My Backyard Grocery

[Kathryn777]

Busy, busy, busy....  It's hard to home school this time of year.  There are so many external demands; some of which could use pruning back but I haven't had the guts to cut them off just yet.  What I'm waiting for?  Perhaps my husband to nudge me into that direction.

I have spent a lot of time collecting various heirloom seeds.  I'm still researching food storage, meanwhile, I've planted my garden in hopes of a wonderful backyard bounty.  I planted all heirloom plants last year and as this spring has come upon us, my lettuce has reseeded itself lending succulent leaves for every meal.  It is truly amazing how different lettuce from the garden tastes from that in the grocery store.  It's far better than I thought it could be.

I tilled my single ground level bed and panted okra and corn.  I hope I didn't plant my corn too early with the ground not being so warm just yet.  My 4 raised beds were hoed and seeded with squash, zucchini, tomatoes, bush beans, cucumber, bell peppers, jelly melon, cantaloupe, and onion -- all are peeking from beneath their earthen blanket.  My peaches are making beautifully after last years loss due to a late freeze and my grapes are going bananas!  This years new item to attempt will be to preserve grape leaves for use as dolmas.  No, I've never made dolmas before, but a friend of mine made them for me a couple of years ago and they were fantastic!  I also have a variety of herbs planted in several containers.  Most of my worry is over the small fig tree I planted last year.  Of course it always looks like a dead stick protruding out of the ground this time of year, but last year it didn't fair so well, so we'll see what happens!  I may have to plant another before this year is all said and done.

With all that is planted in the backyard, there is a reasonable chance our home could sell before anything besides the lettuce has reached maturity.  That causes a sigh of sadness....  We need to sell our home and move out onto some acreage.  I would like to plant so much more but don't have the room for it.  I would also like a milk cow and chickens, none of which I can own for lack of space and city ordinances as well as home owner association laws.  Believe it or not, the city allows for a home owner to have backyard chickens so long as you don't slaughter them in the yard but, my HOA won't allow them.  I would already have a few egg layers if it wasn't for the HOA.

Books I'm reading now: Small-Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon and Independence Days, A guide to Sustainable Food Storage and Preservation by Sharon Astyk.

One side note, I HATE the word "sustainable" because of what it has become attached to.  It seems like the leeches always attach themselves to perfectly good words perverting them away from good use.  I try to read around the garbage because there is a lot that can be gleaned from reading these books for the future of our family.