I guess I should introduce myself! I'm Kirsten. I'm originally from Minnesota and moved to Arizona in 2002. My father grew up on a farm, and my maternal grandmother's family owned a potato farm. One would assume that the spawn of such successful farmers would be born with a green thumb in her mouth, right? Well, this experiment will prove or disprove those assumptions.
Growing up in Minnesota, my dad always had a large 20'x20' vegetable garden. I will try to utilize what little I remember from helping him pull carrots and gaze ignorantly at the mass of rhubarb that no one seemed to acknowledge. Years later, my mom turned the garden into a flower garden, complete with block paths and way too many shiny chotchkes.
My whole family has slowly, one-by-one, migrated to Arizona. I know that gardening will be 100 times more challenging here, with the extreme heat, absence of rain, dust storms, dead soil, and my backyard chickens.
Speaking of my girls...they are the reason for my gardening desires. We decided on a whim to get chicks one day in 2009. With my husband being so handy, he whipped up a coop, nesting boxes, and a run in one day. That's how we do things around here: I get a crazy idea, Mike makes it happen, and we live happily ever after!
I love LOVE having chickens; They're fun, awesome pets. We currently have three: Piggy, Amelia Cluckhart, and Bella Swan. We've had two fatalities in two years due to excessive heat, but otherwise the hens are healthy and each produce one egg each day, as long as it's not too hot out. We love just watching them roam the yard and eat "stuff". I'll blog about them as I go.
For the past two years, I have loved getting fresh, organic eggs every day. They taste so much better than eggs from the store, and I control what the hens eat - organic feed and yard bugs. No chemicals, no additives, no preservatives. I wanted to go a step further with this food thing.
One day a few weeks ago, I told my husband that I wanted to start an organic vegetable garden. Remember, I had NO knowledge of planting, fertilizing, or harvesting. Within 24 hours my husband made a raised garden pop up in our back yard. And 24 hours after that, our first vegetables were in the ground.
I have kept meticulous records from Day 0 (the day he set everything up), so my goal is to help others who also want to get into gardening with little to no experience. I'm always open to comments, suggestions or questions, so type away : )
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