Farming and Gardening
“To grow a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Audrey Hepburn
I never would’ve thought that playing in the dirt would be more fun in my late 60’s than it was when I was young. The smell of fresh soil and the feel of the dirt on my hands are the exact same sensations I experienced as a kid. And I love it!
Maybe playing in the dirt takes me back to a more uncomplicated time in my life. When we think about the difficulties we’ve been living with I guess it would be normal to find a way to capture when life was simple. I didn’t have a huge interest in gardening until just a few years ago and now I find myself doing exactly what my grandfather did. He had a small plot of land and spent time in his garden growing fruits and vegetables.
It’s funny because in my earlier blogs I spoke of how I continued to get up early, grab my coffee, say a few prayers, hit the floor with stretches and yoga, jump in the shower and do my hair and make-up before I start my day. Well, that has gone to hell in a handbasket, thank God. What’s missing is jumping in the shower, doing my hair and make-up and hit the ground running. Yoga and meditation are still present in my morning routine after my coffee but I get distracted from the rest of my old routine. There are times that I don’t hit the shower till late afternoon or I’ll turn around and it’s all of the sudden 4:30pm!!!
When I walk out the door in the morning to just take a look at my plants and veggies is where I lose all control. Before I know it I’ve got my hands in the dirt rearranging something or removing brown somethings or planting something new. And yes, I am usually barefoot so my fingernails and toenails that are loaded with dirt! I wouldn’t have let that happen to my nails years ago; I really did get manicures and pedicures. I have tried to think about caring or being embarrassed about it but I just can’t. How easy would it be to go into the garage and grab my gloves and put shoes on? So not interested…
Most of my fruits and vegetable plants are in pots so I’m able to relocate them if they need more or less sun. The raised bed has herbs and a small cherry tomato plant and all are doing well. There is much to learn about gardening or farming but I’m willing to make mistakes and eventually learn how to be successful. But for now there’s too much fun to be had going by the seat of my pants. For instance, I didn’t realize there were male and female cantaloupe flowers that need to be pollinated, why would I need to research that before planting? And no, I will NOT be manually forcing sex on them. If the bees don’t bother to do their job then I’ll have to go without melons this year.
My life has changed for the better for a couple of reasons, not working as hard and the pandemic. They both forced me to slow it down a bit, toss out the behaviors that don’t apply anymore get more creative in my modest world. I have a small group of lovely people who I occasionally hang with and they’re all I need in my life. I take good care of every plant, talk to them and nurture them which brings me an abundance of joy and peace. Of course, I’ll let you know how my harvesting journey goes, I’m very excited! Peace to you and your loved ones.
Purslane/Portulaca
one of the healthiest weeds around!
Always check with your doctor before ingesting any plant. Just because they have top notch nutrients and good for you, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good for YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
Purslane is a good source of alpha-linolenic acid and shown to contain five times higher omega-3 fatty acids than spinach. The flower, leaves and stem are all edible but the stem can be a bit tough. I have tossed them in with my salad and also sauteed them with other greens.
The plant is nutritious and safe for human consumption in general. However in lieu of the high content of oxalic acid it should not be consumed by people with kidney disease/stones or who have high uric acid.
If I were to consume this plant I would also need to eat dairy with it; dairy binds with the oxalates and bypasses the kidneys.
I can grow these all year long here in Florida. When I lived in upstate New York I could only grow them in warm sunny weather; they would return each season and spread everywhere. I never tried to grow them up there inside and I have no idea if that would work but it’s worth the attempt.
Purslane/Portulaca September 2023
a beautiful weed that has a whole lot of nutrients
Easy to grow as long as they can wake up with the sun
They come in different colors and open up with the sunrise and close with the sunset
Start of my potato plant
AND…..the potato results….
Sort of like an Easter egg hunt, digging them up!
Repotted to larger pot
They clean up well…
I’ll be digging up potatoes soon, leaves are almost done!
My first home-grown baked potato
Purple majesty potatoes grown in the bag. I didn’t get the amount of potatoes I was expecting.
October 15, 2021
But were they ever delicious!!
October 15, 2021I wasn’t expecting the potatoes to taste so exceptional, they were really earthy and fresh. I ordered seed potatoes (above…blue majesty, organic, non gmo) started all over again in a special potato bag. The bag is breathable, flexible and has handles to relocate it if necessary, as in the case of a major hurricane! It was not as big a harvest as the first batch in the white container. I’m currently letting a few of the potatoes to go seed and do it again but back in the white container where it produced much more of a harvest.
Root vegetables might be my most successful grows, since the tomatoes and eggplant have picked up some pests that think the leaves are hors d’oeuvres. The cantaloupe may be the culprit since it appeared to start there. I’ve moved the cantaloupe and the “swiss cheese” leaves have seemed to calm down on the other plants. Time will tell.
Cherry tomato
They grew fast
Final product with my fresh grown basil
NO…..I did not eat him!
The fruitless cantaloupe
Beefsteak Tomato
How come I only have one tomato on this huge plant?!?
Baby avocado
Larger avocado, needs to go into a much bigger pot
And here is that same avocado a few years later!
Yes, even in my last condo there were plants EVERYWHERE!!!
A fig tree I purchased a few months ago. It has grown into a beautiful tree to look at and hopefully eventually gives figs!
October 15, 2021
My purple daikon radishes didn’t grow as well. I followed a YouTube video and I don’t believe I had enough dirt and they were too crowded. However, I sautéed the leaves with olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Absolutely amazing taste and they rank right up there in nutrients of broccoli and kale!
October 15, 2021