Backyard Gardening Archives

After a little discussion about what we were going to say for our “Where are we going” posts Adam and I have decided to write it together, because where ever we are going, we are going together. And, while we both have different ideas for details, the goal is the same for the both of us.

So, this final post in our Thanksgiving Series is a collaboration told from my voice.

In October, we hosted a handful of my sorority sisters for “a weekend in the country.” During dinner one evening, a friend posed the question to the group “What do you love?” Everyone took turns going around the table revealing their love for friends, family, food and more.

When it was Adam’s turn his response was “Growing food that people can enjoy.”

Adam’s mom always talks about how his favorite book as a kid was Farmer Grover. I can hear her now mimicking the book: “Be a farmer, Grover!”

Funny story… I read Farmer Grover as a kid as well. And, that’s about the last I heard about farmers until I was eighteen.

Because of Grover, and his background, he has been fascinated by farmers his whole life. It’s not surprising that growing food is something he is still passionate about.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love growing our own food as much as he does. But, we look at it from two different perspectives.

I look at the beauty of growing food. Taking something covered in dirt and transforming into a fabulous dish that people love. My passion for food starts with my desire for putting the best ingredients into the dishes I serve. And, I now know that we are capable of growing the best ingredients possible in our own yard . I want to teach people that they can do the same.

Adam looks at his passion for growing food from a different perspective. He wants our production of food to be the most successful and efficient as possible.

He’s the mind behind production. I’m the mind behind how it can be shared.

As much as we are different in our roles of producing our food, we are the same in the most important aspect: We love seeing people enjoy the food we grow and becoming inspired to build a stronger connection to their food.

There is something completely romantic about seeing someone pull your carrots out of the ground in complete amazement. Or sit down to a dinner and enjoy the flavor of your homegrown lettuce and beets as much as your guests enjoy the flavor of your pasture raised chicken. And, I can not even begin explain the remarkable feeling that comes over me when someone reaches out asking for help and advice because they are interested in starting their own garden.

We love providing food, real food, to people who will enjoy it. We have been producing food for ourselves and a small group of family and friends. We want to grow this to the point that we can provide food to many others as well. Our goals for the future include more pastured chickens and the addition of pasture raised beef and pork. We plan to continue to increase the size of the garden each year.

We aren’t sure if this will lead us to Farmer’s Markets, CSA’s, Farm to School programs, partnerships with local butchers or chefs. Where ever or however we choose to share our food, we want to be transparent. We want people to come to our farm and see the passion we put into the food that will be going onto their table that night. We want people to understand that their food doesn’t have to come from a grocery store but rather directly from the farm it was grown. We want people to be inspired to take starter plants back to their homes and teach their children how to grow their own food.

Most people are generally disconnected from where their food comes from. I know, I was!

Where we are going is a place where we will work to close that gap.

Where we are going is a place where people will be connected to their food.

And that’s where we all should be going.

Hillary Ferguson Photography.

Thank you all for reading our series. We really enjoyed working on this together and we hope that you enjoyed it as well!

Wishing you and your loved ones the all best this Thanksgiving!

… And, if you do choose to shop, Shop Small!

Here’s a little piece of hot gossip:

Most of us have less than perfect soil in our gardens.

And let’s be real, soil is kind of on the D-List when it comes to stars of the garden.

But, it’s strong soil that is the foundation that leads to those A-List August Tomatoes.

Good garden soil is made up of:

Minerals
Organic Matter
Life

The darker the better.

Many different combinations of these three things contribute to the soil’s texture, structure and vitality for your plants with the help of air and water.

Minerals depend on the soil you have. Soil is essentially a bunch of small particles created by broken down rocks. Sandy Soil has large particles so it does not compact easily but it does provide great drainage. Silt is composed of medium particles. You have a good start if you have silt. Clay has much smaller particles that pack easily making it hard for water and air to move through the soil.

Organic Matter is made up of decaying grasses, leaves, and manure. The organic matter helps to enrich the soil and will provide food to the living elements. The living elements in soil are bugs like earth worms. These bugs move around in the soil to help air and water flow through.

We have clay soil in our yard. We can see it every time we get a good rain because the water sits on top of the ground.

Our backyard after a May rain storm. Grass is growing now… woo!

In order to improve our clay soil for the garden beds, we tilled up the existing clay soil and added some of compost we created over the last eight months using grass, left over vegetable scraps and some earth worms. We also added composted horse manure that Adam got from local horse barn. Our goal was to loosen the clay soil so that water and air could penetrate the dirt. As well as the roots of our vegetables.

Any kind of soil you have, be it sandy, silt or clay, compost is key.

We added compost that we purchased at a garden store last summer and this summer our big focus with the new garden beds was the composted horse manure. We will have to add compost to our garden beds every year for at least the next decade (not an exaggeration) to combat the hard, clay soil.

You can make your own compost, but can also find it at garden or home improvement stores.

In addition to the vegetables in the garden beds, I also have herbs growing in pots on the patio. I like having my herbs closer to the kitchen. I used potting soil for the herb’s pots.

Potting soil isn’t actually soil; its main ingredients are peat moss, composted materials, and perlite. Potting soils from a home improvement store or nursery are typically sterilized to prevent the growth of weeds and diseases. It also is designed to hold the right amount of moisture and let excess drain easily.

If you are growing plants in containers be sure to use either soil that you created using dirt and compost or potting soil. Garden soil and topsoil are often confused to be good for container gardening but in reality they are intended to be mixed with actual dirt. If they are used in a container they may retain too much moisture and rot the roots of your plants.

With all your hands on work and attention to create good dirt, your plants will be on the fast track to stardom.

“Where Are We Going” by Both of Us

Gardener’s Know The Best Dirt