I Need a Farm

I'm sure everybody is aware (in the US at least) of the drought in the middle and western states.  Meanwhile in Florida we have so much rain that the mosquitos are thick.  Because many of the drought-stricken states are where most of our food in this country is grown, the food supply will be a lot shorter.  Have you seen the photos of many of the corn crops...dried up and dead?  It is really disturbing.   (Please check the website of Dr. Sircus and read "Living & Eating through 2012" - very informative, as all his posts are.  I posted that one on my Facebook page).

I think there may be a renaissance of home gardening more now than ever.  I sure hope so and think it is mandatory to fill in the gaps.  Where I presently live, it is not really possible, although I grow a few herbs and flowers and a couple citrus trees.  It is so shady and growing shadier as the massive trees make more cover at my place.  The soil is typical Florida sand.  Water goes right through it, retaining no moisture, despite having composted here since I bought the house in 2003.  I also have found large amounts of glass, metal, plastics and all kinds of junk as I dig in my yard.  It doesn't make me trust the purity of my soil.  Evidently, previous inhabitants just used the back yard as their dump.

Eventually, however, I may team up with my son in Maine and start a big garden on land up there.  I have grown many different things successfully in Maine before, despite all the rocks.  Growing brussel sprouts, in particular, is exciting because they fill a vertical stem and make an impressive sight.  They are best harvested after a frost, by the way.  When I lived up there, I'd drive to a particular beach next to the Deer Isle causeway and load up the truck with seaweed.  The dried-out seaweed at the high water mark is the kind to get since it is light weight.  Wet seaweed is heavy and stinky.  Needless to say,  I would only go there at low tide.  Once in the garden, seaweed composts to beautiful, black soil.  It is amazing.

Even though the growing season in Maine is relatively short, I grew enough beautiful produce to last for months.  There are plenty of garden pests there, but no comparison to what I have found here in Florida.  Many people do grow successfully here and the weather makes planting times very different from up north.  So wherever I am I try growing anything that seems possible for the area.