I Am a Farmer (on a very small scale)

Prologue:

"Honey. I called and got us that garden you wanted".

These were the happy words from Diane as I walked through the door after work one day late in the month of February. I admit I was thrilled. I had been suggesting for a couple of years that we pay the small fee for a plot at the community pea-patch while not being willing to pull that trigger myself, knowing I would require family support in order to insure the success of such a project.

"Good work, dearest wife of mine. How big are the plots?" I asked in reply.

"Six feet by twelve feet. Is that ok?"

"Sure. Perfect for a novice gardener. We should get a reasonable amount of food from a 72 square foot garden".

"Good, because I got two. They were cheap," she smiled.

--skip ahead to the following evening--

As we ate dinner I mentioned how we would be eating produce we had grown ourselves in a mere few months time, adding that with our second plot we would probably be giving away quite a bit also. I also mentioned the work that was sure to be involved, what with the after work trips to the garden for watering, weeding, etc., and how that would now be doubled and this project would require considerably more time than originally envisioned. I sighed.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" she answered as she shoved a hunk of broccoli into an uncooperative four year olds mouth. "They called today to say they had lowered the prices so I got us two more. We have four plots now".

As this blog progresses I will attempt to include all of you, my faithful readers, in any triumphs I enjoy and defeats I may suffer as I learn to grow my own organic produce. It may be fun...it may be incredibly boring. We'll see. I will tell you, however, that upon arriving for my first visit to the community gardens my hopes of discovering lovely flowering squash plants and beautiful leafy lettuces growing healthily alongside towering poles wrapped with vines heavily laden with crispy green beans were dashed upon the rocky shores of reality. What I found as I walked from the parking lot of the Sumner Lutheran Church into the field designated as the Sumner Community Garden was this:

Dirt.

--It's Fosco, Dammit!