Urban Farmers

I recently bought my Grams house which has a big yard and many memories. The garden that Grams used to plant was huge and on the side of the house. I remember helping to plant, weed and pick the veggies there. Peas were a particular favorite of mine; I loved sitting on the driveway shucking peas with Grams. Well now the garden is smaller, it is in the back of the house, and it is in planter boxes that my Uncle Ed built. We have a nice crop this year that includes some of my favorites and a few things I detest, but that others in my family like (cough green beans cough).

Right next door to me are true farmers, though. Adam and Dianna have one of the prettiest gardens I have ever seen. They run a nice business similar to the one where you go pick up a basket of food ... I cannot remember the name ... weekly. Anyway the one run by Adam is called Adam's Heirlooms. They have 4 farm sites in the neighborhood where they have built planter boxes and grow a variety of spring, summer, and fall produce. They grow their starts and sell them (I have their onions in my garden this year) and then during the summer months they sell their crop shares to the public. What a great idea! They love gardening and it is nice to see them do something they love.

Adam's garden from their website

In addition to the vegetables, they also have bee hives in the back yard ... which is why I think my garden is doing as well as it is. My favorite thing about living next to them is their compost pile. The first time they asked me to throw over my excess food and weeds I was like "um ... I do not think I can do that!" Honestly for the first few months I felt like I was doing something wrong by throwing my crap over the fence into the neighbor's yard! The time last fall when I raked my leaf pile to the fence and it all went over made me feel like I was the worst neighbor. I am so over that now! The weeds from my garden went over the fence last night and I finally did not feel like I was doing anything wrong. In fact Dianna was at the fence line working and smile broadly when the weeds went over. I loved throwing my rhubarb leaf pile over a few weeks ago. (btw I have some extra rhubarb washed and in the fridge if anyone wants some.)

Their compost pile got pretty high last fall and I guess they had an adventure with one of their chickens ... oh yes they have chickens too. Well on my side of the fence there is an apple tree, which I hope they use this fall! One of the chickens, apparently, saw a low hanging apple; said chicken climbed up on the pile, up to the fence, and came on over to try to get it. I apparently had a chicken loose in my yard because the creature could not figure out how to get back over the fence. Adam said he came to retrieve the chicken, I had no clue was over my fence. They raked down the compost pile so that did not happen again. I had no clue chickens ate apples. Insert your own mental image of a chicken eating an apple now...

Moral of the blog post? If you are looking for some produce this summer, I know a guy who can help you out. Check out the website for more information. When they claim to be locally grown, they mean it! So local, in fact, I can see it from my backyard! And some of the crap from my yard will fertilize their produce. I bet that will make them taste better to my friends!