the foundation of eating good food: planting a garden!

A lot has happened since my last post: Spring has sprung in lovely Howard County, M and I joined a CSA (Gorman Farm in HoCo), we also joined a community garden and have ourselves a 20 x 25 plot for the next few seasons. I've also made it over halfway through the spring semester in grad school -- hallelujah!

Happy cucumber seedlings

Nutrition is obviously (and constantly) at the forefront of my mind and what better way to embrace a healthy lifestyle full of good nutrition than growing your own fruits and vegetables? My thoughts exactly. 

I love living where I do -- there's an overwhelming sense of community in the area, something I find essential to a harmonious life. One example of this are these local community gardens, one of which I am now a proud member. We joined an all-organic garden with guidelines we must adhere to, ensuring that we garden organically without the use of harmful chemicals. Perfectamundo!

Our garden day 1: What a mess!

Day 2: Making progress after a little weeding and cleaning

Day 3: Tilling is done -- beautiful!

To say I have developed a seed obsession would be stating it lightly. I've been making the rounds at several local gardening centers, scoping out seed selections. I mean, who knew that someone could get giddy from a seed catalog. Come on! Anyway, I've planted a bunch of seeds and my fingers are crossed -- hoping that my seeds sprout into healthy seedlings that can be transported into the garden.

Seeds, glorious seeds

Sunshine + love = happy seeds

Up next: raised beds. I hope to have them in by next weekend so I can plant some cool weather veggies like onions, beets, radishes, lettuce and spinach. We could be enjoying home-grown produce in as soon as a month. How exciting!

As of right now, the first sign of life at our garden are the raspberry plants we inherited from the previous plot owners. After talking to my garden plot neighbor, we should expect to harvest a quart every couple of days once they're in season. I can't wait! 

Raspberry plants!

I'm looking forward to documenting my garden adventure this spring and summer. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to grow my own food (organically, too) and hopefully share some good recipes!

Peace, love and happy planting --

~Jo