They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
It's getting that time of year again! Time to plant the garden. We planted a dozen or so rutabaga last week, and this week we are starting the peas. On the crop rotation plan (yes, there is one) they are going to be in row four this year, so the first task was: Cleanup on… Continue reading Cleanup on Row Four
We are trying a new garden strategy this year. We are going for staggered plantings of a lot of our favorites, particularly the brassicas. We have had great success with growing them, thus far, but not great success with harvesting and using them on time. When you have 12 heads of cabbage all coming ripe… Continue reading Seed Starting 2026: Part 1
We are a bit behind on the garden this year. The weather has not been cooperating. It is cold at night, cold enough to keep the soil from being warm enough to germinate the seeds for warmer season crops, but hot and dry enough during the day to keep the cooler season crops from growing… Continue reading Garden odd jobs
Evie and Daddy planted cucurbits last Thursday (Holy Thursday). Four or Five different varieties of winter squash, with two varieties of pumpkin and three rather scrawny looking cucumbers and two absolutely emaciated melons. (We have never had a good melon harvest. I am about ready to give up on them.) It has been unseasonably dry,… Continue reading Cucurbits in the Garden.
While we don't have an active garden at the house anymore (we barely have time for the one garden at the farm) Ellie still cares about her little flower bed at the end of the orchard. Still looks pretty wintery, but... There are some buds on some of the trees. Especially this little Hollywood Plum.… Continue reading Ellie’s Garden
A tray of brussels sprouts. A tray of celery. A tray of Swiss chard and a tray of cabbage. All the girls are inside, out of the rain. You can see where the cold frame was. Of course, what we didn't know when we planted these out was that there is a storm developing off… Continue reading Planting out Cold Weather Crops
First of, I can't claim any credit for this idea, but it was too cheap and simple and quick to build, I just had to steal it. It comes from a youtube channel by a vegetable grower in Saskatoon, and the whole channel has some great insights and tips. I mentioned before we built the… Continue reading Building a Low Tunnel
It's a busy time of year for the garden. Also a tricky one. Western Washington has a tendency to draw spring out, somewhat unnecessarily, as it seems to us who grew up elsewhere. In Upstate NY, spring is a couple of weeks of mud, followed by summer. Average air temps and soil temps go up… Continue reading Garden Catch-Up
You know that one kid, that wakes up before all the other kids, and gets up and after it while everyone else is still working on getting up? On Tuesday that was Winnie. This is a picture of her running around the living room singing "Get up! Get up! Time to Get Up!" and "What… Continue reading Muddy
Little Farm in the Big City 