It's getting to be that time of year when we don't plan to spend much on produce at the grocery store. We also don't need to buy eggs. Today, I filled the fridge with lettuce, spinach, artichokes, cilantro, and green onions from our garden. I also hard-boiled some eggs from our farm. We restock the fridge with produce from our garden every few days, and also have enough to share with family and friends. Keeping a garden really helps lower the food budget, as a pack of seeds costs only about $2-4, and from that we can grow $20-$100 worth of food. Saving some seeds from the harvest makes it even more valuable, especially if you're growing heirloom varieties, since the next generation of plants will remain similar to the parent. If you plant perennials, it's possible you'll then have food from those plants year after year - perhaps never having to plant those items again! It does require work to establish a garden and keep up with the weeds. The soil also needs t...
Howdy, all! It's been a while, so we figured it was time for another farm update. Over the past few months, we've made progress here on our little family farm. One of the biggest accomplishments was assembling the greenhouse. We bought our greenhouse kit from Costco over the winter. Paul then assembled the walls in the Corral, which you may recall is the bonus family room in our house. It's a room in the house that we can close off and use for special things like that. Anyway, we needed to clean out that room for a guest who will be coming in a few weeks, which motivated us to finally assemble the greenhouse outside. It meant leveling the ground, which was a project in and of itself. The project is finally done, though, and of course, I've already filled the inside with plants and seeds in pots. We still need to cover the floor with gravel and install a few wooden benches, but placing the pots on the ground works for now. I'm so proud of Paul's accomplishment. ...