The ground has been dug, the manure spread and the plantings completed. Now it’s time to watch it grow (and weed).

Here are the numbers.

Cost so far:

• $40 - tilling
• $50 - manure
• $18 - plants and seeds (lots of free starts thanks to Terrell)
• $32 - tomato cages
• $38 - peat and compost for blueberries
• Total - $178

Total planted to date:

• 14x Tomato
• 12x Cantaloupe
• 16x Potato
• 6x Sweet Potato
• 4x Basil
• 8x Blueberry

All the rain and sun this week is working: we’ve already got tomatoes, the cantaloupes are growing like weeds (and weeds are growing like weeds) and the blueberry stems are all sprouting.

Even the worms are off to a good start. I assume finding 10 inch worms in your garden is good news.

After waiting nearly month for the ground to dry up to be tilled, we got our load of manure this weekend. We got a truck load of year old, grass fed cow manure for $50 and spent all weekend spreading it around. Dawn got out for a bit before retiring to the shade to cheer me on. Good thing too - we found out that working with manure and chemotherapy are not a good combination.

We’re starting with a 600 square foot area in our back yard and the plan is to focus on potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and melons in order to take up all that space quickly and focus on soil growth this year.

We’ve got 5 tomato plants in the ground so far (all from the farmer’s market) and a friend has given us about 8 more.

I received this video from the Seeds Of Change yahoo group.  This short clip is about a family which uses all of its normal size yard to grow 300 different types of organic foods as well as raise animals!

I was eating a bag of chips today (like most days) and as I read the label on the front of the bag that says, “No Genetically Engineered Ingredients”. I thought to myself, why do foods with no GMOs have labels, but foods with GMOs do not?

The practice of labeling foods that have no GMOs is what’s wrong with this country. If you can change that, you fix the country.

I’ll be honest, Dawn does most of the grocery shopping. I used to know how much a pack of butter should cost, but not anymore.

Yesterday I made my first trip to the grocery store in like 2 months, and on the list was butter. I nearly screamed out in the dairy aisle at Everybody’s when I saw the price. $7.59 for four sticks of Horizon organic butter!

So I have to ask, what does a pack of organic butter cost in your local grocery store?

My spring fever reached a frenzied pitch this weekend.

Last year we used a neighbor’s unused garden plot. This year we are converting some of our backyard into a garden. I can’t wait for spring! I know you are all with me on this point. Out and about and on-line everyone is talking about the end of winter.

I subscribe to the Seeds of Change Yahoo group. The threads over there are currently buzzing with everyone’s preparation plans. One is titled, “The time is right to turn lawns into farmland.” I’m now convinced that not only do I need to turn my lawn into a garden but that I also need chickens. The first thing on my to-do list for Monday is to check into the Fairfield zoning laws.

The movement to convert lawns to farmland is awesome. And sites like, Cascadia Food Not Lawns make a very compelling argument for it. Here are a few points:

58 million Americans spend approximately $30 billion every year to maintain over 23 million acres of lawn.

Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland.

The pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 350 miles.

Lawns use more equipment, labor, fuel, and agricultural toxins than industrial farming, making lawns the largest agricultural sector in the United States.

I’m ready for a seed swap.