Saturday, September 19, 2009

Harvest Time

I'm all about "urban farming." Since I can't live in the country, I do what I can in to live "rurally" in town. I live in a townhouse. I have a deck, and a small patch of yard in the back. Ten years ago when I moved here, I created a big flower garden, and I have always had lots of pots of flowers on the deck. Years later, the flower bed has been reduced to a more manageble size, most of the English roses and other perrenials I planted have died, and I have started filling in the bare spots and the deck pots with can't-fail herbs.

Last Spring, with the economic climate what it was (and largely still is) I tried to plant more edible things in the deck pots and garden. Overall, my deck and garden are more of a 'potager' now.

A 14"pot of green beans on the deck produced enough single servings over the growing season for at least 6 meals and a growth spurt last week allowed me to freeze a quart! The foliage is dying now so I took the last beans off today - make that 7 servings.

Another big pot gave me 2 eggplants (I had lots of blossoms but they did not set fruit-despite the bees and my attemps to hand-pollinate).

Although it is still warm here, we could have our first frost any time, so today I pulled up the basil plants - an armload - that I will make pesto from. I also harvested sage, rosemary and thyme, (no parsley, sorry) and oregano to dry. I already have LOTS of basil I dried throughout the summer. I still have carrots that I will pull after first frost (I'm told they are sweeter that way?) and I noticed some rose hips I will harvest later for tea. I cut and dried peppermint earlier for tea also.

I have Swiss Chard I planted in the spring that is taking off now that Autumn is upon us. I will plant some garlic later today, if it doesn't rain.

If I got serious about making every square inch and surface productive, I could do a lot more, but I also have the dreaded "townhome association" to deal with. Arrrrrgggh! I would love to have a few laying hens in a coop under the deck (it is supposedly legal in my town) but association rules trump city ordinances here, so I'm assuming it is out of the question.

There is something really primal about planting and harvesting, "putting things up" for the coming winter. I don't think I've done too badly, and it really feels good.

First blog

Well, I've done it. Joined all those others who "journal" publicly - who throw their thoughts out there for all to see. I remember when blogs first began, I couldn't see the point, and spoke pointedly about the ego of those who think others would care that much about what they think. Now, I'm hooked.


I have a number of interests, and as I discovered blogs - and the many people that follow them - who share those interests, I felt connected, informed, inspired......and finally had to jump in myself.


Unfortunately, I am techno-challenged, and my blog will be one of those boring text-only ones until I can learn how to take and post photos. I don't even know if my computer is capable of that, much less the user.


I recently saw the movie "Julie and Julia" and feel like "Julie" as she posted her first blog. Sending these words out into the web-sphere and wondering if anyone out there is interested in reading them is a little intimidating.


I may write about food, handspinning and other fiber arts, my pets, the farm and livestock I would love to have, even my religious beliefs at times, which some may consider esoteric. But this is who I am.