We haven’t updated the blog in a while. First off, we bought a house, the one right next door to us. It was a foreclosure and we got a great deal. Over the past month we have been fixing it up (painting and remodeling the bathroom which had rotted subflooring). For pics of the renovation process go to http://erinsphotoblog.shutterfly.com
Now we are in the process of moving. We have until the end of the month. Yikes! It is only mildly stressful.
Bryan stumbled across an interesting challenge put forth on the Chrunch Chicken Blog. Can someone buy sustainably/organically grown food on a food stamp budget.
The rules are:
These are fairly loose rules, but the goal is to buy sustainably grown food:
1. If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
2. If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
3. If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
4. If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir: purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in.
5. Hit the farmers market before the supermarket.
Household Maximum Monthly Allotment Chart:
1 person - $176
2 people - $323
3 people - $463
4 people - $588
5 people - $698
6 people - $838
7 people - $926
8 people - $1,058
Each additional person - $132
Anyhow, I thought it was pretty neat. I think Bryan and I are going to try it. $323 is fairly close to our current monthly food budget anyhow.
We made some adorable little 1′ x 1′ garden boxes today. I will post pictures soon. Here is a log of what we planted.
Box 1 - Sweet Basil (Days to Germination 14 - 18, expect to see sprouts between Apr 5 - 9)
Box 2 - Flat leaf Italian Parsley (Days to Germination 20 - 25, expect to see sprouts between Apr 11 - 16)
Box 3 - Mammoth Long Island Dill (Days to Germination 10 - 15, expect to see sprouts between Apr 1 - 6)
Box 4 - Crackerjack Marigolds (Days to Germination 5 - 7, expect to see sprouts between Mar 27 - 29)
- Purple Coneflowers (Days to Germination 15 - 20, expect to see sprouts between Apr 6 - 11)
Now, the flowers in Box 4 will grow very large and will need to be transplanted after they start to get a little larger, but the little box is a good place to start. The boxes are nice because they are mobile. So, we can move them around as needed for light/shade as the seasons progress.
I will be uploading pics of the garden to http://erinsphotoblog.shutterfly.com if you want to check it out.
We did a bunch of work in our little garden today. We had to clear out a bunch of sad looking broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprout plants that were at the end of their days. We did however, get a nice bunch of good brussel sprouts which we roasted up for dinner. They were not as sweet as the ones we got from the first harvesting, but they were still pretty tasty.
Brussel sprouts from our garden
Once we had pulled everything out, we added some organic compost and organic fertilizer and stirred it all up together with our beautiful black soil. Up to this point we had never added fertilizer, only compost. After it was all mixed up and looking good, we planted
We left room for some subsequent plantings of lettuce seeds. Here are some pics of us working in the garden.
Bryan working in our little garden
Erin watering the newly planted little seedlings
A bout of warm weather has come early in Knoxville. It is only February and we have already seen highs up in the 70’s. Due to the warm weather spring buds are starting to appear. The tender shoots of the irises we have in the front yard have sprung up. There are the tiniest of tiny flower buds on our beautiful dogwood tree. The bright yellow flowers of our forsythia bush are also starting to bud. But it is all too early!!! There is snow predicted for later next week which means everything will frost over and the tender buds will be ruined. We will do the best we can to cover them when there is a frost, but covering only does so much.
Bryan has a taken a second job helping a local hobby farmer tend to his massive array of vegetable and fruit plantings. The great thing about this job is that Bryan is getting paid to learn more about gardening. Woohoo! Today, as part of our Valentine’s Day date, we went to one of the local greenhouses and seed stores and bought some cold weather vegetables to plant. We are hoping for some sunny weather tomorrow so we can get out into the garden and start planting. This afternoon, I noticed that our brussel sprout plants produced a few more sprouts. They were hidden under the top leaves, but they look delicious. I think I will pick them and serve them with the pork tenderloin I am cooking for tomorrows dinner.
Speaking of pork tenderloin, Bryan and I found this great local farm (Laurel Creek Farms) that raises chickens, pigs, cows, goats, lambs, and ducks for meat. They set up shop in the parking lot of a local church and sell their delicious, pasture fed meet every Friday afternoon. This is the third week we have bought meat and eggs from them, and so far we are very impressed. I also recently found that there is a local dairy farm (Cruze Dairy Farm) that sells its milk at the local co-op that we shop at. We drank some of the whole milk this morning. WOW … it is so crazy deliciously good. I think it is the fact that the milk is not homogenized. Yum Yum!!! Ah … it feels so good to be buying locally raised and produced foods and supporting our local economy. Soon we’ll be eating super local … vegetables right out of our backyard!
Bryan and I have both finished reading Omnivor’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. After reading Omnivor’s Dilemma, Bryan and I decided we would make a concerted effort to start buying our food more locally. This is not exactly easy in the current structure of the U.S. Agricultural system. However, we have started by producing our own vegetables in the summer. More recently we have found a local farm (Laurel Creek Farm) that pasture raises chicken, beef, lamb, goat, duck, and ham. This past Friday, I bought our first round of meat from them: bacon, sausage, stew meat, and a whole chicken for $20. Not too shabby! All of their meat is pasture raised, which is how evolution intended it. Cows and sheep especially were never meant to be corn fed. We ate some of the bacon this morning … delicious! Laurel Creek Farm also has egg laying chickens, but in the winter they do not bring their eggs for sale unless you request it. So, I have ordered a dozen for next week. I am really looking forward to those eggs.
Anyhow, here is the updated list so far:
| Bryan’s List | Erin’s List |
|
|
Bryan and I love to read. Last year we participated in the 50 Book Challenge, a challenge to people of all ages in the US to try and read 50 books within one year. Now, unless you can read about a book a week, that might not be possible, but the point is to read as many as you can. Last year I read 12 books, I am not sure how many Bryan read, but he has more free time than me so I am sure he read more. This year we are going to keep track of how many books we each read on this little blog. My goal for this year is 20 books, and Bryan and I have finished our firsts for the year.
Here is the list so far:
| Bryan’s List | Erin’s List |
|
|
Erin’s post her thoughts about The Shack in her blog.
We already have some strawberry plants that will winter over and produce a crop of strawberries in the spring.
The other thing we would like to try next year is to get a rainwater collection system going, and set up a coldframe for next fall/winter to extend the growing season a little bit longer.
Check out the calendar in the left hand column on the main page. Important dates are shown in red. If you roll your cursor over them it will tell you what is happening on that date.
Welcome to our little blog. Bryan and I decided we wanted to keep a blog about our garden this year, mostly so we could remember what we right and what we did wrong for future years.
Currently, the status of the garden is: DORMANT. The only thing we have in our garden right now are some measly little brussle sprouts that powered through some of the frosts we have had, but those are scheduled to be plucked and eaten on Sunday.
Throughout the year, we will posted updates and pictures of our garden and our little Knoxville home. And if anything momentous should occur in either of our lives, we will post about that too (though for updates on Erin you should check our her blog at http://blog.fyerfaery.com).
Cheers,
Erin & Bryan
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 | ||||
