Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Tea? Happy new year! How was your holiday season? It is a somewhat strange feeling that it is a new year, already!? Well, I feel like that every January. It is all good. I like every season, and anticipating spring is exciting for many reasons, the days are getting longer, we are moving to a new house, it’s almost time to start gardening again.
Speaking of gardening, as I was taking a walk earlier today enjoying the snow slowly falling on my face I started to think about what seeds to plant in my garden, and when I need to start. Very logical when one is walking in the snow, right? Anyhow, I decided that I’m going to be brave and not start any seeds until we moved into the new place March 1st. It’s going to be high time to start some seeds indoors right around that time. I am going to plant lots of beets, carrots, green onions, squash, beans and strawberries this year.
I applied to participate in a citizen science project initiated by CSA testing an innovative decentralised approach to seed conservation, multiplication and sharing in order to conserve agro-biodiversity. The project I applied to be a part of is a three year project about promoting genetic diversity of legumes in Europe. If I’m selected I plant five varieties of beans (that I get sent to me,) plant/nurture/harvest/save seeds for seed exchange/try the beans in different recipes all while I’m recording everything with photos/videos/and text via an app on my phone.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries—that addresses the interlinked challenges of food security and accelerating climate change. CSA aims to simultaneously achieve three outcomes:
1. Increased productivity: Produce more and better food to improve nutrition security and boost incomes, especially of 75 percent of the world’s poor who live in rural areas and mainly rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
2. Enhanced resilience: Reduce vulnerability to drought, pests, diseases and other climate-related risks and shocks; and improve capacity to adapt and grow in the face of longer-term stresses like shortened seasons and erratic weather patterns.
3. Reduced emissions: Pursue lower emissions for each calorie or kilo of food produced, avoid deforestation from agriculture and identify ways to absorb carbon out of the atmosphere.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/climate-smart-agriculture
I really hope I’m selected to participate in this project, but even if I’m not I’m growing a few different varieties of beans this year. I am also very excited to see how all the perennials I planted last year will produce this year; rhubarb, Jerusalem artichoke, red currant, black currant, gooseberry, raspberry, and chive. A new year and a new gardening season is always exciting! Do you have any gardening plans for this upcoming season? If you do, please share! I LOVE hearing about gardening plan 🙂
We are enjoying a three day weekend this weekend. I’ve been doing some baking (the photo above showed some bread I baked yesterday morning,) some reading (mostly for school see the photo below,) and I’ve enjoyed some wonderful relaxing times with my daughter. We’ve been starting to organise things a little bit as a preparation for the upcoming move. I don’t like postponing things to the last minute, it feels better to do a little bit at a time.
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share.
Love,
Maria
GreenDreams 
Happy weekend, Maria! ☺️🇸🇪
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A very happy weekend to you John! I hope you get a chance to enjoy your bike. We have too much snow and ice for bike riding at the moment. (At least in my opinion. I see some brave riders out there every day.) Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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Thanks! I have not been riding for too long now because I just don’t want to be cold. It was different last year and the bike now has 1100+ miles on it. My fault…
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I understand. I’m sure you will be back on your bike in a few weeks.
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I hope so, Maria. Have a great new week. 👍🏻❤️🇸🇪
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Never too early to think about gardening… lol. I do hope you get picked for the CSA project. Sounds great. Enjoy the winter weather and snow 🙂
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That is correct! It gives me so much joy to think about what crops to grow in the garden and how to do it. It’s like a fun math equation that needs to be solved. How to grow as much organic crops as possible (of the kind that my family eat) on a small space.
I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday season Trent. I’ll head over to see if you have a coffee share 🙂
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Hi Maria,
I too hope you are selected to play a part in this study as beans are one of my favorite foods but I’ve never grown them so you could teach me plenty and I’d love to read your findings.
Not long ago I learned how hard rice is on my blood sugar but almost in reverse, how wonderful beans are for me. Bittersweet findings because I like rice and love what it’s frequently served with i.e. sushi. I’ve had to all but drop it from my meals, while added more beans, esp. black beans which are my favorite.
So bring them on. Teach us more about these little gems.
Happy 2023 to you and yours.
with hope of ongoing blessings,
Gary
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Thank you Gary! I too hope that I get to be selected for the project, but even if I don’t get selected beans is a crop I’m looking forward to growing this year. I’m sorry to hear that you can not eat rice anymore, but eating more beans is always a good thing. My family isn’t a big fan of lentils, but they eat almost any type of bean.
I hope your holiday season was filled with joy and happiness. Happy 2023!
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Maria, Your baking looks delicious. I hope you get selected for the CSA project. Thank you for your weekend coffee share. Happy 2023 to you and your family!
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Thank you so much Natalie! Happy 2023!!
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Lots of exciting plans for the new year! CSA sounds fun– even if you aren’t officially picked, I think it is a great idea to incorporate the concept into your garden plans. Are there seed-saving/sharing groups in Sweden? Seed saving has become popular here. (seedsavers.org)
‘CSA’ makes me think of Community Sustained Agriculture, where folks buy farm shares in advance and pick up harvests weekly during the growing season. I hadn’t heard of the other CSA before you mentioned it.
I’m still in hibernation mode and loving it. Reading, daily walks, puzzles and occasional visits with friends and family keep me mellow. 🙂 It has been so unusually warm this week and seems to be staying there for the foreseeable future. I’m used to January being COLD, not in the 40s. I hope the trees don’t break bud thinking it is spring!
I will be starting onions in March, and that is only 7 weeks away… time is a-flying!
Have a great week!
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Yes, CSA is a wonderful initiative. There are some smaller seed saving/sharing groups. I’m hoping that it’s a concept that will keep growing and become more popular.
It sounds nice to slow down and follow natures slower rhythm in the winter. We all should 🙂 I have been relaxing a lot during the holiday season, which is very nice. 2023 is the last year of school for me, and I’ve decided to be very happy living local, in the moment; caring for my family, being there for the children at work, grow my own food, and get my degree. Other adventures can wait.
Happy 2023 Eliza ❤
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Happy New Year! I’ve joined in the Weekend Coffee Share. We plant a garden, we….as in my husband mostly. I assist when I can. We have plenty of snow & ice in our area right now. Seed catalogs are starting to come through the mail. Karen
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Happy New Year Karen! We also have lots of snow and ice now. What do you and your husband usually grow in your garden? What gardening zone do you live in? Seed catalogs are exciting! Almost like Christmas time for adults. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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We tried sweet potatoes this year & got a good crop. We have them stored downstairs where it’s cooler & they seem to be keeping good for now. Other things we grow are onions, carrots, green beans, tomatoes & okra. Also, melons & pumpkins. We have a current bush & several honey berry bushes but the birds seem to get the berries before us. We put up a net fencing to keep the deer out this year. We are in zone 4. Kevin does enjoy looking at the seed catalogs on these snow days & looking for something new to try growing in the garden.
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That is wonderful! Did you start the sweet potatoes inside? I’ve been wanting to grow sweet potatoes. nobody that I know of grows them here.
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Hi Maria,
You are always so inspiring and I love your excitement for your garden!! I hope you get chosen for the CSA project, that would be awesome. ❤️
We are experiencing way too much rain! Even though it’s needed, it’s just tough with the horses. I’m going to try my best to plan some gardening this year. I’ll keep you posted of my progress. Your baking looks so delicious and I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 💞💞💞
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Awe, thank you Diana! I’m looking forward to seeing your garden. Your roses are always so exquisite. I understand that rain makes it harder with the horses. Hang in there, spring is close by 🙂 Happy 2023 my friend ❤
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The snow photos look amazing. We don’t get that here in Australia.
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Thank you! You have so many other things though, like a much longer gardening season 🙂
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Definitely. My husband spends hours all year round in our garden.
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How exciting to even consider being a part of a study. You are so knowledgeable about gardening. We dabbled in it when we lived in CA and I loved it. Have a great New Year, Maria. 🙂
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Thank you for your kind words, the study is open to anyone to apply too. We’ll see what happens next 🙂 Have a wonderful week!
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Keep us in the loop! 🙂
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I will 👍
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Thinking of happy things while enjoying your magnificent surroundings. love like minded garden brains. IT is so funny your in the snow thinking about your garden, I’m in the humid sticky heat thinking, well, replanning & preparing mine. Such a fun world. Hope you get picked for the study environmental benefits & free that’s great.
Happy New Year to you & your treasures may your New Year be full of magnificent adventure with beautiful memorable moments that bring you all abundant joy,
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Thank you so much! Yes, it is a funny thing when one is walking in the snow thinking about the garden. I love the snow, it’s just that with the new year it feels like the gardening season is just around the corner. The gardening season is like a planet that all the other months are circling around 🙂 Best of look with the repairs, I hope everything goes well. I’ll be thinking about you as I attach the ice spikes to my shoes and head to work. Have a wonderful day!
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How exciting!! I do hope you are selected, I’m sure you will be!! I can’t wait to start my seeds but I always tend to start them too early.. LOL I plan on tomatoes, jalapenos and Hungarian wax peppers again, cilantro and I’d like to try arugula this year. My perrennials include my raspberry bush, sage and my lonely lavender plant that survived last year. I’ll probably try lavender again too. Have a great week!
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Thank you 🙏 I’m with you, it’s so easy to start them too early. I’m planning on having arugula at the balcony, it’s one of my favourite greens. Have a great week!
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The bread looks amazing. Also, that CSA program sounds interesting. Good luck on the move.
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I always enjoy January too. I may not be big into New Year’s resolutions, but I always like the feeling of newness around this time. The project sounds really interesting and I hope you do get selected. I hope this year is the year I beautify the front yard. I’ve spent years trying to rehabilitate the soil and I am happy to find mushrooms which is a very good sign.
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Thank you so much! Have fun beautifying the from yard 🙂
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