Not as big time as Jeff at Brunty but....

[anthonyjames]

We had local paper stop by our family about 3 weeks ago. They heard we were trying to truley live a greener life by living from what we grow and raise.

http://www.ozaukeepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid=66

They mis-quoted many things like my composting and how much food is raised in a 4 x 4 square foot garden and many other things but something is better than nothing.

 

[petrelline]

Quote:
I was going to say, wow, your 4x4s are WAY more productive than mine are.

But that article is AWESOME! And your daughters are completely adorable.

 

[anthonyjames]

The 4 x 4 we used to use could feed my wife and kids all summer long. Since then our 4 x 4's are used for growing grapes, watermelons, strawberries and other fruits.

I think when we first started the 4 x 4 garden it had 9 spinach plants, 16 carrots, 16 radishes (rotated out 3 times), 9 heads of mixed lettuce, mixed greens, 4 snap peas (rotated 2 times), 8 bean plants, 1 tomato plant, 2 japanese egg plant and maybe a couple other things. But that was the jist of our first sqaure foot gardening experience.

Now I garden in a 20 x 40 spot that I am building my hoop house over.

Thanks for words and my girls love to hear they are beautiful and especially love to hear it in a foreign language since they currently speak 3 languages. Spanish (first), English and they are learning Mandarin with a person they go to school with.

 

[the simple life]

Very nice article. Your daughters really are beautiful. Its a nice life isn't it? We live similarly, we have hens for eggs, raise our own meat, keep a couple of dairy goats, we have bee hives and vegetable gardens and the kids truly get to see where their food comes from.
I don't allow processed food so when I ask for help in the garden or with the animals they know they better if they want to eat.
I love it when I can hand them honeycomb directly from the hive or when I watch them standing in the garden eating beans and tomatoes off the vine.
I use to garden for a hobby but am now really trying to raise all of our own food and to preserve it for the winter months.
I finished the root cellar and stocked up on canning supplies so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a successful season.
I tripled the size of our garden this year and planted vegetables in with the landscape to see if I can get away without having to buy anything at the farmers markets, although I would rather support them than the grocery chains.
I also planted 21 fruit trees, a dozen blackberries and raspberries, 100 strawberry plants, 3 grape vines, 3 kiwi vines and a dozen blueberry shrubs.
Its amazing what you can grow in your own backyard.
Good luck with it all, your girls are lucky.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

very nice anthony!

 

[terri9630]

Very nice! I wish I could grow food. The darn wild rabbits eat everything that isn't in the house!

 

[Kim_NC]

Really nice article, and your girls are adorable with their bunnies. What a wonderful project in Panama your wife has involved the girls with. Kudos!

 

[TimG]

I think maybe one of Anthony's ancestors was the subject of American Gothic, you should have been holding a pitchfork instead of the rabbit.

 

[Bantimna]

Little steps at a time......well done anthony!

 

[blueskylen]

what a really nice article! i agree that you have a lovely family!

while i was reading it, i was thinking that "back when i was young" besides walking 1 mile to school uphill both ways that this was the life that we had way back then. it was normal, and the folks that ate out at restaurants, shopped the big grocery stores, and bought already made clothes seemed odd. now that i'm stuck in the computer fast moving age, i don't like it much. it is nice to know that there are many more of us out there and growing movement for the simpler - out in nature life.