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Hi Andrew,
I found your videos on You Tube, then your blog from there.  I am following your progress with great interest. I was raised on a 1,000 acre farm in rural west Texas. Mostly row crops were grown there, but also a lot of vegetables.

These days due to the locality of the land (sparsely populated area), you have to follow the herd in the mass production game to make a living. I chose not to follow that path as a young man because I thought it would eventually lead to a dead end.

Though I am now the executive director of a non profit organization in Southern California that has nothing to do with farming, like you, I am still drawn anything having to do with the production of food. My organization operates seven child care centers for low income families, and a food bank serving 75-plus nonprofit agencies in Southern California.

Last year I had the idea to install small gardens at each of the child care centers we operate to show the children (age 3-5) where the food they eat comes from. We grew radishes, tomatoes, bell peppers, and summer squash.

My hope was to be able to produce enough vegetables that I could incorporate them into the meals served at the centers with any surpluss going to the food bank that we operate.

We had just enough to supplement the food we serve at our sites and to teach the children where their food really comes from…maybe this year we will be able to do multple plantings and increase our harvest.

The one thing your blogs really point out is the amount of work involved in cultivating a small plot for continual harvest. I really appreciate your blogs and videos and hope you feel encouraged to keep going. I related especially to your comments about it being a “lonely” profession at times. Imagine 1,000 acres 12.5 miles out side of a town of 3,500 and you get a picture of my formative years. Pretty lonely at times.

Keep up the good work and keep sharing your successes!

Stan

small gardens are nice because you can just fit it in any part of your home, small gardens have that “cute” factor too’:”