the blue lady blog: Countdown to One Year of Eating Only What I grow. 194 days to go

Preparation day #1. 194 days to go. It just happens to be the first day of summer today and I feel it's starting off well. I already have some things planted in the garden but today I really stepped it up a little and went to a greenhouse near me to buy some already started vegetable plants. Now is a great time to get really inexpensive plants. This particular nursery was having a buy one get one free sale, because it's late in the season, so their 4 pack vegetable starts were $1.49 each originally and you get one free. So about 75 cents for 4 plants doesn't seem too bad. They are a bit leggy, but anyone who grows vegetables knows how to get them (especially tomatoes) to grow out of their legginess. ( I just made up that word). Plus, they're too big for those pesky slugs to devour in one sitting.

So, today I planted 12 broccoli plants

7 cauliflower

12 brussels sprouts

8 hot portugal peppers

4 yellow summer squash

4 cherry tomatoes

a handful of onion sets

I still have 4 acorn squash plants to plant, a few more onions, a few more tomatoes and orange peppers, and a few other things. The things I bought today are just additions to what I've already planted. The latter being things I just wanted to plant, before I came up with this crazy idea to eat only what I grow for a year. !!! The other things I've planted, or have yet to plant are things I grew from seed. I love heirloom varieties and I buy from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company every year. Their varieties are old fashioned, open pollinated and non gmo. The plants I bought today were not grown organically from the start, but I felt I needed to bulk up for the year I have in front of me.

I have lots of other seeds to still plant also. I have late varieties like cabbage, swiss chard, collards, turnips and a few other things. Some things I can grow later and keep in the garden to harvest all winter when I need it. A few years ago, I had turnips that I left in the garden all year. The turnips would grow tops during the warmer days of winter and I'd be able to eat fresh greens even during winter with no covering. It was awesome. There was so much, I was feeding it to my dogs too. Actually I think I blogged about it...

Right now, already in the garden, and growing beautifully, I have a huge patch of Japanese Red mustard Greens, celery, orange bell peppers, potatoes, 6 Roma tomato plants, 4 burpless cukes, 4 butternut squash, about a 30 foot row of beans, 20 foot row of cilantro, radishes, 9 patty pan, zucchini and yellow squash plants, 18 foot row of beets, and a patch of turnips. I'm not mentioning the berries, grapes, apples that are perennial plants.

So, planting aside, I've started drying herbs for the winter. I won't have milk, or juice or anything else to drink for a year, and I'm a lemon water drinker, so I have to prepare for hydration. Water is good but I love making tea from stuff that grows in my yard. And it's easier for me to drink something with some kind of flavor.

Today, I dried birch leaves, rose petals from my old antique fragrant rose bush and red clover for my winter teas. I bought a HUGE mesh dryer for herbs. I found one of these herb dryers on Ebay that I have hung from the rafters in the attic. It's very warm up there and these leaves and flowers should dry in a few days and then I can pack them in glass jars for storage. I paid about $25 for this dryer. It's fabulous. It's got 6 layers so you can dry different leaves in each layer. It's 36" in diameter and has a lot of space. They have smaller ones on Ebay too if you don't have the room. I dry flowers and leaves for potpourri's on this thing too. I still love my antique wooden drying racks too, but for a year's worth of dried leaves, I think my investment is worth it. I'll go up there once a day and mix up the plant material so it all dries evenly and nothing sticks together. When the leaves are COMPLETELY crispy they can go into glass jars. I have to make sure there is no moisture because the slightest bit will cause mold to form and it will ruin my whole batch.

Every day or two I'll pick a new leaf or flower for my tea mix. This tea is not only really delicious, but it is also packed with vitamins and minerals. Has no caffeine and it's free. I'll be talking about this in more detail, but some of the other things to add to this tea is my lemon balm, mints, catnip, dandelion leaves and flowers, oak leaves, oregano, thyme, and all sorts of flowers. Just to name a few. A few herbs like mint, lavender and catnip are great at bedtime to help with sleep. As I go, I'll share my recipes with you for the teas, so you can make them yourself. And I hope you will! It's very rewarding.

I think that's all for today. I'm still excited about this journey! I hope you'll follow me. I'll be using these blog posts to narrate videos of the garden on Youtube and I'm also theblueladyofthelake on Instagram.