Happy Farming . com

Now that the snow is covering everything around here I’ve had a chance to look through the stacks of paper documenting my food growing adventures in 2009.

This is a log describing the food I’m bringing in from my garden grown in 2009. I’m using the following beds:

Raised bed, 3 m x 1.2 m
Raised bed, 5 m x 1.2 m
Bed, 6 m x 1.2 m
Bed, 6 m x 1.2 m

(Note: The list below is not fully updated yet…)

———————-

Peach:

2009-08-19: 1 pcs. (90 g)

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Cucumber:

2009-08-10: 209 g
2009-08-06: 400 g
2009-07-25: 211 g
2009-07-21: 2 pcs. (439 g)

———————-

Strawberry:

2009-06-24: 173 g
2009-06-17: 357 g
2009-06-13: 36 g
2009-06-10: 185 g

———————-

Parsnip:

2009-10-15: 2 pcs. (1532 g)

———————-

Tomato:

TBD

———————-

Beans:

2009-08-06: 230 g (bush)

———————-

Peas:

2009-07-23: 30 pcs.

———————-

Onion:

2009-08-14: 1 pcs. (119 g)
2009-08-08: 2 pcs. yellow (288 g)

———————-

Red beet:

2009-11-22: 1 pcs. (194 g)
2009-10-15: 5 pcs. round (770 g)
2009-07-20: 1 pcs. round (243 g), 2 pcs. long (556 g)
2009-07-13: 3 pcs. round (743 g), 3 pcs. long (748 g)
2009-07-12: 302 g
2009-07-11: 432 g round
2009-07-03: 1 pcs. (480 g)

———————-

Squash:

2009-08-10: 863 g
2009-08-06: 1 pcs. (1500 g)
2009-07-26: 2 pcs. (899 g)

———————-

Radish:

2009-06-17: Red (112 g), white (221 g)
2009-06-11: 3 pcs. Ice (26 g)

———————-

Carrot:

2009-08-15: 11 pcs. (472 g)
2009-08-14: 3 pcs. (196 g)
2009-07-23: 377 g
2009-07-22: 5 pcs. (271 g)
2009-07-21: 4 pcs. (287 g)
2009-07-20: 3 pcs. (267 g)
2009-07-17: 5 pcs. (410 g)
2009-07-15: 144 g
2009-07-12: 1090 g
2009-07-04: 3 pcs. (267 g)
2009-07-03: 182 g
———————-

Spinach:

2009-06-17: 197 g
2009-06-05: 135 g
2009-05-30: 132 g
2009-05-22: 78 g

———————-

Lettuce:

2009-06-20: 268 g (1 head)
———————-

Potatoes:

2009-07-22: 1170 g (2  plants)
2009-07-20: 1204 g (2 plants)
2009-07-17: 1263 g (2 plants)
2009-07-12: 901 g
2009-07-11: 725 g
2009-07-07: 268 g (1 plant, 1 shoot), 1033 g (1 plant, several shoots)
2009-07-05: 606 g (2 plants)
2009-07-04: 811 g (2 plants)
2009-07-03: 670 g
2009-07-01: 724 g
2009-06-30: 860 g Asparagus

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Oh boy have I been wanting to use that headline! Free Heirloom Seeds™ is what everybody wants, right? Well, me too. And to some degree, the heirloom part is even true in this case. I’m offering 5 bags of spinach seeds from my garden, seeds I saved in 2009. Maybe one year is not entirely what you would define as heirloom, as 2009 was my first year collecting seeds, but anyway, if you want a bag to experiment with, please send me your address either via the contact page or email and I’ll send a bag to you. If you have a garden blog I can also post a link to your blog.

I have only tested two spinach seeds last summer to do a quick check of their ability to germinate, so please don’t be too disappointed, if the seeds won’t grow for some reason, but I think they will.

I’m curious to find out if any bags of seeds will be confiscated by the Empire. Being spinach seeds I believe they have a chance of passing through the system. If the bags were full of Marijuana seeds it would be a completely other story I mean, outlawing a plant?? Isn’t outlawing plants the same as outlawing roads, because roads can be used by bank robbers?

ANYWAYS – if you get a bag of seeds it would be fun hearing about your experiences with it. There are 5 bags up for grabs, and one bag per person, each with about 200 seeds. If enough people are interested I can make more bags, but at the moment my fingers are hurting from separating seeds, as spinach seeds have an amazingly rough outer layer and sit closely together.

I don’t know about you but I’m beginning to look forward to spring!

Photo by Irene2005.

Last year I decided to sell my property. I never really thought about how much space we would like to have when raising two kids, so the house was suddenly a bit small (92 sq m) when they finally arrived. After that I received notice, that I was going to be fired in the summer of 2010, but it felt like I was one step ahead already, because the main reason I moved to this town was because there was a job for me, and now that it’s gone I might as well move. At least there’s not much holding me back and the same its true for my girlfriend.

I would really like to do more experiments in my garden, like for instance building a giant biodynamic compost heap, or try to store potatoes in the ground covered with straw, or maybe try out new ways of improving the soil with manure from animals, but I’m pretty sure that this would not always be a pretty sight. It would be messy. And that’s okay when you play, but it’s not okay when you live in a pretty neighborhood.

I don’t know how people play, when they live in a pretty neighbourhood. Maybe they play games on the computer, but I like going outside and play and get some fresh air and dirt on my clothes. And as the saying goes, the only difference between boys and men are the size of their toys. I would love to have at least 10,000 sq m (108,000 sq ft) to play on – man I would get myself some toys.

It’s like the chicken-egg problem – if I had this size property I could grow lots of fruits and vegetables for sale, and the money earned would pay for the property. So at the moment I have to rent a smaller place and at least get something going. As the majority of people live in cities and urban areas today this is maybe what is needed; more creative ways and examples of growing food in these crowded places. I can’t figure out if it’s only me who think cities and urban areas are crowded or people feel they are forced to live here. As I see it the more crowded it gets the more diversity is lost. At least this is true for the plant and animal kingdom. You’ll never find a goat or a cow strolling down a busy street in a modern western city, you’ll have to live in India to see that. In my small family we’re so disconnected from the plant and animal kingdom, that we’ll have to turn to books to find out what it’s about. An hour ago I read a bedtime story to my 2 year old daughter about a girl and her brother spending their vacation on a self-sufficient farm in the countryside. Why would anyone want to print this kind of books, if there wasn’t some kind of need to connect with the animals or the plant kingdom? She plays with plastic animals, for Christ’s sake. I feel poor in a rich country.