Garden Planning and Books

The snow is bright and thick on the ground outside, but I can't help but think about spring. I'm planning, just like I planned last year (haha), to build some raised beds and plant lots of veggies for the family to use. I have enough cedar planks to build either 3 or 4 beds (can't remember) and I have the equipment I need to preserve any excess veggies. Typical for me to plan the beginning and the end but leave the middle (where all the work is actually done) in limbo.

This year, my parents are planning on coming to help me with the middle part which I am SO grateful for. I don't know why I can't seem to just do it myself; I'm an independent person after all. But for some reason I feel like I get to a building block and just get stuck.

A book that I've been reading lately has given me a lot of great ideas for things we could do with our yard. It's called The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! and it's on sale at Amazon for $11. Another one that is on the list of books I'd like to read is One Magic Square: The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square. It has good reviews and I like the idea of having someone else make up the garden plans. I'm just not good at that!

My newest gardening book is called Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre. It takes the backyard homestead one step further and shows how one could actually profit from what they can grow on just 1/4 acre of land. Our lot isn't that big, but I am enjoying reading it and dreaming of what I could do (if someone was there to help with the middle part, haha!)

Unfortunately, our village will not allow any livestock, so my grand scheme of keeping a couple of hens for eggs and meat just isn't going to work out. It's ok if the neighbors across the street have 5 huge, loud hound dogs, but Heaven forbid I have a couple of hens that would actually be beneficial to both our family and the soil. Anyway ... that's out.

In the mean time, I could be capitalizing on our cherry tree, pear tree, and the huge space we have available for growing things. Although I'm not a huge fan of where we live right now, we do have an amazing yard, and I've been really negligent in using it to its full advantage. The soil is very clay-heavy, which is why I decided last year to raise the beds and add my own good soil instead. I hope it works this year and that I can keep up with the maintenance!