Welcome to Pocket Square Farm!

Welcome to Pocket Square Farm, and thanks for visiting!

Pocket Square Farm is the name I have chosen for my itty-bitty "farm" in the city. Farm probably is not the right word to describe what I am creating; however, it does symbolize what I want to achieve.

Growing up , I always thought that perhaps, one day, I would live on a farm. As a little girl in Orange County (yes, the real OC) I found myself dreaming of horses and chickens more than, say, expensive cars and designer labels. A few decades later, while I have come to appreciate the therapeutic qualities of mall-shopping, my dreams of a more rural lifestyle have not faded. However, my husband and I have settled into a stable, comfortable life in Southern California, close to family and great friends, and in this economy leaving good jobs and a home to plop ourselves down in the middle of nowhere and dig in the dirt doesn't seem like the smartest of ideas.

Add to this equation two children, ages 2 and 5. As a young(ish) mother, I came be more concerned about what my family ate, where I shopped, etc. First I began to buy organic, then local. I started reading books like Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. The more I learned the stronger my conviction to feed my family the freshest, most local meals possible... both for them and our struggling planet. What could be fresher and more local than food from my own garden?

Since buying our home six years ago, my husband and I had "tinkered" in vegetable gardening. One raised bed, a few shriveled green beans, and several years later, we decided that if we were going to be serious about this, we just needed more space. Hmm.

We turned to our front yard. Why? Our small cottage-style home resides on a fairly open lot with more front yard than back. It was important to us to maintain some open grass spaces while our children are young, for the purpose of playing the inevitable games of whiffle ball, soccer, family football, and tag. To one side of our house sprawled a large (relatively speaking), unobstructed, grassy strip that receives full sun throughout spring and summer. Until now, it sat unused and unappreciated, requiring constant mowing and watering, and to what end? We zeroed in on the plot, which measured about 500 square feet, grabbed our shovels, and began digging. Here are some pictures of our "side yard" as we began our project. Ours is the house on the left (the neighbor's grey house, right, is built all the way to the property line).

It's taken approximately four months to create our "Pocket Square Farm." We could have rented a rototiller and dumpster and completed our project in a weekend, but we took a slower and more careful approach. Sod was removed by hand, courtesy of husband Ross and BFF Brett. Soil that was excavated was saved, as much as possible, and reused in our new foot-deep raised beds. Paths were lined with garden fabric and covered with gravel to create a tidy and geometric layout. A drip system was installed (again mostly by my husband, although I oversaw the system's design). We purchased the very best compost, manure, and garden soil we could afford, and finally, after months of waiting and dreaming and working and planning... we planted.

And so it began. Our garden is young and small, but our goal is big: we are striving for sustainability, year-round, in our big little city. Sustainability is a frightening and lofty goal. I am both an idealist and a realist, and so I admit that success may be a long way and many more raised beds off, but it is where we are headed, the destination we are trying to reach.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the progress, successes, failures, and lessons learned in Pocket Square Farm. The site is a compilation of many things, beginning with garden projects and reflections, and worthwhile tidbits I've learned along the way. Because I'm a farm girl at heart, I plan to also include related entries such as farm-to-table recipes and some of my favorite farm things. Recommended reading and references will also be noted. I hope this blog will be useful (or at least thought-provoking) to anyone interested in beginning a garden, whether it be a small pot of cherry tomatoes for dressing a side salad... or a multitude of raised beds for feeding a growing family.

Dig in and enjoy!