Things that Grow

Mike and I have begun planning our vegetable garden for this year. We've ordered our seeds and designed the layout for the planting. Last year was our first year ever trying out our green thumbs. Overall we were really pleased with how things went, but we've got some new ideas on things we'd like to try this year. For the most part, we are planning to grow the same vegetables as last year, but with some different varieties this time around. My mouth is already watering at the thought of those tasty tomatoes! On the books, we've got tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, corn, zucchini, herbs, and of course watermelon. We'll also try to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, and apples from local farms.

Speaking of local farms...I recently read an article about CSA farms. CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. They are sort of like a private farmers' market where an individual can make a financial contribution to a local farm (like a shareholder), and receive a weekly basket of fresh produce from the farm. This website allows you to find local farms (CSAs or otherwise) dealing in all things imaginable...veggies, eggs, beef, goat milk, chicken, herbs, etc. I was surprised how many farms deal in my tiny community. Perhaps we will check a few out this year in case we decide to buy into a CSA farm next year.

Apples are probably my absolute favorite fruit. I love apples and literally eat an apple a day. It's a bit of an obsession really. I even eat an apple the same exact way every time. Am I alone in this? I'm very particular about the kind of apples I eat. They must be crisp with a good snap in every bite. I'm partial to tart apples but other varieties are good too. My mission is to try as many varieties as possible. It may be a lifetime before that happens as there are hundreds of different kinds of apples. My favorites are Honey Crisps, Jonathans, McIntosh, and of course Grannies. While I buy my apples at the grocery store, in the fall I love to get apples from local farms...something about the flavor makes these apples the BEST. Great for snacking but also good for applesauce.

One of the local conservation areas holds an annual Maple Sugar Festival in February. Mike and I attended last year, and seeing how easy it was to make maple syrup, we wanted to give it a go. Sugar maple trees are the best for making the syrup. We have two in our front yard but unfortunately they are just shy of the recommended diameter for trees that a safe to tap. That hasn't stopped the neighborhood yellow-belly sapsucker though. This woodpecker has drilled dozens of holes in our trees to get the sap flowing. And boy does it flow! The past few days have dropped below freezing and so the sap has formed huge "icicles" that hang from the tree branches. Hopefully next year we can try collecting it to make some syrup.