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View Full Version : Hello from Clarksville TN



onmiwei
04-22-2009, 06:54 PM
Hello, I am new here so I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Laura and I am an Army transplant to Clarksville TN (Fort Campbell 101st area.) My husband is retired now but we chose to stay here. I am orginally from Oregon but grew up in Idaho.

Growing up my grandma raised pretty much everything she ate. I helped wring the chicken's necks and pluck feathers at a very young age...though I think I just gave them whiplash and my grandma finished most of them off ;) She had the best tasting food! She had 80 acres with cows, chickens, turkeys, bees, rabbits, pigs ect...as well as a very nice garden. (churned her own butter, eggs, milk, meat, honey, canned, ect) She lived 30 miles from the nearest town so neighbors who lived out in the middle of nowhere bought their food from her and she might have went to town perhaps once every 2 months or so.

When we moved to Idaho we raised our own cattle to eat but not much else. But we always went back to grandmas and had good home grown food.

Now I live in town but I have a large wooded lot in a huge subdivision. My neighbor cut down most of her trees so I have a sunny spot for a garden. I can't have chickens but have found a lady who sells me her farm fresh eggs. We are still searching for local farmers for pork, chicken and beef though. I am keeping part of my woods down to a creek natural for the wildlife but my "backyard" part is partically landscaped/partically wild for the birds.

My garden is in the works due to the fence builders taking a while. I sectioned off an area with a tree we had cut down instead of buying wood to make a raised bed. I had a compost pile that I put all the leaves, lawn clippings and kitchen veggie scraps in last year so I am filling it with that. I have my seeds started and ready to go but the fence builders are slow...if I do it now the deer with make a quick snack out of it all.

I have a new compost pile I have started with the tons of other leaves on the forest floor. We bought some flag stone for our front flower beds and the way they were shipped to us made a great compost container. It is a pallet with wire stapled to it. I have three of them and I put them far enough from my house that the smell/sight won't bother us.

My 13 year old daughter is supposed to be helping me with all of this but I am not sure if that is going to happen.:rolleyes:

On a side note I read on here about not naming animals that were to be food. Wilbur, Dorkus, Texas, Chewy, ect were all very tasty. Wilbur was the first...my runt pig I got from my grandma when I was in 1st grade. I always knew he was to be butchered but our teacher had just read Charlette's Web so he was named Wilbur. My parents and grandparents were sure I knew what 'butchered' was. My mom still tells of the story when I first tasted Wilbur. They had explained to me that we were going to butcher him with in the week. I asked if that meant we were going to kill and eat him. They told me yes. I cried a bit then went on. We had ham a while later. I ate a bite or two and asked where ham came from. My parents hestitated then said "pig." I ate a few more bites and said "is this Wilbur?" My parents braced for me to freak out and said "yes, it is." I took my fork, dug in and said "He sure is tasty!!!!" My parents couldn't eat anymore ham that night.

We named a steer every year we were going to eat too. The ones we raised and sold to be butchered we didn't. Just what was going to end up on our plate.

Well I wrote a book...but I sure hope to learn a lot from all of you on how to be a great urban gardener!

plantoneonme
04-22-2009, 08:08 PM
Hi very nice to have you. I bet you have a lot of experiences to share. Kim

ecogirl
04-23-2009, 04:05 AM
Welcome! Looks like we'll learn a lot from you!!

gardengirl72
04-23-2009, 03:52 PM
Welcome! Do a lot of people garden in your neighborhood?

MoniDew
04-23-2009, 04:00 PM
Several years ago, my son was stationed at Ft Campbell, KY. 101st Airborne
(GO Screaming Eagles!)
He Jumped/Rappelled out of helicopters (like they do in the movie BlackHawk Down)
That same son has the greenest thumb in the family.
Son-in-law also served, at Ft Knox, KY. He was a Bradley tank mechanic, until the Bradleys were scrapped.
Glad to have you on the boards!

onmiwei
04-23-2009, 10:01 PM
Thank you all for the warm welcome!!

I have a ton to learn about gardening for food. I have my first ripe strawberry right now!! I am excited. I bought the plant with small green strawberries already on it. I hope I can get a decent amount of veggies this year from my garden.

My neighbor has a garden. A very small one I am not sure what she grows. She has a very thick Korean accent and I can't understand her or she calls them by a different name. She also cut down all her trees and put in a few small fruit trees last year. it will be a while before she gets any fruit from them. My other neighbor just had tomato plants.

Most our neighbors are military still and they just do enough with their yards to be able to sell when they get orders. On our side of the road the woods are so thick and we are on a pretty steep slope. Most people haven't wanted to tame the wild woods to make a back yard and we can't have veggie gardens in the front yard. Plus is does get a lot of shade in the back. I still have one tree right in the middle where I want my garden. My husband wouldn't cut down. that area still gets a lot of sun though. I just can't have a huge garden. I think the whole area that gets enough sun is about 12ftX8ft but I figure that is more space than some.

My whole property is about 3/4 of an acre maybe a touch bigger. It is long and narrow, on a slope down to a creek. Down by the creek would be great to grow rasberries and blackberries but it would be hard to get water to them. My hubby wanted to try to figure out how to get water from the creek to this flat area that gets a lot of sun to do that...but then the deer would eat it all as well. And we don't want to carry fence building material down the slope.

Monidew-My hubby learned how to do that as well!! Before I met him when he was much younger though. That has to be scary to do!! Did you ever come to Fort Campbell while he was stationed here?

MoniDew
04-24-2009, 11:25 AM
No, he is my oldest boy, and at the time, I still had his younger brothers to take care of/raise. I never did get to go for a visit (lots of phone calls, tho') My daughter did go to Ft Knox to visit her hubby, tho'.

goplayallie
04-24-2009, 12:32 PM
It is great to hear your story and I look forward to your contributions to the discussions.

go out and play,

Allie

http://clarksplayground.com

gardengirl72
04-29-2009, 10:13 PM
Seems like people are open to it. Share what you do with your neighbors and it will rub off on them. See if you can identify the plants that your neighbor has and see if you can match it up with an image and a name. or find out what she makes with it. Seems like she could have some knowledge about what grows in your immediate area.

onmiwei
05-04-2009, 10:56 PM
I posted some pics of my woods in my profile. I haven't taken any of my garden yet. It won't be too good this year as I am having troubles with the fence builders getting the fence up to keep the deer out.