North Ridge Farm

Another Day, Another Mason Jar Cozy

It’s full-on summertime now. The garden has exploded with new offerings each day, my job is to try and keep up. Two thirds of the garlic has been dug, we’re dipping into the potato rows for early sampling, some of the cabbage is about ready, peppers are ripening, and basketfuls of beans are the norm every other day from here on out. The tomatoes are coming along, but nothing ripe just yet. Peas, radish, and the first planting of lettuce are done. Kale and collards are producing nicely, and cucumbers are on the vine. We'll pick the first few any day now. There is quite a bit more to report, but that is a brief run down. I’ve been terrible about posting garden updates this year. The trouble is that I seem to only have time to post here about once a week now, and if each time I sat down to write it wound up being a weekly garden update, that would bore me to tears and I can’t imagine would do much for you either. But I do hope to properly update before the month is out. As is the case with these things, a new gardening season brings with many new lessons that are worth noting.

July in the shade has been a success so far. There is still plenty to do beyond the shade tree, but I am finding my way there often. I’ve been knitting - hats, mason jar cozies... little things. Knitting small in the summer keeps the warm wool off your lap, and an added bonus is that you can knit a new item in one or two days time. So I get up early, do my work around the house, garden, and desk, then I take some time for a whole lot of nothing but listening to the birds and watching the butterflies dance about. If I had a hammock I’d work a nap into the equation.

Our garden porch has evolved and expanded into a well-functioning summer kitchen which has quickly become my favorite room in the house. All 6x8 feet of it. A full tour and discussion of creating such a space (can even be in the garage or basement) will be shared in Harvest, but I’ve been spending so much time here lately it’s showing up in quite a few photos. So, welcome to the summer kitchen! The tiniest corner of our home with the most activity.


I can hear the chickens waking up so it’s time to open their coop for the day. There is laundry to do and I’d like to get an hour or two in the garden before the heat becomes too much. There is a fridge to clean out and the blueberry farm opens at 8am. True to form, everything I’d like to accomplish in a day is best taken care of by 10am. (Considering the heat and when my energy levels are highest.) Too bad I'm not great at multi-tasking. I’ll do my best, and stay on task until late morning, at which point I’ll scrap all unfinished chores and plans, find my way to the shade, and perhaps enjoy one of those summertime naps. At the very least, I’ll knit the afternoon away. You know what they say, another day, another mason jar cozy.

Good Medicine

I'm feeling pretty darn relaxed this morning. Even though at some point this weekend I might have been heard saying, “It must be July, I’m covered in poison ivy, I have dozens of bug bites, and laundry can hang on the line for seven hours and still be wet.” Ahh... summer! I’m keeping my (itchy) chin up though, and we’re having a great time. The garden is going crazy, and we just had an unexpected mini-staycation with Adam turning a three day weekend into a four day weekend, and me arranging my work to join him. Emily was not scheduled at her job either, so we decided to create a little retreat here at home.

With a fresh stack of movies and books from the library, a new knitting project, and plenty of good food on hand, we cast aside the clock and calendar for four ridiculously relaxed days. We moseyed about in the garden, had a few campfires, and even made a 6am supply run for Birdy’s makeover. Because if you no longer have a local lumberyard and have no choice but the big box store for lumber and such, it is best experienced at the crack of dawn when you have the place to yourself.


At one point Adam and I were sitting on the front porch talking about how some veggies and dip would be the perfect compliment to our porch sit. I knew we had sour cream in the fridge, other than that, we decided to take a walk to the garden and see what we could come up with. Green beans, celery, carrots... perfect! Although I was left wondering why on earth I only planted shelling peas and not some sugar snap too. For the dip - dill, chives, and freshly dug garlic. Herbs chopped and added to the sour cream with some sea salt and black pepper, veggies cut up and stacked in a bowl. We let the dip sit for thirty minutes, allowing the flavors to mingle and marry, then we dug in. Oh man, was it good. We even had some non-gmo free range humanely raised potato chips to go with it, but all agreed they were basically a sad interruption in our garden crudite experience. I think I’ve found our new favorite easy summer dinner. Just need to buy the sour cream, everything else can be found in the soil. And once again, I am reminded of how a cow would round this whole thing out for us quite nicely. Maybe in Vermont.


Today we’re easing back into our regular work and life routine, but with the renewed sense of creativity and discipline that comes from true time off. True rest. I’m thinking a four day weekend once per month is something we should strive for, it feels a heck of a lot more restorative than a 1-2 week vacation, once per year. And it would always be right around the corner so you always have it in sight. Even if you are someone that is blessed to love the work that you do, regular time to chill and renew the body and spirit is good medicine. And couldn’t we all use some good medicine?

Before I go, one more picture so you don't think we spent four days drinking beer and eating great food...

See? I had other priorities, too.

Wishing you a great week, and may a little good medicine find its way to you. 

In the Garden :: June 17

This is our fourth year gardening here, and I think we can say we’ve found our groove. Not that it’s all perfect crops and total absence of pests, it’s not. But we do have a rhythm, and we do have enough systems in place to make it all feel like a tad less work on our part, with more time to wander the rows and marvel at this incredibly productive grocery store.

There are several old apple trees on our property. Only one that is in a spot where we could open up around it a little, to let some light in. We do not own this land, so taking a chainsaw to any corner we choose is not an option (but we would totally sacrifice a bunch of choke cherries to resurrect the old apple trees if we could). Anyway, the one apple tree that Adam has been coaxing along since our arrival here is finally starting to come alive. It looks amazing. Our first year here, no apples (and no apples for the many decades prior to our arrival). That was the year we let in some light. Cut down just a few trees around it. Second year, he carefully pruned the tree. Third year, two or three flowers, which resulted in two or three apples that the deer promptly ate. This year, our fourth year here, half of the tree was bursting with flowers this spring and now, heading into summer, it is bursting with fruit. Some of which I believe is too high for the deer to make much of a meal with. So those just might be for us. A small miracle.

And of course, I forgot to take a picture of the apple tree. Next time. Let's go ahead though and take a walk through the garden. All of these pictures were taken this morning, so this is a good snapshot of how things are right now.

We’ve had pretty great weather this June. Plenty of sun, just enough rain, not too hot of temperatures. The brassicas are all covered now, the potato beetles seem under control, and the peas which had a really slow start are finally bursting. I only grew shelling peas this years which was a mistake. Not sure why I opted to leave out snow and sugar snap peas, but I did. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.

The garlic has just a few more weeks before harvest. Scapes are being harvested now, pesto making and simple freezing of chopped scapes is underway. Once the garlic and peas are done, I’ll plant our big plantings of carrots, beets, rutabaga, and maybe some turnips. But nobody really likes turnips so I’m not sure why I keep planting them. I’ve already panted some carrots and beets, but just enough for early eating, the storage crops are planted in July.

Raspberries are looking really good this year. We might even get one of those bumper crops people talk about. Wish I could say the same for our strawberries, but they are not having a great year. Well, they were until the deer ate 2/3 of our bed. We usually can't even see the straw! Sigh. Blueberries are slow growing, but reliable. Thankfully.

The manager of our local food co-op has an incredible greenhouse at her home. Alice grows plant starts over the winter and has a plant sale for a few weekends each May. All organic, non-gmo, etc., which is hard to find around here. Even though we start our own tomatoes and peppers from seed, I can help but stock up on some at Alice’s plant sale. Her plants are so big that I always see fruit on them 3-4 weeks before my own start produce. The tomato plants I bought from her are three feet tall already and all of the pepper plants have fruit on them. We’ll be eating peppers in July now, whereas my own plants probably won’t give us any until at least mid-August.

Speaking of peppers, one of the varieties I buy from Alice is called Carmen. If you’ve never grown Carmen peppers do give them a try. The are so deliciously crisp, sweet, juicy, and ripen red. A true Italian frying pepper, about 6-8 inches long. And they freeze great! I just chop and freeze. Some I’ll dice small and those are used in chili and various soups/stews that I put peppers in. Then I’ll chop some much larger, those are saved for dishes like roasted sausage and peppers with potatoes. I freeze all kinds of peppers, but Carmen are just so good I wanted to mention it.

Herbs are coming in and are mostly ready for their first harvest. Feverfew has already been cut and dried, next up this week is lemon balm, sage, lavender, and oregano.

Okay... that’s a general overview of what is happening out there. Sorry if it feels kind of random and fragmented, I write these garden posts mostly as a garden journal to myself, so they don’t always flow very well. I keep track of garden related posts over here, it’s been incredibly useful to look back on them year after year.

Thanks for stopping by!

Simmer Down

I wish you could hear the rain. It started sometime after midnight, and continues still, at 11:30 in the morning. Heavy and steady. With the garden’s first planting of the season well underway, it’s not the kind of rain that leaves you fearful of your seeds washing away, or seedlings being pummeled as it pours down. Everything is well established now and the one to three inches we’ll receive is exactly what the gardener ordered. Now I don’t have to do a rain dance for at least another week, maybe even two.

After several hours spent weeding and mulching this weekend, I took a few moments to sit back and look out over the garden. Do you have a chair in your garden? Having a spot to sit and observe the comings and goings is a great teacher. When I’m busy moving around, creating a ruckus, fewer birds and insects come close. But as soon as I get still, the whole place comes alive. It was here that I watched a robin feast on our strawberries. Unapologetic, totally pleased with himself. I didn’t have the heart to shoo him away, the dude earned those berries fair and square. And so I watched him enjoy the feast for about five minutes. It was a weekend highlight, for sure.

Today I’m catching up on some work, enjoying some time indoors thanks to the rain, and generally trying to get the week started. And if I’m being totally honest, I’m also dealing with the emotional toll of another wave of troll comments. I wonder if people realize I can tell when they leave multiple negative comments under different names/email addresses (computers are fancy). Well, now they know. Going through such trouble to project negativity seems like a lot of effort to me, but I’m not as ambitious as most.

I think I’ll go make some tea and simmer down a bit. A really nice person gave me permission to harvest their field of red clover last week, so I’m thinking a brew of lemon balm, lavender, calendula, and a good mineral-rich heap of red clover will do the trick.

Feeling thankful for rainy days and Mondays, they never let me down. xo

In the Garden :: June 4

{Joining Amanda today.}

It’s been several weeks since I checked in with the garden, so let’s take a walk out there today. Well, actually, all of these photos (except for the one very sunny pic above) were taken on Sunday, so let’s step back in time a few days and take a rainy walk, shall we?

Since Sunday we’ve received about four inches of rain, coming off a six week period of no rain. In this climate, with our soil, plants, and trees, six weeks of no rain puts us into a drought. The garden was feeling stagnant, saved only by my relentless watering which is something I never recall doing so much of in the spring before. I’m mindful about watering seeds in the ground, but once they pop and definitely by the time they reach four leaf stage, I’m letting nature take its course and let the hand watering go. Our gardens really only need about one inch of rain per week to thrive, and generally we receive that in rainfall around here.

Anyway, with all that rain we’re officially watered! And now we have sunny days ahead so lots of growth is happening.

Colorado potato beetle has arrived and I’ve been picking them off by the dozens. We’ve only experienced those once before, and it was just one or two on a single plant. This year is a different story though so I need to stay on top of that.

I went into this gardening season feeling all kinds of practical. I wasn’t going for variety this year, I was going for a strong focus on our storage crops. The plan was to keep it simple down here in Connecticut, so we could freely enjoy the work we have planned up north.  Tons of potatoes, paste tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, greens, peas, and green beans... there would be no corn, melons, summer or winter squash (high potential for pest issues with squash and I didn’t think I’d be here enough to monitor), just a few cucumbers, etc. But then gardening season came on full force and all reasoning went out the window. Those gorgeous garden centers and farm stands are a wicked temptress, indeed.

And so my garden is overflowing with more variety than originally planned (fennel! leeks! broccoli! etc!), but I did stick to my no squash plan. Considering the space they take up and the potential for pests, I’m happy to give the garden real estate to more reliable crops such as carrots, beets, and potatoes. It’s also helpful that other organic farms around here have greater expertise when it comes to controlling squash bugs, so I will pick up those things from them. I’ll plan to take $50 from our September grocery budget, head to a favorite farm stand, and purchase enough squash to last the winter.

We’re off to a good start. June is my favorite time in the garden, everything is looking lush and hopeful (except for the potato beetles that I’m booting out), and the days are not too humid yet so working in the garden is a pleasure. I think this is about it for my update this week, I’ll try to check in weekly this year. We’ll see! My big garden tasks this week are mulching and berry netting, so I best get to it. I’ll sign off with a picture of our first garden salad... because the first garden salad must be documented!

Feel free to check out more from our garden here. Thank you for visiting!

Hostess Gift

The road home.

Each day will become increasingly hot and humid this week so I’m up at 5am doing as much as I can before the heat of the day hits. And let’s be honest, it’s the humidity that’s the problem. Heat feels good! Heat loosens muscles and opens joints; it dries laundry in just a few hours. Heat sweetens berries and calls for dinner on the deck. Heat warms the shoulders and begs for shoes to be tossed aside. But oh man, I’m the biggest baby when extreme humidity piggybacks on the heat of the day. So, after I type out a few words I’ll switch to getting some physical work done this morning, then I may freely sloth about this afternoon.

The first round of garden planting is nearly complete. Now to mulch and begin the never ending cycle of keeping the weeds under control. It’s not too bad if I stay committed to my two rows per day maintenance routine. You’re never really done in the garden, but a habit of tending small amounts each day helps it to feel manageable. We were up north over the weekend and planted a small garden while there. I focused on a few cold tolerant plants, being a week or so early for the main planting time on the north ridge. But a gardener has to get something in the the ground! Kale, cabbage, broccoli, and zucchini (okay, I may have rushed the zucchini, we’ll see). I have no expectations for this garden, it’s more of a watch and learn sort of thing. New climate, new soil, new critters. Like the MOOSE that was standing outside the kitchen window of our Aunt and Uncle’s house when I was making coffee at 5:30 in the morning. Is he going to enjoy my kale, I wonder?

Anyway, zero expectations, I just had to get my hands in the soil. And wouldn’t you know, the very first, totally random, roadside farm stand we stopped at while in search of compost had all organic plant starts. Our first random stop, all organic! That is unheard of down here. I picked up a few perennial herbs in addition to the cold loving veggies (and the hopefully strong and mighty zucchini). I deliberately didn’t plant seeds up north even though I’m anxious to see what carrots and beets do in that cool northern climate. That is some of the darkest, richest soil a girl could ask for. I just won’t be there to water them daily for the first couple of weeks and seeds are pretty unforgiving without that early love.

Really happy this (tiny) vegetable plot is in. We have no road access to our property yet, but there is a garden! Perhaps it will only serve as an offering for the local fauna, but hey, it’s the least we can do for showing up on their turf. Let's call it a hostess gift.

Season Opener

For months we've been planning to head north for a one day only heirloom fruit  tree sale at a Vermont orchard on May 2nd. Fruit trees take time. The best time to get started on your orchard is last year. It seemed reasonable to plant fruit trees as soon as possible on our land. But May 1st rolled around and I thanked the blessed universe that April was behind us. Our cup runneth over for the entire month, and quite frankly I just wanted a weekend to breathe. Scratch that. I needed a weekend to breathe. We all did.

I felt like committing to our garden for a solid 48 hours, stopping only for water, enough food to keep us going, showers and sleep. And that is indeed what we wound up doing. The fruit trees will be for sale next year, I can still move plenty of raspberries up this year, and there is honestly plenty of work to do in terms of prepping the land for cultivation. Plus there is the bonus of keeping a few hundred bucks in my pocket to put toward our cabin/road access/water. First things first.

Man, this weekend was the best. Like most gardeners in the northeast, I was feeling a week or two behind out there. Sure, we stuck a mess of peas in the ground a couple of weeks ago (even that felt late), but then I failed to water them properly and we only had 1-2 days of good rain between planting and finally getting back out there this weekend. With April being ridiculously busy and all, our watering system hadn't been rigged up yet and I was certain all those peas may have begun to germinate in the rain, then not had enough water to continue... withering under the soil. Thankfully, they pulled through and when we dove into our garden work this weekend, all six rows were sprouting through the soil nice and proud. Our first springtime miracle. 

With nothing but blue skies, sunshine, and 75-80 degree weather in  front of us, we turned soil and re-established beds that were destroyed by a certain flocks of chickens (they've seen their last off-season run of the garden). We planted seeds, trellised peas, planted potatoes and so much more I can't even recall. All of this was followed by two nights of fantastically deep, bone tired sleep.

This morning I am a new person. The blah of March is gone, the unusually busy April is in the books, and there is nothing but garden and cabin dreams in front of us. 

This marks my first garden post for the year. I'll soon add it to the garden page, which is a great place to visit for garden inspiration or commiseration... whichever you may be in need of. Successes and failures, it's all there. 

 Now that we are four years into gardening on this property, I realize it is tradition to set aside a full weekend to kick things off. A weekend where you start the day with birdsong and coffee among the rows, and barely leave until you do a final walk through after the chickens are put to bed. It never gets old, this first weekend. And this weekend in particular was one heck of a season opener. After the winter we've had, it felt ridiculously indulgent and well deserved.

Here's to a long and fruitful season!

Waiting on Spring

I sat down with a cup of coffee and opened my laptop to see if I had a few words in me this morning. I looked up for a moment, glanced through the window toward the back field, and wouldn't you know, it's snowing to beat the band out there. It also snowed all day Saturday. All day. March is always a tease, never sure if it's coming or going, but this year it has chosen to remain firmly planted in winter, for sure. 

And so we take to the inside. I tend our seed starts and restock our lotion and reclaim our monthly budget and dream of the day I can finally plant peas in the ground. Sugaring brings us outside, but not too much. It's been slow. I'm so glad we thought to ask my uncle if we could borrow 60 taps and buckets this years as opposed to last year's 30. As it turns out, double the taps will yield less than half the syrup our 30 taps yielded last year. Yesterday my uncle told us a local sugar maker that usually produces about 800 gallons looks to be on track for about 100. It's the way it goes, this dance with nature and all the things beyond our control. 

We're in our last few days of collecting and boiling now. In the end we'll have a few gallons which will serve us well, but a tough year for those that depend on sugaring as part of their income. 

In a few weeks we're heading up to Vermont to finally spend some time on our land after purchasing it in early January. I learned from Adam's aunt that it is zoned arctic (zone 3-4) in terms of gardening. I thought it was 4a as opposed to our 6a down here in Connecticut, which I was making mental adjustments for... but throw a 3 in there? It's going to be a wild time learning to garden in such a climate. My mother in law loved her northern Vermont garden. She said the combination of cool nights and warm sunny days helped things to practically grow inches overnight. And of course Adam's grandmother had (has) incredible gardens over the years, growing and preserving much of her own food. It's just different and there will be many things to learn. I imagine our best chance at growing those beloved Brandywine tomatoes will be in a greenhouse. But I hope tiny, quick to ripen varieties such as Sungold or Matt's Wild Cherry will produce just fine in the open garden. There is no finer late August breakfast than a few handfuls of Sungold tomatoes, enjoyed while roaming the garden rows during the day's first light. Our Vermont vegetable garden this year will be small. I just want to put a few thing in the ground and see how they manage. Although, if I have the vision for placement (it takes a while to feel out a new place), I'd like to start planting some perennial fruit trees and shrubs, as well as herbs. We'll see.

Well, the snow is still coming down. You know, the best part of spring snow is that (for the most part) you get to ignore it. It'll melt soon enough so why fuss about it? This morning I'll watch the snow fall and happily ignore the clean up. There are two gallons of syrup to finish off and a batch of lip balm to make. A quiet Monday keeping busy inside, as we wait for spring's arrival on the outside.

Organizing My Garden Posts

Life is spinning in so many directions at the moment. Some good, some not so good, all of it leaving me reeling for some peace. I'm in the process of finishing up details for our next Whole Food Kitchen session, but need just a few more days before I can release that.

With so much going on, and my inability to focus on work, I created a small retreat for myself yesterday. It didn't cost any money, took practically zero brain power (bliss), and I was able to sip chai and balance a few important family texts and phone calls  during the process (perhaps that last part was not very retreat-like, but you take what you can get). I felt productive yet relaxed - a little creative, even. Just what I needed, work will still be there tomorrow.

What did I do during my spontaneous mini-retreat? Well, I created a one page blog resource containing all the gardening related posts I've written since living on this property. Such an activity may not sound very zen-like, but it felt pretty good to me as I bounced between looking at garden images from the past three years, while simultaneously planning/coordinating various family details. We may still have nearly two feet of snow on the ground, but spring is definitely in the air and my urge to get out in it is insatiable. I ordered potato seed yesterday but that wasn't enough, I looked around for a little more gardening related work. Our seeds are planted in trays by the window, and the remainder of our seed packets are fairly organized. Without much else to do given the abundance of snow, I decided to take to the blog and spruce things up for springtime.

Before we head over to the new resource page, please note the my style of writing garden posts is merely to journal our way through the season. I'm not an expert gardener, and I do not offer a lot of "how to" type posts, but I hope there is still plenty of info and inspiration to be had. If nothing else, it's organized! Without further ado, welcome to our garden. 

This handy access button will reside over on the sidebar. Click on it anytime you'd like to visit the garden.

Thank you for stopping by!

Welcome to Our Garden

Over the last few years I've been writing more and more about gardening. This page will serve as a gathering spot for all of those posts. Prior to living here, we lived on a quarter acre of very shady land in the city. Since moving to this four acre rural property (which is actually where I grew up), we've devoted much of our time to developing vegetable, fruit, flower and herb gardens.

I don't write about gardening in a "how to" type of format, as I am very much a student myself. But there can still be much to learn from, and by inspired by, when we observe the experience of another home gardener - I certainly am. Have a look around, and I'll be sure to add new posts to this index as they are written. Enjoy!

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2015 Garden (fancy banner coming soon)

June

In the Garden :: June 17 - I've decided once a week is a little much, I'll do updates every two weeks. Growth and progress should be more notable this way, plus, I'm just awfully busy outside this time of year and can't quite commit to weekly blogging about the garden. Things are looking good out there right now, come on by!

In the Garden :: June 4 - Today marks the first of hopefully many weekly garden updates for the season. We were experiencing quite a drought, but early in the week it starting raining and continued for three straight days. Much needed and greatly appreciated.

May

Season Opener - After the most intense winter that most anyone alive today can remember, we finally got into the garden. Nothing feels quite as good as that first long and sore weekend in the soil.

 

October

• Still Harvesting - I still have one small section fenced off from the busy chickens as kale, spinach, beets, leeks, calendula and lettuce are still growing and being harvested.
• Garden Visit :: October 7 - Care to take a grey and drizzly autumn stroll through the garden?

September

• Pretend CSA 2014 - Earlier in the summer I mentioned that we'd attempt to gift my aunt and uncle a "pretend CSA basket" each week, for the duration of our growing season, as a thank you for their generous help with our first year sugaring. Here is a photo journal of those baskets.
• Garden Visit :: September 8 - I wasn't able to keep up with my garden posts too well this year. I already know that my lack of posting this summer will prove disappointing next year as I try to recall the story of this year’s garden.

July

• Garden Visit :: July 15 - Every year, mid-July, I wake up and it seems the entire garden is taken over by weeds. We spent about 15 hours in here this weekend getting things back into shape, pulling bolted lettuce and peas that are finished. Compost was added and late summer/fall crops were planted. Now the food growing plants can have the nutritive soil all to themselves and the air flow is much improved.

June

• Garden Visit :: June 24 - Keeping up with the garden a few rows at a time has given me such peace of mind. The only way to stay on top of it is to get out there for 30-60 minutes each day and tend a few rows.
• Garden Visit :: June 11 - At this point, so many things have been planted. I'm holding off on rutabaga, parsnips, a second (third?) bed of carrots, and a few other things. Once space frees up from the radishes and the first three beds of peas we'll have room for those things.

May

• It's Been Quite an Education - Sometimes when people learn that we rent this home, and that it is likely not our forever place, they think we're a little crazy for the amount of work we put into developing our gardens and the land in general. But the way we see it, the years spent here are ones we'll never get back. This property is primed for gardening and maple sugaring - and the education we are receiving as a result of our efforts holds value far greater than the loss of walking away from a few dozen garden beds - when and if the time comes.
• On the Other Side of the Weekend - In addition to what I've already planted, over the last week I've added beets, leeks, broccoli, and a few lettuce starts that I picked up at our food co-op.

April

• Waking Up - We overturned another 400 square feet to expand our back garden and will retire the front garden this year.

August

• This Week In My Garden :: August 22 - Everyday there is something to harvest, tie up, pull back, thin, or mulch. And probably water, too. I'm experimenting this year with not actually watering the garden (aside from early seeds), and depending solely on the rainfall. This week has really been the first where I've started wishing (on behalf of my tomato plants) for rainfall.
• This Week In My Garden :: August 15 - Things are good. So much bounty, and so much tending. The weather has been beautiful for the last several days and it's been such a pleasure to spend time among the rows.
• Where the Ladies Live - I suppose we can squeeze this post into the gardening section. Lots of photos and such of our chicken coop, and a few words on how it was built.
• This Week In My Garden :: August 1 - This week our garden is producing lots of vegetables, and lots of pests! 

July

• This Week In My Garden :: July 25 - The heart of the garden season. So much is doing great... but the winter squash? That is difficult to grow, for me. I thought it was root rot, it turned out to be vine borers.
• This Week In My Garden :: July 18 - The garden is doing well, but the gardener has been sidelined with a severe case of poison ivy.
• The Garden Porch - This Garden Porch has quickly become a favorite space. One so simple and practical, filling a need and pulled together with random pieces already on hand. This summer, despite the heat, has just gotten a whole lot better.
• This Week In My Garden :: July 11 - I feel like this year I've been on top of the garden and weeds more than in year's past but when I look at these photos it doesn't look like it at all! We'll keep plugging along and getting the work done... the garden has truly become my favorite place to be this summer, even if the extreme heat and humidity means I can only stand it for 20 minutes at a time.
• This Week In My Garden :: July 4 - In general we have given our plants plenty of space this year and I think that is paying off right now because the weather has been so rainy and humid. I'm not sure the garden would be holding up as well as it seems to be if things were closer together. 

June

• This Week In My Garden :: June 27 - Continuing our expansion of the back field garden. Harvesting greens, peas, strawberries and herbs.
• This Week In My Garden :: June 20 - Joined Amanda in her weekly series of garden updates. A great way to journal my way through the season.

May

• Raised Strawberry Bed - Continue to move our gardening efforts to the back field, we took down a large ash tree allowing for more sunlight, and established the first raised strawberry bed.

 

August

• Counting the Hours of Sunlight - Such a great thing to do if you're not exactly sure how much direct sun your garden gets each day. Read about my simple method in this post.
• There Will Be No Tomato Sauce This Year - Our first year gardening here, and our first experience with late blight. It swoops in overnight and takes out the whole crop. Such a sad thing to wake up to... but we carry on.
• Potato Harvest - At the time of this writing (3/15), that first year was the best we've seen for potatoes. We only put a few pounds of seed in the ground and were nicely rewarded.
• Putting Summer into the Freezer - Tackling basil (pesto recipe!), roasted tomatoes, and green beans.
• Simple Garden Meals - What is better than walking out into the garden and harvesting a bit of this and that for an easy, nourishing meal.

July

• Notes From Our Kitchen and Garden - How the first year garden is coming along, and a glimpse at our "use what you have" fencing system.

June 

• Expanding the Garden - When I was a young girl, our vegetable garden was in the "back field," as we called it. In later years, my parents moved the garden to the side of the garage, close to the house. This post shares the beginning of our garden expansion and return to the back field.
• Checking in on the Garden - I love a June Garden. Few if any pests, still plenty of moisture, so much green! We harvest peas, greens and radishes with abundance in June.

May

• Welcome - The very first peek into our garden on this property. Prior to our moving here, my parents maintained a small garden that dad added a great deal of fertility to. It was a great plot for us to start with.