The Garden Continues Despite our Neglect

With all the rain this year, plants that have laid dormant have now exploded to life… much to our chagrin. Most are weeds. Anyone who has not had to contend with goat heads count yourself fortunate – they are proof positive that nature cares not a wit for you and me. It has been our best intention to weed and tend 3 beds a day while we are out here. That will keep the weeds down and cover the whole garden every 6 days. Best laid plans I guess. However, the garden produce appears to be coming along nicely despite our seemingly life consuming, never ending projects. Farmer Juan has declared that his days of non-stop construction are done once the greenhouse is completed. We have the infrastructure now to produce virtually everything we eat. My commitment to myself is to use next year’s season to grow and tend, not get bogged down on the business end of another friggin’ power drill! Yes there will always be projects, but it is now time to let them be of secondary importance and enjoy the reason for all of the construction in the first place. Yes we will be adding grazing livestock which will mean fencing and a barn; but the barn is going to involve someone else’s back and tools and frustrations… not mine. Fences are easy. My first love is growing stuff. We have grown a lot, but it has had to take a back seat to 3 years of building. THREE YEARS!! No wonder I’m so sore all the time.

We are going to have a bumper crop of carrots, onions, kidney beans, potatoes and beets. The Butternut and Acorn Squash are looking pretty good and we are experimenting with melons for the first time. The melons are forming, it will just be interesting to see if they actually have any taste to them. The tomatoes simply haven’t recovered from the freezes they were subjected to because of the infuriating conflict with the greenhouse company. Good thing we had a big crop last year. It will get us through a lot of the winter. I did our annual trek to the local organic farm and got our sweet corn for the year and we now have 50 lbs of corn in the freezer. As cheaply as they produce it and how well the ears are formed, it makes no sense to waste my time planting our own. We are awaiting the tomatillos for salsa, the peppers are being put up and I’ve canned 10 pints of pickled Jalapeños. We will be starting broccoli and cauliflower, spinach and lettuce downstairs in anticipation of growing in the greenhouse this fall. I can’t believe I can now say that with some confidence.

Our newest addition. We call her Happy Feet. Can’t for the life of me figure out those feathered legs. She was a “surprise” bonus bird that came with the broilers this year. Slowly she is being accepted into the flock but the disruption in the pecking order has been quite apparent.