Garden Goals

  It has been one of those never ending winters up here in Northeastern Wisconsin. I am just waiting for those tell tale signs of spring; the tulips blooming, birds chirping, and the smell of rain! Currently I am researching various planting and growing techniques an searching out what plants I want in the garden. I hope to start a couple seedlings before the start of April and to plan in the garden come the middle of May.

Goals for this growing season include:
creating a pallet compost area and adding to it regularly
testing the soil
roadside farmers market with signage on 96
 -sell produce, pumpkins, and eggs
never use Round Up, only organic weed killers an use of hay
start herb garden
raise worms for chickens

Organic Panic

Fresh Eats

It was so nice to eat fresh straight from our garden. At first it took some getting used to, as we were not a big fruit/veggie eating family. But over the course of the summer we began eating salads with most dinners, tried radishes for the first time, and began experimenting with different recipes.  

Fresh berries and peas were great snacks right out in the garden.

I never thought I liked Cesar Salads, but after my trip to Mexico, where we had Cesar's with every meal, I found my new go to salad. It was great to add a fresh salad to dinner. 

Egg salad sandwich right from the garden! How cool is that? The eggs came from our chickens and the lettuce was fresh picked that morning. 

First Garden Experience

This was the plot where it all began.

Before our garden idea took bloom, this was just a patch of grass under the yard light. Our grandpa had to till it up and add more top soil. Not the best soil, but it was a good location that got lots of sun.

We started planting at the end of May. We had potatoes, peas, carrots, strawberries, onions, radishes, lettuce, asparagus, raspberries, peppers, and tomatoes. It was all new so we had help from the neighbor kid. He got our rows set up and spaced out our potato holes for us. From there we began planting seeds. 

                                     

                                     

It was so exciting to see the sprouts take root and start growing into recognizable plants. 

                                     

                                     

Our golf cart came in very handy throughout the growing season. Kimmy and I would take a nightly drive to grandpas house to tend to the chickens, do some weeding, and if the time was right, pick some fresh produce for supper that night. It was a nice way to relax and spend some time with each other. 

                                     

Fall means Applesauce

Cut up apples from the tree we found along our road, we added a small handful of red peppermint candies and microwaved for 15 min.

Then when they were nice and soft we got out grandmas trusty blender. Blended to the consistency we desired.

We added a bit of cinnamon and sugar, then

poured into some mason jars ti freeze. Enjoy!

Starting out

My sister and I began our first ever garden adventure this spring and it has grown into a full fledged backyard farming garden! We have actual fruit and veggies growing and even expanded to raising chickens and ducks. It has been fun and rewarding at the same time. It has allowed us to spend plenty of nights together weeding and feeding and chatting with our grandparents. My next post will highlight our first summer as gardeners and bring you up to date on our progress.