What’s in the ground:

I was very excited this week to make a really cool leap in sustainability and sow my own garbanzo beans. It’s funny because everyone every year plants pole beans, bush beans, green beans, and I love how well they fix nitrogen in the soil and get the space ready for some ripping tomatoes, but who really likes those varieties of beans. I wanted to get a little more adventurous so I went for it. Looking forward to the humus in the late summer.

What’s going on in sustainability:

Speaking of garbanzo beans and tomatoes, I wanted to offer this little insight as we all begin implementing those crop plans we worked so hard on over the past winter. And I hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but in my opinion, people get too conservative when growing in their garden. It’s no secret that gardening and sustainability have been sold to us as this “green movement” in a neat little Whole Foods bag. And I’m very grateful for the zeitgeist that has been spread in this country around gardening. But now it’s time to keep moving forward.

I think it’s a waste of space to plant the same varieties and even the same vegetables that one can find at the local farmer’s markets. Larger farmers grow these varieties because they prove themselves year after year. So we get early girl tomatoes, silver queen corn, romaine lettuce. If you are used to these varieties and they bring you that same warm feeling of home that they bring me, then please support your local farmer and buy these crops.

But if you have space, why not try growing stuff that’s not readily available in this area. This means growing crops like garabanzo beans. I’m a humus junkie, but don’t really find local, organic varieties of garbanzos. Grains have still not had the same local breakthrough that veggies and fruits have enjoyed, but it’s about time they did, so why not start in your back yard.

Also, this is a great opportunity to try those crazy heirloom varieties of the veggies you’ve come to love. Rather than you basic red tomato, try planting a Green Zebra or a Pruden’s Purple. Or experiment with any kind of variety of lettuce that you want. As I hope reading this blog has shown, it is not sustainable nor is it fun to cut yourself off from everyone and make a homestead compound or fortress. We still need to supplement our smaller gardens with food from the whole community. So this season, go to the market, support local and get creative with your own space.

I’ll keep you updated on the beans and please feel free to comment with the fun things you all are growing.

Until then, this is the note from the urban homestead.