Cabbagely Encouraged

     "A picture is worth a 1000 words."

     It was the picture that inspired me.  It gave me hope and a promise of things to come.  It was of a young 3rd grade girl, smiling from ear to ear.  She had won a prize for the object of her giddiness. It was next to her in the picture.  A "maw-honkin'" (my eldest daughter's terminology for anything that is really HUGE) cabbage.

     The article that accompanied the picture was about a contest put on every year by Bonnie Plants.  It is open to third-graders nation wide and one student in each participating state wins a $1,000 scholarship for the biggest cabbage.

     Bonnie Plants use the cabbage because it was the first plant ever sold by the company.  Since the cabbages can get so big, some weighing in at nearly 60 pounds, it makes for a great adventure into learning how to grow your own food.  Plus the fact that a 60 pound cabbage would make a "maw-honkin" batch of coleslaw.

     Trying to live a life a little more "green" or resourceful, I've decided to do a garden this year.  I always have lots of flowers, but this year I'm going to grow some food.

     I've been looking into a concept, that isn't new, just new to me, called 4x4 gardening.  It's a process of growing a lot of plants in a small space.  It requires a soil mixture of compost, peat moss and vermiculite placed in a raised bed that is usually a 4 foot square. 

     Composting is something else I have mulled around in my head and after looking at some of the bins that can be purchased, I think I will tackle the job of building my own.  I want the rolling kind because it will produce compost quicker and I already have the wheels. Composting would also be a much safer way to get rid of my yard clippings and brush........ besides burning them.

     I hope to get the grandchildren interested in this project.  With the way things look in the world today, people, especially young people, need to learn to be self sufficient instead of reliant on someone else to take care of them.  The guy with the food is going to be the "go-to" guy and there is no better way to control the masses than by keeping them ignorant.

     My first attempt at this kind of gardening may not produce a years' worth of groceries but it will produce a great adventure.  I haven't yet told my husband about this up and coming vegetable growing concoction nor have I mentioned the composting bin.  I may not tell him, having something different growing in the yard wouldn't really draw his attention.  It would be fun though, to see the look on his face when I tell him I'm going to use his truck to haul home some cow manure, straight from the field.  

    Then again, he might notice a "maw-honkin" cabbage.