Istarted gardening in 2003 in my apartment with a tiny balcony planting in containers. I grew an enormous tomato plant that produced 0 tomatoes because I had no idea what I was doing at the time. I enjoyed gardening so much that it didn’t matter that I didn’t produce anything with that first tomato plant. Then I knew I needed to continue to learn about gardening because I enjoyed the process so much. Over the past 17 years I have continued to learn and grow as a gardener and I love to share all the tips and tricks I have learned over the years with other gardeners who are starting out on their gardening journey.
In 2007 we moved into a townhouse where I created a small outdoor raised bed garden. I thought this is going to be great I have so much more room to grow things. Sadly I had so much shade in the back yard due to the huge mature trees, but I didn’t let that deter me and I had to learn the best way to grow in my new surroundings. Everyone needs to learn their specific microclimate where they are trying to grow. Going from containers on a sunny balcony to a shady backyard raised bed definitely caused me to expand my gardening knowledge to be successful in my micro climate.
I now garden with my wonderfully supportive husband (who cooks all my delicious produce) and my 2 amazing children in our home in Carroll County, Maryland. With the kids getting older, we grew out of the townhouse and have been lucky enough to move onto 3 acres of wide open spaces. I have been slowly building out my garden and orchard to someday provide a significant amount of the organic fruit and vegetables that we eat every day. I love to try new vegetables and new varieties of vegetables my family love to see if there are some that do better in our area then others. I can’t wait to share these experiments with new gardeners to see if there might be something that they love that they have never tried before.
Preserving
While growing my organic garden and orchard in our current home I realized that I can’t use my produce fast enough. I had to learn a way to preserve my food to ensure it would last longer for us to eat. This has been my latest passion along with growing my produce. I have been learning about how to safely use water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, fermenting and freezing techniques to preserve the food that we grow. Preserving the harvest is something that is new to me but I have jumped in with 2 feet and have been having a lot of fun filling my pantry and freezer with safely preserved produce.
Another reason I am really gravitating towards preserving my own food is that a few years ago I found out that I have a lot of food allergies. The allergies were causing me a lot of issues and when I figured out what they are I removed them completely from my diet. Changing my diet has really caused my entire family to switch around the way we eat. When I am preserving my own food I know exactly what is going into each item in my pantry or freezer. I can avoid all the foods that I am allergic too and makes cooking in our house much easier. There are so many easy, safe and delicious recipes that a new canner or preserver can use to preserve their harvest. As I learn new recipes on ways to preserve my harvest I can’t wait to share them with everyone.
Thank you for reading!
I am so excited to share all my tips and tricks to give beginner gardeners and preservers the confidence they need to get started. I can’t wait to help you with growing your passion for gardening and preserving.
Do you have questions about gardening or preserving? Feel free to send me a message with any questions you may have.
