The babies are coming...

I'm a little bummed that I'm heading on vacation at this critical time during the baby veggie's birth, especially since they're finally poking their heads up.

Between the mold and first over watering and then under watering the little buggers, I'm surprised to see so many green heads looking for the light. But here they come, despite my accidental attempts to murder them.

I hope that when we get back they'll all be waving their little shoots at me, getting ready to go into the ground in a few weeks.

Here's where we are with some of the over-achievers:

The broccoli clan is the biggest and most boisterous of the bunch.

 

The Rutger tomato is on the left and the yellow cherry is on the right. YUM.

And Sweet Basil is the first of the herbs to start coming up.

In other news, the first person I emailed with from the county that said chickens would be OK, forwarded my message to someone in Zoning and now Zoning says chickens are NOT allowed in our residential area.

After doing much research, I've drafted a letter asking for an exception and a change in the zoning laws for the county, so we will have to put the chicken adventures on hold while I fight with the county administration.

I will prevail! It will just take some time. Vote for chickens!!!!!

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.