I'm happy to be attending a seed-starting class tomorrow at our local horticulture gardens. In these tough times, I'm thankful the city has kept the place open. Afterwards a friend and I are going seed and dirt shopping, and I hope to get everything I need to start my veggies. Taking a cue from Jordan, who is taking a systematic approach to seed starting and plant planting, I'm going to devote some time to making some notes on when I should be planting based on when I want things to be ready. I'm usually a throw-it-in-the-ground-let's-see-what-happens kind of gardener, so this would be a change.
Once again, I'm behind on prep, so I won't be planting any cool weather things this year. Instead, I'll be concentrating on building the beds, getting my compost ready, buying a load of soil and laying down mulch. Bye bye grass, my goal is to have a small bit of lawn for show, and that's it. I have decided to go ahead with the deck project, and that will hopefully happen sometime this spring.
At the same time, I'm still on the fence about joining a CSA. I don't want to have to drum up someone to split a share with, and I'd like to work some in exchange for a discount on my share so I can learn a thing or two about the process. The thought has crossed my mind that I could conceivably both have a vegetable garden and be part of a CSA, and then preserve the excess. Canning scares me, though, and I could see myself composting extra vegetables instead when I got busy.
I think it's important to get to know some of the people doing this sort of work locally. I still toy with the idea of being a small farmer (no animals, but produce and maybe cut flowers), although I don't really know what's involved, so it's a romantic notion of escapism. Still, the idea of growing things for myself and others is very enticing. Somewhere in there is a workable scenario.
This is partly Ginger's fault. Ginger and I share a cube at work and lately she's been telling me about her dream, which is to own and operate a guest ranch. Why not? Real estate is still relatively cheap, and she's knows someone who is interested in providing financing.
Such dreams. Well, it looks like there are people out there who are doing this locally, and even an organization the NoCo Food Incubator that has a lot of info on local, sustainable agriculture. It sure is fun to think about.
I read about others CSA but haven't made contact with any locally..I've emailed - no response. I grew some veggies last year and it was good. You can throw some stuff in the freezer to save up..freeze tomatoes a few at a time and then make stewed/sauce/other things from those frozen ones. My friend would share a CSA, but some have tons of different greens and it could be a growing thing, but I'd have to learn to like and use a lot of new things. Let us know how you make out.
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