Gigi's Blog » Tales of the Mortician's Wife

“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946.
That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food?
Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests.
It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides.
It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.”
― Joel Salatin

“Girls, the moment is here … it’s time,” I announced to a kitchen table full of sleepy eyed daughters, mulling over their oatmeal bowls. “It’s gardening time … time to pull out our hoes!”

Hefting my large wicker basket filled with seeds onto the kitchen table, I smiled a joyful, expectant grin. My table has been cramped full of seed flats with sprouting plants for the past month or so. The girls’ windowsills also have been haven for little seedlings as we do our best with starting seeds indoors (in a very cold old farmhouse with little natural light). But now, with May  in progress — albeit a chilly one for Ontario — it will finally be time to begin (some of) our garden planting.

I cannot tell you how amazing it is to have a large family vegetable garden. I know all of North America is hyper about gardening this year with the strange happenings of 2020, but for us, it’s life as normal. We have been running our family garden for six years now. Every year, we try something a little different, which keeps us ever learning. Every year, we learn something and fail somewhere and reap rewards in other places. We are all learning – but I am grateful for the five years of work under our belt.

I suppose everyone is contemplating gardening this year. My sister told me her neighbour tilled up half of his yard to plant their first ever garden – how exciting!
Due to empty (reported) grocery shelves  {I have yet to experience that myself} and little-to-no-fresh produce or even frozen vegetables, surely it raises even the brownest of thumb-gardeners to want to at least ATTEMPT growing food for their own family.

If you have not gardened yet, do you suppose this is the year to consider it? Not only are things ‘strange’ out there in the ‘real world’, but it is just wise and prudent to provide for your own family with your own hands.

The weekend Luther was born seemed to the weekend our country went topsy-turvy with events – and that did seem to affect grocery stores and food supplies. Yet while others had to scramble to find their food for their pantries, life went on as normal for this family and we can thank God for that – it is a result of last year’s gardening and preserving.  I am so grateful -I cannot imagine scurrying to a grocery store to try to find enough food for our large family, all after just having baby #9. It would have been very stressful, to say the least! This new season showed us one thing: it seemed all our gardening and work and efforts of the past few years really did pay off — in a literal sense.

There is something absolutely wonderful about growing your own food– especially if you grow enough to avoid going to the grocery store most weeks. All the children at home help us with our garden – we all eat at the same table and we all work the same ground (with, of course, exceptions of the little ones). We look to work together. I believe it strengthens our family ties, as well as providing food for our larger – than – normal family.

Now, it is fun to garden for a hobby, but providing most of your food from your garden is another story. When we first moved here (six years ago), I had dreams for our family-supported vegetable garden. With three little girls and one baby on the way, we started, in town, with a tiny 6×6 vegetable garden. We were so excited to plant those little rows of vegetables and were thrilled to harvest the few vegetables that managed to grow. However, moving to the country with baby #6 on the way, we were then able to grow a proper amount of food for our ever-growing family. And every year, our family grew and every year, I’d look at my husband and ask, “Can we expand the garden a little bit more this year?” Every year, he grumbled about it :), but every spring, the garden would grow. This year, yes, it has grown again (well, it just fits our pattern as we have just added our sweet baby #9 to the fold).

Yes, a large garden is a lot to manage, but it is how we spend our summer. It teaches hard work, patience, responsibility and is very rewarding. It fills the hours of our day, creates a summer routine for the children and I (weeding and watering, weeding and watering) and finally, a harvest in the late summer and early fall rewards our family with beautiful home-grown food. I could never go back to not having a proper garden.

Just for fun, here is a list of what we grow in our family vegetable garden:

green and yellow beans
peas
onions
garlic
lettuce
beets
carrots
turnips
brussel sprouts
rutabaga
cucumbers
a variety of squash
zucchini
potatoes
variety of tomatoes
spinach
melons (if we are lucky)
sugar pie pumpkins

I have not had success with corn so I buy a huge amount from our friends and neighbours who grow organic corn. We process it and save it in the freezer or can it for the winter. This year, we ran out so we will have to increase our corn amount for the following year.

In the herb garden, which was the original vegetable garden which we outgrew, there will be the following:

lavender
calendula
fennel
celery
rhubarb
echinacea
oregano
bergamot
thyme
Lady’s Mantle
basil
onions
lettuce
parsley
dill
mint
cilantro
sage
primrose

Last year, we planted 50 lbs of potatoes – we have yet to run out of poatoes and we eat a lot of them! This year, we planted the same amount. They are well loved by all the members of the family – and so easy to plant that a two year old can help out! (Thanks, Loyal!)

We plant 110 tomato plants – some we start from seed, some we purchase from our local garden house as started plants (our growing season is quite short in Ontario).
We have yet to run out of tomatoes — and they are used for so many dishes that I could just never do without a huge amount of tomatoes every fall.

All the food we harvest in the fall is canned, frozen and put away into the Provision Room for the winter.

Our Provision Room has proven to be a wonderful asset for our family table.

To determine how much food you will need for your family, figure out how many months of winter you have in your area. For us, cold weather and winter lasts for roughly six months. We cannot grow food in the garden from November-April. Therefore, I need a food supply put away for half a year = 24 weeks.
I have figured that we need a rotation of vegetables for 24 weeks – four vegetable options a week. Our vegetable options will be cabbage, carrots, squash, corn, zucchini and turnips/rutabaga.
For example … this will mean we plant 24 cabbages.
We will need approximately four-five litres of tomato sauce per week for 24 weeks. That is a high estimate, depending on what we are making for dinner, but I would rather not run out of tomato sauce in January. Planning for a surplus is what we’re aiming for in the Provision Room.
We will need enough for two meals of potatoes each week, as well.

Perhaps where you live, you are able to begin planting in January for fresh greens and vegetables. Think ahead to what your family needs, experiment with your garden, plant a little extra this year. If you don’t need it, you can bless another family with it.

Happy planting!

P.S.

If you are already a gardener, here is what is inspiring me lately … this is George Washington’s garden. Isn’t it stunning?