HELLO & WELCOME back to GARDEN DADDY here at the urban farm! Home with little "MAX" for his "annuals" and he is sleeping off his shots and other embarrassing test to his little "nether parts"! I have for a while now, been trying to access my blog site and when I first registered this blog I was using a different email provider. It has since become something else, under a new name and at the time locked me out, with no access to get back and be with you. I got my higher educated 3siblings involved and with pooling of knowledge...guess what...here I am. I should have done that long ago!
I do not even know where to begin with a catch-up and with it so long since I spoke with you I will not even try. I will start you off with this week...YES, I got spring chicks this week, yesterday actually. Little Buff Orpingtons...but not to keep. I will sell them later on at one of our W. Tn Poultry Club meets. Everyone always well raised birds. Of course I had to get one or two new ones for myself, right?!?!?!? I will also bring you up to date on the fact that all 6 of the little Mille Fleur d'Uccles show bantys I got late last August turned out to be ALL ROOSTERS! And living "in town" that was a no-no. My neighbors loved it but I knew it was only a matter of time before word got out and the jig would be up! So off they went to a fellow Master Gardener. But the Rhode Island Red and Black Sex Link pullets I got at the same time have started laying now and out of the total 15 birds I currently have I am getting anywhere from 12 to 15 eggs a day! I could not be more pleased. You are asking what does one person alone do the 1 +/- dozen eggs a day? Well, I have some happy neighbors and even yesterday, I took 5-dozen to my local soup kitchen....that is really what this whole "urban farm" thing is with me anyway. Being alone and gardening the way I do and including my management of one of our community garden sites I cannot possibly eat or freeze all the things I grow. So that has been the whole plan all along...I feed neighbors, friends, church folk and donate a good bit to the soup kitchen every year.
I did not want to consider this a victory garden as there is NO VICTORY in working yourself to being bone tired with all the work involved when I can really buy the things I need enough. But the great effort is made worthwhile in the result that a lot of people can eat off a relatively small amount of property. Especially those who either A. have now where to garden/homeless or less fortunate living circumstances & B. those who are some elderly or that simply are unable to manage gardening "in ground" (as opposed to raised beds). So yes, it is often tiring, yes it is a great deal of effort but when that man taking my food and eggs at the soup kitchen or the lady down the street who is widowed takes a bag of "mators" it is well worth the effort.
I am saying this to those of you who are able to garden, who have space and the time...plant one or two extra plants of EVERYTHING in your garden and simply give it away...to a stranger, to a neighbor, to someone at your church, to your soup kitchen...simply give it away. Do not be "FOOD SCROOGE"...give it away!
Enough preaching...yes, I have already started working on the community garden site for this summer and yes, I have already tilled my own several times...yes, I have planted snow peas already and they are up and soon to be running...chickens laying, birds nesting, trees budding....what happened to winter as it is ONLY March 8th 2012? Never really had any here but about 5 snows in November this past year...really too early but mostly all the winter weather we really had here in Jackson, TN.
I leave you today back in the urban farming blogosphere...and will try to update you at least every week. One of my OTHER problems as I have discussed before is that I have a terrible time telling people, "NO". I joined the JACKSON CHORAL SOCIETY late last summer, in August then was asked to be on the board of directors of same, I am still of course with the UT Master Gardener program, sing in my church choir (singing a duet this coming Sunday actually), still work p/t at my "big box" hardware store, member of the W. TN. Poultry Club and my community garden. I was also contacted this week to host a neighboring county's Commission on Aging for their April 2012 gardening event here at my home for them to tour the house and the "urban farm" and visit the community garden and we might even make a leaf casting or two. So yes, I am busier than I need to be but isn't life grand?
I leave you as in all our past with our ongoing gardening affirmation: "URBAN FARMING: ONE EGG AT A TIME!"
