Amateur Homesteading - Scratching in the Dirt
As someone who is very passionate about nutrition, sustainability and organic food practices, I have longed to be able to grow my own food for years. We were lucky enough to have a plot at the community garden down the street from us while we were living in Toronto and that is where I first got started down this homesteading path. My husband and I did a ton of research (we had a lot more time on our hands then) before we planted that first little garden. We found out which plants like to grow next to each other and what to use as natural/organic pest deterrents. We had a very successful first harvest and we were so excited about it. It lit a flame that remains within me and one that has been fanned quite a bit over the past few years.
Only once we moved to Hamilton, did we realize that we not only had the desire to grow our own food but also the absolute necessity of it for us. We were not able to have a food garden in Hamilton, our property did not support it. We were lucky to have access to fresh produce locally, from an amazing organic farm that we bought from weekly during the summer months at the Ottawa Street Farmer’s Market but we yearned to do something on our own. (Side note, if you live in the Hamilton area, I highly recommend that you check out – Branching Path Farm). We wanted to have more control over what we eat, to have more food freedom and security and to have room to explore and grow. As a Nutritionist, I know that the most nutrient-dense food that you can eat is the food that is growing right in your own back yard, almost still alive while you eat it! We wanted to teach our son life skills that would help him sustain himself better in the future should he come across a food shortage or just choose to be self-sufficient with the growing and raising of his own food. We wanted him to have clean air to breathe and to understand natural processes. We had the opportunity and decided to finally take the plunge, to move out of the big city. In 2021, we bought a house with a bit of land in the Rideau Lakes area and took some time to settle in. We spent the fall preparing part of the land to become a big garden. We did this by choosing a plot that we thought would be best for growing and we laid down cardboard to kill the grass. We then realized that our barn here was full of horse manure so we threw that on top. Once the leaves fell from the trees, we piled those on top of the manure and let it all rest until spring.
Preparing our space for the gardens. It sure didn’t look like much in the early spring.
We love our veggies and fruit and when I prepare meals for my family, I try to incorporate as many plants as possible in order to keep our gut bugs happy (they thrive on variety). During the winter months, I acquired some (wayyy too many 😂 ) local heritage and organic seeds and began some seedlings. I had a loose idea of how I wanted our little homestead to begin. I knew that I wanted to grow as much as possible in hopes that we would not have to buy most produce this summer. I knew that I wanted to have access to herbs for use in my kitchen creations but also medicinal herbs and my main focus would be on perennials so that we could have a returning collection at our disposal. What I did not know at the time is that seedlings are hard work as heck to grow. They are even harder to “harden off” (get ready to be planted outside in the real world) and as a result I killed most of my first batch. Oh, and I’ve come to learn that I really should have started my tomatoes and peppers in early January instead of mid-February. I suddenly realized that spring would be upon us in a snap and you can never overprepare for the garden! Does that happen to you too? BAM, it’s the next season and you’re scrambling to get it all done.
As complete amateurs to not only homesteading but living in the country as homeowners, overwhelmed by this giant century house and learning all that we had to in order to run it over winter (how to run an outdoor wood-burning furnace and snow blow the big driveway and drive our son to school on these wintery country roads as well as start some indoor renovations) the deep planning of the garden layout kind of got away from us 😜. But, we were keen to get going as Homesteaders this spring, so we decided to take on 8 baby chicks, who then lived in our main floor shower for the next 5 weeks. Our little boy just adores these chickens and has spent much time singing to them with his guitar and even had us reading bedtime stories to them in the shower! 😆
Meanwhile, my husband and 5-year-old son (with a little help from some friends and neighbours) scurried to build a chicken coop to get these rapidly growing birds out of my shower. They were getting too heavy to carry back and forth in a box every day to the dog run, not to mention too fast to catch. I must say that they did an excellent job on firming up the barn to keep predators out and they built a seriously pimpin’ chicken coop inside of that barn in a hurry! They even converted the dog run to a chicken run, with what we call “the chicken chute” (a ramp) leading safely into it. The chickens finally moved out on the weekend of May 28, while I worked feverishly to get the garden planted.
For the garden, I did not have an exact plan, as I mentioned, for what would go where. I had no time to sit and learn it all again, so with some reference to a book that was given to us by our dear friends called “Guide to Canadian Vegetable Gardening”, by Douglas Green, I just went for it and planted things where it felt right in the raised bed that my husband built for us. I tossed a bunch more in the incomplete garden that we refer to as “the mound” and put the rest in and amongst the flower beds. We are calling this “The Year of Scratching in the Dirt” and we are open to (I had written ready for but quickly corrected it as I’m sure that there will be a lot of surprises) the lessons it will bring. I am excited to take you all on a journey this season through growth, harvest and storage/preservation/fermentation and all that we learn! If you want to watch it unfold in real-time, you can follow me on Instagram, where I story about it all of the time.
Here are a few more pictures in a slideshow for you to see some of the progress that we have made so far.
Currently, we are harvesting garlic (we planted 97 cloves and we already know we want to try to triple that in the fall). I’m weeding a lot and watching my plants start to produce and it is lighting me up! Aside from working with clients and watching them succeed with their health goals, as a Nutritionist, being here, on our property, watching our own food grow so that I can nourish my family the way that I want to is paradise.
I want to give a special shout-out to our friends and neighbours, who have educated us, helped us and cheered us on! You are gifts to us and we could not have gotten rolling so quickly without you.
Until next time, stay well!
