Where We Are Today ~ Nearly 5 Years Later
Here is a glance at where we are today, kicking off our 5th growing season in our little urban homestead paradise! The photo above was taken on July 9th, 2016 when our garden was featured in the 1st Annual Regional Hills to Valley Garden Tour, which features edible + flower gardens from across our region (yeah us!).
In our urban edible landscape, which in its entirety is approx. 60’ x 100’, we produce the following for ourselves each and every year:
A full year’s supply of garlic for our growing family of 5, which is approximately 300-400 heads depending;
Enough tomatoes to eat fresh all summer + fall; and also to use in soups, stews, and other cooking throughout the summer; and finally, enough to use in our roasted tomato sauces – of which we can approximately 60-75 jars each fall (which is enough to last us until we’re harvesting fresh again the next summer!);
Enough winter squash to feed us until we’re harvesting summer squash the next summer; as well as enough to bring with us as gifts for dinner parties all throughout the cold season;
Enough cucumbers for fresh eating all summer + fall; as well as enough to make and can 15-25 jars of pickles, which feed us all winter and serve as another delicious dinner party gift;
Enough beans to eat fresh all summer + fall; plus enough to freeze for meals for the entire winter; plus enough to pickle and can 10+ jars for eating throughout the winter;
Enough culinary herbs (basil, sage, oregano, chives, rosemary, tarragon, parsley, cilantro, dill, lavender, savory....) for fresh eating all summer + fall; plus enough to dry or freeze dry for eating throughout the winter;
Enough carrots, parsnips, beets, leeks, and peas for fresh eating all summer + fall; and enough to either store, preserve, or freeze for further eating throughout the winter. We do grow an abundance of these crops, but not enough to sustain us until the next summer’s harvest (but we’re getting there!!);
Potatoes. Oh potatoes. We grow beautiful beautiful potatoes, but our yield needs extreme improvement. More on this later.
Lettuces + greens of all kinds, enough for fresh eating early spring through summer and fall; also enough, of certain varieties, for preserving, storing or freezing for later use;
We also grow raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and haskup berries on our property! Our raspberries are by far our most successful berry crop, and every fall we pick our everbearing bushes well into October, and if we’re lucky, into November. Our raspberry beds have been created in such a way, that once they reach full production, will provide enough berries for a growing family of 5 for fresh eating all summer and fall, and also enough for freezing to eat for the entire winter. The other berry bushes are a bit all over the place. We grow decent strawberries, but not without a fair share of complications (to be shared later in the summer!). Our blueberry bushes are in dire need of attention and revival (again, to be shared later in the summer!) and our haskup berry bushes are a new addition from last year, and well, they’re hurting. I’ll share more about all of that later.
Here are some photos of our growing journey..... and our delicious abundance!
I’m going to end this post here, with the above picture story. There isn't a better way to show you what we're doing, than vivid photographs. We want you to follow along with us, so we can join together in a journey to grow food for ourselves. We produce all of this food on our small urban property, and we can help you figure out how to do the same thing. It's good for you; it's good for our environment; and it's definitely not as hard as you think it might be.
Join us, will you? Reach out to us! miche@eatgrowflourish.com We are here for YOU!
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Follow along with us this summer as we grow our abundance!
And, thank you for joining our journey to good food - I truly look forward to connecting with each of you!
