Independence Days: It’s Finally Spring Edition

After a ghastly winter of Gronk-deep snow, spring has finally arrived in southeastern Massachusetts. I’m in my garden again, and it feels so good. Spring bulbs are blooming, rhubarb is starting to sprout, the grass is greening, and my two baby fruit trees survived the bitter winter. That means it’s time for semi-regular Independence Days Challenge updates to log my garden progress. Let’s see if this year I can keep up with them! I have a habit of starting strong and falling off in mid-summer, when the harvest’s coming so fast it’s all I can do to keep up with it, let alone log it.

The blogger from whom I learned about the challenge is Sharon Astyk. Go read Sharon’s blog archives if you’re interested in food systems, climate change, farming, or the joys and challenges of foster parenting. She’s one of my heroes. Due to a combination of parenting and moving, she hasn’t been blogging regularly, but the archives are worth exploring if you share my passions.

Here are the challenge categories, in Sharon’s words:

Plant something: A lot of us were trained to think of planting as done once a year, but if you start seeds, do season extension and succession plant, you’ll get much, much more out of your garden, so I try and plant something every day from February into September.

Harvest something: Everything counts – from the milk and eggs you get from your animals to the first dandelions from your yard to 50 bushels of tomatoes – it all counts.

Preserve something: Again, I find preserving is most productive if I try and do a little every day that there is anything, from the first dried raspberry leaves and jarred rhubarb to the last squashes at the end of the season.

Waste not: Reducing food waste, composting everything or feeding it to animals, reducing your use of disposables and creation of garbage, reusing things that would otherwise go to waste, making sure your preserved and stored foods are kept in good shape – all of these count.

Want Not: Adding to your food storage or stash of goods for emergencies, building up resources that will be useful in the long term.

Eat the Food: Making full and good use of what you have, making sure that you are getting everything you can from your food, trying new recipes and new cooking ideas, eating out of your storage!

Build community food systems: What have you done to help other people have better food access or to make your local food system more resilient?

Skill up:  What did you learn this week that will help you in the future – could be as simple as fixing the faucet or as hard as building a shed, as simple as a new way of keeping records or as complicated as making shoes.  Whatever you are learning, you get a merit badge for it – this is important stuff.

The traditional first Independence-Days picture: Farmer-Style Ryan Gosling.

And here are my current results:

Plant something: Today so far: Amish Blushing Bibb lettuce, radishes (second planting), scallions (second planting), Space spinach (second spinach planting) and calendula (old seeds scattered in the flower garden. I’m not expecting much.) Already  started inside: parsley, leaf celery, many tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant, basil, marjoram, Kalettes (a kale/Brussel sprout cross), and shallots. Also, a flat of mixed mesclun greens to tide us over a bit until the garden’s ready. Already in the ground and starting to emerge: peas, spinach, various lettuces, Osaka purple mustard, arugula, radishes, scallions, tatsoi & another Chinese cabbage. I’ll probably update this later with more planting!

Harvest something: So far, only mesclun and the occasional bit of parsley or basil when it needs thinning. Oh, and dandelion greens to add to tonight’s salad.

Preserve something: Nothing lately, other than stock.

Waste not: Composting and remembering to eat leftovers–nothing exciting.

Want not: Stocked up on grains, local NYS cheeses and some lovely apples while visiting Mom last weekend.

Eat the food: Eating freezer and canned foods regularly. We even brought stock and frozen rhubarb to my mom’s to add to her birthday dinner!

Build community food systems: We’ve been going to the farmer’s market over the winter, and (see above) bought local-to-Mom apples and cheese, for far less money than local-to-us versions cost.

Skill up: I’ve been reading a lot about gardening and local food systems. We’re pondering chickens and more fruit trees and doing some research on these topics, though I missed the chicken workshop that recently took place in my area.