PATH TO FREEDOM
PEDDLER'S WAGON
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
Entries (RSS)
August 21, 2008
Looks like we are not alone in our garden assessment. As one reader put it “we skipped a month somewhere.” Yep, it’s like we missed summer - weird.
Many of those who commented had some things growing well, while others not so well either due to weather or not enough bees.
Last week we made the tough decision to not sell any more tomatoes to our clients. Due to the cooler weather, the tomatoes production has tapered off. Not only will our annual tomato harvest be affected by also our income from sales. Instead of sales we are opting to eat and preserve the remaining tomato harvest. Of course, we’d have liked both but this year has been an exceptionally tough growing year - thanks in part to the roller coaster weather which through everything for a loop.
Tomatoes weren’t the only ones to be pulled from the list - our popular salad greens too. The decision sent our clients in a slight uproar! Last year we supplied our client through the entire year with salad greens. This year we’ve puttered out mid August and have put a hold till the young greens are able to be harvested in a few weeks time. Though the summer was cooler the extreme heat and humidity in June (which is normally cool) threw our planting schedule off. Not to mention the invasion of harlequin bugs - the likes of which we’ve never seen in our 20 years of gardening here. So we are making darn sure those pesky buggers won’t have a chance to overwinter and ruin next season.
Not to be deterred, all sights and focus is on later summer and early fall. Summer plantings mean fall and winter harvest. So with gardening you got to be quick to adjust to what befalls - weather, insects and the likes. Come what may, we still plant and pray for a better day.
Despite the lack luster harvest for some crops - the peppers, eggplant, squash are absolutely gorgeous and such abundance! And we are still eating very, very well - homegrown with a few bought staples and that’s certianly a blessing.
Container gardener extraordinaire, Paulo,( mused our sentiments exactly) had this advice for gardening in a changing climate: “biodiversity in our gardens will be however key solutions for these changes.” Divesity is what saves or salvages a mediocre year.
Fellow Freedom Gardener, So Cal Dan, so aptly sums what we gardeners grow through every year — ”Patience, Perseverance & Humility”
Amen to that. As gardeners we are on our knees a lot, how has your garden humbled you this year.
Oh, and let’s give another one of our fellow Freedom Gardener, Chicago Mike, some encouragement on taking the plunge (into boiling hot water!) in home canning operation. Any first home preservers out there, care to nudge him along?
: Field Hand Appreciation ::
$100 KH $20 GW HC $20 CC$50 GM $10 donations. This generous readership support goes towards keeping this site online and for ongrowing improvements (yep, there’s still more in the works!). Thank you.
(6 votes)
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Filed under: In the Garden, Posts by Anais |
Tags: Garden, gardening, in the garden, Weather
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 20, 2008
Peppers, apples, peaches, figs and beans
Larder of homegrown goods - shelves are fiilling up fast
Summer garden
Little farm in the city
It’s co-op pick up time! (note: not all ours, we picked up for four other people)
It’s been the coolest August that we can remember. Nippy (foggy) mornings, cool evening and pleasant days. It’s August right? Just checking to see if we are the same calendar as everyone else.
Has the weather been wacky where you are?
I wonder, does this mean we’ll have a hotter than normal fall? The poor summer crops haven’t a clue what season it is. Not only are they clueless but the pest are out in force this season - spider mites, harlequin bugs, mildew.
The crop mostly effected this summer growing season was the tomatoes. Not only ours but seems everyones tomatoes were just off. Sure, we harvested and are harvesting tomatoes but not in the amount that we normally harvest (almost 1,000 lbs) Justin says we’ll be lucky if we get 1/2 that this year. What’s bad for some is good weather for others. The avocado and figs are producing like gangbusters.
We are gambling that temperature will warm up a bit in fall for another round of warm weather crops before we turn over the garden into cooler weather rotation. So we are out there planting another go around of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, squash and peppers. August is the last planting month for most of the summer crops, come September it’s salad greens, pea, broccoli and cabbage time.
A slew of preservation continues to manage the onslaught of the summer harvest. Our cabinets are certainly filling up with surplus - food security for the long winter!
How’s your growing and preservation efforts coming along?
(5 votes)
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Filed under: Homestead Life, In the Garden, Posts by Anais, Storage & Preservation, Uncategorized, Weather |
Tags: Garden, pest, Preservation, summer, Weather
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 18, 2008
A table full of food, friends
Saturday was a day of rest and relaxation - a time spent with friends and family.
Then on Sunday off to downtown LA for Sustainable LA!
Justin answers questions
Jordanne meets and greets
Path to Freedom/ Peddler’s Wagon booth
One of our information tables
Street full of vendors (background the shiny Disney Hall)
Looking up - Two towers and brilliant blue skies
Jules talks about urban farming and taking sustainable steps
Jules answers questions after the conclusion of the panel
Justin and Jordanne wait for the Gold Line
On Sunday, Farmer D loaded up the biodiesel suburban and rode out early to set up at the Sustainable LA festival. We followed a bit later that morning on our bikes, biking the 12 or so miles into downtown LA. When we bike we like to stay off major streets - traffic, exhaust - as much as we can.
For August the day was relatively pleasant. Yeah, can’t believe I am using the word pleasant in August. I think the high in downtown LA was 75 degrees. We’ve been experiencing “June gloom” in August which is so weird.
Weird weather aside, it was a beautiful day and the folks at Sustainable LA did an incredible job at organizing the event and the venue was ideal. Imagine a street in downtown LA blocked off for a sustainable/farmers market event - nice.
For those readers who stopped by our booth, thanks for coming out. It was an opportunity to meet our readers face to face. Lots of familiar faces too - nice to see you all. Also, a big thanks to those who supported us with purchases from the Peddler’s Wagon.
The Slow Food Panel hosted by LA Times food columnist, Russ Parsons, drew a huge crowd. My favorite part was when Farmer D spoke of IMBY, which really summed up the PTF mission of inspiring positive action. So what’s IMBY? Well, you know how folks alway say “Not in my backyard.” Well, there are a lot of nimby’s in the world, however, we are proponents of a revolution “In my backyard.” It’s about promoting sustainability in our back (front) yards.
Towards early evening, we (Justin, Jordanne and I) headed on back to Pasadena, choosing to bike and use public transit (Gold Line) to make it home in time to feed the animals.
Oh and many of you asked about our next event. Since our mailing list has grown, and our events now draw over 120 people, we are hoping the school next door will allow us to once again rent their facility. Stay tuned for details.
Note: If you were anictipating the Weekly Menu Wrap Up, it was posted on Friday.
(7 votes)
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Filed under: Events & Outreach, Posts by Anais |
Tags: Biodiesel, imby, support, sustainable la, Weather
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August 15, 2008
This is our type of economy - trading goods for goods.
View Video SIX EGGS FOR A PINT OF BEER
What’s In Your Wallet?
Are you growing a local economy? Have you barter, swapped, traded lately?
Food, goods and services are like the commerical says “priceless.”
(6 votes)
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Filed under: Back to Basics, Posts by Anais |
Tags: barter, eggs, homegrow, homegrown, homegrown economy, swap, trade, video
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 15, 2008
First, thank you to our generous long time readers who have supported us over these last seven years since we starting sharing our sustainable journey. PTF remains and homegrown, grass roots, family operated project that remains self reliant. We don’t depend on grants but on donations and support from our readers.
At the first of this year, we said that this was going to be one of growth for PTF. If you like the direction it which we are growing (FreedomGardens.org and soon to come UrbanHomesteading.com and more!), and if this site has helped or inspired you in any way, please take a moment to consider supporting our work.
Taking Stock
Not only are we going to fall short of our 10k produce goal, we have failed to match dollar per pound in our support campaign. Though, disappointed, we remain hopeful and passionate about continuing along this path.
Supply Your Urban Homestead
If you need ‘Back to School’ supplies or goods for your urban homestead/garden, please consider supporting PTF work by purchasing from our online “small box” store.
All support goes toward providing better web content and support. By supporting this work, you are not only helping yourselves but others.
Wrap Up
Well, that about wraps it up this mini posting blitz (5 entries today) - enjoy! See you back here on Monday with hightlight from the Sustainable LA event. and more. In LHITC entrie que are - gardening tips, natural beauty and much much more!
(3 votes)
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Filed under: Grow the Future, Mixed Greens (News), Posts by Anais, Website Updates |
Tags: Garden, homegrow, homegrown, support
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!