Good morning, everyone. Can't believe we're starting our 3rd week of this group--so cool!
I am happy to report that I am down 3 pounds for this past week--I was down 4 but had a day and a half of travel and too many bad choices... am definitely looking forward to the steps of this week helping me with the inspiration to get through the bad choices
QOTD - Forgive me while I share one of my passions with you... sorry if I go on too long with this one...
We definitely garden... Our ground here is icky - so we do it all in raised 'beds'--actually we use tires (which we get free from the local tire store). This year we are also using the tires to build some wind walls to help protect the garden from wind and bunnies and prairie dogs. To save water and make it easier on us we try to do it with drip irrigation as well (which is my job here...)
We plant enough to eat during the summer, to share with anyone who needs it and to preserve (dehydrate or pressure can or store in a cool dark place).
Last year was our first year here so we went with a 'small' garden--onions, potatoes (3 kinds), tomatoes (3 different kinds), dry beans (hutterite), and butternut squash. Oh - and we have a strawberry patch which didn't give much last year - but looks promising for this year. We also had rhubarb that didn't do well and raspberry that didn't give us anything.
This year - oh the list is long... we can't plant outside til end of May - so this weekend we are starting some plants inside...
For the 'orchard' so far we have planted (this year) 2 peach trees, 1 mulberry and 4 apples. And we also put in 3 new raspberry canes - and we are trying 2 blueberry bushes too (but those have to be in pots)
For the garden we already have onions, garlic and egyptian walking onions (a perrenial that I'm excited about). We will plant - potatoes (2 varieties), tomatoes (probably 4-5 varieties), zucchini, corn, beans (some green bean types and several dry beans), pumpkins (I got the cinderella variety--quite excited about that one), peas, spinach and lettuces (which will go in this week with some covers). I know there's more - but those are the ones that come to mind right now.
If any of you want help with getting any kind of garden started... I am MORE than happy to help you feel the joy of watching that miracle that happens when you put a seed in the ground and then it starts to grow and then actually gives you food before it's all over... way fun!!!
Good luck with your food choices today - and with getting in those steps--I'll be outside getting the garden ready to have plants--reconfiguing the drip lines and hopefully this weekend we'll start putting up our greenhouse!

Liz