This week in the Little Farm in the Middle of the City

My oldest daughter stayed with us over the summer while she was on break from school. She was had me laughing so much because she swears we have a little farm going right in our backyard. All summer she was taking pictures of the chickens and their antics (and their eggs!) and texting them to her friends. Or pictures of strawberries just picked or tomatoes we were eating minutes after they came in from the yard.
Or new kittens running around the house.

It’s so funny because from my perspective what have going is so small compared to the acres of what I see others online growing. But the real city city girl from the Bay area and her friends see what we have as such a big deal because we can walk out into the back yard and get eggs that are an hour old or eat a tomato right off the vine.
Anyways, this week I harvested more Rond de Nice zucchini (although that’s it for this year because one of the chickens got out and decided to sunbathe on top of the plant), some tomatoes, a few small white peaches (delicious!), and some grapes. My peach trees are only two years old…pretty small with small fruit.

Also gave a couple of the smaller sunflower heads to the chickens. They weren’t really worth the time trying to get out the seeds. I did make some grape jelly with the my grapes and some grapes a friend gave to me.

I’m back to work this week so time in the garden is going to get pretty limited. I did get some green beans in to the ground a few days ago. The goal is each week to try and start something new since we can grow year round.

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Today’s Harvest

Some chili’s, cilantro, bell pepper, chives, green onion and tomato….looks like salsa is in order. Only three eggs so far. I think the heat is slowing things down for my girls a bit.

Edited to add a picture of what’s left of the salsa. Turned out pretty spicy…my chili’s are hot this year!

Goals for 2013

I had an opportunity to get away for a day to relax and think about any changes I want to see for the new year. First and foremost….as usual for me….is the being healthier theme. Exercising has never been one of those things I jump into doing. When I was younger I always was involved in some sort of sport activity and stayed in shape easily. Now, in my 50’s…with lots more aches and pains…it’s much harder to get motivated. But, I got an exercise bike over the holidays and have been riding 2 miles each day. It hasn’t been difficult…although I honestly don’t know how long distance riders deal with hard bike seats. Talk about going numb in a sensitive area…..
I’m thinking I might post my weekly miles and post something about an area as if I was really biking on the road. Kind of a virtual bike ride across the USA. Might keep me motivated…and I won’t have any excuse about bad weather….

Another theme is eating healthier. Definitely want to incorporate more fruits and veggies into our diets. And because I live in an area where I can garden year round I’m going to see if we can eat from our garden each day of the year.

I have other goals…participating in 13 skills…but, I’ll post more on those later.

Anyone else have goals for this year?

Global Garden Friends (Product review)

I was excited when Global Garden Friends contacted me about reviewing some of their products. They are a fairly new gardening and hydroponics company located in Santa Rosa, California.
Gardening is one of my favorite past times. I also love gardening tools and gadgets. I have quite a few in my garage.
Global Garden Friends is the creator of the ultimate plant cage. This product helps to keep your plants growing up right thus allowing sunlight and air to get in. Sure looks a lot better than those random sticks I have put in my house plants to keep them up right!

They also sell the ultimate plant clip. I love these! These take the place of all those twist ties and pieces of twine that you use to hold up your plants around the yard.

And they are so cute!

My grapevine has been saved from chickens who love the bunches of grapes hanging on it. I have used the clips to lift the vines out of there reach. I have to admit though there is nothing funnier than seeing a chicken jump to get grapes.

They also saved the day when a strong wind knocked over one of my sunflowers.

Guess what? They are having a giveaway right now on their Facebook page. Go check it out and maybe you will win some of their products! Let them know I sent you!

Predators

Anyone who has done any gardening knows that eventually you will have to deal with predators.

Tomato hornworms are so beautiful, but very destructive. I hand pick and the chickens do the “chicken dance” every time I toss them into their area.

These however, are not so beautiful. Unfortunately we had a very mild winter and these buggers have become very prolific in my area.

This is what they did last night to my Roma tomatos.

I am not happy.

Score!

I went to our local farmer’s market and got these for 50¢ each. Yep! Even 50¢ for the six packs! They are tall and leggy but tomatoes are OK to be sunk deep in the ground. They will establish roots all along the stems. These will be my later season tomatoes.

Sunday Harvest

Proverbs 31:15-16

15 she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; 16 out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously.

Monday Harvest

What’s Cookin’ In The Garden?

We’ve had a pretty outstanding spring so far. Sunshine and actual rain…enough for me not to really have to water.

This has led to an abundance of bokchoy.

Lettuce and sage.

A handful of producing strawberry plants.

A boysenberry that was half it’s size 3 weeks ago.

An artichoke that seems like it might actually survive this year.

And spinach that is a bit on its last leg…

I do have more growing…just didn’t have time to take pictures of everything. More towards the end of the week.