I made it to fall! I write to you now with a three-week-old baby boy sleeping on my lap. Big sister and Dad are running errands. Sun streams in through my office window, and I can see the just-yellowing leaves of our box elder outside. I love fall. I love that it rained last night and the yard is pasted with yellow leaves. I love that we've a few carrots and small bunches of chard, spinach, and broccoli greens in the garden. We started another compost bin, made a run extension for the chickens so they stop wrecking the rest of the yard, and drained the pond (we've a very small pond - more of a water feature). I have so many plans for spring (like a plum tree to plant over my son's placenta, now sleeping in the freezer), but I'm content to let them sit. I am thoroughly enjoying the cooler days and the promise of snow. Life is good.
I tend to be a busy-body, especially when it comes to the garden. I like projects. I like homesteading. I love my miniature farm (which frankly I don't want much larger). But this fall is about slowing down. About letting myself rest. I'm so not good at that - but the sweet little man sleeping in my lap is teaching me how much I must. As the Equinox came and passed I was learning to balance two children, a home, and a career. I will continue to strive for such a balance over the next many years, but right now, with the balance of autumn outside in the garden, the extreme need for balance and rest press me into place. Let go. Let be. Trust. All is well. That is the magic of this fall for me.
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Fall Planting! Tips from the garden...
"What're you doing, Mommy?" my three-year-old daughter asked, finding me sifting through seed packs in the hallway.
"Getting ready to plant fall veggies."
"Can I help?"
"Yes! We'll plant them tomorrow." Both of us smiled in rapture. My girl loves planting as much as I do.
I picked out spinach, carrots, peas, broccoli, cabbage, parsley, mache (aka corn salad), and chard. We already planted some seeds in a cleared bed - mostly mustard greens and beets - but since they haven't germinated I'm going to do the paper towel technique with this next planting. Put your seeds - just as much as you want to plant or slightly more if your seeds are a few years old - between a fold of damp paper towel and put into a plastic bag. Keep checking them and in a few days they will have germinated. Then carefully transplant to the garden (you can do this in summer because the soil is not freezing) into soil amended with compost (a tweezers works well for this task, picking up teeny rooting seeds and plopping them in the soil). Our compost is very high in nitrogen because of all the beautiful chicken poo we've been blessed with this year.
On a side note, if you have chickens or plan to, I highly recommend putting your compost in a shady area and either doing it as a simple pile as I do or in an open cage that is accessable from one side. It is our chickens' favorite hang out: cool, buggy, and speckled with little kitchen scraps. They turn the compost for us as they scratch and they poop all over the pile, adding nitrogen. We also toss all the cleanings from their run and coop on the pile and turn it in. Their poop is so high in nitrogen that a once a week cleaning of the chicken area yeilds a perfect balance of carbon (wood shavings) to nitrogen (manure). The compost breaks down very quickly and we can use it on the garden in a month or so. I have not had any problem "burning" my plants with manure that has not broken down enough with this technique even though it hasn't been composting long.
Anyway - tomorrow we will cover the beds with compost, weed, and get everything ready for seeds. We'll put some seeds in right away - carrot, parsley, peas (which I will soak tonight) - and others in a few days after they have germinated in their paper towel blankies.
Whee! So much fun.
"Getting ready to plant fall veggies."
"Can I help?"
"Yes! We'll plant them tomorrow." Both of us smiled in rapture. My girl loves planting as much as I do.
I picked out spinach, carrots, peas, broccoli, cabbage, parsley, mache (aka corn salad), and chard. We already planted some seeds in a cleared bed - mostly mustard greens and beets - but since they haven't germinated I'm going to do the paper towel technique with this next planting. Put your seeds - just as much as you want to plant or slightly more if your seeds are a few years old - between a fold of damp paper towel and put into a plastic bag. Keep checking them and in a few days they will have germinated. Then carefully transplant to the garden (you can do this in summer because the soil is not freezing) into soil amended with compost (a tweezers works well for this task, picking up teeny rooting seeds and plopping them in the soil). Our compost is very high in nitrogen because of all the beautiful chicken poo we've been blessed with this year.
On a side note, if you have chickens or plan to, I highly recommend putting your compost in a shady area and either doing it as a simple pile as I do or in an open cage that is accessable from one side. It is our chickens' favorite hang out: cool, buggy, and speckled with little kitchen scraps. They turn the compost for us as they scratch and they poop all over the pile, adding nitrogen. We also toss all the cleanings from their run and coop on the pile and turn it in. Their poop is so high in nitrogen that a once a week cleaning of the chicken area yeilds a perfect balance of carbon (wood shavings) to nitrogen (manure). The compost breaks down very quickly and we can use it on the garden in a month or so. I have not had any problem "burning" my plants with manure that has not broken down enough with this technique even though it hasn't been composting long.
Anyway - tomorrow we will cover the beds with compost, weed, and get everything ready for seeds. We'll put some seeds in right away - carrot, parsley, peas (which I will soak tonight) - and others in a few days after they have germinated in their paper towel blankies.
Whee! So much fun.
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