Food Control: What a difference a year can make

Here we are, here we go

I found a book years ago that put me on this path. I will have to find it now, but is was something along the lines of "control your food supply". Luckily I grew up canning food with my mother and grandmother so the seed was already planted, so to speak. I started doing other things to achieve a sustainable lifestyle, baking my own bread, growing more of my own food, raising chickens etc.

Most recently I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is Gluten Intolerance. This translates to no food with wheat, barley, rye and for the most part oats. It gets complicated to buy processed foods at the store or eat at restaurants. Life has given me some hurdles recently that put road bumps in my journey of food control, but after the diagnosis it hit home that now more then ever I need to control my food before it controls me.

There are so many things people can do, even in an urban environment, to achieve control of your food supply, from top to bottom. Do a little or go all the way, I promise all of it will be fulfilling and you will have a better connection with the foods you eat.

The topics near and dear to me, that will be discussed are - local, sustainable agriculture, vermicomposting, composting, growing food, edible gardening (gardens can be pretty), preserving the harvest, baking and cooking Gluten Free foods that taste like food, farmers markets, CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture)......I am sure I will add to this list over time.

Monday, September 8, 2008

What a difference a year can make

The yard was a square patch of dieing lawn exactly year ago when we moved in.

Below is a picture from early this spring when I finally was able to start planting things (we had a LONG spring this year, I was very thankful for the hoop house I built). Prior to spring was when all the initial construction took place, building the raised beds, compost bins and fencing, the basic necessities.

Similar angle a year later............what a difference a year can make (with enough sweat)

The fence around the garden is to make life harmonious with the other critter sharing this space. My dog is.......well......special. She has a terrible habit of chasing and eating bees, yes bees. She is usually very good about "stay out of the garden", she knows there will be hell to pay if she tramples my plants, but if she is chasing a bee her "instinct" wins and my garden looses. AND I want the bees in the garden, so dog proof fence. The fence also keeps the chickens out, for similar reasons as the dog. They don't get to roam free in the yard often, but there are special places I have planted for them to browse outside the garden, everyone is happy. The cat however is still a bit of an issue, at first I was convinced he was too fat to hurdle the fence (see below photo), he did too for a while, now he manages to get himself over and has decided my newly composted beds are a good place to poop. Needless to say we are discussing the problem.

Below is the flower bed portion in early spring, on the outside of the fence, planted for "messy garden" disguise and beneficial bug attraction. Over all an essential part of the garden as far as I am concerned. There are tubers you can't see here. But overall I am prefer edible gardening so this bed, along with some basic standby garden flowers, has Lemon balm, Swiss Chard, nasturtiums, and kale.

Same space a year later.........

A couple more photos of garden in full summer mode. Overall starting in late April we have been eating primarily out of the garden. Other then a few things that are essential to a recipe and I didn't have ready yet, I have been eating seasonally out of the garden for 6 months now, starting with Rapini in the spring and now a full bounty of zuccini's, tomatoes, peppers etc. Some things I have even had enough of to put up for winter. I have just finished planting my fall starts - broccoli, cabbages, kales, lettuce, spinach, peas, beets, turnips.....I think that's it. With the hoop house I should be able to at least grow greens year round in our climate, at least the basic kale, lettuce and spinach, we'll see how it works out and what this winter brings.