This Time, Last Year

Well maybe earlier in the summer last year, we began taking our gardening a bit more serious than before. In past years, we had had a roommate who used to be a farmer in (fill in with Midwest state I don't remember) and he had planted artichokes, asparagus and lots of succulents. The artichokes were mistakenly taken down some years later by some overly eager "gardeners". The asparagus are going strong.

We expanded our backyard boxes and went crazy with fava growing.

We also had a French roommate living with us, Christophe, and when his mother visited, she made us some delicious Salade Nicoise, which goes something like this:
Fresh fava beans, prepared; fresh peas, shelled; grape tomatoes, halved; spring onions, slices thin, Kalamata olives and tuna.

We also planted some lettuce, onions and we already had our lovely strawberry line (which is becoming more of a strawberry field this year).

 I got some sun chokes (they grow up to 8 feet and some times get flowers, that look like sunflowers though I have yet to see any) but you can eat the root and it is pretty delicious. Apparently you can even pickle them, which is the plan this year. They are very satisfying to grow, like favas, they are quick and resilient.

Another important addition last year was our herb box! Cleverly placed right by the stairs which lead up to the kitchen, we planted a variety of things: Lemon verbena, lavender, oregano, cibule (scallion), chamomile,parsley, peppers, basil and somehow some tomato plants made it in there as well (I wanted to try out the idea that basil and tomatoes grow well together, hence Caprese salad).

Ah yes and those little plastic containers with brown stuff (beer) was to get rid of slugs, they were all over that precious basil! Next post will include a picture of the herb box this year (looks SO different) and all the things that we have been doing with the herbs and future plans.

Not so Chronological After All

Yes, at the beginning, when I had this blogging idea, probably many months ago, I wanted to be extremely organized about show the progression of things. How one box became two, three, four and then we took over the lawn. There were more trees, then sun chokes, we added an herb box, chickens and bees joined in! But alas, I don't think it will work that way after all.


Thanks to the photographs I will be able to show some of the chronological progression, but I have decided to write about what the latest project is and what I am most excited about. Otherwise, this blog will slowly fade away. Being excited=productivity. I have gotten extremely excited about growing food and the garden production has increased severely. This is a sample of one of the weekly harvests this summer (sweet peas, blackberries, eggs, strawberries, figs, plums, radishes):

Yesterday I visited family in Palo Alto, they had three boxes ready to be planted. The one who was the most excited about the planting was my 6 year old cousin. He jumped up and down we we arrived because he was ready to plant some seeds. We evened out the dirt, decided what plant was going to go with what, thanks to John Jeavons and his handly book!, and all of us (6 year old cousin, 10 year old cousin and her friend, uncle, aunt, boyfriend, my mother and I) found our role in the planting and got to it. Hopefully the next time I visit there are lots of little sprouts on these beds.

Gardening with kids was one of the most amazing things, they are so fascinated by the magic of seeds and plants. Everything is exciting to them and, even in our fast paced computer driven society, they learn to be patient and get excited about what those seeds with turn into.

This morning harvest, will make for delicious celery, carrot and apple juice tomorrow morning!

From the Start

I recently collected all the pictures that I have been taking over the two years of the garden and it was really wonderful to see how much it has changed!

So I got inspired to talk about the progress of it, the failures and also to have a way of keeping track of what we do in our backyard.

I also want to share recipes that we use to cook our bounty, from jams to pickles and juices. As well as creative and easy ways of dealing with overloads of beans, favas, and other crops that do awfully well in this weather.

The garden is located right passed Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Our micro-climate allows for some sunny mid-days, so our choice of crops is a bit more varied than lets say, the Sunset or Richmond Districts, but definately it is no Mission valley weather or Potrero Hill.

Here is a picture of the early beginnings, when we had a a lonesome box in the back. Before we took the Permaculture Design Course in San Francisco, before volunteering at Hayes Valley farm and definately before traveling to South America and working on a farm for two months.

 But more posts to come with lots of details about these awesome things that have been coming together for me in the past few years and have shaped me and most likely my future.