herbsherbsflowers
Power Conserver
I should have started this a long time ago, because this has been developing for a long time, but I guess now is as good as I can do.
We bought our little Craftsman bungalow in December of 2000 and moved in, in January of 2001. It is a very small corner lot, about 250 by 60, with about half of it taken up by the house and my husband's office. At first I had no real plan except that I wanted to grow a few vegetables and lots of flowers. We moved shrubs around so that they would not be in the front and planted lots of butterfly friendly things around the front porch because it is sunny there and we wanted to see the butterflies. That has done pretty well even with the neglect that we seem to offer. Work seems to always come first. So far the front yard has been done exclusively with flowers, even though it has the best sun. We made a fence in the backyard that closes it in. That was done at first for the dog, but now it works for the chickens. We have 5 hens and a rooster. We built a coop that is 6 by 5, and pen at the back of the yard that measures about 12 by 30. It goes about halfway across the back of the yard. We are talking about building another pen across the rest of the back to give them more room. That may wait a year or two. So you can see we don't have a lot of room.
We made a little garden plot in the backyard right behind my husband's office with three raised beds that are 3 by 12 feet side by side, an asparagus bed that goes across the ends of the beds with walking space in between it is 4 by 12. On the other side of the the asparagus bed are two pear trees, compost bins and a row of blueberry bushes. We also built a trellis for blackberry canes around the corner of the beds. I'm not sure why we decided to put them there. It is not the best place because it shades one of the vegetable beds, but we're stuck with it now. We have lots of flowers in the back also. A couple of years later we added a fig tree near the garden plot.
The chickens were added in the past year. We have eggs, fruit and vegetables that would not completely feed us but are a nice addition to our food supplies.
About 3 years ago we began participating on a CSA to get organic produce from a local farm. We get a large bag of seasonal vegetables from people who have become our friends. It is so good to know those goodies are coming every week. Actually we are not getting anything right now, but she runs it about 9 months out of the year. Being in the south makes for an almost year-round growing season. We live in a small town about 30 miles from Atlanta, GA. I would rather buy my food from as many local folks as possible. We also are part of a locally grown co-op from which you can purchase only what you want, not take a box of whatever is available. That adds a little more flexibility to our local goods. We can get grass fed beef, real free range eggs, organic milk and cheese as well as a wide variety of produce and other goodies.
We are not completely self sufficient by any means, but we are sustainable, which is really my goal. We are canning more and finding other ways of preserving food, like drying. We don't have a freezer, but are thinking about getting a small one sometime in the near future.
This journal will be a way of documenting and planning for changes and improvements in our food producing future. As we add more spaces for growing food, I will tell about them here. I want to make more space in the front yard for some vegetables that are attractive, like okra and eggplants, maybe some peppers and such.
(Edited to add user name to journal title)
We bought our little Craftsman bungalow in December of 2000 and moved in, in January of 2001. It is a very small corner lot, about 250 by 60, with about half of it taken up by the house and my husband's office. At first I had no real plan except that I wanted to grow a few vegetables and lots of flowers. We moved shrubs around so that they would not be in the front and planted lots of butterfly friendly things around the front porch because it is sunny there and we wanted to see the butterflies. That has done pretty well even with the neglect that we seem to offer. Work seems to always come first. So far the front yard has been done exclusively with flowers, even though it has the best sun. We made a fence in the backyard that closes it in. That was done at first for the dog, but now it works for the chickens. We have 5 hens and a rooster. We built a coop that is 6 by 5, and pen at the back of the yard that measures about 12 by 30. It goes about halfway across the back of the yard. We are talking about building another pen across the rest of the back to give them more room. That may wait a year or two. So you can see we don't have a lot of room.
We made a little garden plot in the backyard right behind my husband's office with three raised beds that are 3 by 12 feet side by side, an asparagus bed that goes across the ends of the beds with walking space in between it is 4 by 12. On the other side of the the asparagus bed are two pear trees, compost bins and a row of blueberry bushes. We also built a trellis for blackberry canes around the corner of the beds. I'm not sure why we decided to put them there. It is not the best place because it shades one of the vegetable beds, but we're stuck with it now. We have lots of flowers in the back also. A couple of years later we added a fig tree near the garden plot.
The chickens were added in the past year. We have eggs, fruit and vegetables that would not completely feed us but are a nice addition to our food supplies.
About 3 years ago we began participating on a CSA to get organic produce from a local farm. We get a large bag of seasonal vegetables from people who have become our friends. It is so good to know those goodies are coming every week. Actually we are not getting anything right now, but she runs it about 9 months out of the year. Being in the south makes for an almost year-round growing season. We live in a small town about 30 miles from Atlanta, GA. I would rather buy my food from as many local folks as possible. We also are part of a locally grown co-op from which you can purchase only what you want, not take a box of whatever is available. That adds a little more flexibility to our local goods. We can get grass fed beef, real free range eggs, organic milk and cheese as well as a wide variety of produce and other goodies.
We are not completely self sufficient by any means, but we are sustainable, which is really my goal. We are canning more and finding other ways of preserving food, like drying. We don't have a freezer, but are thinking about getting a small one sometime in the near future.
This journal will be a way of documenting and planning for changes and improvements in our food producing future. As we add more spaces for growing food, I will tell about them here. I want to make more space in the front yard for some vegetables that are attractive, like okra and eggplants, maybe some peppers and such.
(Edited to add user name to journal title)
