Tag Archives: garden

Aunt Sue’s Barn

A couple of weekends ago, the Messy Blessings family visited Aunt Sue’s Barn, a pick-your-own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm that uses organic farming practices. (You can read more about CSA here or here.)

Aunt Sue was kind enough to give us a tour so that we could get a feel for the farm and whether or not membership was for us. The kids loved exploring the farm, and Mike and I found the farm’s projects, plans, and practices quite interesting.

We decided to join for the following reasons:

  • The opportunity to spend time on the farm harvesting crops will connect us to nature, our food, and the farm’s community of members.
  • Participating in the community agriculture experience, by harvesting crops and observing or helping out at the farm, will provide learning opportunities for our family.
  • Members have first access to what is produced (at various scheduled times), and the membership fee includes the produce we’ll receive.
  • Aunt Sue’s Barn will be growing several varieties of blackberries and raspberries, as well as some peaches and nectarines. Also growing will be seasonal vegetables like garlic, asparagus, onions, multiple types of squash, watermelons, and hyacinth bean vines. Maybe even some apricots and pears. In the fall, there might be pumpkins! Rosemary and lavender are also on site.
  • We believe that our membership at Aunt Sue’s Barn will be a nice complement to our own gardening efforts here at home.
  • The farm is conveniently located.

Note: For whatever reason, the apostrophe in the post’s title isn’t showing up. 🙁

Planter Bed 2

We used Gardner’s Supply Kitchen Garden Planner to help plan our garden. Here is a screen shot of Planter Bed 2:

(Click image to zoom.)

Row 1: Cucumbers, rosemary, hot peppers, bell peppers

Row 2: Dill, radishes, cilantro, summer squash, winter squash, parsley

If you look at our garden site plan, you’ll see that Planter Bed 2 is located nearest the picket fence bordering the yard (facing the back of the house).

Planter Bed 1

We used Gardner’s Supply Kitchen Garden Planner to help plan our garden. Here is a screen shot of Planter Bed 1:

(Click image to zoom.)

Row 1: Tomatoes, calendula (pot marigolds), more tomatoes, leaf lettuce

Row 2: Carrots, basil, carrots, calendula (pot marigolds), basil, leaf lettuce

If you look at our garden site plan, you’ll see that Planter Bed 1 is located nearest the back fence line.

Welcome to Our Family Garden!

Last spring, Mike fenced off a corner in our backyard, and we planted a little container garden with flowers and herbs. We added a Saint Francis statue (with a small bird bath and a solar light), a bird feeder, a big pile of dirt for digging and playing with trucks, a bubble machine, and some solar dragonfly lights. Elsewhere in the backyard, in lovely, large red pots, we also planted a nectarine tree from a nursery and a peach tree from our friend Stephanie. I called it our “Explore & Discover Garden.” 🙂 We got off to a really late start last year, not doing any planting until Easter. Mike and Matthew (28-months-old at the time) did all of the actual planting while Adelaide (10-months-old then) and I supervised. 😉

This year, we’re trying to do a little better by planning now and shooting to plant mid-March. In fact, it’s been hard NOT to plan as I think we all have spring fever around here.

So, welcome to our family garden…where the Messy Blessings family is growing together.