“Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city. Plus you get strawberries.”…”Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” ~ Ron Finley
One of the many reasons I’m thankful to have been able to be home with my family this past year is that I was able to assist in reaping the rewards from the seeds we sowed…my parents have been growing gardens for as long as I can remember. Some years they are bigger than others and it’s during those times when everyone reaps the full benefits of my Daddy’s green thumbs. Extended family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues and local food banks have all benefited from our small yet bountiful harvest.
This year we introduced a few different types of vegetables into our array of garden candy and everything we planted produced in abundance, well into the year. I have always been told that if you plant cyclically you’ll be able to take advantage of natures gifts throughout the year. For example, my Daddy and I were harvesting the remainder of the potatoes just a few weeks ago.
It’s hard to believe that these potatoes were grown from scraps and yet they yielded some pretty amazing results. Results that my stomach is thankful for!
Not only does gardening allow for you to ‘produce’ your own food, it’s also quite therapeutic. As well, it’s one way of ensuring what exactly one is putting into ones’ body given the wide spread use of pesticides that are being utilized and unknowingly consumed by the masses.
Fortunately, their has been an uptick in organic farming worldwide and I’m certain this is due to people becoming more informed about the old adage, “you are what you eat”. Countless studies have proven the affects of eating organically grown foods and I’m ever so thankful to have been raised on a plethora of homegrown – nutritionally packed goodness.
I’m certain some of you are saying to yourselves, well I don’t exactly have the yardage for such a garden. But, don’t be fooled! You can grow your own edible delights with even just a meager amount of space. For instance, you can grow various types of vegetables all by using a little ingenuity such as: a few five gallon buckets, a couple of planter boxes and some liter (soda) bottles all on the confines of your balcony or a sunny corner in your home.
Now that the seasons have changed and the frost has begun to settle upon our bits of black gold we’re taking the time to collect seeds from this years harvest, so that when spring makes it return we’ll be ready to scratch out a few rows – allowing for us to once again reap the natural benefit of being conscious farmers.
Please take a moment to enjoy some of the candy our little patch of dirt produced this year…
My hardworking Daddy carved out a bit of black gold in order to sow my Momma some more seeds as a gift on Mother’s Day, earlier this year…My garden of eden…I guess our strawberries didn’t get the memo…autumn is here.Most of the apples in the yard go to the deers (by the bucket full), but my Mom tends to can some as well. Her applesauce is the bomb.com!A few grapes are lurking in the shadows along the shop building out back…I like big beets and I don’t know why…The makings of a watermelon…The peach tree in the corner of the garden is starting to share its bounty…Our little assortment of squash from today’s harvest…Why am I just now noticing this pumpkin? It’s too cute!Apples & and a head of cabbage from the garden…today’s harvest.This is going to make for a deliciously lovely meal.The potatoes are growing like weeds in the garden…There’s nothing better than picking your vegetables from your very own garden…Time to make some fried green tomatoes…The raspberries have been growing by the bucket full in the garden.Now my Daddy’s just showing out! I adore the different array of flowers in each bouquet as well as the unique collection of vases he’s featured them in…’green thumbs’ run in the family.Am I the nectar or the bee…you tell me! *Taken in my parents front yard.Finally finished harvesting the potatoes in the garden…here’s to hoping that we got all of them!My Daddy setup a little planting station, so that we can plant our annual hanging baskets and display them around their property.Walking around my parents yard while taking notice of its hidden beauty…my Daddy’s dahlias are still blooming. These are the ones I bought him for his 60th birthday earlier in the spring of this year.
Fresh out of the garden.
I wondered why these hadn’t bloomed with the other Irises a month or so ago when I was wondering around my parents yard and now I know why, they’re a bit different…two of my favorite colors all in one beautiful bloom!Picked myself a few roses from my parents garden as a treat…Got squash?Wild poppies growing in the yard adding a pop of color here and there…The honeysuckle flower I bought my momma for Mother’s Day 09′. Most of the flowers in her garden are past Mother’s Day presents. It’s my traditional gift…Acorn squash anyone…straight from our garden!Yet another type of wildflower growing gracefully in my parents yard…This blossom smells absolutely delicious and the folds of its pedals are gorgeous!
Somehow these appear in my parents yard every year…thanks to the birds that eat the sunflower seeds in the feeders hung in several trees around the yard we get lil’ surprises once everything decides to bloom. By the way, did you see the bee?Collecting natures harvest…One of the hanging baskets my Daddy planted…he plants his own every year and has for years.yet another pumpkin’
Gotta love nature…A bit more eye candy from our garden…Now this is my kind of shopping…this catalog is AMAZING!It’s our day off (my Daddy & I) and there’s work to be done in the garden. Here’s today’s harvest!I’m glad I was able to see this face moments ago. She told me she learned how to make a pendulum styled clock at school in her science class…whether we realize it or not everything revolves around time, ensure your best to use yours wisely. Sharing some precious moments with my lovely niece, Tori.
Yes, pears too 😀 Thank you Elyse!
Sadly, I think you might be right in regards to why your indoor garden isn’t thriving as it should…unfortunately that’s one of the downsides to urban living. 🙁
But, don’t give up! Keep planting and try researching plants that are a bit more robust. Thusly allowing them to grow to their full potential in your region, even with its environmental impacts.
What a gorgeous, gorgeous garden!! And the harvest you got from it is marvellous I have a garden crush! 😀
Pears! I envy anyone who has a garden. My indoor plants die mus be city pollution!
Thank you ever so much Claudia! I’ll be certain to pass along your gracious words to my Daddy as well 😀
Yes, pears too 😀 Thank you Elyse!
Sadly, I think you might be right in regards to why your indoor garden isn’t thriving as it should…unfortunately that’s one of the downsides to urban living. 🙁
But, don’t give up! Keep planting and try researching plants that are a bit more robust. Thusly allowing them to grow to their full potential in your region, even with its environmental impacts.