New beginnings for a non-gardener

I'm terrified of spiders. I hate to sweat. Bugs bother me, too. I enjoy my pretty, well-cared for finger nails. I have a bad back. I've killed almost everything I've ever attempted to grow. And, I'm horribly allergic to mosquitoes.

Add all of that up and what do you have? A crazy woman who is stupidly attempting to homestead.

Here in Northern Virginia, I have about a 1/4 acre lot (just a tad over) with a very modest home. I've got decent sun on part of the property and until now, I've done everything in my power to avoid being out in the yard.

So, why the change?

Frustrated with the lack of organic produce at my local farmers market, tired of paying premium rates for organic produce in the super market that's being shipped from halfway around the world, and a chance encounter with a magazine called Urban Farm led me to pull on my big-girl panties and give this a try.

Being more excited about shopping for products than executing the actual garden, my first step was to decide on seeds.

Everything I've read about organic gardening stresses the importance of companion planting, diversity, and crop variation. I am also a big opponent of Monsanto (read more here), so I opted for heirloom seeds wherever possible.

At this point, I now have seeds for the following:

Arugula, Basil, Green Tint Squash, Sweet Pepper, Cherokee Purple Tomato, Striped Beets, Broccoli, Purple Snap Beans, Bunching Onions, English Peas, Musk Melon, Jalapeno Pepper, Magenta Lettuce, Wild Cherry Tomato, Peppermint, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Sage, Yellow Squash, Pear Tomato, Bush Bean, Lemon Balm, Icicle Radish, Onion, Shallot, Cayenne Chile, Cucumber

Also, I've picked up a handful of flower seeds that are supposed to help with organic pest control.

 

The first half of my seeds. The second half are in transit from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia.

I want to start germinating my seeds now since it's only about 7 weeks to the last frost, but we will be traveling to Japan for a week during this period and I'm worried about the seeds drying out (and dying). I'll have to consider what to do about this.

Germinating seeds will happen in these peat pot trays with coir (coconut fiber) filling:

This blog will follow my adventures as I attempt to homestead; a place to share my successes and failures.

My yard has horrible soil, but it's pretty bare so before pictures are coming up next.

Additional plans include worm composting, full composting, organic growing, landscaping, building, raising chickens, installing rain barrels for water collection, and getting down and dirty with Mother Earth.

For every bug, there will be screaming. For every green shoot and edible that pokes through the earth, there will be tears of joy.

I am a most unlikely gardener. This is my adventure.