Mini Homestead Farming

Farming and homeschooling go together like milk and cookies.  I have images in my minds eye of farming.  However, I live in a nice cul de sac.  Oh, how I yearn for a large farm, but alas, it is but a dream.  Yet, I steadfastly refuse to allow my suburbia existence to destroy my plans to have an organic garden. 

Why?  Is it the back breaking work?  Is it the sweat pouring over my brow?  No.  It is the desire to know that my children will eat.  It is the desire to know that my children know how to plant a garden and grow food.  There is freedom in that knowledge.  That is knowledge that I am determined my children shall have.

Last year, I was able to talk DH into helping me start a backyard garden.  We started off with several small built up plots of vegetables and several blackberry vines.  (Oh, those blackberries were delicious!)  This year I am adding more.  I have already placed my order for heirloom seeds.

If you are not familiar with heirloom seeds, let me recommend them. There are several great providers, such as Heirloom Seeds and Annie's Heirlooms. Most providers, that I have found, have a large amount of online information for novice mini farmers. 

So what are heirloom seeds?  I am still learning, but from what I have gathered heirloom seeds are non genetically modified seeds.  The best way that I can describe heirloom seeds is they are seeds from a plant that has passed from one generation to another. One term that is often used interchangeably with heirloom seeds is open pollinated.  However, they are not the same.  An open pollinated seed is where the seed can be harvested from the plant and replanted.  All heirloom seeds are open pollinated but not all open pollinated seeds are heirloom seeds.

All of this was to say, I ordered new heirloom seeds tonight for both a vegetable garden and medicinal herbs. 

Short Welcome Note

As we begin this journey, I am both excited and nervous.  Why?  Because this journey will define me in the eyes of others more than few things in this life have.  Only such events as marriage and the birth of a child have impacted my life more than the beginning of this journey. 

Seven years ago, my husband and I decided to homeschool our children.  In the process of walking this new path, I discovered that there was more to me than simply a career woman.    I found that I was a wife, a mom, homesteader, a nature lover, an environmentalist, an artist, a writer, and an educator. All of those titles had been wrapped tightly inside me as I churned out an existence by working eight to six.  With each step of the way, I have found the woman within myself. 

So what is this journey that has me nervous?  It is the journey of sharing.  Sharing that which I have found; sharing what I am seeking, sharing so that I may learn more.  Sharing is not an easy thing when it means you have to open your heart, your home, your fears, and share them with strangers, but I believe that in doing so I will learn more because someone may be willing to share with me.  Women are not by nature loners, but rather we enjoy having friends from whom we can learn and share.