It’s been an extremely mild winter for a lot of us here on the US East Coast, and no surprise to most of us spring is here about one month early. I’m not complaining, just a little weirded out by the long-term implications and what the summer holds in store for us…
Yesterday was just beautiful and not one to squander a nice day, if I can help it, I was in and out taking pics of the signs of spring in my yard and home.
Whenever we move our clocks forward in the spring is when I start thinking about the garden. I probably should start thinking about it a little earlier, but since I’m just a hobby gardener and not trying to fully feed the family from the garden, I can afford to be a little lazy.
Last year I didn’t have a garden, because of a back injury that left me unable to do any real manual labor for like 3 months, and I missed it more than I thought I would. This year, I am determined to have one, but now I’ve got to figure out what to plant and like fast…I’m already behind starting my seedlings and March 17th is coming up fast (the traditional day to plant English peas around here).
So, what am I going to plant? I know one thing for sure, I will be planting those black heirloom tomatoes that were all the rage at the Farmers’ Markets last summer.
I’m busy checking out Seeds of Change and High Mowing Seeds to make my wish list as I type. What about you? What are your garden plans for this season?
Urban homesteading (or suburban homesteading, which is what I like to think I am dabbling in) is the new homesteading. There aren’t really any more frontiers in the U.S. available to us to go homestead and I would dissuade you from attempting to find any lest we not leave some mostly pristine & underpopulated areas of this country left at all.
Anyway, the bulk of us live in cities, and the aforementioned suburbs, but some among us long for putting dinner on the table by some of other means than a trip to the grocery store. That’s urban homesteading, which involves aspects of edible landscaping, foraging, community-based agriculture, recycling, using alternative energy, sustainable practices, food preservation, bartering, raising chickens and more. It’s about making the most of the space you have, sharing with others, getting creative and lots of DIY.
Cat Rocketship from Hipster Houswife has way more experience with this than I do (I just have a garden and don’t cut my grass). In fact, she wrote an article about it for issue #4 of Joiein which she shares some of her urban homesteading adventures.
A special thank you to Angela Traunig of Ferntree Studio for creating the amazing artwork to go along with Cat’s article.
Patty pan, patty pan.
Cooker, Jen.
Cook me up, eat me up.
Just as fast as you can.
That’s the little ditty I sung to myself, while I was cooking up my patty pan squash The other night (I like to make up songs while I cook, I entertain myself). Aren’t they pretty? I love patty pan squash. They taste good and they are just so darn cute!
I do have copious amounts of them though, so I am looking for some fresh ideas on how to use them. What do you do with your patty pan or yellow squash?
I haven’t been sharing much of the garden lately and I’m sorry about that. I’m having enough trouble keeping up with the weeds and preparing & eating all the goodies that it’s producing. It’s been so blasted hot here for days & days & days, that sometimes it’s really difficult to appreciate the garden in the right spirit. When it is 100+ degrees, I’m sort of resentful of the garden and it’s need for water and weeding.
Friday, was a much nicer day out temperature wise though and I made a point of getting out to enjoy the garden’s beauty and take some pictures to share with you. Aren’t they lovely?
If you are on the East Coast of the US, then you are experiencing an early (and possibly record-breaking) heat wave. So, don’t forget to water the garden….leave the grass alone, but not the veggies and flowers!
Images from the Indie Fixx Flickr Gardening Group. Join us.
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