Hello from the Virginia Piedmont

[Sinajuavi]

Hello gardeners! I'm an old person, but not dead yet! I've been gardening in earnest since the mid 80's. I have had for many years a small farm which produces food and herbs.

My keywords for gardening: open-pollinated, organic, heirloom varieties. Currently the 2 of us (I'm the male of the couple) have a circular herb and perennials garden, a rectangle for annuals, and a hexagon with 100-ft sides and deer fence in which are 8 fruit trees and 4 large squares for the crops which are harvested at the end of the season: corn, squash, sesame, etc.

The past 2 years have brought very rainy and cloudy weather which made a number of our crops fail. The watermelon and squash rotted in the field, they were so wet. These days you never know what the climate will be like, but this year we're trying again.

We're starting to move increasingly toward self-sufficiency, growing the food we eat, in anticipation of whatever is coming up.

We live about 45 minutes from Monticello, where a lot of the modern organic gardening techniques were being innovated. Sadly there isn't a whole lot of growing going on around here, other than some apple orchards and of course a lot of cattle and feed for cattle.

The sesame I grow is one that Jefferson himself grew.

Today I'm putting up a trellis for the hops...

 

[Silentrunning]

Welcome to the forum. I live in northern North Carolina about 20 minutes south of the Virginia border. You are right about the weather. The last couple of years have been terrible for crops. Most of my effort this year will be in growing ornamentals and trees. This will take a lot less hands on labor but still give me a viable income in 4 to 8 years.

 

[Sheal]

Welcome Sinajuavi. There's a few of us golden oldies here and some good years ahead yet for gardening.

 

[zigs]

Welcome to the forum

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Bonjour, @Sinajuavi! You mentioned Jefferson grew Sesame. Last year I started a thread entitled The flowers of Monticello.