Farmer Em

[darkemeralds]

Back in January when inspiration from a little feng shui book by Karen Kingston prompted me to clear out my house a bit, I had an idea that there might be some outcomes beyond household tidiness.

What I absolutely didn't foresee was that one of them would be me growing my own potatoes.



Clearing the stash of paper bags on top of my fridge led to my taking reusable bags to the store

• which led to quickly running out of bags for garbage and recyling
• which led to changing my garbage and recycling system
• which led to some food-waste disposal problems that I still haven't quite solved.

Conquering half of the clutter-hoards in my house let me see the clutter in my financal affairs

• which led to a refinance of my mortgage
• which led to a stricter budget
• which led to taking my lunch to work every day
• which led to more cooking at home
• which led to even more food-waste disposal problems that I still haven't quite solved

Clearing up my finances cleared my mind enough to look at the clutter in my diet

• which led to a complete analysis of what I eat
• which led to a significant reduction in calories
• which led to some great reading about food and politics
• which led to a cool new food-and-politics blog called Politicook
• which led to an article about composting
• which led to me deciding to compost my kitchen waste.

And reading about composting drew my eye to the next article, about growing potatoes in containers

• which led to me buying some organic seed Yukon Gold potatoes and a container today.

Rolled-up container thing, potting soil, seed potatoes ready to go.


It ain't gorgeous, but There Will Be Spuds.


Waiting for eyes to sprout.

Comments

[roseambr.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is going to be so cool! Once you get the bug about growing your own produce I can see the raised beds in your side yard now! I wouldn't be surprised if next summer is a picture of you growing more vegetables than I have planned for this year. Love it!

By the way, that planter is very cool! I want to know more about that. What is it made of? Where did you get it? How does it work?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

We'll see about vegetable gardening as a growth industry chez Emerald...

The planter is a sheet of raised-and-perforated black recycled plastic, with a set of sturdy plastic screw-anchors designed to fit firmly into the perforations.

You can hook multiple sheets together for a much larger enclosure. It also comes in a three foot height for making a compost bin out of. It's very tough and should last ages.

It's not sold with a label or any kind of packaging, and my receipt doesn't name it, so I can't tell you the brand name. I've had no luck finding a picture of it on the web, either. I got it at Garden Fever on Fremont, and I have the impression that it's a new product this season.

Here's a close-up of the material.

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

I love it!!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I have visions of a bushel of large, creamy Yukon gold potatoes, suitable for steaming and mashing, towards the end of summer. More reasonable people assure me that what I'm likely to wind up with is six or seven little marble-sized bites. Hee! Gotta start somewhere, I guess.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Well, this *is* International Year of the Potato, after all!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Really?

Wow, how synchronistic of me!

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

You mean you didn't read and memorize my Jan 1st post? I'm shocked!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Read, yes. Memorize? Apparently not so much.

I am now fully apprised of the IYP.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm just all about spreadin' the spud love.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I skimmed through the International Year of the Potato site, and I couldn't find any obvious evidence that it's a corporate big-ag monoculture scam. There were some suspicious references to genetic strains and stuff that might have been secret code for "We are Monsanto and all your spuds are belong to us" but mostly there's talk of sustainability and feeding the hungry. So the IYP might be all right.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, big agricultural is terrible. Read the opening section of this for the All Your Worms Are Belong To Us version.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Good journal. Poor worms. :-(

I think "commoditized" is a word, albeit a word of very recent coinage.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

But totally apposite.

[str8ontilmornin.livejournal.com]

Thanks to your entry and subsequent comments, I have learned about the Spud Year. Kudos to you for venturing to grow your own!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I have visions of a potato harvest extravaganza sometime late in the summer. Possibly these visions are grandiose and I'll wind up with four marble-sized Yukon golds, enough to go with a couple of scrambled eggs.

Either way, it will be kind of a thrill.

[avventura1234.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about your side yard all day today. Seriously! Maybe it was the potato-growing thing in your yard that got me thinking. Maybe it was the other yard I was working in today. Whatever caused it, I was thinking about how you could turn your side yard into a vegetable garden. It's not too late for this year!! Think of that fresh green salad!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Ooh, love the Roman column icon!

I've been thinking a lot about that side yard, too, and suddenly the idea of developing it with a second house seems kind of dumb compared to the idea of farming it.

That said, I don't think I'm mentally or physically ready to do a vegetable garden this year. I'm going to plant beans on top of my potatoes, and see how that goes. Maybe in the fall I'll put in some garlic and onions. Then we'll see how next spring looks.

If YOU would like to do anything vegetable in the side yard, however, you'd be welcome to it.

[starfishchick]

Hi, I've added you, here via maitheas who was talking about Project Empty. No need to add me back, I will be lurking through your Project posts if you don't mind. :)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

That was nice of maitheas. Welcome here, and thanks for stopping by!

I'm overdue for a new decluttering post. Must get on that this week.

[starfishchick]

Annnnnnd, I just sent a bunch of people your way to read about Project Empty. :)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

If I actually had an "attention whore" icon, I'd use it here. As it is, just plain "whore" will have to do. :-)

Thanks for the refs!

[starfishchick]

People are finding it very inspiring! I know I am!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

That's good to know! Thank you.