Views of 'Belly Acres' as Fall approaches...

Ta da!!!

Last night I picked some veggies from my garden for dinner....so convenient!!!

Veggie Update

A whole bunch of zucchinis are coming. I've counted at least 10 flowers!The peas are growing like crazy. I was eating them off the vine last night. They taste so sweet.

The broccoli is starting to emerge.

Deck Building 101

Last weekend a few good friends with some pretty amazing skills came and helped me add approximately 350 square feet of deck in my backyard. Here's the photo replay.

First trying to level the area
Placing the cement post holders in the exact spot and making sure they are all levelPutting in the posts and building the frame

Screwing in the first floor board and extending the frame

More floor boards

The final product!!! We are going to add railings and a bench next weekend. Stay tuned :)

Sun, Rain, and a Little Love

Tossing snails out of my garden (onto soft landing pads of grass) has become my new hobby. They are abundant and hungry little critters and my garden is a snail's 'all you can eat' buffet...unless I can get to them first! So far, snails and my occasionally badly behaved dog have been the biggest garden pests. I am told by other gardeners in the Upper Squamish to watch out for the deer but they have only made brief appearances on the front lawn.

I recently bought a great book called 'You Grow Girl'. I recommend checking out their website: www.yougrowgirl.com. They offer fantastic organic options to weeding and pest control. The website and book also have unique and creative garden ideas.

Now on to the produce....
The peas are starting to climb up the lattice I made out of some plastic I found.
The purple spuds are getting huge! I think I have to dig them up once they have flowered. The onions are getting a beating from the two aforementioned pests but they keep on keepin on. The zukes are ready to bloom any day now. I've got some berries appearing on one of the blueberry bushes. The smallest of the 3 bushes got run over accidentally by my neighbour who was doing me a huge favor by mowing around the garden. Nothing a little TLC can't fix.
This weekend I plan to plant the tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and peppers that I have been babying indoors. They are ready for the big world out there!

They're alive!!!...still

Here is my first attempt at a garden. I'm starting off small with the hopes of growing bigger every year. The box in the forefront has 3 rows of purple potatoes and 2 rows of Spanish onions. The other box has squash, green beans, peas and corn (so far). I have tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and lettuce still growing from seed by the warmth of my kitchen window.
Some Squamish squashUp close with potatoes and onions

First Steps

When I was about 15 I decided that I wanted to own my own farm and would learn how to be self sustainable. All my future steps from that point were decided with the hopes of attaining my goal. 2 month ago I came one step closer to my dream and purchased 7.5 acres in the Upper Squamish Valley. Although it took me 16 years to get this far, I'm beginning to think that getting the land was the easy part. Now come the challenging tasks of learning how to wire my own electrical, milk my own cow (that is, after I buy one), make my own paper, grow my own veggies, build my own barn, harness solar power, put in a rain water collection system and the list goes on...
I'm the person on the far left in the above picture. With me are some amazing students from Quest University Canada. Together we worked on digging up and building the first phase of a community garden. This blog will be used to highlight our progress, discuss projects and post useful links. All suggestions and information are welcome!