A Garden Amongst the Weeds: Becoming More Self-Sufficient

For the last couple of months I have been trading seeds online with friends. There is a vast world of gardeners out there! Very generous, kind and funny folks who are happy to help a gardener get started, or restarted in my case. The past two gardening seasons have been hard.

Grasshoppers have had the upper hand and it's high time I take control of the situation.

Did somebody say GRASSHOPPERS??

(Not my bird, Abigail represents the turkeys that I hope to have out here in the future! This may just be the answer to my big question. How the heck do you compete against a mass invasion of tiny eating machines? Why, turkeys of course!

Come on spring! Yeah, I'm well aware we are a long way off from spring but a girl can and will dream!)

This is our work in progress area. Over time this will be completely fenced in and used as a turkey run. In future years, these two areas can be rotated. Crops one year, turkeys the next.

This area is the new vegetable garden. This area was completed this fall. Many many friends have been willing to donate or trade seeds. Special thanks goes out to Lolly McCutcheon for creating the Seed Swapper's Paradise Group! I appreciate the gardening friends that I have made there more than they will ever know!

With the generosity of these gardening friends, next year's garden is sure to be a bountiful one.

The idea is, that if you plant a vegetable garden within a fenced area, to keep out deer and then re-fence and add turkeys as an outer eating barrier, maybe, just maybe they'll eat the majority of the grasshoppers and leave us something to eat. Don't tell the turkeys but they will likely be on the menu next fall as well!

More than a little tilted, I included this shot to show the full size of this area. I love to think big!

Isn't this gate interesting? A very sweet gift from a good friend.

I'll think of you every time I'm out here Jas. Again, many thanks!

I have never really wanted or needed much help in the garden, but then again I've never gardened on this scale before. In time we hope to be completely self sufficient. We are well on our way.

I've had plenty of help from my family this year..

What a wonderful gift to have help!

Next year this space will hold tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, onion, green beans, melons, squash, peppers, many herbs and about anything else I can find room for. All of this sits outside the house fence-line. Within the fence-line is a greenhouse and several planting beds. I've always grown a mix of flowers and veggies together. Next season should be amazing.