Dreaming of Spring


This weather is killing me. We still have snow on the ground that just won’t seem to go away and I am over it. I can finally see my garden boxes again and I am itching to get my hands back in the dirt, to plant some seeds, and watch our food grow.
We have some big plans with our garden this year and I am extremely excited to see what we can grow this year. I have a pretty long list of vegetables that I am hoping to not only grow this year, but preserve as well. I’ve wanted to can food for a few years now, and it’s about time I learned. I am also hoping to add a few strawberry plants, more raspberry and blueberry plants as well. I really want to make jam this year! A family friend of ours makes the best jam and I am ready to start making our own.
We are going to be adding some more garden boxes to the other side of our backyard and doing everything to maximize space. We are going to be taking some ideas from the Square Foot Gardening book, Gaia’s Garden and various pins I have on my Pinterest boards. I am hoping to incorporate some ideas from the Back To Eden gardening method, to reduce my need to weed the beds and help with watering as well.
We plan to order our seeds from Territorial Seed. They are local to the Pacific Northwest and have a fabulous selection. I am really excited to try the Glass Gem Corn this year. It’s absolutely beautiful! I have quite the amount of seeds sitting in the online shopping cart right now, just waiting for me to order.
Another thing we are doing, is making our chicken run bigger. We hope to add about 3 more hens, bringing our total up to 6. The run will also be taller so that we can go in and spend some more time with our flock. I am hoping to add some more color to our flock this year and plan to get at least one Easter Egger to add some blue. We already have an olive egger and some brown egg layers, so a blue egg will fit in nicely.
We are also contemplating getting a few chickens specifically for meat. These guys grow fast and are ready in about 8 weeks. Then, they are ready to be processed and put in the freezer. I processed one of our chickens that turned out to be a rooster last year, so I don’t think I will have too difficult of a time with this. It’s just going to have to be planned better so that we can process them quickly and efficiently. I want to provide more of our own food this year, so that we can reduce our grocery bill. Which will eventually help us out on the Baby Steps.
We might be dreaming big, but we want to get in all the practice we can. We want to make as many mistakes as possible so that when we finally get to our dream land, we will know how to handle things as they come up. I am *really* excited for what we hope to accomplish in the garden this year and can’t wait to see what magic happens!
- Barbara

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