Why Now?

Several years ago I read The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith and J. B. Mackinnon.   What immediately impressed me was that they didn't start this diet in June when local food was plentiful and could build their pantry to be prepared for a scant winter accessing local food.  They started when the pickings were slim and immediately put themselves to the test.

Starting a blog about a Connecticut garden in November seems to be poorly timed.   Like Smith and Mackinnon, I want to challenge myself to live a gardener's life when most people in the northeast are content to wait for their seed catalogs.  

So why now?  Simply put, I want to be more connected to the land and its rhythms - not only when the days are long and warm, but short and cold.  I want to pay more attention to what is happening in my backyard than in the world.  

Like an increasingly growing number, I am concerned where my food is grown and how.  I know by having a garden and paying more attention to where I buy meat,  I can control this.   

Why the blog title?  I've been gardening for nearly twenty years and the results have been spotty at best.  There's always been plenty grown and plenty to eat, but by August the garden is a mess and remains so until I put it to bed.  Despite this I am committed to expand the garden to the front yard next year.