that very reason. I remember being pumped as a child when we got to pull them up, even though I don't remember ever eating them. In fact, as much as I am trying to involve little girl in the garden, I noticed these were ready when I was checking the garden after work. And yeh, I went ahead and pulled them up without even thinking about going inside and getting her to help. Guess it's the little kid in me. We've got some more that are ready, so I'll get her on those. So far everything is looking great including the carrots, lettuces, spinach, and potatoes. The broccoli seems kinda small so far, so I'm not holding out on getting much there. Well, here's what we did with the radishes.

And no, those aren't my carrots...I wish. We took the radishes and some garlic, ground them up, and mixed them in some creme cheese. Made a pretty good dip for the carrots that lasted us a couple days. Not sure what I'm going to do with the tons of radishes I have left to pull up over the next couple weeks. Going to scour the internet for new recipes. Should be fun. I've got my way-too-late spring break next week, so I've promised little girl I'd take her to County Boys to buy our summer garden plants. I'll hopefully update with those events next week.

Tired

No...I'm not complaining about being physically tired. Sure...I do a lot. I work two jobs, both of which are at their busiest for the next two months. Yeah..., I've got two small children and try to be an involved and active parent. No doubt I'm married and try to be a loving husband who takes care of his wife. Of course there are those everyday responsibilities. But, that is not what I'm tired of.

I'm tired of "the man!"

I kinda say that with a lot of oomph and slight laughter. I don't mean to sound like the radical anarchist or the old man who's just tired of paying taxes on property he has already paid for. I'm tired of being fed the American lie. Seems the American dream has turned from freedom to slavery. We are constantly fed the idea that if we work hard or play it smart we can have this or that and if we don't we can always borrow money (go into debt) for it. It's always something we never needed before but now must have. Something to make life a little easier or more convenient. I'm sick of it! I'm tired of being told how I need to get money so I can have this or that, or how what I've got now is old and not good enough anymore and how I now need something "better."

But don't quit on me yet! I'm not putting up this post to whine and complain. There's enough of that happening all the time. I'm writing to say I want to do something about it! No, I'm not aiming to do anything extreme crazy. Counter culture, maybe...but not loose-my-mind insane. I'm not telling Erin she can't wear makeup, has to cook all day, and can't leave the house...yet (just kidding).

Really though, the question of what I can do to break away from the typical American/Western mindset has been plaguing my mind for quite sometime. It probably started when I thought I'd train to teach in order to make a positive impact on society, and found out via pay schedules how little society sees education as important. Then, over time realizing that in order to live a just barely middle class income American life, I've gotta work two jobs to keep my wife at home and that my family has to eat processed and unhealthy food to keep the grocery bill halfway reasonable, while still occasionally having to go into some debt to make it work. 

Time to turn this thing around...for real! I'm slowly realizing that I don't have to have everything I think I need. I've never been a huge spender. I'm not going to say I've never bought something I didn't need or spent a little more on something I could have spent less on. I'm not foolish enough to make out my situation to be a total consequence of someone else's bad idea. But I can do with less. And probably in most cases I can do better with less. And not only can I do without certain things that are normally expected, but I can do a lot for myself without relying on "the man" to take care of it for me.

There is a definite movement in America in this direction. It seems that a lot of people are trying to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. I want myself and my family to be a part of this movement. We've been slowly heading in this direction for sometime, but in the past couple weeks my mind has been churning on how to amp it up. This is the third year we've had a garden. While I enjoy it to a degree, it's not for the sake of a hobby that I'm trying to grow our own vegetables. I'm truly endeavoring to provide wholesome food for my family without paying extra hours of side work away from my family in the process.

Gardening is just the start. Overtime, I hope we as a family will slowly find ways to cut our spending and provide for ourselves as much as possible regarding our food and other resources. Our next project is installing a clothes line in the backyard (know the neighbors will love that). For years I've been wanting to get our recycling act together. That begins this week when I purchase some bins to get it organized. Also, we've reset out thermostat to allow a greater variance in temperature and are using windows and fans to compensate. Any other ideas are more than welcome. My dream would be to own a couple acres and have a mini-farm/homestead that's off the grid. While that dream is probably a ways away, I want to do what I can to move in that direction starting with the smallest changes. It's going to be a growing process, but I know we'll be better for it.

I'm hoping not to compare myself personally with other people. There will be those of you who read this post who make less money than I do, or who do without in ways I haven't experienced. Others look at my little bit of gardening and say, "really, is that all you're doing?"

With knowledge comes responsibility. While the cliche states that "you can't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see," it's obvious that the choices we've made to make our lives more "convenient" have most often negatively impacted the environment, the economy, our families, and ourselves. I truly hope to turn that around for my family as much as possible. I hope that this blog will provide a good outlet of what we're doing to move in that direction. Small steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all.

-g

Picture courtesy of Wind Power Authority

Early Garden

With the warmer weather comes the beginning of the gardening season. This is the third year we've planted a vegetable garden, but the first year to plant some cool weather crops. The past couple of years have been pretty good with harvests including tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, beans, sunflower seeds, cucumbers, and basil.

I'm a huge fan of Jon Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Lengthy title...yes. Jam packed with insightful information...for sure. While the book is pretty extensive, I practice what I can and try to add a little bit more each year. This year is the first that we used our own compost from the previous year's waste. I was a little nervous it was still going to look like a pile of vegetable and fruit waste, but when I popped the top it was perfect. The compost bin was a little investment, but hopefully we'll be using it for years to come.

Here is the garden bed from last year in need of some sprucing up.

Rather than tilling the soil, which destroys much of the microorganisms that benefit plants, I used a modified version of Jeavons' double dig method. You basically start by digging a trench and removing the first row of soil for composting purposes. Another layer underneath that trench is then loosened. After that, the next trench is dug out and placed in the previous trench and so on and so forth until the whole bed has been dug.

After the trench digging, a thin layer of compost is spread over the top and then raked until even. Here is Little Girl helping with the raking. She was really getting into the whole process and was even talking about how the extra air in the dirt would help the plants grow. Pretty funny to hear her say that.

We lightly watered it all when we were done to keep everything evenly moist and to give the microbial life a drink. This was definitely Little Girl's favorite part of the whole day.

The following day was planting time. We planted two types of carrots, two types of head lettuce, spinach, radishes, two types of potatoes, and some broccoli. Little Girl was pretty pumped about this part as well, although after about 30 seeds she decided it was time to go hit the swing set.

I was able to draw her back in when it was time for the potatoes. She enjoyed digging the holes and dropping them in.

Overall, it was a great day! It's fun hanging with the kid and doing something I enjoy while teaching her a little at the same time. Little Girl loves the outdoors, so I think I've got a gardening buddy for at least a few years.

Of course, the risk in posting about our garden is the fact that it might be a complete fail. I'm really hoping that most of our effort pays off, and we'll have something to show for it. I'll keep you updated on our success.