Growing up on the Hunt Ranch I always remember my parents tending a garden on top of all of the ranch work. On one side we had a small, thorny raspberry patch with an apple and an apricot tree, with irises and roses on the outskirts of the fence line. My mother would plant beautiful flowers in the middle with the most memorable kind being marigolds. The other side was mainly vegetables. Mom kept containers of strawberries, chives and rhubarb and I remember wheelbarrows full of squashes, rows of corn, and aprons full of peas and beans. 

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When Michael and I moved into our house it was already July, so I attempted to plant a few zucchinis. The next February we had acquired our very pregnant meat goats and had our first daughter in April. I stayed busy midwifing goats and tending to our precious baby. I remember planting a tiny garden while baby wearing her. The next few years, we slowly downsized and switched our goat herd from meat to dairy and added two more daughters to our family. Michael was able to work closer to home which was a huge blessing. Finally in 2020 we attempted starting seeds ahead of our frost date and set up our first tiny, tarped greenhouse. Success! 

 

From starting the seeds, to transplanting, watering and fertilizing, harvesting, cooking and or preserving, we so enjoy having a garden! Our garden keeps us busy and full of wonder at how such a small seed can grow and produce such a beautiful and nutritious food. We have enjoyed teaching our girls how to grow their own healthy food here at home. It takes a lot of work and dedication, but we thoroughly enjoy the fruits of our labor, quite literally. We all have so much fun picking out seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. We have way too many favorites to list but some are the Red Kuri Hubbard, Kakai and Honeyboat winter squashes, Bee Balm, Holy Thai Basil, Mortgage Lifter, German Pink, Amish Paste, Barry's Crazy Cherry tomatoes, Beit Alpha cucumbers, peas, carrots, radishes, herbs, Dragon Tongue and Calima beans... 

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Garden Resources: 

We absolutely LOVE ordering seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. 

There is a private and non-affiliated Facebook group that we gain lots of seed and garden knowledge from here. To learn how to save your own seeds I recommend this book here.

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Chances are, if you garden, you're going to need to know or learn how to preserve all that food! Aside from learning from my grandmother, my mother and my friend, I took an online canning class through Homesteading Family and learned so much. The class taught how to can safely using both the water bath and pressure canning methods and shared many recipes.