A Grassroots Food Revolution
In the spirit of courage and self-sufficiency of previous generations who planted gardens in their front and back yards to support their nation’s war efforts - today many are undertaking the challenge of declaring independence from corporate food systems, reducing reliance on fossil fuels to bring food to the table, and cultivating a more healthy and fulfilling life. This grass roots revolution is occurring throughout America in today’s modern victory garden. The “war” is a revolution – and the battle ground is right here on the home front. The modern victory garden is also sometimes referred to as a "Freedom Garden" - because it represents a declaration of independence of sorts. It is all about taking back responsibility and control of our own food supply. Whether it is a modest container of tomatoes on a patio deck or a full fledged self-sufficient garden – each effort contributes to the goal of freeing ourselves from the forces that would keep us dependent on a system of petroleum fueled and factory farmed food. The rewards are many for taking up this challenge, and along the way you’ll experience the empowerment and fulfillment that comes from learning the basic skills of providing for yourself and your family.
Grow What You Eat – Eat What You Grow!
The Modern Victory Garden Blog Updates
July 5, 2009
Today was another warm and sunny day. This morning I finished watering the last of the garden beds. Everything was quite dry so I took extra time this weekend to do a deep soaking - particularly in the potato patches. By the end of the three-day weekend, I had managed to get through all the beds with a thorough soaking.
In addition to finishing up the watering tasks, I also pulled the last broccoli plants and harvested the remaining side shoots. They were pretty well gone by and there is so much more coming on in the garden right now that eeking out a few more side shoots just is not worth the effort or bed space. I lightly cultivated the soil in that section and then broadcast seeded some buckwheat for a green manure cover crop. Buckwheat is one of my favorite green manure crops but I rarely get to use it because it is a tender plant that can only be grown in the warm summer months. Typically, I have very few open sections in the garden during the summer - since I regularly plant succession crops. However, this bed is in an area that does not get good fall/winter sun exposure so it will not be used again until next spring. I will follow the buckwheat green manure crop with a fall cover crop planting of crimson clover, which should get the soil in prime condition by next spring. I keep a 1 lb bag of buckwheat seed and about 3 lbs of crimson clover seed on hand because I like to use green manure/cover crops on a regular basis - particularly in the fall with crimson clover.
None of these tasks too much time, and my husband and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to Point No Point beach during the mid-day low tide and had a lovely beach walk. Played in some tide pools, day dreamed about what it would be like to live in the lighthouse, sat on the driftwood and soaked up sun, and generally just spent a few hours watching the world go by and enjoying the sea air and grand Puget Sound views. This County Park is just a short distance from our home and is one of our favorite beach destinations.
On the way back from the beach walk, we stopped at Port Gamble, which is an old timber town and Washington's oldest surviving company town. Port Gamble is just 4 miles from our house and this charming location is a fun place to spend a Sunday afternoon. We had some lunch at the General Store cafe, which is located right next to the beautiful Walker-Ames House (reputed to be haunted).
After a yummy lunch of cucumber salad and blue cheese/grilled onion burgers, we made one last stop at the old livery stable. This old carriage barn and stables has been converted into an antique barn - where I found a great old compost sifter!
Click Here to See the Rest of This and Previous Blog Entries
Check Out the New and Improved Discussion Forum!
The discussion forum is back! The site hosting service recently upgraded this tool and I think it is a significant improvement. Come tell us about your garden, ask questions, share info, and just hang out and discuss food production gardening with like minded folks!
New For 2009 - Garden Economics Web Page!
Gardening can be a very frugal activity if done sensibly without "buying" your way out of all problems. However, most of us do experience ongoing costs associated with our food production garden to purchase basic inputs as required. Certainly, many of these costs can be substantially reduced (or even eliminated) with careful management and creative use of available resources, but most of us cannot expect to garden successfully without at least some financial input for basic supplies. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to keep a web page that tracks the benefits and costs of our garden for the 2009 season. Click HERE to go to this webpage and see the most current tally of information. Be sure to check back periodically to see how the costs add up as the year progresses.
So....What Was Harvested Today and What's Cooking?
The garden is an integral part of every day life in this household. The care, harvesting, and food prep from the resources our garden provides - are just part of the daily routine and rhythm. While my blog entries certainly discusses aspects of what is happening on the homestead and the recipes page has info on how to prepare some of our favorite foods - it is the calendar entries that will give you a real view into the daily chores and pleasures of our Modern Victory Garden.
Clicking on the daily calendar entries will provide answers to questions like "what's being harvested?", "what's cooking from the garden?", "What's being planted now?" and "How did you do that?" Check it out!
Benefits of Garden Self Sufficiency
| Click On The Photo Below To Go To Our Modern Victory Garden!
|
