SUBURBAN FARMING: Joining the Movement of Non-Processed Food and Simple Self-Reliance

As an active adolescent who surrounded myself solely with musical instruments, I never once thought I'd find myself interested in gardening or planting things. When you're living at home, still in grade school or community college, and don't have any notable bills to speak of, it's easy to get used to having a fridge full of food from Whole Foods Market or something of the like. Then got out on my own, became independent, and then one day: "Bye Whole Foods, can't afford you anymore. I have substantial grocery bill now." The whole interest in this movement and way of life started as a honey-do for my lovely wife Katie.  Digging and lifting.

We got to know all the local independent farmers at the McKinney Farmer's Market, and came across all the local people who could sustain a healthy crop right from their backyards. Whether it was completely urban, or semi-rural property; it was eye opening and inspiring, to say the least.

In our first West McKinney home we began with just one of those Home Depot raised bed kits you could put together in 5 minutes.  I think they're about 4 x 4 and you just connect the corners.

Garden from Summer 2014- old house, after we went to cinder.

8 x 4 kit garden, Spring/Summer 2013 in old house before we went to cinder.

We took it to two of these connected together by year two, and then by year three we removed all the wood and went to cinder. While we weren't too thrilled with the outcome of the tomatillo crop as we were in the previous two years, it flourished nonetheless.

Overabundance of Tomatillos- September 2012

We tried the "companion gardening" trick we saw on our social media feeds, integrating  herbs and vegetables.  We planted rosemary in between the various types of tomatoes, green and wax beans.

Our experiment with "companion gardening" Spring 2014 after going to cinder.

We recently moved across town, and half the reason we bought the house was for the pre-existing raised bed garden with dirt already in the backyard. Because we no longer have a Homeowner's Association, we could expand upon it shamelessly!  It's a good 8 x 16 and a perfect canvas for perfecting our craft of growing our own produce.  While Katie has a pretty solid understanding of growing and maintaining a vegetable garden, having grown up with them, and I'm catching on, we are by no means, "experts" or "master gardeners".   We just love the experience of working together to introduce new vegetables, working through improvements and tweaking it each year; based on the survivability during Texas' very unpredictable weather patterns. Most importantly, we're making healthy memories as a family.

Just tilled the new 8 x 16 raised bed garden the other day.  Please ignore the ailing fence.  We are getting a new one this week.  Fall/Winter 2014- New House

What's your story, McKinney? Do you have a backyard garden or ideas you'd like to share? Stay tuned for more posts on progress!

I didn't quit blogging! I promise! Four Words: "Moving With a Baby"

So while my time is presently limited I will call this my "I promise I didn't quit blogging" blog.  I'll just fill you in on the goings-on.  A lot of McKinnians may have noticed the real estate market is hot.  In a matter of 2 total weeks we jumped at the opportunity to sell our West McKinney home and buy another one closer to all the action further east.  Most people would not take on moving house with a 4 1/2 month old baby....except us.  It was that fine line between foolish, and smart for jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of a super hot real estate market before all the Toyota folks get here from California.  We literally were probably 72 hours away from signing an apartment lease and my lovely wife did it again.  She found the perfect house, in a quiet neighborhood with just the right amount of space and features.  It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye to the old one but we are slowly but surely, as time allows, settling in to the new one unpacking a couple of boxes at a time and working our way out of survival mode.

This post is going to be a little bit different from my usual writings because it is admittedly rushed.  It is a shameless plug of local businesses combined with lessons learned, and a promise that I did not quit.

10 THINGS:
#1 Milestone Electric really do fix it in a flash- just like the jingle that gets stapled deep into your head during NBC5 commercial breaks in the morning.  We had some screwy electrical issues within the first day of moving in and problems were solved quickly.  Electrician- true expert and trustworthy individual.  Customer Service reps- Second to none.

#2 Fence companies love to talk nasty about one another when getting bids.  Dang! Be nice guys, keep it professional.

#3 Choose your movers wisely and breathe down their neck- yes they do this every day, but they still haven't learned their lesson about not grabbing washers and dryers by the knobs.

#4 Vee's Appliance Repair- Great experience.  On time, reliable, and actually fixes the problem in a timely manner.  He actually cares about his customers and put my daughter's needs ahead of his own.  Clean dry clothes for my baby and fast, adequate solutions.

#5 Albertson's is NOT your store. It is a dated, non-innovative cesspool of rotting produce, processed chemically enhanced rubbish, and the awful idea of "variety pack" combinations of meat.  Sorry I do not want moldy fruit or chicken juice in my 4 days past the sell by date ground beef.  I know I said I would not speak negatively on this blog, but I'm rebelling today.  Once you have experienced McKinney Farmers Market, Sprouts, Urban Acres or Trader Joe's....everything else sorta sucks.

#6 Trader Joe's is awesome.  Nice to have one nearby, and an Urban Acres share pickup down the street twice a month.

#7 Who would have thought that living further away from work actually makes for a quicker commute in the morning and evening.  It's achievable when you don't live 7 miles from any major highway and your nearest major highway is now one quarter of a mile away.  Toll bill goes up, but time spent in car angry about morning routine, 9 school zones, and terrible traffic ALL goes down and away. 


#9 Not having an HOA now is awesome.  It is nice not to spend $480 per year anymore to be menaced and sent nastgrams about the single weed that grew in my yard that morning while I was at work.

#10 Moving into a "project house" really makes me want to go to Lowe's and play.  Wife has the same bug.
"OMG! A gutter extension piece.  Sweetie, I need a gutter extension piece! And tacks!" 

Special Contributor Post: Live Music Review: The Bodarks + Boyd HS Orchestra

Head on over to McKinney's On the Square for another Live Music Review contribution.  I did a little mingling at Cafe Malaga's back garden stage with The Bodarks McKinney's own pioneers of the modern exurban hootenanny.  To top it off, the fiddler is a McKinney Boyd High School Orchestra teacher! Check it out.