Trust Yourself? Why not?

I've learned a few things from being on the farm.  For example, Basil.

Basil is a fantastic herb.  I usually plant it from seed, because I think that is the hip thing to do.  After careful observation and experience, I have been able to discern the true leaves, not just that first set that grows.  Inexperienced hip urban farmers, might think,  Oh wow, Basil! Not yet grasshopper.

 And once those true leaves start to sprout, that's when you can try a little spritz of fertilizer.  And then I watch it grow; I wait to see what it's going to do after I've done my part. Hopefully, that little basil plant will really stretch itself toward the grow light and get too big for the indoor greenhouse.

 And you might think, Oh wow! I can plant this in the ground now.  Nope!  Not yet, little one.  


 Now is the time I show that plant the real light- the SUN and the outdoors. . . but only a little at a time.  this process is called hardening off.  This makes those seedlings strong.  I'm not gonna be out there to protect that plant from the bugs and microbes and whatever else Mother Nature brings once I plant it in the dirt. These seedlings must learn to get tough for the big bad and good microbial world.

 And then, once this is done and after careful observation, I just gotta decide to let those seedlings get their little feet or roots in the soil and play with the big boys.

But how do I know if they will be okay, you ask.  

Well, maybe they will, maybe they won't.  I do trust in my experience- years of observing seedlings and learning from my mistakes.  And in addition, I read, read, read about growing basil  and any other plant I want to grow.  I learn what that seedling will need.  And I trust in my ability to learn, change and adapt.

So go on . . . Trust yourself. Learn, Change, Adapt.  It is the hip thing to do.

Planting New seeds for a Hip New Year

Who's received their seed catalog?

I have and I bet you have too.

This year has been the coldest winter ever !  Somebody thinks that is really hip!  It might be.  The way I see it is like this:  If it's really cold then the bugs in the summer will be smaller. Preferably, less mosquitoes. Don't quote me on this one, because I didn't research it as fact. I'm just intuiting.

Anyway,

I've decided that I have to grow those red carrots this coming spring. Ok, so they are called Purple Dragon Carrots.  Anybody who knows me knows I love purple and all the glorious shades of purple.  It's my thing, but you do what you want to do.

And you know that is hip!

Winter on the urban farm

I shoveled. Yesterday and today, I shoveled. 

There hasn't been this much snow outside since I lived in that small town in the tip of urban Appalachia. I think I must have been about 9 years old. I liked being in the snow then. I played in the snow then. Today, I shoveled out of necessity.

It was quiet and there were birds chirping and the squirrels were making this clicking noise. I was thinking about the peace I could have out in the snowy quiet. But as I pulled out the snow blower, I mumbled a few curse words that my brother says no God-fearing person should say.

I thought about how the snow used to get shoveled with my ex husband who hated shoveling more than I did, but it is so much easier to move the snow now.  I thought about my father and how he wired up the house so the snow wouldn't sit on the roof of the house as I reached my shovel up to the garage roof and moved the snow that was hanging there.

I was thinking about being woman and embodying my dream of self-reliance on my own piece of property. It's okay to ask for help, but for this . . . Nah. That just wouldn't be hip.

I shoveled. I blew the snow in the alley into piles between the garages. I was thinking how cool it would be if everyone shoveled their part of the alley, so no one would get stuck in the snow as I have so many times before.

I didn't even bother to move the car today even though I  thought about it.  I thought about going out and then decided to wait.  I've been outside on the farm more in the last two days than I have most of the spring and summer. And I thought about what it might be like to start a seed or two or four in a greenhouse on the farm. I smiled to myself. . . That would be a hip urban farm thing to do.

Seeds are not meant to stay in the earth.

There's that bursting through the ground that seedlings do.  I find it so miraculous to see. It is similar to a child breaking the protective barriers of childhood. It is a time when the seedlings break through the earth to become plants.

No longer needing the cover of darkness and warmth inside Mother Earth, now they need the sun. The outside world has much to give the seedling, but they need the right conditions to make them strong and harden them off without killing them or giving them a fungus that will kill them.

The seeds sown in the earth grow from the warmth and darkness of the earth to become strong enough to create their own gifts and give them to the world. Mother earth does not cry with this separation or individuation. It is the cycle of life.

The lesson in this? Let go enough to let your seed become strong in who they are.  What you will realize is that as they give their gifts to the world they may return with seeds of their own. And the cycle will continue.

A seed is not meant to stay only in the earth. If it does, it will shrivel and die.

And that my friends, is not hip at all.

 

It's not spring any more

No, it's not spring any more. It's winter and I took a break from writing and had a hip sabbatical. And now, I think I'm back!

But worry not fellow hip urban farmers, I have more hip urban farmer inspirations. Just in time for the season where it is so cold that we snuggle up in blankets with our seed catalogs and dream about the next harvest to come. For now, enjoy the holiday feasts. 

This week on the urban farm. . .

I love this time of year. It's so full of potential. What could every urban area look like if we changed how we think and feel! Beauty could be everywhere!

So out on the farm. . .

I was out in the fields of raised beds this morning. Got my pitchfork out.

 Oh my beloved pitchfork! Tines piercing the ground, push and lift and turn over the dirt. 

Yeah. I love that pitch fork.

Also talked to the seedlings today. Told 'em they don't know nothin' about the outside, but it's time to learn. Those seedlings shivered in the sun on the deck, while I mowed the lawn. Yep, time to get them hardened off. They gotta get strong!

Ah, so much work to do on the farm. . . . .


Yeah, it is hip.