A few weeks back we participated in Mississippi Made in the yard at Laurel Mercantile, It was a great day, and lots of people from all over Mississippi and beyond came to support the local vendors. We sold prints as well as some original art. It was a great way for makers in Mississippi to show their talents from art to honey making, goat milk soap, and toys hand-made from wood. We look forward to participating in Mississippi Made again soon.

Giclee print, In Splendid Song Poised on Slender Stem and Crimson Bloom

It has been some time since we last posted. It’s been a busy start to summer and we have been wanting to talk to you all about our gardening adventures. Last summer we started our first garden here in laurel and it was a little late in the season before we got going. In the end, we didn't yield much but we are learning that there is a lot more to gardening than just throwing a bunch of seeds into the ground and hoping for the best. One of our first adventures when we first moved to Laurel was looking for old discarded refrigerators to turn into raised garden beds, it wasn't really our idea, in fact, it was our good friends Rhonda and Jeff who put out the word and took us around to collect refrigerators and even an old washer, we actually got from Adam Trest. We used old wood tounge and groove boards left behind in the garage to disguise the refrigerators.

Lady posing in front of our finished raised bed gardens.

For the past 10+ years, we did all we could do to have a garden in Jersey City, without having a patio or outdoor space, the only space we had available was the fire escape, located in the kitchen by the window. We were able to grow pretty much all the herbs and some fruits and vegetables we consumed such as (rosemary, ginger, garlic, cilantro, mint, basil, carrots, beets, and strawberries) even though, we were not supposed to grow a garden on the fire escape.

The garden became completely alive with bees, and birds from March to around November. There were also curious pigeons and squirrels competing for our garden food supply. We put a good fight with the squirrels, we had to sprinkle cayenne pepper powder in the pots to keep them away. We planted everything in pots to make it easier for a quick indoor transition if the weather suddenly changed and believe me, it did. We were constantly sheltering the garden indoors due to early frost, extreme winds, and excessive rains.

Now that we are in Laurel, MS, and have a 1/2 acre lot with plenty of room to garden, we are thrilled to get going and take you on our gardening journey, our goal is to become food independent and be able to only eat what we grow. We are very clear of the challenges ahead, from developing, growing, and maintaining a food garden. We are not expecting to be food independent immediately but we are working towards achieving our food independence dream sooner than later. After much research about organic gardening, we decided to order from the survival garden heirloom seeds from the open seed vault. All seeds are non-GMO. It comes with 32 varieties of heirloom seeds.

Gardening so far had been a big learning experience, there is so much to learn and everyone has great advice. Learning to compost, what to grow, how much to plant, dealing with pests and the list goes on and on. There is also the fact that Mississippi is pretty darn hot and humid during the summer months.

We look forward to showing you our latest progress as summer is just heating up here in Laurel Mississippi.

Learning to Grow

Summer Heat

Happy Anniversary