Wow, a lean beginning to the year but now things are starting to look up. The chickens really did take a vacation and decided to molt in January. They wanted to make sure they looked their best for Easter I guess! Now they are laying like crazy and I think omelettes are on the menu for the next few Sunday mornings. Our orange harvest was dismal. We've never had so few oranges. Maybe the orange tree was molting too, because now it is covered in beautiful white blooms. If you've never smelled an orange tree in bloom, it is heavenly. Each morning when I go outside to play with my toddler in the dewy grass I just sit and inhale the fragrance. Then I run and grab the baby out of the strawberries and peas. He loves to pick his own snacks, which I don't mind, but he doesn't check as carefully for slugs as I do. He also doesn't care if the strawberries are ripe, which is good for avoiding slugs I guess, because they don't want the green strawberries! One of the happiest parts of my mornings are finding pea pods for him and watching his chubby fingers pry open the pods to find the cute little peas inside. He carefully sits down on his lawn chair in the sun and eats the peas one by one, then toddles across the lawn to get another pod.
We've been working very hard in our community garden plot. We cleared out all the weeds, covered the plot in compost, redesigned the irrigation system, and have been visiting diligently every week to plant, harvest, and keep the weeds under control.
After years of seed collecting (buying and saving seeds but never planting them,) I've finally had the patience to start growing them instead of going for the instant gratification of buying starts. Some of the seeds aren't germinating, but thats to be expected since some are over 10 years old. I especially look forward to the interesting tomato varieties someone gave me years ago with names like Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. It could be a great tomato year.
January harvest tally:
16 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
9 eggs
February harvest tally:
5 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
35 eggs
March harvest tally:
8 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
68 eggs
2014 total:
29 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
112 eggs
We live on a 1/10th acre lot and rent a 20x20 foot community garden plot.
Wow, a lean beginning to the year but now things are starting to look up. The chickens really did take a vacation and decided to molt in January. They wanted to make sure they looked their best for Easter I guess! Now they are laying like crazy and I think omelettes are on the menu for the next few Sunday mornings. Our orange harvest was dismal. We've never had so few oranges. Maybe the orange tree was molting too, because now it is covered in beautiful white blooms. If you've never smelled an orange tree in bloom, it is heavenly. Each morning when I go outside to play with my toddler in the dewy grass I just sit and inhale the fragrance. Then I run and grab the baby out of the strawberries and peas. He loves to pick his own snacks, which I don't mind, but he doesn't check as carefully for slugs as I do. He also doesn't care if the strawberries are ripe, which is good for avoiding slugs I guess, because they don't want the green strawberries! One of the happiest parts of my mornings are finding pea pods for him and watching his chubby fingers pry open the pods to find the cute little peas inside. He carefully sits down on his lawn chair in the sun and eats the peas one by one, then toddles across the lawn to get another pod.
Not fragrant like the citrus blossoms, our pomegranate (shown above,) pear, peaches, plums, blueberries, boysenberries, and avocado are also in full bloom. I added a cute little tangerine to our citrus collection and it is blooming too. Once again our apricot did not bloom.
We've been working very hard in our community garden plot. We cleared out all the weeds, covered the plot in compost, redesigned the irrigation system, and have been visiting diligently every week to plant, harvest, and keep the weeds under control.
After years of seed collecting (buying and saving seeds but never planting them,) I've finally had the patience to start growing them instead of going for the instant gratification of buying starts. Some of the seeds aren't germinating, but thats to be expected since some are over 10 years old. I especially look forward to the interesting tomato varieties someone gave me years ago with names like Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. It could be a great tomato year.
January harvest tally:
16 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
9 eggs
February harvest tally:
5 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
35 eggs
March harvest tally:
8 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
68 eggs
2014 total:
29 lbs. of fresh fruits and veggies
112 eggs
We live on a 1/10th acre lot and rent a 20x20 foot community garden plot.
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