I have seen the face of evil and it looks suspiciously like a seed catalog.
Just before Christmas my Baker Creek Seed catalog sent me into an existential crisis. I want to grow heirloom wheat! I want a field of flax! A field of oats! Amaranth! Vegetables coming out my ears! A root cellar to store potatoes and winter squash and all my beautiful jars of canned veg and fruit. I could come pretty close to never having to set foot in a grocery store again. The only problem: I live in a city with a small urban lot. Bookman and I have full time jobs so we can afford our urban lot and the small house that sits on it as well as other things like books and computers. The idea that I’d have to wait until I had saved enough money to retire before I could spend my days growing and preserving and doing something that I really, really love, well, that’s twenty years from now at least. I don’t want to wait that long!
I planned it all out. Buy 10 – 15 wooded acres with a creek running through up north. The internet told me this could be done for a very reasonable $30,000. Build a Tiny House. Dig a root cellar. Sink a well. Install a gray water system and composting toilet so I wouldn’t need a septic system. Install a solar panel system. Learn how to chop wood and manage a woodlot and a wood burning stove as this is what would keep my tiny house warm all winter. Build a greenhouse. Build a chicken coop. Establish a couple of beehives. Start digging and planting. In two to three years, sell my house, quit my job and move. By the time climate change starts ruining the economy, making food more scarce and creating general chaos, I will be happily established and self-sufficient. Also, I will be prepared to survive any other kind of civilization-ending disaster. But all that would be a bonus to spending my days working in the garden and tending my chickens and bees.
I barfed this up all over Bookman when he got home from work. He wasn’t sure what to think of it. He doesn’t want to be a farmer, he said. It wouldn’t really be farming, it’d be more like having a gigantic garden. Well, that was okay. But he still wasn’t keen on the idea. He likes gardening but I think the idea of spending most of the day every day outdoors working in this gigantic garden is not his perfect day.
Can’t we just plant more in the garden we have? he wanted to know. Sure, I said, but it’s not big enough. Well what about the front yard? We can grow stuff out there too. And these chickens you want, what’s that all about? They are good for the garden. Chicken poo makes great compost. And then I really freaked him out by saying we could eat the eggs. But we’re vegan! he protested. Well, yeah, I said, but these would be our own chickens and they are going to lay eggs no matter what and we need to do something with them. But we’re vegan, he said again.
This from the man who plans on going zombie should there ever be a zombie apocalypse. You know, brains aren’t vegan. It will be fine, he assures me, I’ll only eat the brains of vegans. Right. Eating eggs from our own pet chickens however is just too horrifying. Okay, forget the chickens then, we don’t need chickens, I just thought it would be fun to have a few.
But Bookman has no special interest in moving to the country. So I am thrown into making the most of the small plot of land that we have. In a few years we will need to rebuild our slowly sagging detached garage. It will be rebuilt with a flat roof upon which we can grow things. Bookman is fine with this. That’s a few years away though. In the meantime, we have a couple hot, sunny places in the front yard where I am going to try growing okra, cow peas, strawberry spinach, possibly tomatoes and peppers (though I don’t trust passersby won’t help themselves to these) or maybe oats or flax.
At the back of the evil seed catalog is an ad for geodesic dome greenhouses. Portable, space efficient, and one person can put it together in an hour or two. I imagined plopping one of these babies down in the garden in the fall and using it to grow stuff all winter long. The smallest one is just over $3,000 but worth it for fresh food all winter, right? Imagine, fresh-picked tomatoes in January! Except not.
Because I am reading a book about growing food year-round no matter where you live and there is this thing called sunlight that turns out to be really important. I could have a lovely tropical greenhouse but without more than ten hours of sunlight it will do me no good. Turns out plants pretty much stop growing with less than ten hours of sun. Given how far north I live, how low the sun is in the sky during the winter and how short the days are, if I am generous in my calculations, I can eke out eight hours of daylight. So unless I want to run electricity to grow lights on a timer in this beautiful geodesic greenhouse, tomatoes in January are never going to happen. This means there is no point in spending $3,000 on a greenhouse. Part of me is crestfallen — no big beautiful greenhouse — part of me is happy — thank goodness I don’t have to spend all that money.
Still, the evil seed catalog has me planning on buying seeds for all sorts of things I have never grown before. And the book on year-round gardening has me analyzing plant descriptions for extra cold tolerant varieties of things I can grow under hoop houses and possibly in cold frames. I may not be able to go out and pick a tomato in my greenhouse in the middle of winter, but I should be able to pick carrots, kale, mache, lettuce, radishes, and a good many other things.
How I’m going to cram everything in my small urban yard, I have no idea. A dozen acres would be so much better. How I’m going to manage a year-round garden and a full time job, I have no idea about that either. But I will figure it out.
All this because of a seed catalog. See what I mean? Evil.
Good for you! It wasn’t until I went on an organic farming adventure last autumn that I saw the importance and enjoyment of what you’re about to do! Best of luck, I’m sending you my best wishes! (Also, just to say that I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and I’m an admirer!)
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M, ooh, an organic farming adventure! I bet you have some good stories! 🙂 Thanks for the good wishes and your very kind comment!
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Don’t do that. How will you keep up your pace of reading 60-70 books a year… We have 63 acres in upstate New York we are trying to get rid of. Tractor and all. I promise you, I never read up there.
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Matt, heh, well 63 acres is a bit much, I only want 10 or so and nothing that would really make me have to own a tractor. As for reading time, isn’t that what winter is for? 😉
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Maybe you could squeeze in a few more plants by using old pallets, like these ones. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=vertical+pallet+gardening&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=35CgVPT7HMvsUsS6grgN&ved=0CCUQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=634
I used to have dreams like yours too but J hates gardening, and I realised that the local farmers are out in the pitch black doing things with their tractors in the dead of night, so no time for anything else.
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Pining, ooh, very cool! Some of those are quite creative and lovely! Thanks for the link and the idea! You are right about the long days for farmers. I’m a morning person but even I don’t relish the idea of being up at 4. 5 in the morning, no problem!
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You are nuts, my child, but I love you anyway.
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Mom, yes, yes I am. And thanks for loving me anyway 🙂
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And you’ll squeeze in time to train for a Century Bike ride….love your aspirations!
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Helen, gotta to do it all while I can! I consider gardening a sort of cross-training with all the bending, stretching, lifting, etc. 😉
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I have developed an absolute passion for tiny houses, knowing not how to begin to live in one. It’s the idea, I suppose, that appeals so greatly: simple, minimal, clean. I try to live like that now, but who am I kidding? I live in a 2600 ft. home in a town which is almost a city. Have you seen tinyhouseswoon.com? They have houses which I continually look at, and perhaps may buy one day…
As for seed catalogs, that’s going too far for me. xo
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Bellezza, oh my! I’d not heard of tiny house swoon so I went and looked and I swooned! Such creativity is amazing! My house is about 1200 sq ft and has so much unused space that ends up getting filled with junk. The appeal of the tiny house is definitely simple, minimal and clean. Maybe one day!
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Nice plans to start 2015 with. Good luck!
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Delia, thanks!
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That’s what dreams are for. I love tiny houses, too, but I don’t know if I could live in one all the time. I’ve spent time on a 36′ sailboat and know I could never live on one of those. But sometimes I think I’d like a tiny house on land I own in Maine.
The chickens, by the way, are for cuddling and for that sweet, soothing mumbling sound they make when they’re happy.
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Joan, dream big right? or small as far as the tiny house goes. A tiny house on your own land in Maine sounds heavenly to me. As for chickens, I don’t think of them as being cuddly, but I do love their mumbling sound. Bookman is starting to waver. I said we could probably give the eggs away to our neighbors and coworkers. We’ll see what happens.
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Eggs from hens who are well-cared-for are the loveliest foods in the world. Just saying.
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Jeanne, so I have heard. I have a friend with chickens in her backyard and she says there is nothing like them.
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oh! Stefanie, I LOVE your plan. My brother-in-law suggested something like this a couple of years ago and being quite financially sound, he almost bought the land as well; except my sister put her foot down and a lot more vigorously than Bookman. She told him that he is welcome to become a farmer and get a farming wife, cause she we was not planning to apply for the role. Needless to say, my poor Brother-in-law gave up the whole idea.
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cirtnecce, thanks! My heart goes out to your brother! Hopefully he has found a way to at least partially satisfy his longing? Bookman actually called our garden a farm yesterday. I have no idea where that might lead but it has a hopeful sound to it!
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All the best Stephanie!! Hope you are more successful with Bookman that my poor Brother-in-law had with my stubborn sister. These days he is cultivating a terrace garden on the terrace of 18th floor condo…he is not very happy as and I quote verbatim or almost verbatim “the smell of earth on earth is more true” or something like that!!
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Before my current house I had a terrace garden (or a pot garden as I told someone once — oh the look on his face!) so I can sympathize with your BiL. It’s better than nothing but it’s just not the same.
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Have you ever tried Fedco Seeds? Their catalog is amusing and full of information, I think you would like it. I have ordered from them for over 20 years and their seed is excellant. http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
I have long read and enjoyed your blog.
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Lela, thank you for the FedCo link! I have heard of them but had forgotten about them. I looked at their catalogs and they definitely have some tempting things! Thank you as well for you kind words!
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All of this because of a little catalog? 🙂 Great plans, Stefanie!
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Iliana, yup, though the catalog is not so little, it’s about 300 pages long! 🙂
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I would love to spend all day outside in a huge garden! And I did have a big backyard garden once- it didn’t keep me out of the grocery store, but for most of the summer and half of spring/fall I mostly ate out of the garden (in terms of produce). It made cooking challening, to fit my menu to what was ripe! I loved it. Wanted chickens and bees, but never got that far before I had to move. New prospects upcoming- but the yard has lots of shade, so it will be another challenge altogether… Awesome dreams.
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Jeane, a kindred spirit! No, the garden doesn’t keep us out of the grocery store either but we are working on changing that at least in some ways. It does make cooking challenging but we have collected a couple of eating in season type cookbooks and I think we are really ready to launch into a big change in how we eat. Too bad you never got chickens and bees. But perhaps the new prospects you mention will eventually allow them! Don’t give up!
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Book catalogs do the same thing to me…. Had to laugh at the eating brain’s of other vegans comment–your Bookman has a good sense of humor. A little twisted maybe, but still funny! 🙂 There is nothing like dreaming big–you have to start somewhere–I mean how do you up one on Amy pond? (….it is Amy, isn’t it, or am I making that up?).
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Danielle, heh, we all have our Achilles heel don’t we? Bookman does keep me laughing that’s for sure! Yes, Amy Pond! That will be hard to top but I’m certainly going to try!
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I have this dream too! But I have two difficulties. Where would I put all my books (not to mention my daughter) in a tiny house? And also, I enjoy gardening, but in a dilettante way. I don’t want to spend all day every day doing it. So really my dream is totally unsuited to my personality.
But do get hens! I love ours. And yes, hens are cuddly and charming. They are also absolute poo machines, very good for the garden.
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Helen, oh what fun! The books would be a problem for me too in a tiny house. On the plus side it would really make me consider which ones I value most. And those tiny houses generally don’t make room for children, do they? There must be some that manage it in a clever way. You have hens? Cool! I want them for the poo so it’s good to know they are excellent at producing it! I’ll keep working on Bookman, maybe in a year or two I’ll have managed to change his mind 🙂
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