Oh the joy of popping a cherry tomato warm in the summer sun right off the vine and into your mouth! Or the sharp smell of fresh turnips when dug out of the earth just ready to eat! Or the juicy sweetness of berries bursting into your mouth when picked off the branch! Or the flavors of herbs freshly picked from one’s own herb garden!
Planting and growing our own food is one of the most wonderful pleasures of life. It connects us with the earth, with the seasons and with a deep sense of conservation – it is extremely hard to waste or throw away the fruits and veggies that grow in one’s own garden.
Industrial farming uses enormous amounts of fertilizers and pesticides . Growing and eating our own food saves food miles and we get to eat the most tasty, healthy food possible. When we grow food in our own garden without using any pesticides, we don’t need to look for an “Organic” stamp, we know it’s organic! We are aware that it can be a luxury to have a garden of one’s own, so if it is not possible, you can support your local farmer by participating in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or a farm share which is an arrangement between a farmer and customer where customers typically buy a subscription to a local farm in advance of the season and in return, the farmer delivers the customers’ weekly “share” of the harvest.
In our garden, we have planted a bunch of fruit trees (peach, pear, cherry, apple, nectarine, persimmon), loads of berry bushes (blueberry, black berry, raspberry, red currants) and we have a gazebo in the garden draped with grape vine in the summer!
We have created 3 sections in our garden that get full sun for several hours every day in spring/ summer. We turn the soil every couple of years and mix fresh compost into it to avoid depletion. We use a bio-degradable weed-block to prevent weeds from competing with the plants we want to grow by cutting holes in the weed-block where we plant the saplings. We have laid drip irrigation lines under the weed block for efficient distribution of water to the plants and to minimize evaporation.
Every spring, we plant little saplings of fruits and vegetables in these sections. And we get to enjoy the bounty of our garden through summer and autumn.
Fruits and Berries
Peaches 
Blueberry bush 
Raspberries and Blackberries 
Some berries are ready to be eaten! 
Gazebo draped with grape vine
(red and white grapes)
Grapes maturing on the vine
around Gazebo
Vegetables
Blooming veggie patch in full sun 
Another veggie patch with green leafies 
Sweet peppers still unripe 
Yellow squash 
Green squash 
Herb Garden (Cilantro, Mint, Basil, Chives, Sage, Lavender, Rosemary…)
Enjoying the Bounty
Pick of the day! 
Butternut squash bonanza (we ate them over an entire winter)! 
Mark; maker of pasta sauce with tomatoes & herbs from the garden 
Swati; maker of pies with berries from the garden!
