Our beets are ready!

Kirsten harvested our first beet today. Time to figure out how to pickle them and also try sauteeing some of the greens.

Can you see the zucchini flowering behind her? We already have more than 4 zucchini growing, plus some very nice crookneck squash comming in... Our garden has been very fruitful so far and seems to be coming along nicely. Have yet to see any tomatoes? So we'll see about those.

First steps toward rainwater harvesting

We planted our Spring garden in late January, hoping for some good lettuces, onions, carrots and even some snap peas in March and April. It just so happens that we have a downspout located near the raised garden bed... so, we splurged at the garden store and bought a rainbarrel made of recycled plastic that had been shaped and dyed to look like a terra cotta pot. It works perfectly!

Last summer, Kirsten made a connection on Craigslist who has a steady supply of beverage syrup containers (think Dr. Pepper, Coke, etc. in the convenience store fountains). The containers are sturdy, watertight, and a pretty blue color. Once we had the sample rain barrel installed, Kirsten finished altering the blue beverage container to make yet another rain barrel. In the first storm after the rain barrels were ready, they both filled up within the first 10 minutes! Then we brought all of our five gallon buckets and other "containers" to the catch the overflow. We were so happy to have the rain and capture it for future use in our garden and for our fruit trees! I think more retrofitted beverage syrup containers are in our near future... right Kirs?

gifts of sustainability

This year our Valentine's Day gifts to each other reflected a huge shift in our priorities towards living a more sustainable life. One of the things we have been working on is establishing a sort of "permaculture" at our house. When we moved into this house, there were already two pomegranate trees, a grapefruit tree, a lemon tree, and a key lime tree. We now have six laying hens, have started composting on-site, grow our own herbs in a beautiful large pot in the front yard, and have a raised vegetable garden bed in the backyard. For Valentine's Day, I gave Kirsten a gift of more permaculture. We had two more fruit trees planted by a local nursery (Civano's): a Pink Lady apple tree and an Asian Pear tree. With all the rain we're having this month, they might just fruit next year...

Another thing we've been working on is reducing our waste stream. This was started with recycling first, then adding our non-meat food waste to the compost, now we are working on "pre-cycling" where you don't use or buy things that are packaged excessively or with materials that are non-compostable or non-recyclable. To that end, Kirsten gave me a very cool gift. A stainless steel "to-go food" container. Similar to this, although I'm not sure where she ordered my actual gift: I love it! It's perfect for to-go situations, and even just for taking a lunch or snacks on the road. Awesome gift honey!

Gardening in the Desert

A few glimpses into Kirsten's successful efforts to garden in the harsh conditions of the Sonoran desert. We have lots of ambition to transform our yards, but the front porch is a great place to start.