Meet My Garden - Part Two!

This post won't be quite as wordy as the last Meet My Garden post but what it doesn't have in words, it will have in pictures. I have FIVE tomato plants from non other than our wonderful CSA partners, Sundog Farms and Local Harvest CSA. We got one seedling with our normal share in early June and then I bought the others for $10. I can't remember exactly when I got them but I believe it was a few weeks later. 

What I love is that each one is a different tomato variety. I sure hope that each on produces fruit because I want to be able to see and taste each one! On a random note, one thing I learned that I will do differently next year is to bury the stem further down by a lot. I didn't do that with these and I really should have because they have long stems. 

L: Red Roma  |  M: Indigo Cherry Drop  |  R:  Red Juicer

July 6

L: Black Beauty  |  R: Sun Gold
July 6

Red Roma and her flowers

Indigo Cherry Drop and her berries*

*there were three until I handled one too aggressively :(

Red Juicer and her flowers

Black Beauty and her flowers that are no more;

One day I found the stem these flowers were on down in the dirt. 

I suspect it was the light sabor I saw next to the pot....

Sun Gold Cherry and all the damn flowers! 

I believe at this point she had at least 5-6 tomatoes growing

I've learned a couple of things since I obtained these plants that I will definitely do next year. For one, like I mentioned before, I will plant them deeper so more roots can grow. Secondly, I will use different stakes. I bought the 18" green ones you see above and they are pretty worthless. If these plants get much taller, I'll just use the new ones I got that you'll see below. Lastly, one thing I AM doing right now is clipping off the growth in the "elbows" of the stems. While I've missed a few, you want to take these off because they don't usually bring much to the plant and will take away from the rest of the plant that can produce fruit. 

I'll leave this post with a picture from today so you can see the new stakes as well as how much they've grown since July 6! It's pretty incredible. And Miss Sun Gold has at least 16 tomato babies! The rest are in the flower stage with the exception of Indigo who still has those two remaining babes growing. Oh and you'll notice I moved the plants closer to the house because it is super windy behind our house and it rains quite a bit. This shields them a little bit.

Red Roma  |  Indigo Cherry Drop  |  Red Juicer

July 15

Black Beauty  |  Sun Gold Cherry

July 15

CSA News 2020 {1} - This Year's CSA!

Thank you to everyone who checked out my last blog post about our new mason jar window planters from Back to the Roots. I am so excited to be growing our own tomatoes and herbs but even more excited to be partnered with a local farm for this year's CSA! The rest of my garden friends came from our CSA so be sure to check out Meet My Garden - Part Two coming out later this week!

I started writing this post when I was home sick for about the bajillionth time in January/early February. Did the start of 2020 kick anyone else's butt? At the time I wrote "I CANNOT WAIT for this to be over. I'm so sick of feeling sick!" Given all of the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, rest assured that I am so thankful I was only sick with influenza A or RSV for over a week and then influenza B for another round. Not sure how I got so sick but I think it's because it was the first time for our boys to be in this area during the winter months and I have ALWAYS gotten what they get. 

I am saddened by what COVID-19 has done to this world but also encouraged by how everyone is coming together and supporting one another. I can echo what I said in January - I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS TO BE OVER but we will all do it together, albeit with at least a 6 foot separation and face masks.

Given all the sickness we normally face day-to-day, one really awesome thing that I love about our boys is that they love fresh, raw vegetables. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, green beans, etc. It is such a gift to be able to feed them something so good for their bodies and that they happily accept. I am so excited to continue to introduce vegetables to them and one way we'll be doing that this year is through this year's CSA. It has been a whopping 5+ years since I first blogged about CSAs (aka Community Shared Agriculture) and it's about time to bring it on back!

We supported Patchwork Green Farm in Decorah from 2014-2018. I LOVED working with them and visiting them at the market during the summer and fall. I remember taking Owen there when he was a baby and we'd sneak off to grab my favorite brunch at Restauration/Hotel Winneshiek when they had the smarts to have Chef Tom Skold be their executive chef. 

They always had such a nice variety of produce and I loved being able to pick and choose what we purchased on each trip. That being said, I really stuck to the same types of food. I didn't branch out very much at all. Now that I know my kids like raw foods, I really need to get out of my comfort zone to introduce more to their palettes so that they will grow up enjoying all types of vegetables. In doing so, that will help Gspice and I to eat more too!

You might be wondering why we only worked with Patchwork through 2018. Well, a whole heck of a lot happened in 2019 and between moving three times last year, I honestly didn't think about it. I didn't even make it to the farmer's market at all last year! How crazy is that? We won't get the chance to visit any farmers markets in 2020 but I do know that we WILL still receive fresh produce and eggs from the vendor we've partnered with this year. I'm so happy that this is the case so that they are able to continue their operations and business and so that we can get all those delicious fresh veggies!

Another fun tidbit - this farm is owned and managed by two sisters, Carmen and Maja Black. Coming from a family of four sisters, this was super cool to learn! They also have goats which just ups the cuteness factor.

Photo credit

Without further ado, please meet our CSA vendor, Sundog Farm & Local Harvest CSA! We purchased their spring, summer, and winter shares along with farm fresh eggs so there's plenty of veggies in our future! Pictured below is from an add-on January share and I'll be sure to include a picture from the summer share once we have a table I can spread it out on. There's so much I definitely need that! I'll share some of the recipes I've made then too!

Lastly, please bsure to come back this week for Meet My Garden - Part Two and visit the Sundog Farm & Local Harvest CSA website! Another fun tidbit about them is that they have all been living on the farm together during this time to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. I love their dedication to their farm and community partners and it is a joy every single week to have that brief visit when picking up our share. They recently highlighted all of their team members on Insta so be sure to check that out too!

Meet My Garden -- Part One!

I've been dreaming of a having a raised garden bed ever since we bought our home in Decorah. Did I ever act on that dream? Nope. I'm not a huge plant person so that's what kept me from having a garden, let alone any plants in the house. I never really believed I could keep one alive!

Well, that changed this year because of a company called Back to the Roots. I first saw this company on Instagram and immediately thought it was finally time to give this a try! This company was founded by two men in California that wanted to make gardening more accessible for people. Their mission speaks of that:

We're on a mission to reconnect every family & kid back to where food comes from by helping them experience the magic of growing it themselves - no green thumb or backyard needed. We hope you enjoy our organic gardening products and join us on the journey to get America growing. 

Back to the Roots has a number of products to choose from between windowsill planters of sunflowers, chili peppers, or lavender, to mushroom kits, to microgreens and herb kits. The best part is that they offer zero-risk gardening by offering to provide a replacement kit or your money back! I believe all of their products are also 100% organic and Non-GMO and their kits are either 100% compostable or made with recyclable materials. If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for sustainability!

I bought my first kit back in April but waited until we moved into the new house to plant it. I liked the idea of the kit especially because it came with everything in one package. I simply needed to plant the seeds and water it per their instructions. How simple is that?? I also got my hands on some herbs too and just look at how they've grown!! I planted all of them on June 6 and they had little seedlings by June 11 which just blows my mind. Now, they look pretty hardy and I can see the first semblance of flower buds on the cherry tomato plant which makes me so darn happy!

Back to the Roots Cherry Tomato Planter |  L: June 11  R: June 12

Organic Mint  |  L: June 11  R: June 12

              

Organic Basil  |  L: June 11  R: June 12

  

June 25

 

L: June 28  R: July 6

   

This turned into quite the post about three plants so I decided to do two parts to Meet My Garden. This will also allow me to introduce the CSA we've joined this year so be sure to check that out next week!