A New Blog For A New Garden

College is a blast, minus one thing--- there's nowhere for a garden. While my campus is very "green" and interested in sustainable agriculture, student gardens do get vandalized, and ripened veggies get stolen. Not a very conducive environment for gardening.

I spent my first year at school tending a garden over two hours away. Using a combination of timed sprinklers, coercing family members to tend the plants, and occasionally swinging by to perform damage control, I managed to hold up a fairly respectable garden for about a semester before someone moved the sprinkler for a week, and everything dried up and died. In addition, most of the veggies were gobbled up by hungry family members before I could reap in any of the goods.


Our newly planted seedlings last March. I'm on the right, Taylor's in the middle, and one of my closest friends, Stephanie, is on the left. She and her boyfriend run a great Certified Naturally Grown farm. It's unbelievable.

However, my boyfriend and co-blogger Taylor has an in with two very nice, very generous family members (who also happen to be his landlords) who have given us access to over two acres of gorgeous land just miles from my dorm room. Starting August 19, when I can move back in, we will be able to have a garden, chickens, rabbits, and all sorts of wonderful sustainable food sources at our fingertips.

We've just finished building four 8x4 raised beds, which we hope to fill with wonderful, rich soil, gorgeous plants, and all kinds of delicious vegetables. We've just recently started a bunch of heirloom seedlings ordered from SeedSavers.org.


Heirloom seeds are my absolute favorite. They're totally different from anything in a grocery store, and seem to fare better than conventional seeds.


Sadly, seedling flats (or trays) are hard to come by around here. We improvised, using Dixie cups with holes poked in the bottom.


I used a corn-cob holder to punch through the bottoms.

We planted just under a hundred little baby plants. They should be coming up pretty soon. Then we just have to transport them on the three hour drive to their new home right near my school.


Our new babies, nestled in their dark, damp nests. There was one more tray of about thirty seeds in addition to these.

Now we just need to get the soil for their beds in good shape. So much to do.