Hello to you!

It’s been a whirlwind of activity here. Weather-wise, this part of the country remains in a drought condition. Besides having a rainfall deficit over the spring-summer-fall seasons, we did not have our first measurable snowfall until after Christmas day. Since then, we have had perhaps 5 inches of rainfall but the outlook for the rest of January is for it to be relatively dry.

The drought conditions affected garden productivity this past year. In the 2020 growing season, I harvested over 500 lbs. of fruits and vegetables from my backyard garden. During the 2021 season, I harvested approximately 350 lbs. Not all of that decrease in productivity was because of the drought. My fruit trees grew exponentially and I lost some garden space to them, but the drought was the over-riding factor.

Still, 350 lbs. of fruit and vegetables from a >1000 sq. ft. backyard that would have been lawn is still a big gain! In that space, I grew over 55 different varieties of food plants. That rivals the selection at a grocery store. Eventually, I will calculate how much the food would have cost if I had purchased it from a grocery store and, perhaps, how much it reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Stay tuned!