Garden

This weekend Rob put together a very cool set of raised garden beds. He put them in the side yard where they will get full noon sun, but will be shaded to the south and the west by the fence and will get dappled late afternoon light filtered through the Palo Verde tree. It's funny to plant a garden thinking about where your plants will get the least amount of sunlight, but I'm pretty sure the only thing we could grow in the middle of the yard is toast.

It's September, so we shouldn't plant anything like tomatoes, but it's also Tucson, so we can grow a lot of things that would be in danger of frost in other places. Being archaeologists, we talk about people's crops and how they were able to get such and such a yield out of their fields per year that would feed x amount of people, blah blah, but it's good to actually grow something ourselves. Yes, we know the Hohokam probably grew two or maybe even three corn crops a year, but does that mean our corn will grow in the backyard in September? No idea (wanna take bets?)

I was leading a tour of a site once and this very very old guy came up to me afterwards and said, "you know, I'd believe you archaeologists more if any of you had ever hunted anything or grown anything". Touche, dude. So we're living off the land here in Joneslandia. Rob went dove hunting last weekend in Havasu with Ashley's dad and now we're growing a little food. Hopefully. We planted mostly greens so far. Collared greens, spinach, and something called buttercrisp lettuce. Lettuce plus butter? Yes please! We also put in some garlic and some cilantro. We've got some peas, corn, peppers (bell and hot), and more herbs getting their grow on in the kitchen. I don't think I've ever started anything from seed other than butter beans (mmm butter) in elementary school, but they worked out okay, so we're giving it a shot. Heck, as long as I don't push the seedlings off the porch, everything should be fine.

So, wish us luck. If in three to six weeks you hear a knock at your door and find no one there but a basket of kale, you'll know the garden is in bloom and we're off somewhere eating chips.