Farming inspiration

I know I've mentioned before that friends of ours have a "mini-farm" or "farmette." We enjoy going there to see all the goings on - goats and chickens and apples, oh my! - and I enjoyed a day of making and canning applesauce, apple butter, and apple pie filling at their home...which has allowed us to enjoy the fruits of that labor. Yum!

That coupled with something an older gentleman once said to me at Al's Garden Center - "Everything you grow should have a purpose. I don't grow anything I can't eat!" - has led Ricky and me to begin thinking about our new backyard and what we should do with it.

There isn't a lot growing in our yard at the moment, and it's kind of liberating and scary all at the same time to know that we can do whatever we want come spring. We're finding that we'd really like to be able to grow our own fruits and vegetables, to have those things available to can and keep for the winter months, so we're seriously considering taking steps to turn our backyard into a semi-urban garden and orchard.

Currently we are investigating dwarf fruit trees. These are trees that bear the same fruit as larger orchard trees, but the trees themselves are much smaller and bear less fruit. After seeing the number of apples a regular apple tree can produce, I think it's definitely a good idea to look toward the dwarf options! We'd definitely do an apple tree, and perhaps a pear tree as well, as that is one of Ricky's favorite fruits. And yes, we do know that fruit trees are messy, but that's ok! Besides, Jacko thinks dropped fruit are balls, and the entertainment value of watching him play with the dropped fruit is worth the mess all by itself!

We're also gearing up to build boxes for square foot gardening next spring. We'd like to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables this way, including tomatoes, potatoes, beans, lettuce and strawberries. We've also talked about investing in some grape vines. Our friends have concord grapes on their property and Oh. My. Word. Those grapes are incredible, like a burst of grape juice in your mouth with each bite! I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful and juicy those grapes are.

We're finding that homegrown tastes so much better than the store bought options, and there is certainly some pride in being able to use produce from one's own garden in the kitchen. We'd never make it as country folk, we like the city far too much for that, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy some of the benefits of country living while staying in our quiet suburban neighborhood.