Guest guest Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 I've always done my gardening organic. In fact my style of gardening is perhaps lazy, because I do the least amount of work necessary. Some organic gardeners use organic based stuff, but I figure if I can't get it to grow naturally it's not for me. I prepare the beds, I plant, sometimes I weed (usually when they start taking over) and then I harvest. James and I just moved to SW Iowa summer of 2004, so this summer was my first experience gardening in Iowa and on a new piece of property. We live on 5 acres on a hill (1400'), closest neighbor a mile away; and surrounded by corn and soybean fields. I grew the following produce, some more successful than others: green & yellow bush beans, pole beans, lettuce mix, Swiss chard, tomtoes (6 varieties), onions (4 varieties), leeks, broccoli, cabbage, yellow summer squash, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, potatoes (8 varieties). Right now we have 8 Guinea fowl, they are great for bug control (especially ticks). And next Spring we are getting some chicks and a few adult hens so we can raise our own eggs. Not sure about any other animals as both of us work full time and we are expecting our first child end of Feb. I'm just hoping that I'll have time to garden. But I plan on getting a sling, so that baby will be doing everything I do fully attached to me. So, I suppose in some people's eyes I'm not a true homesteader; but it's an email I created as I was moving out here as I do have a dream to one day survive off many things that I produce, instead of having to work in town and shop for my food. Denise , " linda " <lindai81@c...> wrote: > > Thank you for the compliment...it was very sweet of you and very nice to hear. It depends on the piece and the time I have available. Probably on average 2 months each...but they are larger pieces too. A small one might take a week or so. I do my own framing to so that I can afford the other materials and that only takes about a day to do. It is the most relaxing part of my life aside from reading. I have noticed your name and wondered if you organic homestead, where and how you like it? > linda > " Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do it. " > Mohandas Gandhi > > linda's Growing Stitchery Projects: womyn47 > - > organic_homestead > > Thursday, November 17, 2005 2:27 PM > Re: Yah Veggies! and brown rice and yeast flakes Hi Linda > > > Linda, > I checked out your link....WOW! what beautiful work!How long does it > take you to do a piece? > > Denise > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 Well, I think it is all very cool! You are really lucky. Congratulations on your first baby! And not long before you have that little one attached to the outside! She/he will be ever so much more calm attached to you in the traditional way. When I lived where I grew things I also never used anything...planted marigolds around was about it. I too kind of felt like others would consider me lazy in not doing more...they were right. Too many kids to really worry about it. Although one year I did have a disaster...tomato buggies attacked them and I had to scramble to pull all of the tomatoes off of 36 bushes and turn them into tomato pickle relish. But that lasted us a couple of years and was excellent. But planting with variety is good. I passionately love tomatoes so envy your six varieties. A question...you are in Iowa, and surrounded by corn and soybeans. How are you dealing with those probably being GMO'd and protecting your garden from that contamination? I believe that most of the corn grown there is for animal feed and nearly all genetically engineered now along with the soybeans. Well, I would consider you a homesteader with all of those dreams to keep on going deeper and deeper into it and living it now as much as you can. How wonderful it will be for your child as well as you and your husband. It is much more rewarding for many. Have you ever seen Carla Emery's book " The Encyclopedia of Country Living " ? It has had a number of incarnations and I read the first one. It has nearly everything in it about being self-sufficient as it applied to me. It is more my style rather than living out in the outback and never seeing civilization. LOL But simplifying is so necessary in living a rewarding life. Will you be homeschooling? linda " Whatever you do will be insignificant and it is very important that you do it. " Mohandas Gandhi linda's Growing Stitchery Projects: womyn47 - organic_homestead I've always done my gardening organic. In fact my style of gardening is perhaps lazy, because I do the least amount of work necessary. Some organic gardeners use organic based stuff, but I figure if I can't get it to grow naturally it's not for me. I prepare the beds, I plant, sometimes I weed (usually when they start taking over) and then I harvest. James and I just moved to SW Iowa summer of 2004, so this summer was my first experience gardening in Iowa and on a new piece of property. We live on 5 acres on a hill (1400'), closest neighbor a mile away; and surrounded by corn and soybean fields. I grew the following produce, some more successful than others: green & yellow bush beans, pole beans, lettuce mix, Swiss chard, tomtoes (6 varieties), onions (4 varieties), leeks, broccoli, cabbage, yellow summer squash, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, potatoes (8 varieties). Right now we have 8 Guinea fowl, they are great for bug control (especially ticks). And next Spring we are getting some chicks and a few adult hens so we can raise our own eggs. Not sure about any other animals as both of us work full time and we are expecting our first child end of Feb. I'm just hoping that I'll have time to garden. But I plan on getting a sling, so that baby will be doing everything I do fully attached to me. So, I suppose in some people's eyes I'm not a true homesteader; but it's an email I created as I was moving out here as I do have a dream to one day survive off many things that I produce, instead of having to work in town and shop for my food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2005 Report Share Posted November 18, 2005 , " linda " <lindai81@c...> wrote: >A question...you are in Iowa, and surrounded by corn and soybeans. How are you dealing with those probably being GMO'd and protecting your garden from that contamination? I believe that most of the corn grown there is for animal feed and nearly all genetically engineered now along with the soybeans. Yes, most of the fields around us and in Iowa are GMO. The corn is Round Up Ready and so they spray the fields with Round Up. The corn is used for feed, plastic processing and ethanol. I actually fill my car with gasoline that is mixed with ethanol. The soy bean is also GMO and is primarily feed. However, we have neighbors not far from us who do grow organically and in fact I am involved with a group of producers who are all small family run farms either organic, natural or humane. Living here has really opened my eyes to the politics of agribusiness. We are supporting a candidate for governor, Ed Fallon, who is ready to fight the recent laws passed to support hog factory farms and GMO crops. This first season I was not affected by drift. > > Have you ever seen Carla Emery's book " The Encyclopedia of Country Living " ? My sister got James that book for christmas last year. It's a great book and we've found lots of useful information in it. > Will you be homeschooling? James definitely has a passion for homeschooling. I've recently read some really good articles in Mothering Magazine (an excellent mag on natural family living) and it has changed my mind. Although I've told James that right now I'm not that interested in being the one to homeschool, so if he wants to make it happen than he has to do it. Of course it would be a joint effort overall. Well, we've got some time before we have to make the ultimate decision. It would be nice if we could find some people near us who homeschool so we could talk to them. I know a couple of people on this list do homeschool, do you? Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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