Good Friday Potatoes

It is tradition to plant potatoes on Good Friday.  So we did.  In the rain. It was only a little sprinkle during the planting, but it really came down later.  This whole week it rained like crazy here, but we're still under the average for the year in rainfall.  We also planted onions and garlic, and started seeds indoors for just about everything else.  

This collage that Joncee made is of the rocks that are left to move.  Were going to leave most of these so we can get some stuff started.  Then we'll get back to moving rocks after some green stuff shows up.  We would probably be fine with the space we have cleared but its more fun being in way over our heads.  

Where the potatoes, onions and garlic went in I did what is called double digging.  I dug a trench the depth of my shovel, put that dirt in the cart and loosed with dirt under where I dug with a garden fork and moved the trench over.  It was lot of work but I think Edward C. Smith is right, and the vegetables will be vigorous.


 

We have bees in the neighborhood its pretty exciting.

garden, winter and before...

These are shots of the garden plot back in september, before we had really done any work.  There was one little raised bed that has been cleared we planted some spinach and some carrots in this bed.  I chose spinach because it very fast from seed to table! It is also frost resistant for a while. Within a week of sprouting it looked like it was ready to eat.  The seed packet says 28 days to maturity.  Carrots are also supposed be frost hearty but only after they have matured.  I had to learn that the hard way.  I didn't have any luck, or much motivation to try much else during the winter.  Just occasional weed and rock removals.  

The spinach did well and grew fast.  But our often visiting four hoofed friends ate it all.  We have a few plans to keep the deer out next time.  The first being a fence,  but were gonna try a fence with fishing line.  Maybe we can just out smart them with that.  The next option is Edgar.  The hyper lab/border collie mix.  He will come back eventually, right? 

McFarland Farms

I've decided to start growing my own vegetables.  I'm slowly working my way through a book by Barbara Kingsolver, called Animal, Vegetable Miracle.  It has been a bit of an inspiration to grow my own food and be a little more self sustaining in a world where our foods travel is its greatest expense.  As the cost of gas rises so does the food you eat, unless its only as far as your back yard.  My original inspiration and a true pioneer is Jules Dervaes.  He and his three grown up kids live together on 1.5 acres in Pasadena, CA.  They grow all their own food, and sell what's left over to pay for their minimal expenses.   

These are my simple ideas and plan.  

• I'm vegetarian so I don't need to raise animals
• I've got plenty of space to grow the vegetables we would need
• Buy seeds
• Put seeds in dirt, in the ground or in seed starters
• Water
• Let Photosytisis do its thing