Monday, June 11, 2012

"City" Farmer?

I came across this book at the library the other day and was intrigued. While I don't consider myself living "in the city", I do live within the city limits of my little town -- and in a subdivision, so I have neighbors all around me.

The introduction and first couple of chapters really resounded with me -- I enjoyed the author's style of writing, and she spent a lot of time giving facts and research and her own opinions about the whys of gardening in general. Later chapters dove more heavily into the "city/urban" aspects of farming and gardening (containers and rooftops and community gardens and guerrilla gardening...), so I did some skimming there... But that doesn't discount the emotions the first few chapters encouraged in me.

I expanded my own little garden this year to be my biggest one yet since I've been married (and away from my mom's garden! :)  Of course this is the summer that I'm pregnant and due the end of July... but I just couldn't stay away from that dirt. So far it's been easily manageable, weeding and watering every few days. Abby enjoys dipping her watering can in her kiddie pool and watering the plants too. :) And there is SO much satisfaction when I look down from the back deck and see all those sweet little plants:



Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one in my neighborhood who has a vegetable garden. I can see a few backyards of some of my neighbors and a few more as I drive out onto the main streets, but most are fenced in and/or just not in plain sight. My house sits on a corner lot where two streets come together, and it's not fenced, so anyone can see into my entire yard. Do they think I'm crazy for growing vegetables? Especially with this big baby belly?

I'm hoping to write a handful of posts about gardening topics, including:
  • The loss of "seasonal eating"
  • Hiding your garden in the backyard vs. a front yard edible landscape
  • Kids and gardening
  • Supermarket vs. farmers market vs. your own home market
  • The history of victory gardens
  • Community gardens

Do you grow your own vegetables? Do you live in the "city" or the country?

Linking up to:
RomanceOnADime.com

7 comments:

  1. I will look forward to your posts on gardening. We are in the city urban area. We did do a garden about 3 years ago which was good. Our dirt is clay like so it isn't easy to put a garden in. We may still plant a few things in the next couple of weeks.

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    1. I have the opposite problem -- my dirt is sooooo sandy. I feel like I'm constantly watering, both the garden and the front yard flowers. Especially since we haven't had rain in two weeks!

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  2. We live in a subdivision. I would LOVE to have a garden, but we are moving from California to North Carolina this summer at some point, so it was kind of pointless for me to start one. But, my friend, who lives in Palm Springs has a garden in her back yard. I know she has harvested some corn, tomatoes and onions so far, not sure what else.

    I'm you're newest follower from the Mom Blog Monday Blog Hop 8)

    Lovin Life

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    Replies
    1. Yeah it probably isn't a good idea to start a garden if you'll be moving! I questioned whether or not to do one this year with the baby being due right in the middle of harvest season. We'll see what happens. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Awesome - I'm looking forward to this coming series of yours!! I'm so glad you linked up. It's good to see you blogging. :)

    Hope you come back and link up next Tuesday at Romance on a dime!

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  4. I'm a new follower. Found you from Take it on Tuesdays.
    I loved the book City Farmer. I just wish I had more room (like a field) to grow my garden!

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  5. That looks like a good book. We live in the country and usually grow lots of our own especially potatoes.

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