serena
I asked the nano-farmer if he kept any sort of garden journal of sorts, and I got a snort and a tap on the temples (it’s all in my head). So I guess it’s up to me to tackle the garden notes. Since the last update:
:: The sugar maple in our front yard has started to leaf out.
:: Our first daffodil bloomed! We planted them on closing day.
:: Tulips, forget-me-nots, and dandelions are popping up.
:: Wild strawberries are hopefully taking over our lawn.
:: Our forsythia and azalea bush is in full color.
:: Tig and I chipped up a big mound of brush (thanks to Mark and Sasha for lending us their chipper!)
:: The Six blueberry bushes (Blueray, Jersey, and Patriot from Nourse) are in the ground. We dug up the grass, added compost, peat moss, sulfur and mulched generously with straw and wood chippings. I asked a local cafe to save some coffee grinds and got a bucketful to spread around the blueberries.
:: We planted strawberries in the second raised bed and mini-beds, the All Season Strawberry Collection from Nourse (Earliglow, Allstar, and Sparkle) plus Pineberries.
:: Tig started to cut down some Norway maples on the side of the yard to make room for raspberries, thereby making another pile of brush to chip.
Through a stroke of luck and generosity, we got some free raspberry canes and M111 apple root stock, but haven’t planted them yet. And while I’m very grateful for the abundance coming our way, our to-do list can sometimes feel overwhelming. It’s a tough balance between patience (observing the land, taking our time) and getting the fruit trees/bushes in the ground (it takes several years to get established).
I’ve been checking in on this blog for a couple of years now. We have followed similar paths. My family and I took a small boat down the ICW to the Bahamas, and then made the hard decision to return to living on land and growing in our garden in Western Washington.
I’ve started fun site with a friend called Raising Dirt, http://raisingdirt.com. We are posting videos each Monday about our life in and around the garden. It has been amazingly fun to put together. I think you might enjoy it.
Thanks for your sweet blog!
Hi Heather, glad to hear from a fellow cruiser alum! I love your project on food resilience in the Bahamas. Tig and I often lamented commented to each other about it. We did check out the Island School, which was doing some interesting work. I’d like to hear more about your project and how you hope to make an impact.