Swallowed the Fly

    It began with an idea that I would grow a few extra fresh vegetables. Usually I grow a few tomatoes and a few peppers, this year was a little like the nursery rhyme about the old lady and the fly.....
     I read a few more books and articles. I discovered ways to reduce or even eliminate pests by my choices of plants and where I placed them.
    For instance, this year I planted carrots and peppers near my tomato plants. I also tossed in a few marigold seeds. I placed my pepper plants closer to each other as they apparently like to "shake hands". 
    I wanted to add squash, zuchini, brocolli and peanuts this year. While reading about squash, I found out about radish plants. Apparently radish plants deter squash bugs. I don't really like radishes, but I planted them anyways. We planted a round yellow cucumber for fun. Then, while reading about brocolli, I discovered that cauliflower like the same conditions, so I added a few cauliflower plants. I planted the peanuts to show my children how they grow.
    Then, I decided I would like to try to grow melons, kale, swiss and swiss chard....
     So here we are, now toward the end of the growing season since I do not have a greenhouse, and I am still picking things from my garden. We had another drought this year, but I was able to add a lot of fresh vegetables from my garden to our meals.
    I have been inspired to do more.
    As I picked more and more tomatoes, I needed to find a way to preserve them or I would lose many to waste. I had already been giving some away, but the tomato plants kept producing. I learned to "can" my tomatoes.
    I needed to find someone to give the radishes to and I did. Someone was happy to have fresh garden radishes and they had done their job and repelled the bugs.
    I had fresh cantaloupe when there were several recalls of fruit due to bacteria.
     At this moment, it is very cold outside and I am still picking broccoli. The cauliflower, kale and swiss chard is almost ready to be picked.
     It is lovely. We have tried more recipes this year also. We found that the cucumbers we planted for fun are now our favorites! They are round and yellow, flavorful and just the right size for a salad. No waste! Three plants provided us with fresh cucumbers for salads every day all summer.
     Oh, I have gained a new addiction to be sure. I already have a notebook with plans and sketches for next year. I have plans to get the old table saw out and build a few of my own trellises.
     If I had known that adding a bit more to my garden would have meant I would be building more, canning, cooking more and so much more work, I don't know that I would have initially added more to my garden. I intimidate easily when the old lady swallows the fly.
    I will say that I love it. I love that there was added pressure on all of us to eat the fresh vegetables. It reduced the processed foods and meats from our diets even more. It was simply a natural side effect.
    I love that my children were not too excited about cucumber sandwiches at a party, but when we made them at home, they were thrilled. I love that we have added kale and broccoli to our basic potato soup, which means more vitamins in that particularly unworthy soup.
     We have made a lot of changes and discoveries to be sure. We now value fallen leaves in our yard. They are free compost material. We look at a lot of things differently. We look at produce at the grocery store differently as a family.
     We spent so much time working on ways to make our garden successful without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides that we look at a lot of things differently.
     Mind you. I have a tiny garden area. We could not have survived without local grocery stores. We also do not have a cow, so milk and cheese must come from the store. (We don't seem to be able to reduce those in our diet at this time... We love dairy too much.)
     I have read articles about a family of four being self sufficient on 1/4 acre. I won't say it is impossible, but in my area, I am going to say that it is unimaginable. How would I find space to grow grains and other things? I don't know. We grew a tiny patch of corn and I felt that it was totally unworthy. One to two ears per cornstalk when each cornstalk needed a square foot of garden space? It wasn't math I enjoyed. 
     I do not foresee any livestock possibilities. I considered rabbits for their compose additions, but it gets really, really cold and really really hot here and I do not want them in my house, so ... no bunnys for us. Forget a cow, chickens, goats or pigs. They need too much space and extra foods.
     That seems to be a problem for all of us. Agriculture specialists around the world are trying to find ways to produce more foods in smaller spaces. They are working on more and more artificial means to accomplish this. Perhaps we will get lucky and wont accidentally destroy the human population with these changes. I don't know.
      I am not someone who is prepping for the apocalypse, but I am trying to make a few changes to help my family. I can make no claims about being a Master Gardener, or an expert on foods and nutrition. I cannot claim to know what is best for anyone. 
     I can tell you that this summer, this gardening season, I was able to burn off some stress in a healthy manner. I was pulling a few weeds when I was angry. I was watering to contemplate how I would get through the next week. I was harvesting to feel a sense of accomplishment when everything else seemed so out of control.
     It is work. Every day I watered by hand. It was too hot and too dry this year. Every weekend, I walked around and gathered the few weeds that had accumulated. Several times each week, I picked vegetables.
    I will do this again. It was totally worthy. The old lady swallowed the fly, and I planted just a bit more. I am a better person for it.