Another Step

For the past several years, my neighbor, Mike, has grown a small but mighty vegetable garden.  More than once he shared some left over plants with me and I stuck them in a small 2' x 3' space and, amazingly enough, watched them grow and produce....food!!!

In addition, Mike is a fabulous cook.  Many times, we've enjoyed fresh veggies and expertly prepared dishes from Mike's garden.  :-)

Wanting to expand my vegetable options, I emailed another neighbor, Michelle, early this year and asked if she wanted to garden with me this year.  She enthusiastically said "yes!".

And so, in January, we found ourselves at my dining room table, sharing tea and cookies and leafing through a seed catalog like teenagers with the latest Seventeen magazine.

The seeds arrived and Michelle started growing them in her house.  Warmed by grow lights her husband had constructed a few years before, they emerged from their little plastic beds and took on a lives of their own.

Some weeks ago we started peas and onions in Michelle's yard.  The onions are doing well and the peas, while growing strong, are providing a nice salad bar for our local renegade groundhog.  Hmmpphhh!

Now it was my turn.  Planning and plotting where to put my expanded.  Which part of the yard?  What materials to use?  How big to make it?  Where to get organic soil?

With tremendous help from my dear hubby, we tackled this feat last Sunday.  In a morning to evening frenzy, we bought and built our garden space.  It was great fun!

Then, this past Saturday, our first plants went in the soil.  Now they're on their way to what we hope will be a prosperous season.  (Once we figure out how to fence 

 them in and protect them from the deer, rabbits, and groundhog!)

In addition to the sense of community that's been created by this little venture, I've been motivated by what I'm learning in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Some of those facts can be gleaned in this article, which I just received in my monthly Organic Consumer Association newsletter.  I had no idea big business played such a dastardly role in controlling the food we consume.  Yikes!

So...in another step towards more sustainable living...and as part of my Not Buying It year...I give you....THE GARDEN:

 BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Kudos to the folks at Mother Earth News for their timely article on building a quick and easy garden!  And also to our other neighbor, Gretchen (soon to be 90 and legally blind) who provided all the newspaper for our project.  (We don't subscribe to our local paper, and were faced with the very unsustainable possibility of having to go BUY a bunch of Sunday editions to use in our garden.)  She was a lifesaver :-)