12 February 2011

grateful for... rhubarb

rhubarb

We've removed our veggie patch. It has completely gone. Back to lawn in a week. I feel sad that there are no pumpkins to look forward to this Autumn. No potatoes under the soil. Nothing greener than a blade of grass... Oh that grass! The weeds require some serious planning, more than in any other garden I've known. They grow and grow and before long, mother nature reclaims any of our best efforts. Our dream of having a food forest on our larger than average suburban block is just that for now. A rather distant dream. Especially while we have small owlets needing most of our love and attention.

So we are taking a realistic approach to it all. Working with what we have and adding to it when we can. The fruit trees all need love. We might even put some new ones in later in the year. Pots have been filled with seedlings that will provide us with some leafy greens and herbs. Just a little boost to our weekly shop. Manageable and right next to the hose so I don't forget to weed or water them. We're saving up for a raised bed and then another as time and money allows. It isn't easy when we pop our heads over the fence and see a food haven filled with raspberries, lemons, veggies... or look across the road and see the truck delivering a mountain of mulch - the one we wish we had, rather than the meadow of weeds that is currently choking our native garden... But we have enough and a wander around the garden turns up more than you'd expect at first glance. Apples - more than last year. Passionfruit dripping from the vine, mint and oregano growing wildly, new buds on the lemon tree and... rhubarb. This year it is finally producing enough to add a little something different to our cooking. Sadly, the apricot tree suffered a horrid case of brown rot and we lost a huge crop. Not one apricot.... But we have rhubarb!!

What are you grateful for?

2 comments:

  1. About the only thing that grows with any gusto in the Fibro is, you guessed it, rhubarb. You can't kill it with - anything. Which is clearly why it survives here.

    Keep dreaming. One day...

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  2. It's lovely to see a new face this weekend.

    I dream of growing vegies and nurturing chickens, but at the moment that remains just a dream. I say it's because I work in the city and have time restraints, but secretly I know that I am afraid of all the hard work that goes along with it all! Trying to get motivated. Maybe rhubarb is a start? x

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