The Kitchen Garden:

When my fiance and I traveled to New Zealand last year, we were fortunate enough to spend some time on a few organic farms. I will admit that I was instantly bit with the farming bug, taking to it like a fish in water. I found myself happily hopping out of bed at dawn to go out and milk the cows (which if you know me, you know that there are few things that will pull me from a warm bed, especially at dawn). I didn't mind going out at dusk to make sure the chickens have returned to their coop, or spending hours weeding, bent over in the hot mid-day sun, wrist deep in soil. Best of all, I learned that there is nothing quite like the feeling one gets when cooking up a dinner, most of which you pulled from the earth just a few hours prior.

Upon returning to the states I was faced with the terrible realization that I'm just not yet at the point in my life where I can reasonably drop everything and move to the country to buy my own farm and live off the land. So instead I have been living vicariously though documentaries and books, such as Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which I will be writing my own book review on in the next few weeks). Most recently I learned that my family back in Texas has come together to start their own Kitchen Garden, consisting of three well plowed plots and lots of back-breaking love. My sister, Rachel, has been kind enough to share some photos of their hard work (after the jump!). And for anyone who is looking for a good gardening site, I recommend Gardening Garden's Soil 101, for all of your flower, vegetable and landscaping needs. Sure, prime weather for starting a garden may have been week or so ago, but remember it's not too late! Wether you have a lonely little plot of land, a patio with barely enough room for a chair, or window sill with all day sunlight: get to planting! And in a few weeks, you too can be enjoying the fruitful (or vegetable-ful?) rewards of a well loved Kitchen Garden.

{1}

{2}

{3}

{4}

{5}

{6}

{7}

{8}

{9}

{10}

The unfortunate side effect of living in a high rise is the limited space that one has in order to grow things. We were fortunate enough to find a home in the last high rise on the south end of the city, with eight large south-facing windows and eight hours-a-day of unobstructed sunlight (on the days that Chicago isn't covered with a thick layer of clouds, of course.) We started a collection of baby house plants a few weeks back (which includes the Iron Cross in photo #10 who surprised us with darling blooms earlier this week). Now that winter's chill is starting to fade, we're planning to put our windows to good use to grow some garden greenery of our own. My budding green thumb produced a family of herbs at our Newport home last summer, which I had to abandon for our move to the Mid-West last Fall. I can't wait to have a variety of fresh herbs to choose from again, and I am whole heartedly looking forward to being welcomed home after a long day by a kiss from my sweetie and the intoxicating aroma of fresh basil, thyme and mint!