I’m ready to get started planting the Enormous Frickin Vegetable Garden with early spring plantings.  At the front of the bed I’m putting in Walla Walla sweet onions, probably my favorite all time onion. I picked up a bunch of onion starts at a local nursery a few weeks ago before we were all on lockdown. I like using onion starts because they are easy to handle and fast to plant.

These guys all got separated and placed into the bed a few inches deep with the dirt firmed around them. As they grow we will need to ‘ring’ them which is essentially moving the dirt away from the growing bulb so it can plump up unimpeded. But that is a later task for warmer weather.

I separated each onion and laid them out on the bed. For this planting I’m going with four in each row. This is a four foot wide bed so it worked out great. It only took a few minutes to plant them up.

I also planted some onion sets or bulbs. These sets are red onions which are my second favorite onion, they are sweet, caramelize easily and are great sautéed in olive oil with red peppers and a little red wine vinegar. Sets are available at nurseries and feed stores in the early spring.

There were 100 bulbs in the bag! I planted some in my other vegetable garden closer to the house so I am estimating I only planted 50 or so.

While I was searching for the red onion bulbs I came across an old package of beet seeds and decided to go ahead and try them. I sowed them a little more thickly than I would have a new package because I’m expecting that some of the seeds might not germinate. In a few weeks we will see what comes up!

Here’s a few video links to what I accomplished today.

 

 

 

The Victory Garden. It’s a thing. During WWII, to help offset rationing and support the war effort, people were asked to plant a vegetable garden. Some estimates suggest that people grew as much as fifty percent of their own produce.

I’ve been growing fruit and vegetables for almost thirty years. I’m by no means an expert but have found through the years that enthusiasm accounts for a lot.

If I’m honest my veg garden always starts out looking organized and tidy and by mid season looks like the ball pit at Chucky Cheese during a birthday party, total chaos and disorder. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

This year I made the decision to turn my horse arena into an enormous vegetable garden. My horse friends are mostly appalled but I’m feeling good about the plan. I decided to blog about the process hoping that I would find additional motivation to keep it all tidy, weed free and productive.

I generally grow around 30 tomato plants, mostly heirloom varieties, but I’m ramping up to reach a goal of 100 plants. A lofty goal for sure but is there any other kind of goal??? 😂😂😂

Here’s a short video clip that starred out with multiple interruptions and required me to physically extract my dogs from the UPS truck. (My UPS driver is a saint)

I hope this video entertains. It will certainly be fun to document the experience. If it inspires anyone to grow a garden I will send you a virtual social distance high hive!

People often ask me what it’s like to have a herd of milking goats. Mostly they are frowning and interjecting every few sentences with, “But how do you go anywhere???”

It’s true. Milking goats require you to be home to milk them. If you are milking twice a day you will need to adhere to a schedule so both you and your goat will be happy.

Goats like routine just like any other farm animal. It’s important to train them to use the milking stand. They will happily jump up there to eat when it’s time to milk.

Training goats is easy and fun if you are patient. Goats can be stubborn and like to think things are their idea not yours. Luckily Saanen’s have good temperaments and are generally agreeable.

It’s a lot of work, but like all things worth doing, it comes with an enormous amount of satisfaction and plenty of goat love.