Ideas for COVID Virus Quarantine, I

Put in a garden.

Like all other "non-essential" people, I'm stuck at home in quarantine.  Fortunately, or not, my regular lifestyle is nearly quarantine anyway, so it's not so much a problem for me.  I do miss getting out every once in a while to have a coffee at Starbucks and pretend I'm essential while I sip my drink and read on my iPad.  And, I miss getting to see my grandkids, not that I'm over there every day or anything like that.  But, it's nice to be able to go see them when I want or when I can get away from the farm.

Otherwise, we non-essential farmers are just carrying on life as usual.  My goats will start kidding any day now.  I have a hen that's been sitting on a nest for a month.  The problem is, she keeps getting off the nest and while she's dashing around trying to take care of business before the eggs cool, other hens are getting on the nest and laying eggs.  **sigh**  And, while hens get on and off, eggs get broken.  So, the original five eggs that I gave her are long gone and keep getting replaced.  I finally had enough and got her off the nest and gave the eggs to another broody hen.  I'm about fed up with them all.

Husband and I have spent a great deal of time on the garden so far this season.  We hadn't really had a garden the past two years, so it was an overgrown, weedy mess.  So he tilled it up and got busy making mulch with his wood chipper.  We've saved our paper feedbags for the past couple of years, too, so we laid down feed bags and topped them with mulch.

Our garden is half the size as it usually is.  I'm OK with that because it's less work, but I'm wondering if this year is not the year, of all years, to have excess produce.  If the economy doesn't rebound after the quarantine, we may need much more.

Obviously, not everyone has room for a garden like this.  But there are lots of ways to grow your own food.  You can do raised beds or pots.  There are all kinds of ingenious products on the market in which to grow food.  I've even seen people plant their seedlings or seeds directly into bags of potting soil.  Just lay the bag on its flat side, slit open the top, or cut a square out of it and plant.

See my other ideas for using your quarantine time wisely.