Wheatberry Bakery
Grain CSA
Fields & Fire BlogPlanning the Garden – Yes, I said Garden (not Farm)
garden, 2005
our first tomato harvest, 2002
small farm, spring 2008
Friends, this year we are planning a garden. Ever since we started growing organic vegetables eleven (!) years ago, each year we have grown more and more, larger and larger sized plots, until we had truly reached small farm scale. We grew an acre of beans, we grew a half acre Three Sisters Field. We learned to use a draft horse, we used tractors, we built a hoophouse. We grew a lot of food, and learned a tremendous amount.
But in truth, when you already run an artisan bakery/cafe, and a grain CSA, and you have two small children, sometimes you just want a garden. I want our garden back (we both do actually), so that is what we’re planning this year. Our first mission, before we plant a single seed, is to clean up around the farm. A lot of debris has accumulated – from building fences, from cleaning out the trash-filled basement (our house’s previous owner left us a lot of trash in every part of this property), from projects like knocking down walls. Both of us are sick of looking at the front yard’s junk pile, so we promised ourselves that we had to clean up before we planted.
Now that March is here, and the trash removal has begun, I’m starting to dream of the garden. Just some favorite veggies, in short, tidy rows. Surely by the end (or even middle) of the summer they will be filled with weeds, and I’ll certainly be ready for a break come October. But in the meantime, little homestead garden, I can’t wait to see you again.
What are you dreaming of in the garden?
Adrie,This sounds like an amazing idea!!! I decided to kind of do this last year,we had just what I thought we needed to survive,and I still had too much.I still have 25 jars of pickles,32 jars of stringbeans etc.So this year I may even go smaller!!!!HUGS and Blessings
Hi Adrie,
I was wondering how you guys did it all? I was just telling my husband about you and your family the other day – and as I told him about how you farm and run a bakery and have two small children, I was in awe?
Enjoy the planning of your garden.
Love, Tonya
Holly,
Lol, it’s so easy to get carried away!
Hope you and all the little ones are doing well, and happy birthday!!
Blessings,
Adrie
Holly,
Lol, it’s so easy to get carried away!
Hope you and all the little ones are doing well, and happy birthday!!
Blessings,
Adrie
Tonya,
This really cracked me up, b/c I’ve been thinking that I would love to email you and ask how *you* do it all! Maybe we should partner up to do a little “real life” series on our blogs. Like, how do you make dinner, do household chores, find time for your creative work, and take care of and homeschool all your children? I’m always in awe of you!
With love and blessings,
Adrie
I’m downsizing a little, too, and withdrawing from the big co-operative garden where we keep goats…it is hard to let go of my dreams to “grow it all,” but in this climate, and at this stage in my life, I just want the good work of tending as best I can the small plots that surround our home–so that they really sing. I wish I could do all our onions and beets and carrots and beans, but what I can do is amazing and a gift. I’m focusing more on having a year round garden, rather than growing everything at once and preserving it. We shall see!
Adrie,
I would love to do this!
I can’t find your email address. Mine is naturalearthfarm@netzero.net
Love, Tonya
My gardens turned out well last year even though I had less time to tend to them. Loved the baby white pumpkins, basil and sugar snap peas-do they ever make it inside! I have a fondness for dahlias, so I will still grow those. I also have to tidy up some of the garden beds, myself. And declutter inside and out. Simplify. Enjoy life. That’s what it comes down to.
I suppose a sudden loss can also come into play when one makes changes, as I am experiencing at the moment. Too many stresses this year all ready for me. Simplify, modify, be happy and share your life with those you care about.
Enjoy your gardens this year.
Happy garden planning Susan!