A few seasons have gone by, trees have grown, we have been confused, and learned a lot, and we keep working at the garden. The drought seems to still be large in our minds, and even though this is an El Nino year we have only reached average rainfall. Soil tests have come back and Rain has decided along with the bentonite to add gypsum and copper sulfate. I look forward to seeing the results in this year’s summer garden.
Now is the time we plan the garden. This is the first year I will we doing it largely myself, not only because we were planning that I take on the annuals from now on, but Rain has gotten another job at the local Waldorf school! With all this in mind I am trying to create a three-year rotation on the kitchen garden crops. Rain may have had one, but it seemed kind of hab-hazarad to me.
There are a few new things I am excited about growing, including peanuts and okra. We have also moved some things to containers as an experiment last year that worked well enough we shall try again, such as potatoes, summer squash, and cucumbers. In the realm of experimentation, we also decided to see how a few annuals over wintered in the greenhouse. Rain moved eggplant, peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes in there. To my surprise we have had enough hot peppers to add fresh to our salsa, new bell peppers form, eggplants that were there when moved grow & ripen, and two fresh tomatoes start, grow, and ripen all in the winter.
I’ve been chopping at the bit to have fuzzy things around, and possibly increase productivity. My sister always hearing my heart as she does drove up a chicken coop she made some years back but not used to be the catalyst to make my fantasy real! Our next big project is to create an enclosure around it for extra safety. AND then to get babies!!! We plan on working birds into the system with an intragrated chicken feed compost system. I also plan on feeding them acorns for protein as well greens and letting them forage some, but being part of this system to not feed them from offsite. I am so excited I am having dreams with big talking chicks making a regular appearance.
After chickens we fantasize about rabbit friends (not food), bees, and making better use of our pond for growing food. There seem to be endless plans and the list gets longer every day. Boredom is a friend I no longer see, and like always I see why there have been deities with multiple arms.