Here in California where it’s green on all the mountains, daffodils are blooming and so are early shrubs; Daphne, sarcocca, fruiting trees, forget-me-not’s. It’s starting to be time to project what the summer garden will look like. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve planned, how many seeds you’ve ordered. The next step is real life and the best laid plans don’t always work out. Garden areas might not be rich enough for the plants you’ve planned there. A new favorite might over-ride your decisions. Maybe too wet. Maybe a perennial you’ve forgotten about is filling up your spaces.
My discussions with myself this year go something like this;
1. How much can we really handle?
2. Are we going to try to grow veggies in another warmer location this year as well as here?
3. Since I lost my job, am I going to focus on more landscaping work instead of the farm ?
4. We are still building infrastructure, should we focus on that? Plus earning the money to fund that ?
5. Sell at Farmer’s Market this year ? Or just sell CSA vegetables ?
6. Commercially market bread?
We have some momentum and I want so badly to inspire everyone to grow vegetables and to just garden! . I’m not sure what route to take to share . I’ve talked to our high school principal and found out we could have a field trip come here. The kids can pick food out of the garden, to put on pizza’s we could bake in the wood fired oven. Plus a garden tour. This is good, I could extend the invitation to the elementary schools as well. I’d like to teach classes or just garden with a group. The horticulture program at the school was so very modest and could be so much more, a local CSA, animal husbandry, food for their kitchens.
How do the kids get inspired to see horticulture and agriculture as a real livelihood ?
How do we make gardening more user friendly ??
Any suggestions ?