Back in 2009, I had been learning to cook, beginning with bread, and was realizing how important veggies were. We were members in a local CSA for a year and enjoyed it but found that we got a lot of things we weren’t familiar with and didn’t use so we didn’t continue our membership.
My first gardening experience was in 2010. I started 3 tomato and 3 pepper plants in a take out container on my kitchen table and I planted lettuce seeds in a small planter on my deck. The lettuce was quite the success and I ate quite a few salads from the cuttings of those 4 or 5 heads of lettuce. The peppers never sprouted. The tomatoes did sprout and I planted them in planters outside and got a few tomatoes (maybe 3?) from them total but nowhere near what I could have. I planted a handful of carrots in another planter and harvested some baby-sized carrots in the fall. Those small successes drove my desire to have a bigger garden.
In the fall of 2010, when we were living in Central Illinois, we built three raised beds in the backyard (after much time convincing Mr. CookGardenSew). In the Spring of 2011 we filled them with soil delivered from a local excavating company and I started my seedlings under a shop light in the basement on a stand Mr. CGS built for me.
That first year was a wonderful garden adventure and is what motivated me to start the blog. I wanted a way to keep track of what was growing and my notes and all the pictures I was taking so that I could refer back to it that winter when I started garden planning again.
A year after that first garden we ended up moving from Normal out to rural Fulton County. This meant a bigger garden (and a lot more work).
Fast forward to 2018. A job change brought us to the Colorado Front Range and I got the pleasure of starting yet another garden. This one is a work in progress, since we moved in at the end of April, just in time to plant some store bought veggies and herbs.
The (ever-changing) plan is to redesign the garden area this fall, building more beds and replacing the current one, as the wood is starting to rot.
Our move to Colorado came with many positive changes, one of which is the ability to ride our bikes all over town on numerous paths and greenways.
This was an exciting change for us, coming from an area where every road seemed like a 55mph county highway full of farm tractors. I was so excited to get a bike when we moved here – a decision I definitely don’t regret. While I miss the privacy of living in the country, the growing bike infrastructure here has almost made up the difference. Especially when the paths go near some wonderful places to stop and get refreshments…
The bike paths here awesome and the hiking trails trails don’t disappoint either. So while the title of the blog doesn’t mention it (because we really didn’t do much in the way of biking and hiking in IL) you’ll see some of our adventures in the mountains and bike gear reviews show up here too. Maybe I need to go off and search new domain names….
In addition to gardening, hiking, biking, and cooking for my family, I like to sew. You may notice that in this season of life for me my sewing is sporadic. This is mainly because I cook every day but sew more in my spare/hobby time. Gardening posts are obviously more frequent in the summer, and I’d imagine you’ll see more sewing posts in the cold days of the year while we spend more time inside.
I started sewing before my first was born. My first project was sewing up curtains for the nursery. I quickly began “attempting” to sew cloth diapers. My first attempts were pretty laughable. Over time I improved in leaps and bounds, and sewed lots of clothing for my kids when they were smaller. I haven’t sewn much for them recently. I guess mom made stuff just isn’t as cool when you are 10 or 11. 🙂 I am self taught and am not a perfectionist, so if you look closely at my sewing you *will* see flaws. I sew mostly for my kids – and they don’t mind.
Enjoy the blog and if there’s anything you’d like to hear more about leave a comment and let me know!
(hikebike)cookgardensew 