Poppin!

So things are a growing and I haven't shared many pics lately.  Here ya go!

The view from the back door

Pretty little radish shoulders poppin up!

Not so clear, but the arugula and tat soi are a growin'!  

Up close and personal with the tat soi!

The plot across the street....being held captive by the ever encroaching grass!!!!

Red cabbage is looking amazing, red onions behind it look strong and healthy, while the basil in back is looking a little dead.  Guess you can't have it all after all.  

Pea trellis is working!!!

And finally......in the third plot, the potatoes are popping!  

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with the way things are going.  There has been a ton of rain lately and not a lot of sunshine.  Weeds have not been a huge problem, but this upcoming week, I am going to have to spend some time weeding the food bank/kindergarten plot and my own plot across the street.  However, when the sun does finally make it's way out, I think I am in trouble!

Also thinking about putting boarders around the two plots across the street.  Something on the cheap and preferably recycled....gotta keep the path grass out! 

Only the Beginning (aka - First Harvest)

Sunday, May 22nd - 6:58 am and I am still alive.  No signs of any rapture from my apartment view, other than a handful of post Apocalypse jokes on facebook and public radio. 

And while I consider myself a nonbeliever, I have to admit at one point while having dinner friends thinking, "If this were the end, I would be perfectly content."  

After work yesterday, my two coworkers and a friend came up the hill to Monterey for dinner and a visit.  It was finally beautiful out, so we took advantage of the late afternoon sun and walked to the community garden.  There we harvested the seasons first heads of lettuce.  And the garden looks amazing!  I had not been there in about a week.  The peas are probably knee high and the onion sets I planted earlier are really growing and looking strong.  Carrots are starting to pop up strong and the cabbage plants are more than double their original size.  

We continued to walk around Monterey, visiting a couple of parks.  We harvested Lilacs for our table arrangement and flowers to add to our salad.  Hannah had provide morels she harvested from the forest and dinner looked something like this;

 

This is kind of an Asian inspired stir fry type dish; garlic, ginger, morels, carrots, leeks and spinach with a bit of soy sauce.  We served this with brown rice and quinoa and a gorgeous salad (that I don't really have pictures of).  

Amazing food and conversation was had around the coffee table.  Plans for future food, fishing, harvesting adventures were mapped out.  Last night definitely goes down in the book as "best rapture ever!"

Once a Farmer, Always a Farmer

In a way, there is nothing too terribly exciting to post about the garden.......or is there?

For one - I have started planting in the food bank/kindergarten plot.  On Thursday a group of four children, the teacher and I planted two rows of potatoes, about 25 lettuce plants and a row of beets on one half of the plot; half is designated for the food bank, the other for the kindergarten class.  When the school year ends in another month, the food bank will be using the entire space.  It kind of works out great, in that child labor kind of way.  The children come and play in the dirt, plant a bit, maybe weed some here or there and the food bank gets the bounty of veggies - no cost for the labor.

For two - there is some more germinating and growing happening.  The peas are a few inches tall now, which means I need to get my butt in gear and get a trellis up for them to climb on.  Carrots have finally sprouted across the street.  Arugula and tatsoi are getting a bit bigger all the time.  The leeks have finally started to pop through the ground.  Tonight after work, I hit the plot by my home with shot of fish fertilizer, so hopefully between that and the sun that is expected to come in the next two days, we will see some serious growth.

For three - my seedlings inside suck.  My apartment just stays too cold and there is not enough sun coming in. I went to three different stores tonight trying to find just the right light fixture to hang over them and struck out, so I am giving up and carrying two trays into work tomorrow to leave in the greenhouse.  I have NO idea why I am so stubborn and didn't just take them there in the first place.  I guess I kind of just wanted my babies close to me at all times.   Moving on...

For four - I spent Wednesday morning at Drumlin Farm doing a bit of planting with the team - or I should the remaining members of last years team; Greg, Abbey and Matt.  It was amazing to be in the fields with these amazing people again.  Drumlin is gorgeous; the baby lambs are out grazing, the seedlings are growing in the green house, the garlic is almost knee high.  That farm is like a dream and I think visiting there just reminded me how much I love and respect that land and those people.  After lunch, it was so hard and awkward to walk away.  I guess I left questioning or doubting my decisions.

Little by little - Great Barrington and Project Native show me that I am here and here is where I am supposed to be.  I guess there is more to be revealed, but for today I am working on being present, willing and open minded to loving this experience.