Urban Farmer: Book Smarts

I have a ton of things to post-potato harvest updates, seed saving photos, and fermentation adventures. I will work on putting the posts together, however when the sun is shining the kids and garden take priority.

Garlic: A Years Worth

I recently harvested and processed our first "years worth" crop. We planted 6 varieties with a really good friend with the hope that we would supply 60 heads for his family and 40 for mine. I pulled 20 of our best heads for replanting in a few months, so it will be fun to see the cycle come full circle. We will probably purchase a few more heads at our local garlic festival, however I am really happy with the harvest! I shot a short video of part of the processing--enjoy:)

Cartoon: Urban Farmer--Community Garden?

I've been playing around with this cartoon idea--thank you Commander Mark! The little guy is a character that I've been drawing since I was little. But just recently, I thought, "it would be cool to juxtapose the space guy with farming."

Garden Outlaws

The Green Stink Bug. My oldest daughter found a few in the raspberry rows a few weeks before the fruit came on. We had no clue what it was and decided to leave it be. I wish we would have picked it off right away and saved it while we searched. When we figured out it was probably not the best bug to leave in the berries, we couldn't find it. Needless to say, we have noticed lots of little holes in berries-classic Stink Bugs.

The Small White Cabbage Moth. Theses little fellas have been gonna like crazy on our parsnips, purple cabbage, and broccoli. The caterpillars are easy to spot once your eyes adjust, but the moths are surprisingly difficult to capture.

Help. I have no idea what this guy is. The chickens seemed to like it:)

Yes You Can: a thank you!

I want to publicly thank Ohiofarmgirl for encouraging me when I lost a few birds and for featuring me on her blog. Check it out. The connection has sparked some fun opportunities and I look forward to sharing them on my blog. In late September I will travel with scalder and plucker in tow to a town just North of us to help a family butcher their chickens. Without the Ohio connection, the family and I would have never crossed paths. It is funny how two west coasters need an Ohio transplant to connect:) In all of this, I see the best the Internet has to offer--real relationships, with real people, doing the most honest work: taking care of each other.

It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are. -Wendell Berry

Potatoes and Weeds

My friend sent me a text message a few days ago, "You know the saying, you can't see the forest for the trees?" I knew what he was saying, "I can't see your taters, for the weeds." so yesterday we loaded up the fam and set out to do some billing and weeding. Little did I know there would be a jungle.
BEFORE:

It took us five hours of hand weeding--the trusty hoe could not be used. The girls were interested in helping, but that is where it stopped--they played. The taters were doing great once we got past the jungle.
AFTER:

Weeding is always on the top of my list of things to do, but it seems to get ignored. However once I am doing it, I find it deeply interesting. My mind gets a chance to wander in ways it doesn't usually. The last few big weeding sessions, I've been thinking about how much my vegetables need me and how much I need them. The weeds are a part of that process of needing and cultivating; they aren't the enemy, just part of the caring process. I suppose the weeds keep my "sowing eyes" from getting bigger than my stomach for hoeing.

Garlic Harvest

Garlic is a gateway drug. It is not usually used by itself for long and leads to the growing of many more delicious vegetables.