I Want My House To Be A Farm To Table Restaurant

I have been studying farm to table restaurants and have found only a few that are like this. I wondered why not many are looking for farm to table restaurants, but, part of the answer to my question came about while we were in Georgia, a couple of weeks ago.

It was a rather disappointing experience for me. There was a bright spot though. We found one farm to table restaurant called the Stovall House, located near Helen, Georgia. This place was great. It was indeed a farm to table restaurant, probably the only one within miles of where we were.

We found a farmer's market one day, as we were traveling to Dahlonega, a little gold mining town in Georgia. We visited this place the next day and learned some horrible news. The produce department was very small compared to the rest of the store. It was like a quaint, old-fashioned grocery store with many products that were homemade. But what happened to the produce? There were no signs saying if the vegetables and fruit were organic, nor were there any signs saying that the food was non-gmo. So, I asked about it, and the man told me that the don't have much produce coming in because it is now too expensive for the farmers to bring their food in. There was something like a tax on agriculture that was 50%! No wonder there wasn't much food. The man also blamed the Democrats for that.

A little while later, I saw some corn. I asked another man if he knew if it were GMO or not. He said that everything they had was GMO. I personally do not think he knew what I was asking, for then he said that the corn had to be GMO because they do not want any worms in their corn (not sure how genetically modifying food can keep worms out of the food!). It was like a guarantee that there would be no worms in their corn. Of course, I did not buy any. Even if it weren't genetically modified, there would definitely have been pesticides on it if they were that adamant about not having worms in their corn!

For a state with so many farms in it, it looks like the farmers are discouraged. In Florida, things are different. People can grow food and sell it at farmer's markets. Quite a few people are doing this now.

So, my next idea is to try to grow the types of food that people would use. First though, I have to grow the kind of food that my family will eat. I am growing popcorn and corn that will be used to make grits (and pretty fall decorations). I will grow squash, beans, and peas. All of these plants will be grown in the garden beds.

The salad making plants are going to grow in a Tower Garden. I will also put strawberries in and some herbs. The tomatoes and peppers can keep growing in the pots. And there are fruit trees growing in pots too.

Garden Beds with Sweet Potatoes and Corn

Prolific Sweet Potatoes 

Corn that is just sprouting

I want to serve people well who come to my house. It is important that food is safe to eat, not full of pesticides and not genetically modified. It should be safe if it comes from my back yard, that is, unless a plane comes over the house spraying Naled, a pesticide used to kill mosquitos.

New Garden Beds And Hydroponic, Aquaponic Gardening Coming Soon!

This is a very difficult time for me to be writing blogs, but I still have ideas and plans that I would like to share, so, my posts may be brief (and possibly boring!).

We now live in a new home with over an acre of land. Much of the yard is taken up with trees and a large barn, for which I am grateful. The front yard is large, and I don't think I can do much gardening there, because we have to use as much of that part of the yard for cars to park when we have events.

Nevertheless, I have worked with ideas on how to do gardening with little space, when I was at the old house. Many of those ideas will serve me well as I implement them in this yard.

We hired a man to redo the garden area. It will be just like the garden at the old house, but will not have trees interrupting the garden. If you ever pick a place in the yard to place your garden, placing the garden area under a tree is not a good idea! Been there. Done that. Won't do it again.

Garden Area When First Dug Out

I planted seeds in pots months ago, and they are ready for transplanting into the garden or into a larger pot. One of the seeds I planted was called St. John's Salvia, which produces a pretty red flower which attracts bees (hopefully!). I planted two of them in the garden bed near the aloe plant that a friend gave me.

Garden Bed Featuring Aloe Plant, Pineapple plants, and
St. John's Salvia plants

You won't be able to see the St. John's Salvia plant here unless you enlarge the picture. It is on the bottom right corner of the bottom garden bed. I have a couple more to plant, but will put them in another garden bed. 

Bees, you are welcome to come now! In that same garden, next to the St. John's Salvia plants, is a pineapple plant which I grew from the top of a pineapple that I grew at the old house. I was surprised that I could actually grow a pineapple, and one that looked like a pineapple and tasted good. Let's see if we get a pineapple from that plant.

So, here are some of the things I will be growing in the garden beds, Lord willing:

* Corn (non-GMO)

* peanuts

* squash

* potatoes

* peas 

* beans

* pollinating flowers

* pollinating herbs

* sweet potatoes

* beets
* celery
* carrots

Now, for the other ideas. Did you know that plant food that is made from minerals cannot be labeled organic? The word organic applies only to living things, and minerals are not living. So, my next adventure with gardening will be with hydroponics and aquaponics. I have a hydroponic set up, and as soon as the weather cools down, I will start the seeds for that. I tried this before on my balcony porch at the other house, but the plants never came to fruition. It looked like they were not getting enough light and there didn't seem to be anything I could do to fix that problem. Then a bird built a bird's nest around a broccoli plant. It was hard to clean it and change the water once that happened. So, I took the hydroponic set up down and will put plants back into it again. 

Have you ever gone to Epcot and ventured on the ride called, 'The Land'? I have always been intrigued by this and have loved this ride. Anyway, the idea of growing plants in a Tower Garden came from this whole concept as you can see it as you ride in the little boat through 'The Land'. 

That will be my next adventure. Here is my web site for this type of garden: http://www.ss.towergarden.com

I don't have one yet but look forward to the day when I can order one and learn how to use it. I want to grow strawberries, spinach, lettuce, and maybe some type of catnip or cat grass in it. Maybe I can grow wheatgrass too. 

Youtube has several videos on the Tower Garden. In NYC, there is a restaurant that uses Tower Gardens on their roof to grow their food! We visited this place but winter was just ending, and when I asked if their food was going to be from their Tower Gardens they said that it wasn't, because the weather was cold (it was even snowing while we were there). But if you go during the summer, you will probably have a choice of many food items that will have been grown on their rooftop (6 stories up!). The name of the restaurant is Book, Bell, and Candle.

Excerpt From 'Born-Again Dirt' Book

  I have just read the first chapter of this book, and it looks very good. It talks about gardening and farming from a Biblical perspective. Those who are in charge of industrialized agriculture are mainly people who do not have the mind of Christ. They do not see the connections of the web of life, and therefore, we have a very unhealthy society today who has no clue of how to recover from it.



Here is an excerpt from the book:

"For instance, the most prevalent method of agriculture today, industrial agriculture, seems to be based on a worldview that ignores God and elevates man and his wisdom as the source of truth. This humanistic worldview results in a form of agriculture whose primary objective is maximum yield and profit and whose ultimate source of wisdom is science. Hence the large scale and complex technology of industrial agriculture."




We live in a time period where we are proud of our knowledge. But our 'knowledge' is just making us more and more unhealthy. Something is wrong with this picture. I think you can get the drift of what it is by reading just the excerpt I posted above.

I have read somewhere not too long ago, where science is the religion of the Modernists. Today, we have entered into a post-modern era where the younger generation rejects Modernism. Theirs is a more emotionally charged response to life and life's problems. Neither the Modernists, nor the Post-modernists regard God as the supreme being. Modernists believe that man is the measure of all things (the top dog), while Post-modernists believe that whatever you want to be your God, is what your God will be.

So, what's the problem here? We have a bunch of Modernists running our agriculture and food industry. They are making unwise decisions because they do not have the mind of Christ, and whatever they do will result in something God never intended.

Anyway, although I just started this book, and it seems pretty good already, maybe the author will have some insight on how we can change the course of things here in our society. Maybe the day will come when there will be more farmers who know God and can hear His voice. They will have the wisdom from God instead of trusting in scientific theories (which sometimes are bias and faulty).

(This is an affiliate link. If this book is ordered through this link, I will receive credit. It will not cost you anything extra. Thank you for your support!)

My Baby Pineapple

Here is a picture of a baby pineapple growing in my garden. I grew it from cutting the top off a pineapple a couple of years ago. I wasn't really sure if a pineapple would ever grow on it though. I have a couple of other pineapples growing in this garden bed as well, but they are not as big as this one is.

Pineapple growing on a pineapple plant taken from the top of a pineapple a couple of years ago.

How To Find Companies That Sell Non-GMO Seeds

Here is a web site listing places where you can order non-GMO seeds from. Why non-GMO and what is the big deal?

Genetically modified organisms are a product of those who want to have a monopoly on the food industry. They tell you that by genetically modifying seeds, we can produce a lot of food at a small cost. That is what you get when you want the convenience of a grocery store. But what is the trade-off?

  Food that is genetically modified, does not contain the nourishment that the original plant had. It is not nutrient dense, so to speak. Also, the seeds are patented, so that if you want to plant genetically modified seeds, you would have to have the license to do so, or at least, the place where you order the seeds from will have the license.

   There have been farmers who were sued because some pollen from genetically modified plants made its way into the farm. The farmer was unaware that he/she was growing this genetically modified food and governmental authorities tested their plants and found the genetically modified seeds in their crops. Because the farmers did not have money to fight back in court, they lost the case. But.... a woman who had money and was being sued for this took Monsanto to court and she won!

   The simple answer is to just buy heirloom seeds. But that can limit variety of what you might be able to plant in your area. Some have done the research and found the plants/seeds that have not been tampered with. They have helped take the guesswork out of trying to hunt down plants and seeds that are safe to use in our gardens.

Here is the url for the web site offering information on safe seeds:
http://www.realfarmacy.com/buy-non-gmo-seeds/

Gardening With Bees

As you all probably know, my gardens are at rest at the moment. The squirrels have decimated almost all of my gardens and I still can't seem to get the victory over them. But I do have some ideas.

Someone mentioned how squirrels hate human hair, so all the hair out of my hair brushes and combs will go into the gardens. I also need to fix the motion sprinklers that go off when they sense something in the range. Another idea that I incorporated a long time ago, but later abandoned, was to fill the squirrels up with food (popcorn). It could help them to have less desire to dig in the gardens for food. Plus, they become more visible to the hawks and become a tasty meal for them.

When I get all this fixed, I am going to plant some plants that will draw honey bees to the garden. Some of these plants are herbs, which I can use. A friend mentioned that she has a wild basil plant and gets a lot of bees on that plant.

Some of the plants will be flowers. They also attract bees and some of them will also attract hummingbirds. What a pretty garden it will be with colorful flowers, bees, and hummingbirds around it.

There are a lot of bee plants available. Some of the plants that I will order the seeds for are; borage, bee balm, and Korean Hyssop.

Baker's Creek puts out a big catalog/magazine with a lot of information on plants, and there were some pages on plants that attract bees. One of those plants is California Poppy.

Here are a couple of links to articles on bees in the garden:

http://www.veggiegardener.com/attracting-bees-vegetable-garden/

http://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/plant-a-bee-garden/

The honeybee population is disappearing and the thought is that the reason could be due to a chemical substance called 'neonicotinoids' which are used on plants to protect the plants from pests. Almost everything we eat depends on pollination, and if we don't have bees to pollinate our crops, eventually we will not have food to eat. Food that is made in a lab is not genuine food and can never replace what grows in nature. 

Can we ever bring the bees back? I don't know, but I know we can try. If we could create an environment that is bee friendly, maybe we could watch the bee population come back.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/11/13/honeybees-are-dying-and-our-food-supply-will-go-with-them

Baker's Creek Seeds - www.rareseeds.com 

Produce For Today

This is what came out from the garden recently. Pretty good for going through a freeze last week and the cold weather we are experiencing this week.

Between the hot and cold weather, and the damage done by the squirrels, it is amazing that anything grew in the garden. I notice that the squirrels have not damaged many pepper plants. Only the tomato plants and some trees were affected by the squirrel damage. 

Our Honeybees Are Dying - One Possible Reason Why

This morning I was reading in Mother Earth Living magazine about bees*. There was a url that led to using bees in the garden. I would love to have some honey bees someday!

But here is something interesting about bees; If you haven't heard already, the bee population is dying out and no one seems to be able to figure out why. That is, until recently.

There is some thought that a chemical used on seeds is now the leading belief that the bees are dying off. If we continue to use this chemical, will honey bees become extinct?

Here is an excerpt from the article that you might find interesting. It explains why this chemical is bad for bees and how it works. If it is bad for bees, is it good for us?

"The class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids is suspected to be one of the major causes of bee die-offs. The pesticides, nicknamed “neonics,” were introduced in the 1990s and have become the most widely used insecticide in the world—so ubiquitous that they are now found in 80 percent of the world’s crops. They come coated on virtually every seed planted in every major crop across the country—sunflowers, canola, cotton, soybeans and corn, for example. Neonics are systemic; they are taken up and move freely through the entire plant making every part of it toxic. When ingested, the compounds can cripple a bee’s navigational skills and its ability to find its way home after foraging. They may also interfere with a honeybee’s intricate “waggle dance” that tells other bees where to find flowers. Neonics can also undermine bees’ immune systems."
I wonder why this chemical is just now under investigation. How long have we been eating food from plants that are affected by neonicotinoids? 

There are garden seed companies such as Baker's Creek and Pinetree Seeds should be safe to use. 

The other end of this spectrum is to get good, pure seeds and use those which will attract bees. I think this could be fun. Maybe it is possible to build our own bee habitat and make our gardens bee friendly. 

More on this later.

http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/gardening-for-bees-zmgz15mazhou.aspx

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