Tuesday, June 7, 2011

First farm post

Well, here I am again, back on the "blog wagon".  It's been a few years and I've made a bunch of life changes. One of which is that I found out how much I enjoy my little 0.14 acres of land in Burbank.

When the Mr. and I moved to Burbank in 2006, there was a pile of junk on the side of our new garage that was about a foot and a half high. When I cleared it out, it turns out there were these adorable little garden plots. Of course, it wasn't as easy as sinking some seeds and starting to grow.  The soil was compressed beyond comprehension.  I could barely get a shovel into it at all and I finally managed to plant a few things that promptly up and died on me.

Plan B.  I decided I would need to learn a new way of gardening so I went out and bought Square Foot Gardening (Mel doesn't know me and I don't know him, I just really like his book).  I read and read, and then I went to the hardware store and had lumber cut and shoved into my PT Cruiser.  I got out the drill and started drilling things together and the next thing I knew, I had two 8x3 raised beds.  I filled them with Mel's mix and planted some pumpkins and zucchini.  Lo and behold, I got pumpkins and zucchini!  Woo!

With some success on my side, I waited a few months and built another raised bed.  And then another raised bed.  I planted tomatoes.  I got slugs.  I ringed the beds in copper tape. I cut the hell out of my hands with it. I learned to use gloves.  I got tomatoes. I forgot to water.  I killed everything.

Another winter passed and while riding my silly trike through the alley behind our house, I saw an old, broken bookcase.  It looked like a raised bed to me. I persuaded the Mr. to help me drag it home.  He is very afraid when I drag stuff home. But, that very weekend I put on a 4th side and filled it with Mel's mix and planted strawberries.  Hence, begins the story of Bluestocking Farm.

I am really looking forward to writing this story and hope you enjoy it as well.  More tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. Faith! I'm so excited! You're living my dream, and I can't wait to follow along. I'll link to Laura's fb album as well if you're interested in seeing our landscaping/raised bed project of the season.
    (and how was the swap? i'm definitely going to our local one next month - this month's coincided with my orientation weekend for social work school!)

    xo fia

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  2. Yay Fia!!! The swap was absolutely AMAZING. I'll post about it tomorrow. Yay! I'm so glad you're here!

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  3. Oh, and I'm totally interested in seeing your project!

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  4. Totally inspiring! I have been thinking about starting a small balcony garden. Haven't been ready to make it a reality yet though. I have, however, made the jump into the new to me world of home brewing...

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  5. ahhh, can't WAIT to hear about the swap! I was sitting in an auditorium hearing the fiftieth person talk about the noble profession of social work and all i could think about was pickles. and jam. not that i'm not excited about school :)

    pictures of the garden should be accessible now on my fb profile. more to come as the season progresses!
    xoxo

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  6. so good to hear your voice mrs. x x x

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  7. Thanks everyone! I'm so glad to see friends!

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