FAT EARTH BACKYARD FARM

Hello garden gals and guys! I didn't get a chance to chat with you last week because I was a little busy, but I'm back on track again.

I'm determined to keep the garden inspiration flowing like a waterfall and I know the best way to do that is to show other folks out there that are growin' stuff! So, come travel with me to Richmond, Virginia, where one of my gardenin' pals gets her grow on with her veggies.

Say hello to Marlo Robinson. I "met" her through Instagram (her handle is gardenchroniclez). She is growing a little of everything on her slice of the Earth. Take a look!  
Do you mind me asking your age?
I am 42  years old.
How and why did you get into gardening?
I got into gardening because a friend of mine started growing cucumbers one year and posted her pictures on Facebook. I was amazed at how beautiful they looked, so I was inspired to try it myself. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I love planting a tiny seed and watching it grow into somethin…

Hello garden gals and guys!

I hope you all are doing well. I usually do my blog posts on Mondays, but I had little accident last weekend and my pinkie is in a splint and that makes it hard to type.

What happened?

Well, one of my chickens that loves to follow me around ran between my legs. To try and not fall on her, I landed on the concrete pad of my garage...on my arm and my hand. So this is what my pinkie currently looks like:


It isn't broken, but it's badly sprained. And I mean badly. It's been almost a week since I fell and it still hurts.... A LOT...and typing not using it is a bit difficult, so please excuse any typos I may not catch. 
Anyhow, on to the topic of today's post. 
Have you ever wanted to try growing from seed?
Have you tried starting your own seeds and got frustrated and given up?
Well, let me share some tips with you that I think might really help you be successful at growing your own plants from seeds. I am not growing from seed this year, for the …

Hello Garden Gals and Guys! I hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did. I woke up Sunday morning, put on my clothes, and went right out into my little backyard farm. I know I can't plant anything outdoors yet, but I just had to get out there and connect with the Earth.

And so I did.

Fat Earth needed some loving after a year of hibernation, so I spent my Sunday cleaning out my raised beds and doing some weeding around the yard. I also let my chickens hang out with me. They had a ball digging up worms while I pulled weeds. Come on in and have a look around!

Now, the garden cage didn't really need any cleaning. There were no weeds growing in it because my little chicken tractors spent their days during the winter foraging in there and that kept the weeds from trying to take over. But my raised beds....well those were another story.

Here are some before shots of the raised beds along the garage wall and in front of the garden cage:



Ish. What a mess! I have to admit that whene…

Hello garden gals and guys! This blog post is dedicated to all my readers out there that think they don't have enough space to grow their own food. Have you ever heard of patio farming? I know people grow things on their patios all the time, but I've never heard it called this before. That's how this lovely veggie farmer caught my eye. She hipped me to the term. I LOVE that!!

Meet Amithyst Conway, a patio farmer in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I ran into her in one of the vegetable forums that I peruse on a regular basis. I was so impressed with her, I just had to ask her for an interview...and she agreed! So, let's get right to it, shall we?

How and why did you get into gardening?

My sweet Grandma always had tomato or sweet pepper plants while I was growing up, and started me out when I was young.  I would attempt a few plants every  year, however, this year is the first year I've had my balcony/patio and had enough room for as many as I'd like.

Where do you grow and h…

Hello garden gals and guys! Yes, it's the first day of spring! Finally! I have to admit I was a little sad because we didn't really get any good snowstorms (I know...but I need just one good one each year) but I am glad that the cold weather is on its way out.

Spring means things are new again. Flowers are blooming, seedlings are growing, trees are opening their buds. In that spirit, I decided to do something new. You know that I have a YouTube channel, right? If you don't, well where have you been? :-)

Anyhow, my YouTube channel was on hiatus last year along with my blog. But I figured that I would make a new intro for my videos that I will be doing this growing season. And since it's the first day of spring, I thought I would give you all a sneak peak!


Pretty cool, right? I'm really looking forward to making some great videos for y'all! If you have any videos you would like to see done, just leave a comment! 
Until next time garden gals and guys.....
Happy far…

Hello Garden Gals and Guys! Are you ready for spring? I know I am. As cold as it is outside, I can't believe spring is literally only a few days away. I'm really excited to back into my garden this year.

You know, I've been thinking about why I grow food. So, let me share a little story with you that my dad has shared with me. When I got into gardening 11 years ago, it was intended to be just a little summer project to teach my then toddler children where food came from. I had no idea it would grow into a passion.

When I would plant things, I made a lot of mistakes, but there were also some things that I just inherently knew. Both of my grandmothers loved to garden. My paternal grandmother had a farm in Crosby, Minnesota. My maternal grandmother and grandfather always had a garden as well, and they used to can a lot of what they grew.

When I think of farming, my mind wanders to cherished memories of being on my grandma's farm. I just would sit sometimes and stare out a…