Manual Lawn Mowing - Burns only Calories

We have used an old-school push mower since we've had a lawn to mow, and don't find it hard at all.  The key to using a manual mower is to make sure it has sharp blades.  Dull blades can create A LOT of extra work.  You also may want to mow your lawn a little more frequently, as really long grass can give you a bit of a work out.  Personally, I find the new gas powered "Hummer" type lawn mowers intimidating and loud, not mention the harmful effect they have on the environment.  My pesticide free, natural garden, prefers the zen of a manual mower and I have to agree 100 percent.

Welcome to my garden in Kingston, Ontario.

I thought I would post our original video for David Suzuki Digs My Garden.  We tried to wait for a nice sunny day, but with only a day left to send our video, we opted to do our garden tour in the cold and rain. 

As you can see in the video we have inherited some really beautiful perennial gardens but not much in the way of vegetables.  Our plan for this year is to add to beauty of the garden with more edible items.  And if I have my way, a few  Silkie Bantam Chickens and a Nigerian Dwarf Goat could be added to mix.  You never know what may appear in our little urban garden but you can be sure it won't contain any chemicals.  For about my family and our Urban Homesteading adventures please visit www.ittybittycityfarm.com. 

I will post an undated video of our garden in the near future.  We actually ate our first spinach salad, right from the garden, last night.  So exciting!

Peas and Perennials

A couple of weeks ago my youngest daughter noticed a small patch of dirt among one of our perennial gardens.  Not wanting the space to go to waste we decided to plant a few pea seeds.  This is a picture of Julia pointing to her newly sprouted peas with pride.  I love that her first instinct was to fill the space with food, not more ornamentals.  We are definitely gardening without rules and it is so much fun to see how it all melds together.