Prepping for Vegetables

So the touch ups on the house are coming along nicely.

Last weekend the boys painted the trim red,
a great step towards freeing our home from its Giant White Cube look,
although greater efforts will have to be made in this arena before
we can truly rid ourselves of Cube Status.
One thing I forgot to mention about the painting of the garage
was that one of my biggest motivators for sprucing up that corner of
the yard is that in a few short months it will be the back drop for
what I am calling the Mega Garden.
After my foray last year into container gardening I have fallen in love,
but I feel I need more space.
Here is the site awaiting transformation:
It may not look like much now, but just wait.
There will be Rototillers, there will be weeding,
there will be raised beds,
there will be lots of stinky compost,
and then there will be plants.
To say I am excited would be an understatement.

I am prepping myself for next season by reading Kingsolver's
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a book that I highly recommend
to anyone who likes to eat.
The book chronicles the life of the Kingsolver family
during a year in which they vowed to eat only local food,
most of which they grew (or raised) themselves.
This is the famous diagram from the opening page.
The book seems to have found me at a perfect time,
for after conquering my zucchini crop I feel indestructible.
Next year, I plan to plant enough for an army
then dry it, can it, or freeze it so that it will be available to us
through the bleak and vegetable-less winter months.

I have already chosen where I am getting my seeds.
The Seed Savers Exchange is another fantastic site
to check out if you are a garden enthusiast,
or just really bored.

I already can't wait for my catalog to arrive in January.

And don't worry, although I do plan on posting
a great deal about my gardening adventures,
I will still remember to keep the cute pictures of Orin coming,
because lets face it,
its the only reason you read this.
I don't blame you.