Compost

OK, so I know that it's probably sort of weird to be really into compost - being that it's decomposing garbage and has a bunch of bugs in it, but I think that compost is the coolest thing! Mollie started several compost piles for her Science Fair project in 5th grade. This one was the pile she put small sticks and stems in. Over the past few years we have used one pile for our kitchen scraps and leaves, this pile for small sticks and stems, and then one other pile for larger wood chips and bark. This pile is now rich compost and can be used on our gardens - amazing! There is something about the cycle of life in the compost pile that captures my attention. The fact that we can throw sticks, wood chips, grass, leaves, and all of our kitchen scraps in a pile, bugs can chomp away on them, the sun, rain, and snow can do their magic, and we can end up with rich compost to put in the garden is just cool - I don't know what else to say about it!

We don't throw away any of our yard waste because we try to use it for various purposes. We put the weeds around the trees to mulch them or, if they don't have roots in them, we put them right on the compost pile. We use the sticks for kindling for our winter fires, and we use the grass clippings from mowing for mulching the garden beds. I like that we are actually using our yard for something purposeful instead of just cutting grass and throwing away the yard waste. We are using the things in the yard to enrich the soil so we can grow more food.

Back Yard Gardens

Sunchokes by the creek (on the left), hardy kiwi growing on the lattice of the outdoor swing, and zucchini and cucumbers growing in one of the back beds. These are a few of the things we have planted in the last two years. We also have butternut squash, lots of tomatoes, more rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, garlic, and more potatoes. We've planted paw paw trees (a fruit tree native to this area), chestnut trees, and locust trees (for wood). The hardy kiwi (below) hasn't flowered or produced fruit and the blueberries are sort of pitiful because it turns out that blueberries are not really native to this area. But, it's a learning process and maybe the kiwi and the blueberries will produce fruit at some point.

I want to plant some more paw paw trees back by the creek and I also want to plant a few mulberry trees. Both fruits grow in the wild here, so I'd like to experiment with growing them. Paw paw fruits taste a bit like banana custard, believe it or not! And the mulberries will be a replacement for our poor little blueberry bushes.

Last week I put in a few more beds with onions, stinging nettle, Italian dandelion, brussel sprouts and burdock. These beds are sort of experimental because I had a lot of seeds left from the past few years and I wanted to get them in the ground and see what happens. I'm still experimenting and learning so sometimes I plant things just to see what they will look like!

I'm going to start some sea kale and some Good King Henry from seed and plant those once they have grown a bit. I've got the seeds and just need to get them in under the grow lights. They are both perennial vegetables and I want to get them established in the garden. I'm also going to order Egyptian walking onions because they will keep growing from year to year. I want to put in some wild onions (ramps), but I don't know where to get them yet.

I wish there were local nurseries where you could buy some of these perennial vegetables. I have to really search for them, track them down in different catalogs, and then order them. Well, I guess that's part of the fun.

Front Yard Edible Garden

Our front yard garden is full of flowers that attract beneficial insects like butterflies and bees. They also attract hummingbirds and, in fact, this morning a hummingbird spent quite a bit of time feeding right next to me! It was really lovely - I don't think I've ever been quite so close to a hummingbird before.

We also have edible and useful flowers like echinacea, safflower, nasturtiums, scarlet runner beans, borage, lavender, and buckwheat. I have tried to find as many edible flowers as possible and experiment with planting them. Hollyhocks and perennial sunflowers are supposed to be edible as well, but I haven't tried eating them yet.

Other edible plants that are hidden in this flower garden are: rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries (both domesticated and wild strawberries), currents, mint, comfrey, tomatoes, blueberries, serviceberries, sunchokes, a wild plum tree, and a filbert tree.

The long term goal is to fill the yard with edible plants and have very little grass. We have about 2/3 of an acre and right now we have to spend time mowing every few weeks, but we are making progress toward our goal as you can see from the photos.

Strawberries, Raspberries, Rhubarb

We have been able to harvest a lot of strawberries and raspberries this year as you can see in the photos! It rained a lot earlier in the month and the garden exploded - especially the strawberries! I have also harvested quite a bit of rhubarb and I think that will go on all summer.

One of the things I think about often is how we would actually feed ourselves with our garden. We have a lot of food in it now and we are developing some perennial beds, but most of what we eat still comes from the store. I think the reality is that if we want to feed ourselves with the fruits of our own labor it will truly become labor!

Mollie is in China right now so we have been watching a lot of movies about China while she is gone. Today I watched a movie about planting and harvesting rice, and I realized all over again how an agrarian lifestyle is really a lifestyle, not just a hobby. People have been harvesting rice in some of the established riced fields for hundreds of years and their whole lives revolve around the planting and harvesting of rice. The neighbors work together and the community is centered around the rice fields.

Saul and I work full time and Mollie is in school, so it is not possible for our lives to center around our garden. What we do is more than a hobby, and luckily I have the summers off, but we are far from true farmers.

However, right now I am sitting on the front porch looking at our garden while across the street several of our neighbors are working in the community garden. More and more people in Yellow Springs are starting to garden and we are building a community around sharing food and plants. It's not the same as the old established farming communities, but it's a good thing happening!