And........We're Back

It's been almost two weeks since we've been in our new home. I'm happy to say that we finally have internet again!!! It took much longer to have service installed than we had anticipated. We decided to go with Burlington Telecom, the local cable company, instead of a national one. So far so good. I particularly like calling their customer service number and getting someone sitting in an office located a few blocks away from us as opposed to a computer or someone based in a foreign country. It's sort of a reminder of how things used to be.

One of the last things I did before leaving our old home was to pack up my citrus trees. All I really did was to remove them from their pots, brush away some excess soil, moisten the roots a bit and tied a trash bag around the root ball. This made transporting them much easier.


Three citrus trees really to be boxed.


I think they are enjoying our new home. Our small conservatory gets tons of warmth and light throughout the day. When I repotted my trees, I made sure to give them some fresh organic fertilizer. They seem to need it this time of year. Hopefully we'll get tons of new growth very soon.

I'm Still Alive! - First Harvest of the Year

Yes, I'll confirm that I'm still alive! At the moment, we're slowly getting settled into our now home/community. I will admit that I've been feeling a bit sad these past few days. It was harder to say goodbye to our half-acre home than I would have expected. I'll be staying there a couple of nights a week (when I'm in Boston for work) until we're able to sell it, but deep down inside, I know it just won't be same as living there. In fact, I'm sure it'll be down right depressing since most of our furniture has now been moved out.


Before we left, I remembered to harvest some tatsoi to take with us. The outer few leaves were a bit hole-y but most of the rosette was fine. Some of it went to a stir-fried noodle dish I made last night. It was a tasty reminder of the old garden. I'm gonna try to harvest the rest of it when I'm in town again.


I also picked some kale, which I'll probably freeze and use within a soup during one of these particularly brutal Vermont winter days.

Moving Day

Moving day has arrived. Yikes! The truck is being loaded as I type. I can't believe that we'll be in our new home tomorrow. Jonathan and I will be spending another night here while Marc has already started his new Job in Burlington this week. Admittedly, it hasn't really hit me yet that we'll be living in Vermont.


It's always sad to say goodbye to a home, especially if it was your first. In many ways, I feel like I've leaving an old friend behind. :(

And goodbye garden! It was nice knowing you!

Last Harvest of the Year - Citrus

I actually had a harvest this past week - five good sized Meyer lemons and a few Indio mandarinquats. This was officially the last one of the year and will soon be turned into marmalade today. I use this recipe but substitute half of the sugar with honey, which makes all the difference. Honey and lemons are a match made in heaven if you ask me.

Is it that time already?

I guess it's time to reflect upon this year and plan for the next. All and all, it was a fantastic year for growing veggies. Again we had just enough heat this summer, allowing the warm weather crops (tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers) to thrive like they did in 2010. Another blessing was the rain - I can count on one hand the number of times I had to water the garden. While August and September were unusually wet, the precipitation this year was moderate and consistent. Some other things worth noting this year:

• Our lettuce grew bitter way too early, our spring sown spinach and Asian greens did really well. The Napa cabbage was a bust again this year. I don't think I'll be trying again as there are other Asian greens that are much easier to grow. (Note to Self - Kale is your friend, keep eating it. Don't grow Swiss chard again. You will never eat it.)
  
• Our broccoli did great again and surprisingly, so did our fall cauliflower. (Yes!)
• My beautiful persimmon tree bit the dust this fall. The weight of the snow from our freak October storm snapped the trunk in two. Oh well. It wouldn't have been able to survive our future Vermont winters anyway.
• I didn't get a single fig from my trees purchased in 2010. (Note to self - fig trees LOVE lime! Feed them plenty this spring.)
• Our Imperial Star Artichokes were amazing this year - producing very early and consistently. We'll see if artichokes will grow well as annuals in Zone 4.
• While the field mice, cucumber beetles and slugs continued to be a problem this year, their take was far from devastating. And for the first time, the ground hogs and raccoons have become major players in this game. So long suckers! I hope I don't meet your relatives in Vermont!
• I was finally able to grow a decent crop of string beans this year. I think my earlier problems were due to timing and spacing. (Note to self - sow beans only when the soil is dry and warm and a single row of beans densely seeded and spaced 18 inches from other veggies will yield much better then sowing beans 4 inches apart in all directions.) Also, the soybeans did VERY well this year but I'm not a huge fan of 'Envy'. I think I'll try traditional white butter beans next year.
• The sweet corn was great this year. Ruby Queen is definitely worth growing again. (Note to self - hill up the soil around the stalks when they are 18 inches tall.)
• The melons did just 'ok' again this year. The search for that one perfect homegrown melon continues. (Note to self - grow Hami and Early Silverline melons next year. They are delicious!)
  

On a side note - I also tend to reflect upon the big picture that is my life this time of year. The other day, I was thinking about how my twenties seemed to fly by. I'll be reaching the mid-point of my thirties next year and things are beginning to slow down a bit. For that, I'm incredibly thankful.

Wasted Food

“Taste the Waste“ — the trailer from tastethewaste.com on Vimeo.

It's always shocking to see huge quantities of food going to waste.

A Peek At What's To Come

So I'm happy to say that we've found a new place to live - well at least for the next 18 months. It didn't take us very long, which is nice considering several folks have warned us of how difficult it can be to find decent housing in Burlington, Vermont this time of year. Like other college towns, most rental units in Burlington come onto the market during the summer months when the vast majority of students are looking for housing. In our case, we were lucky that the present occupants of our future home had to break their lease. When we entered the front doors, Marc and I looked at each other and we both knew instantly that we were destined to live here.

I have to give Marc all of the credit for finding this gem. It was by far the best place we'd seen on Craigslist. Interestingly, it is located in a cohousing development in Burlington. What is 'cohousing' you might ask? Well, you can learn more about it here. I will admit that the concept of cohousing is something new to me. (In my mind, I was picturing a 60's style commune.) But the more I read about it, the more confident I am that it will be a very good fit for us. I'm looking forward to living and on occasion breaking bread with other families who share similar values and interests.


This particular co-housing development is situated on 4 acres, was built using green materials and designed for energy efficiency. There are also solar panels on the roof of this unit. According to the property manager, the owner intended to spend the rest of her life here and as such made extensive upgrades to the interior and exterior of the home. Sadly, she had to relocate a couple of years ago. (We assume the reason was health-related.) She was an avid gardener and had installed four large raised beds in the back and two rain barrels on the side of the house. There's also a small composter. Around the unit she planted strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries and several fruit trees.

The exterior space could be considered tiny in comparison the the half-acre we currently have, but this just means that I'll have to be much more creative in utilizing the limited space available for growing food. I'm actually looking forward to the challenge as I've long had an interest in urban vegetable gardens. Besides, the way I see it, urban farms may one day be the norm and and not the novel.


I'm looking forward to planting in these beds this upcoming spring. From what we've been told, they've remained unused for the past couple of years. I'm sure the owner will appreciate the fact that they're being put to good use again. (Maybe I'll have the property manager send her some pictures this summer.) I will try to grow more vegetables in pots as well, although up until now, I haven't had much success with this. The development also has a small common garden but space appears to be extremely limited. There are several community gardens nearby so I'm hoping to get a plot elsewhere.


My favorite feature of this home is most definitely the glass conservatory. Since it's an addition to the home, it's also heated. The room has a sink, work surface, adjustable shelves and a drain built into the floor for easy cleanup. It also has a fan and remote controlled shades installed in the event it gets too hot during the daytime. I can't wait to start sowing seeds in there. I'm certain my citrus plants will appreciate the space has well.

In addition to all of these things, the unit also has one of the most beautiful kitchens I've ever been in. As you can imagine, I'm feeling much better about the move (which is in three weeks) now that we've secured a place to live. I'm just happy that I'll be gardening again next year!

Saving Strawberry Crowns

This past spring, I purchased a couple dozen Seascape strawberry crowns for the garden. Of course at the time, I had no idea that we would be moving 9 months later. Half of the plants where transplants into one of my raised beds and the rest were grown in pots. This past weekend, I decided to dig up the latter to take with us. Hopefully the future (currently unknown) owners of our home will enjoy the ones in the garden.

I bundled these up in some potting soil for the winter and am crossing my fingers that I'll have a place to transplant them this upcoming spring.


My plants didn't produce many runners this year but I did pot up these four. I'll take these with me as well.

Regarding other perennials that are still in the garden, my beautiful raspberries and cranberries will have to stay behind. However, if the house doesn't sell by late winter, I might take some raspberry cuttings and try to root them. My potted fig trees are coming with us and I think I'll dig up my one rhubarb plant this weekend. The crown is 2 years old and I haven't been able to harvest from it yet. As I far as my asparagus plants are concerned, they will have to stay, which is a shame since I planted them in the spring of 2010 and by this spring, we most likely would have gotten a decent crop. Oh well.

What would you do? Would you leave your edible perennials behind try to take as many of them as your can with you?

Where Life Takes You...

I guess I should break the news - We're moving.

Though I'm still getting used to the idea, it seems certain now that we'll soon say goodbye to the garden I'd started less than three years ago. Though it's extremely sad, in the back of my mind, I've long considered gardens to be temporary things. Years ago, I remember returning to one of my childhood homes, now located in a particularly dilapidated section of Philadelphia, to find that my dad's once beautiful garden had been reduced to bare earth, weeds and broken concrete. Though I'm hoping that the future owners of our home will choose to keep the garden and that it will bring them as much joy as it has brought me, I won't be too devastated if the space is eventually returned to lawn. In a way, it's strangely comforting to know that at least for a brief time, this particular patch of earth was worked and productive.

So where to now? Marc, Jonathan and I are relocating to Burlington, Vermont in January. Marc has a great job waiting for him there and my employer is letting me work part of the time from home. I'll still be commuting several times a month to Boston. We plan on renting for at least the next couple of years so I'm hoping to get a plot at one of the city's community gardens. Hopefully there won't be a long waiting list and I'll get to meet other avid veggie gardeners in the area.

In many ways, I'm excited about the move. Burlington, Vermont has long been a place that has embraced small farms and the local food movement. I'm also looking forward to exploring the surrounding towns and of course Canada. Burlington is only 40 minutes away from the Canadian border by car and I've heard that Montreal (an hour and a half away) is a great city to visit. My only reservation is that I'll be loosing about a month of gardening time since Burlington and most of state lies within climate zone 4. I also doubt that I'll be doing much winter gardening in Vermont. But this seems minor in comparison to all of the wonderful new things we'll get to experience.

Whether we'll decide to settle in Vermont permanently or return to Massachusetts after a couple of years, in the end, I think this will be great adventure for us. I hope you all will keep reading and come along for the ride!

A December Harvest

I decided to pick my Brussels sprouts today. They've been sitting in the garden for the past eight months, but at this point, I think they're done growing. Today was especially cold and the garden remained frosty for much of the day. I figured that if I didn't pick them today, I never would.

As you can see, I have a lot to learn about growing Brussels sprouts. They look pretty leggy, not anything like the compact robust stalks you see at the supermarket. The ones at the bottom are pretty ratty looking (I guess I should have picked these a long time ago) but the rest are fine.


These sprouts are definitely on the small side, yet large enough to be worth keeping. Maybe next year I'll get it right.


Finally, I picked the last of this year's broccoli. There wasn't much but it'll still be good in a stir-fry alongside other veggies.