01 February, 2010

A master gardener program starts in March up at the Ag Extension Office in Marshall town. It can't hurt, and I will be incorporating the community garden down on the island into the program. Maybe I will learn more about soil properties of the region, and get some volunteers to weed the gardens this year.
The site has links to a great bit of info about growing in this region: LINKS.

This year our family will each pick a few crops to manage and take total care of each crop. My sister, Olivia came up with this idea to help her learn about the whole process from soil to harvest. I am planning on paste tomatoes, basil and marigolds as my primary crop, with an addition of some fruit trees. Apple probably.

I am also adding flowers to the mix this year. I froze some zinnia seeds from S. Owens garden last fall, I hope they work.

Furthermore, I got a great deal on barn tin at Triad Corrugated Metal in Swannanoa.METAL They are half the price of Lowe's, and are local. This means one step closer to have a bath house/sauna built. I will use the metal as roofing and outer siding. Someday I will get some nice interior wood put in, but I need to find a cheap stove first. I can't wait to set my booty back in that ole claw foot tub and sigh the most satisfying sigh known to woman. One more step on the footpath to building a home without debt.

Barn tin art by J Willard.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the gardening link - it's great! I'd like to volunteer to weed the community garden - hopefully my house will sell here and I will soon be there!

Anonymous said...

oh Liz, weeding the community garden would be a dream! It is on the island in Marshall. I am also expanding works on Big Pine and will be looking for folks who want to learn about farm life in exchange for veggies and a yurt or rustic camping cabin to stay in.

Unknown said...

We will be on Horse Knob in Big Pine so we will be neighbors! I plan to have a garden, bees and chickens (I need a chicken tractor!!) We have a tobacco barn that I want to convert to a camping spot. Ahh the future!

Anonymous said...

I will keep you posted!