I’m a little bit late to start my garden from seeds this year. But lately I’ve been feeling like I’m a little bit late to everything. That’s no excuse not to start planting and that’s no excuse not to start anything in life. Am I right?! Continue reading
Tag Archives: homesteading
2015 Garden Report
I’ve had a few people ask about the results of my garden–which is super flattering. I still love gardening, I just didn’t keep statistics like I did last year. It can be time consuming to log everything you grow.
This year I planted zucchini, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, crookneck squash, peppers, potatoes and carrots. I planted the zucchini and carrots first. Too much rain washed all of the zucchini out of my garden and the carrots were washed all over the garden. The carrots ended up growing in chunks instead of neat rows. I was very disappointed about the zucchini because it was a huge crop for me last year. And it makes great noodles!
Since I planted more tomatoes this year, I had a great crop. The cherry tomatoes have produced for months and are still producing! (I don’t expect this to happen for much longer.) The heirloom tomatoes did well, but I think I had a slight case of blight and they didn’t reach their full size potential.
On a funny note, I must have bought the wrong pepper seeds. I thought I bought sweet peppers, but the peppers ended up being so hot that we couldn’t eat them! I managed to put a few into salsa and chili, and give some away, but most of the peppers ended up uneaten. I hate waste, but when I bit into one, I couldn’t breathe. They were that hot.
The squash bloomed and produced for a good two weeks, then died suddenly. But for those two weeks, it was a stunner! My purple potatoes were the biggest surprise. Since they grow underground, I felt like it was a huge gamble. The flowering part of the potato plants looked great, but I had no idea what was going on under the surface. When I finally dug them up, I was so relieved. I ended up getting pounds of potatoes off of two starter potatoes!
Although I spread nutritious soil on the surface of my garden, next year, I will probably dig deeper or use raised beds. The soil where I live is incredibly sandy and I think it has resulted in poor growth and small veggies.
Every year I learn something new with this little garden.
Did you plant a garden this year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
love,
melanie
2015 Garden Update
Last year I did a really good job of documenting my gardening adventure. (You can read about How much money can a garden save by clicking that link.) This year I’ve had other priorities and other stuff going on. I did manage to get plants in the ground. I haven’t managed to weed much! Eek!
Potatoes!
This past weekend, I got in there and weeded for hours. My garden hasn’t faired as well this year. The weeds are taking over and right after I planted the majority of the seeds we had a torrential downpour. My carrots were washed are all over the garden and my zucchini got washed away completely. The potatoes are fairing well, as are the container tomatoes.
Tomatoes!
I still think a garden is a worthwhile investment. I can’t wait to eat a fresh-off-the-vine tomato and weeding is good exercise.
How is your garden fairing this year? Let’s chat in the comments!
love,
melanie
Unconventional Lifestyle Blogs
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
I get periodically obsessed with things. I’ll only want to eat mushrooms for two weeks or I’ll want to obsessively learn about making soap. Anyone else the same way? No? Ok. Just me, eating mushrooms and making soap for two weeks until I’m on the the next fascination.
Anyway, this past week or so, I’ve been doing a lot of personal research into alternative or unconventional ways of living. I hope it’s not just a passing phase because unconventional ways of living are fascinating– especially since I live pretty unconventionally, myself. It’s got me dreaming of becoming a full-time traveler or homesteader or a traveling homesteader. Can you be both?!
Here’s a few of my favorite resources I’ve found so far:
The Art of Nonconformity
On the Art of Nonconformity, Chris writes about about personal development and life planning, with the conviction that you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to;  entrepreneurship and other kinds of unconventional work, with the belief that the work we do should be both fun and meaningful; and  international travel, travel hacking in general, and his journeys to more than 25 countries every year.
The Modern Nomad
Gustav Andersson worked a 9-5 job for five years and realized that he was slowly stagnating into a comfortable routine — a personal nightmare of his. So he quit his job, sold his flat and walked away from the well-trodden streets of London to begin life as a modern-day nomad.
Nomadic Matt
Matt’s story is similar to most of our stories. We have the 9-5 with the 2 weeks of vacation per year. But a trip to Thailand on his measly 9-5 vacation changed him. He met five backpackers who showed him that he didn’t have to be tied down to a job and that he didn’t need to be rich to travel. After that trip, Matt went home, finished his MBA, quit his job, and set out on an adventure around the world. Matt is one of the foremost experts on travel hacking.
The Prairie Homestead
Jill ‘s journey with homesteading started with a compost pile. She currently lives on  67 acres of Wyoming prairie and blogs about returning to your roots of self-sufficiency and simple living, whether you live on a sprawling ranch or in a high-rise apartment.
Wayward Spark
Camille lives in Oregon with her husband and two little kids in an off-the-grid, tiny cabin. On her blog, she shares her honest experiences of modern day homesteading.
I’ll share some of my favorite Airstream travel blogs soon. I want to hear about your favorite unconventional lifestyle blogs in the comments!
Obsessively researching until then.
love,
melanie