I feel pretty good about our second home these days and it has been noted how quickly Sabrina & I have been able to turn this patch of earth into a food paradise & playground for all the family. We did this using afternoons only.
This is what it looked like on the 1st Feb, before we gained access.
Here it is on the 9th Feb with wood from the lake, marking our boarders.
It was great working with a blank canvas.
Standing in relatively the same position, the picture is rather more colourful today.
Fruit season is in full swing now and once I am done with the cherry trees in our garden there are plenty more wild trees around here to harvest.
Feeling the importance of this moment
For the next three months we will eat an abundance of fruit from the fields around us. That which we are unable to eat we will store for the winter.
The price of food is going to continue increasing and shortages across the world are assured. You may already be experiencing them?
So, if you have fruit growing near you, I suggest learning how to preserve it, just as we are doing.
You can find three books on preserving in my 
Link here
Right... back to the garden!
The trampoline is half shaded by the cherry trees making it a good place to relax in the heat of the afternoon.
The spinach is fast on its way to giving us a ton of seeds. To continue the cycle we must save seeds from a select group of plants from each variety.
The experimental lettuce bed all seems in great shape. We are still thinning them out to make more room as they expand. Nothing like a bit of young lettuce in the salad.
One side of the garden is pretty much always shaded by the cherry trees but we thought we would try growing there anyway and things are progressing fine.
There is so much detail in this garden, like infinite fractals which draw me in closer and closer. Always something to marvel at.
Esteban saying hello to the sweetcorn here. We have been getting cut grass from friends & neighbours to cover any exposed earth, preventing excessive weed growth.
Upgraded our watering system to a bigger bottle recently.
Moved the rocks around too which has helped direct the flow and increase the pressure.
Five allotments get their water from this stream which comes from the village canal.
At the end of the afternoon this little gate gets locked.
And we all troop home along the canal.
The canal looks out onto this great agricultural valley.
Back home things are looking equally colourful.
That wall to the left of the door looked like this four months ago.
To get the maximum sun all the pots have to be moved twice a day.
We harvested our first potatoes just recently.
Esteban had been bugging me for weeks wanting to have a look. So we did!
And this is what we found. We left the rest to continue growing.
Luna washed them.
Mamma cooked them.
Papa photographed them!
Most of that salad is from the garden. And the bread is home made.
I promised Sabrina I would grow some colourful flowers. Well... here they are!
While they are not traditionally thought of as food, all of these flowers are extremely flavoursome & nutritious.
Above them the vertical garden is currently a mesh of strawberry runners. I decided to double the quantity of plants and fill the majority of this space with just strawberries. From now on all runners will be cut and the plants will direct their energy to fruit production. Once they are done producing in October I will move them to the garden. Spinach will love this spot during the winter.
Four months ago it looked like this.
My goal back in Feb was to be eating 50% homegrown food by the end of the year.
I am a big fan of salads so personally I have already exceeded this goal, but I do believe as a family we will be eating closer to 70% homegrown (or locally picked) food by time this memorable year draws to a close.
In the future people will ask the question "how did you react to covid19?"
Now is the time to make sure the answer to that question is a positive one.
Love & Light to you all.
