My Edible Yard Garden Update

Since my last post 6 days ago, I've been pretty busy in the garden. I've planted my chitted potatoes, kale, strawberries (I just happened by them in Home Depot and figured "What the heck!"), and planted more cabbage to replace what Ronnie the Rodent (I've changed his name from FNR) has attacked. We've supped on 2 meals with green beans this week, a meal with freshly harvested cabbage, and a meal with sauteed mixed greens (collard and mustard greens and swiss chard). The eggplants are just starting to bloom, as is the okra, and we've definitely got bell peppers on the way. I keep having the urge to pick them too soon as I only planted red and yellow peppers this year and we're still at the green stage. The tomatoes are blooming their sunny yellow star-like blossoms with branches bending ever so slightly under the weight of their burgeoning green fruits. It's a wonderful moment in the garden.

I re-started the composting process in our backyard composter as it was a soupy mess—we obviously hadn't been paying close enough attention. And my husband lovingly found a friend of his with horses who lives on a large piece of property nearby and is willing to give us his horse manure. Mickey took me over there on Saturday so I could be sure the manure was cured enough before he goes lugging it all over here on his next day off. Raw manure would not be a good thing.

This week, I plan to plant the onions that I picked up last week and just couldn't get planted, lay down all the composted horse manure Mickey picks up on Tuesday,and get down to business planning and designing the remodel of our front yard into more organic garden beds, totally getting rid of all grass. I've decided to do this in phases for a couple of reasons: One, I don't want the neighbors to totally freak out; and, two, I'm not sure I have the energy to do it all at once. But it will definitely get done by spring. And I definitely want to make it "attractive." That's the word the woman used on the other end of the phone used when I called the City of Pembroke Pines to find out if I was allowed to plant vegetables in the front yard. She didn't define the word "attractive" or say in whose eyes the garden needed to be "attractive", but I'm going to attempt to make the front yard as "attractive" as I can so that I don't get fined for not being "attractive" enough or, worse yet, get told to rip it all up. That would be a nightmare.

The other big step taken by the My Edible Yard homestead this past week was narrowing down and selecting the ranch we intend to purchase grass-fed beef from. After quite a bit of research, first online and then by phone, we have decided to purchase our first quarter of grass-fed beef from a ranch in Ocala called 4 Arrows Ranch. I've spoken to the brother and sister team who run it, both of whom were informative and friendly. Lee even invited us up to visit in our RV so we could see the ranch and where our meat would be coming from. I'll be sure my camera battery has been replaced for this trip as I'm sure on an 810-acre ranch there are many sights to see.

More later.