Farmer Jon -2

My wacky ideas and adventures typically grow out of small events or news columns, that's how we ended up driving through Croatia, how I came to grapple with some of the top martial artists on the planet, and how we came to live in Baldwin Hills.

As of late home schooling has sparked my interests in a varied and unique way.




These tasty sprouts were part of my urban farming obsession. We grew them in a few days in a glass jar, organic and local, educational and affordable. But I decided to grow these as part of the monthly Super Duper Show and Tell, more on that in a later blog, point being it was motivated by reasons other than the localvore trip. (Or lack of it as the case/goal may be).

Another reason for my latest "farming" goals, has been my failure with my heirloom tomatoes. I have a pretty green thumb, but for a variety of reason, time, priorities, etc. I just didn't commit enough time or thought to my little plants and they suffered and by the time I tried to do something, it was pretty much too late.




The plants are leggy, and practically transparent, bearing little fruit and even fewer "wonderful" tomatoes as I had anticipated. This failure has given me resolve to do better with my winter plantings.




The peppers on the other hand are doing wonderfully. But how can I possibly use so many "hot", some of them really, really hot peppers. This dilemma has introduced my to home canning and has made me dream up wonderful infused oils, yummy chutneys, spicy jellies and other delicacies.




My roma tomatoes did well and I plan on making sauce for some made pizza with them. You can see a good size artichoke that is finally coming to life. I've loaded this planter with sunflowers, corn, and a variety of lettuces.




This planter used to be full of oregano before I decided that I had several other oreganos and that the planter would be better utilized growing vegetables, mainly lettuces and carrots but some broccoli, a new tomato and some existing basils.




Chive and more oregano were doing well in this planter. I have added some fennel, a bunch of beans and peas and scattering of lettuces.




Another artichoke and a broccoli. I added more beans and peas, sunflowers, and a variety of salad worthy greens. I've planted a lot of lettuce and leafies because I have never really grown them, so I wanted to stack the deck in case some of them don't produce. We'll see.