Hello, friends!
I’m just writing in with a quick update to let you know I’m here . . . just a little busy. I have so many things I want to share and talk about, but life has been hectic.
My mom’s been out of town quite a bit — first for vacation, and then for a family emergency — so not only is my blogtime babysitter not available, but I’ve been trying to help take care of her enormous garden while she’s away, too.
(My photos are terrible, because I forgot my camera and just borrowed my mom’s phone camera. But you can see that this is our garlic alone. It’s a BIG garden. And we really love garlic. We’re also growing pretty much everything else out there, from lettuces to eggplants to corn to sweet potatoes. And also tomatoes. LOTS of tomatoes.)
And look what my family just added to the farm:
Pigs! Pastured pigs are almost non-existent anymore. I’m so excited that we’ll have access to natural, healthy pork in the fall. These guys will have a happy, comfy life until then. (The farm we got them from painted those pink marks on their backs. I don’t know why.)
And of course I can’t resist sharing a photo of my little farm girl, climbing into the kitty bed. She loooooves kitties!
So I’ll be back soon. Hope you’re all enjoying your summer. What are you up to?
Holy Garlic, Batman!! I grow about 20 – 25 heads of softneck (Lorz Italian) each year for the 2 of us, but you folks are On It!! No vampires near the BP crew! ;^) I’m interested in hearing how you grow sweet potatoes, when you get the time. This is my first year growing them, so it’ll be an interesting experiment.
PepperReed recently posted..Back in the Land of the Living!
Hi PepperReed! I admit, my dad got a little carried away with the garlic this year, just because he had them. But this is on my parents’ property, and we all share. (My parents have 5 kids, and two of us are married, and they keep us all supplied. :) )
This is only our second year doing sweet potatoes. We actually learned how to do it here: http://www.outlawgarden.com/2012/04/25/grow-your-own-sweet-potatoes/(soak sweet potato halves in water, starting in April, so that they sprout; plant slips in June). We had relative success last year, although this year’s slips aren’t looking super impressive.
Love seeing these photos from your life! We just got home yesterday from our trip and so can finally plant out all our baby plants that have been in their “nursery” in my study. We had an uncharacteristically long cold Spring so I couldn’t do it before now. We’ve set aside the whole of Saturday to build a new planter that will fit the far end of our balcony (where it’s sunniest) and give me lots more space to plant things out. We have cherry tomatoes, chillies and basil, and I’m hoping to also plant radishes and green beans. It’s tiny compared to the scale of your mum’s garden (maybe 2m squared here!) but it still makes me so excited!! Things growing! That I haven’t killed yet! That we’ll be able to eat soon!!
Fiona Lynne recently posted..Coming home to normal
You had an uncharacteristically cold spring, too? It must have hit the entire northern hemisphere! Your garden plans sound lovely! You’ll have to share it on your blog. :)
I’m hoping that my garden won’t drown in all the rain and I’m pretty sure that I have to replace all my tomatoes:(. Love seeing the pastured pigs! We did a trade with some friends last year so they raised the pigs and we raised the beef. Pastured pork is amazing! oh the bacon. It’s not working out to raise them this year, but next year that is on my list!
Marissa recently posted..Farm Journal Edition: A Broody Hen