garden update

For those of you just joining us, there's more about the early days of the farm here. I'm not going to bother moving all those old blog posts over.. they're happy where they are. But from here on out, I wanted a clean start to just tell the story of the farm. Though I'm not going to promise I won't occasionally muddle it up with recipes, craftyness and what not. I am what I am.

It's hard to believe it's April, already (although the temp makes it feel like it's July). We've been hard at work, planting the new garden, for a few weeks now. We've really tried to focus this year on growing all the fresh foods we eat on a regular basis, so we're growing some things we've never grown before. It's kinda hit or miss. Some things are doing well. Others, mostly my sure-fire, never-say-die crops, are either struggling or dead in the water. Peas, kale, carrots, and green onions? We've got a date to replant this weekend, my friends.
But, my parsnips and celery are up. I may have danced a little jig when I saw them... I'm not telling. Seriously though, when you wait 3 weeks for seeds to sprout and then finally, FINALLY, they're up? It's a good thing. These are 2 things we've never tried to grow before, but we use an awful lot of celery every year, and parsnips? Well, they're just plain yummy.
We've also got beets, cucumbers, strawberries, and some early tomatoes and peppers alive and growing. And my seedings that I started inside are going like gangbusters. I rigged a dandy new setup with an old metal shelf and some fluorescent lights, and I've got 3 levels of seed action going on in my utility room. I'm loving it.
Another good thing? The size of our cornfield this year. We're planting it 3 sisters style, with corn, beans and squashes all interplanted in hills, and it's the size of our entire vegetable garden last year. It wasn't until I started planting the beans and squashes yesterday that I realized just how BIG the field is. 90 hills of beans, squash, and corn. That's gonna be a whole lotta squashes. Mostly pumpkins, actually. And you know what? I am more than ok with that. I bought about 8 different kinds of pumpkin seeds this year from Baker Creek- orange and green and blue and bumpy and crazy - pretty much every unique style of pumpkin I could find. Those of you who know me will know that I am really, really excited about this. I do love me some pumpkins.
We also ordered black beans - Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, to be exact - and Davey is super excited about them. It was when I was planting them that I realized how big this field is gonna be. One packet of seeds only did about 20 hills. Phooey. Next time I'll know to order the large packet. In the meantime, I'm gonna need to go on a bean seed hunt, because I can't even handle the thought of 70 hills of green snap beans. A girl can only snap so much! I'm hoping to find some more black beans, or maybe some red or pinto beans. Mmmm, beans. We've been eating a lot of beans around here lately. Beans, beans, beans. They're really quite tasty. And versatile. And cheap. Beeeeeeeaaaaaaans. I think I need to stop talking now.