"What utensils do you eat with", was a question asked on a Food Network show. You know us Malaysian, we use the fork and spoon, chopsticks and even our hands. A light bulb went off in my head! I had found THE NAME for this, my new gardening and lifestyle blog. I EAT WITH SCOOPS, SHOVELS AND SPADES. We indeed have been eating with scoops, shovels and spades ... and sweat and tears, for many years now from our garden. The satisfaction of making a meal out of ingredients you just pick from your own garden is indescribable.
Our new home in Temecula is the inspiration for this blog. We bought the house last year.The plan is for us to move to this smaller house on a larger piece of property, once my youngest is off to college. My husband and I are both so excited to almost 4 acres of uncultivated land to create a garden from scratch!! Gardening is something we both enjoy, especially the harvesting and eating!! We have run out of garden space in our current house. This is to be our`retirement' home as we scale down our work schedule. The garden will keep us busy, provide enjoyable exercise and feed us.
Almost from the start, my husband and I agreed that edible landscaping was the way to go. We have a lofty motto is, If you cannot eat it, you cannot grow it!! That's is why I wanted to start this separate blog. Can we live up to this lofty standard we set for ourselves???? I want to journal the tough decisions we have to make, when we divert away from it, our failures and successes.
Our plan is to set up an orchard and kitchen garden. However, Temecula presents its own challenges, with its shortage of water (and very expensive water) and its climate. Hot, dry summers with possibilities of frost in winter. We currently garden in coastal San Diego Zone 10B.Temecula is zone 9A .Often, our San Diego home is often as much as 10F cooler than Temecula! As any western gardener will tell you, the USDA map is just a guideline- elevation of property and location from coastline play an important role.
I have been practicing edible landscaping since I was a little girl. Until I was nine years old, we lived in a government housing in Kuala Kubu Bharu. My parents, both teachers, met, fell in love and got married in this little rural mountain town. Our house was modest but I had wide, open spaces to play, explore and forage in and a garden to potter around. My paternal grandmother, who lived with us, always had something growing. I remember her growing sweet potatoes, cassava, choy sum, Malabar spinach, long beans, chilies and eggplants in the garden behind our house. We also reared rabbits, guinea pigs, the occasional chicken or duck and an aviary of birds.
Our new home in Temecula is the inspiration for this blog. We bought the house last year.The plan is for us to move to this smaller house on a larger piece of property, once my youngest is off to college. My husband and I are both so excited to almost 4 acres of uncultivated land to create a garden from scratch!! Gardening is something we both enjoy, especially the harvesting and eating!! We have run out of garden space in our current house. This is to be our`retirement' home as we scale down our work schedule. The garden will keep us busy, provide enjoyable exercise and feed us.
Almost from the start, my husband and I agreed that edible landscaping was the way to go. We have a lofty motto is, If you cannot eat it, you cannot grow it!! That's is why I wanted to start this separate blog. Can we live up to this lofty standard we set for ourselves???? I want to journal the tough decisions we have to make, when we divert away from it, our failures and successes.
Our plan is to set up an orchard and kitchen garden. However, Temecula presents its own challenges, with its shortage of water (and very expensive water) and its climate. Hot, dry summers with possibilities of frost in winter. We currently garden in coastal San Diego Zone 10B.Temecula is zone 9A .Often, our San Diego home is often as much as 10F cooler than Temecula! As any western gardener will tell you, the USDA map is just a guideline- elevation of property and location from coastline play an important role.
I have been practicing edible landscaping since I was a little girl. Until I was nine years old, we lived in a government housing in Kuala Kubu Bharu. My parents, both teachers, met, fell in love and got married in this little rural mountain town. Our house was modest but I had wide, open spaces to play, explore and forage in and a garden to potter around. My paternal grandmother, who lived with us, always had something growing. I remember her growing sweet potatoes, cassava, choy sum, Malabar spinach, long beans, chilies and eggplants in the garden behind our house. We also reared rabbits, guinea pigs, the occasional chicken or duck and an aviary of birds.
My earliest memories were of me begging my grandmother for
some mung beans and azuki beans. I would plant them in a pot outside our
dinning room window. Everyday, I would water them and await the miracle of the
seeds sprouting. I eagerly await the transformation of flowers to bean pods.
The simple joy of breaking open a ripe pod! Funny but I do not remember if we
ever cooked those beans….Thinking back it could be because there were so few
beans. All I remember is growing these beans over and over again.
When we first moved down to Klang, we lived temporarily in
ancestral home, where once again, there was a kitchen garden, which was cultivated
by my grand uncle. Each day, the ladies of the household would harvest the
produce and create mouthwatering dishes. By the time, we moved to our own home,
it was only logical that we too would have a kitchen garden of sorts. This was
the time I first got into growing potatoes. My elders who told me it would not
grow in Malaysia could not deter me. I was fascinated by how potato tubers
would grow underground. I love my spuds to this day!
As I grew up and traveled overseas for work, I would buy seeds of non tropical plants, undeterred that they were not meant for Malaysian conditions. I remembered, tearing up the tiny front lawn of our terrace house ( to my new husband's amusement) and turning it into my vegetable patch. I lovingly started from seed, Brussels Sprouts plants, shading the small seedlings during the hottest part of the day, slowly increasing its exposure as it grew. I was the strange (young) lady of the neighborhood!!! From inside the house, I would often see people stopping and peering over the fence to look at the different type of tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers I was growing. Nothing puzzled them more than the Brussels Sprout plant. As the sprouts appear on the ever taller stalk, more and more people would stop and ask me about them and about growing vegetables. Cars would pass by and double back to check out the garden. Soon I was sharing my crop, seeds and the Brussels Sprouts!! This was in the 80s.
As I grew up and traveled overseas for work, I would buy seeds of non tropical plants, undeterred that they were not meant for Malaysian conditions. I remembered, tearing up the tiny front lawn of our terrace house ( to my new husband's amusement) and turning it into my vegetable patch. I lovingly started from seed, Brussels Sprouts plants, shading the small seedlings during the hottest part of the day, slowly increasing its exposure as it grew. I was the strange (young) lady of the neighborhood!!! From inside the house, I would often see people stopping and peering over the fence to look at the different type of tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers I was growing. Nothing puzzled them more than the Brussels Sprout plant. As the sprouts appear on the ever taller stalk, more and more people would stop and ask me about them and about growing vegetables. Cars would pass by and double back to check out the garden. Soon I was sharing my crop, seeds and the Brussels Sprouts!! This was in the 80s.
So now I am excited to create our very own Eden with my husband. Follow us on this adventure.
I have the privilege to write this first comment here, so may I wish you and hubby all the very best in your current gardening adventure and may you achieve all that you set out to do. Also Happy Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine's Day to you too!! Thank you for your best wishes. We are very excited about this new garden but it is very hard to get going as it is not yet our primary residence. Lots of start and stop. It is exciting to have a blank palette to work with.
ReplyDelete