How have things changed in 12 years?
| Our first summer - getting the Garden ready |
January 17, 2012 - Last night our overnight temperatures dropped to 18 degrees.
Quite a drop from our mild sunny days of Dec and Jan. As much as I adore mild winters, living by 3 national forests with lakes and rivers, that flow into our aqueducts (that water the crops, that feed America) the reality is, we need our rain.
I've always liked the self-sufficiency idea of growing your own food. It has always bothered me when I see so many green lawns when there are people out there hungry. Water is so precious, yet we water and water just to have a green lawn. Or at least we Californians do. We have a little green lawn in our front yard for curb appeal. Many are seniors who could have a garden. I remember my grandparents, were well into their late 80s and they had a good-sized garden. Grandma also canned. People don't do that anymore. I guess many think "other people" or the "government" should and will take care of us.
Thursday the composter came. My husband eagerly put it together.
I've always liked the self-sufficiency idea of growing your own food. It has always bothered me when I see so many green lawns when there are people out there hungry. Water is so precious, yet we water and water just to have a green lawn. Or at least we Californians do. We have a little green lawn in our front yard for curb appeal. Many are seniors who could have a garden. I remember my grandparents, were well into their late 80s and they had a good-sized garden. Grandma also canned. People don't do that anymore. I guess many think "other people" or the "government" should and will take care of us.
Look out on the streets in any urban area and you'll see homeless and hungry people. Even in my town, we have a very large homeless problem. I was shocked when we moved here - I was sadly accustomed to seeing homeless encampments in Redwood City - where we lived just before moving up here. Maybe it's because we are the last major city before the Oregon border - many stay here for the winter instead of going up north.
Just imagine if everyone would start a garden - they could help feed their family with some extra to share with neighbors or a food bank. I wish I knew more about gardening and agriculture. I would start a business - like a gardening consultant business for people like me - who need help to grow a garden. It could have a garden-scaping service, where I would hire people who would tend to various clients (similar to a landscaping company) every week. My payment would be small (hey I have to make a living) and I would get a portion of the harvest.
Our dream is to turn our backyard into a huge veggie garden. We're going on our 4th summer living here - and have planted the last 3 summers. We've done the square foot method and last year we did the global buckets. (see video) Let's just say, it's not as easy as it looks. I'd much rather grow a little more each year, experimenting with what veggies grow good and what do not, than go all out digging up the lawn and just planting aimlessly which my Husband sometimes wants to do. A good garden needs planning. Knowing the best position for the sun and pest management. We tend to get voles. It is an expensive investment and if done correctly, it could really save us in food.
January is a good time to start planning a garden. Estimating the costs - looking through seed catalogs. So will we be an all-out sub-division-sized semi-rural homestead that my husband wants NOW or just a bigger garden than we had last year? More later.
Follow-Up
My husband still wants to have this big garden but he doesn't like to take the time to plan and I'm just not feeling it. We usually always have tomatoes and some veggies but not like what he wanted at that time. We just needed help and guidance. Still do. I think we're better at growing other things.
Those global buckets work though and we did yield a lot. It sure solved our vole problem. We had about 12 of them. It just gets too hot here - we've learned we need a shade cloth over the vegetable garden or the extreme dry heat just blisters the vegetables. The "all-out sub-division-sized semi-rural homestead" never materialized.
Thursday the composter came. My husband eagerly put it together.
My counter-sized composter is pretty adorable.
Our soil consists of clay: heavy, high in nutrients, wet and cold in winter, and baked dry in the summer. The compost will make a huge difference to break down that clay.
That's all I have for you on this Friday. I hope you all are staying warm - and not being hit too hard from old man winter. If it makes you feel any better, it is 44 degrees and cloudy. It doesn't seem that cold outside to me - I wore a sweater to the store and wasn't uncomfortably cold. (I don't like wearing bulky coats) Nothing out of the ordinary - just our winter rainy season.
Our Global Buckets
