Old Married Folks: "Green Thumb"

Like I mentioned before this "Old Married Folks" series could alternatively be title "Evidence we're turning into hipsters and/or hippies." This post is no different...It might be worse.

Earlier in the fall Brandon and I decided to plant a garden because naturally that seemed like the old married thing to do. Brandon and I have been notorious for killing plants {another example of why we aren't ready for kids...we have a hard enough time keeping up with Maxwell}. So, we didn't want to invest too much money, time or resources into a full fledged garden.

So, off the local nursery we went to pick up plants and soil. I don't have the patience for planting seeds so baby plants it was. We started out with basil {I know it's the end of the season but it was still in the 100's when we planted}, spinach, broccoli, and onions.

 

We started out with 4 spinach plants because we like spinach. We eat a lot of it and use it for smoothies in the morning.

 

Freshly planted.

Unfortunately, we might have planted it a little too early and since the Texas heat continued into the fall our spinach slowly started to die.

But eventually the temps dropped and our spinach was thriving and became a spinach producing machine.

 

Well, fast forward to now and we still have one plant going strong. The other three are dieing slow deaths.

We foolishly planted 6 broccoli plants. They died real fast, blame it on the heat or the drought or our lack of skills. So much for our vision of having fresh veggies...I think something started digging into our pots which didn't help our cause any.

Our final green thumb experiment involved onions.  We got a few green onions outta the batch but overall it was a bust.

So, we aren't starting our own full fledged backyard garden and we definitely won't make it through the winter.  We'd totally die in the olden times when you actually had to grow your own food. 

Luckily, if things get real bad we will totally survive on pickled goods. I won't drag Brandon into this hipster web I'm about to weave... but I went to a pickling class last week. I wish I could say my co-workers dragged me to the class {which they did} but my inner hipster, who loves pickles, really enjoyed the class. I'll report back after Thanksgiving on my first attempt at refrigerator pickles. I had to do a combo pack of carrots and dilly beans because the group was running low on supplies.

Pickling is actually very easy, who knew? Kate, the girl who taught the class, showed us ways to can pickles that don't require a hot bath. In other words, it's easier but you have to eat them within a month or so and can't leave them on your shelf until the next Y2K. I think I totally lost any street cred I ever had. 

Finally, our green thumb, or attempt to support someone that has a green thumb, or attempt to pick up a hipster card continues with our joining of a CSA {Community Supported Agriculture}. Luckily, someone named Johnson can grow some veggies in this town because it sure isn't us.

I'm still not sure if this falls into the hipster, hippie, "Stuff white people like" or concern for our overall health as we turn into an old married couple but we are going to give it a go for a bit. Luckily, we were able to ride our bikes {Brandon now has a milk crate on his bike} to pick up the box of goodies tonight. You might as well dedicate an entire post on "Stuff white people like" to us we are a walking endorsement.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I'm actually going to do with all of this stuff, especially since I can only identify about half of the items we received. Luckily, the Johnson Backyard Garden website has storage, prep and recipes for all of the veggies they provide.

 No, but really what do I do with all of this... I guess I'm not ready for this part of being an old married hipster. Luckily, I can just pickle it all if things go south.

Kelly

P.S. Now, you might be thinking that people in the country have been gardening, pickling, and getting veggies from their neighbor for years...which is true. But when folks in Austin, like us, try to participate in these activities it just looks like another win for the hipsters. Luckily, Melissa opened my eyes to the world of Hipster Girl today. Obviously, I made two versions of my brown haired hipster.

With the exception of the "sleeve" what does it mean when my closest looks very similar to the accessories featured on the site... Oh right, I'm just trying to be cool and fit in with my "new crowd."