The Urban Farmer's Almanac

The last few years the strawberry patch has claimed a prized location in our little urban farm and has repaid us with little to no yield of fruit.  This year we’ve added a soaker hose into the bed that is connected to the rest of our watering system.  The location of the strawberry patch made this quite a big project, but dreams of actual handfuls of strawberries made it happen.  We’re hoping being connected to the main watering system will insure plenty of moisture and will be the push it needs to give us some fruit.  If not this may be the last year that patch exists.

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Hannah just had her first professional pedicure and was much impressed with the experience.  Here she is reenacting it in the backyard with Robbie. Our herbs are  now established enough that its no problem to set a 4 year old loose on them so she can make an herbal soak for her feet.  At least it gets them clean, which is  rarity now that it is the season for running around barefoot.

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I went outside last night to take a look at how the garden was doing, and I noticed a funny leaf in with the raspberries. We’ve been battling morning glory in the yard forever, and it keeps popping up everywhere, especially in quiet neglected corners. I started to follow the vine down to the bottom of the raspberry thicket (which really it an applicable word; it’s a jungle in there) when I heard a little hiss and saw a black and white ball of fur. Hanging out in a raised bed of raspberries was a little kitten, probably just a couple weeks old. Apparently leaving your baby in a raspberry patch is the cat equivalent of floating your baby down a river in a reed basket.

Free Kitten. Loves to garden.

This was not entirely a surprise. There were kittens born under our porch last year that we tried to lure out (without any luck) and now they are roaming the neighborhood with their feral mother. They don’t really belong to anyone, though the neighbor lady feeds them, and at one point tried to tell us that when we bought the house, the cat came with it (which we ignored).

Until now. Baby cats are invading our shores. The onslaught must be stopped. So if you want an adorable cat, let us know. Before Hannah informs us that this foster placement has moved to adoption (dan@theurbanfarmersalmanac.com).

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There were a few random daffodil and tulip bulbs in the front bed of our house when we bought it that I thought we’d managed to dig out last year to make room for vegetables. But this year another one popped up, and kept growing and growing. I finally needed the space for the things I’m actually going to grow there (cherry tomatoes) so I decided it was time to dig it out.

As soon as I pulled it out of the ground, a garlicky-oniony scent overwhelmed me. Turns out it wasn’t a flower, but a leek, and an enormous one at that. Just about big enough to be a new child in the family, with a fine head of hair (look at the picture if you have no idea what I’m talking about.)

Our asparagus patch has finally started bursting, and I figured out that the lard I rendered last year makes the most wonderful pie crust, so a leek tart with asparagus and feta was in the cards. Yum.

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