Gardener? Or Urban Farmer?

   

1. You find dried bean seeds in your pockets in December.
2. There is hay in the car.
3. You turn to binder twine and five gallon buckets rather than organic hemp twine and a trug.
4. You talk compost with strangers.
5. You indulge in “one more season” hose repair.
6. You spend more time thinking about fencing than the White Flower Farm flower catalog.
7. You realize, half way through a professional meeting, that you have dirt somewhere. Fingernails? Hand cracks? Knees?  No, not all three!
8. You worry more about the crop of leeks and not one plant.
9. Your crops come in pounds.
10. You use your van as a ladder.
11. You realize that it is, really, all about the soil, not the new, cool varieties in the front of the seed catalogs.

Old School Canned Grape Juice

We use the seedy, dark grapes that run up into the backyard trees for this juice. The darker, the better. This is an old recipe from my partner’s mom. It is best chilled and poured from an old glass pitcher, preferably pink.

Per Quart—endlessly flexible

1 cup of grapes pulled off the vine

¼ to 1/3 cup of sugar

Boiling water to half an inch of the top

Cap and process in steam canner for ten minutes. Allow to age for a month or so before drinking.