The Law of the Farm

Tomatoes on the left, lettuce and herbs on the right
The lights adjust upward as the crops grow up
This is in my basement

Many years ago I read what may have been my very first self-help book ever. It was written by the guy who invented the Franklin Planner, a looseleaf little notebook with pages for calendar and to-do lists, with a system and expensive training classes for how to use it to be more productive, that was all the rage in the 1980s. 

So one of the nuggets of wisdom in the book I read (instead of attending a class) was the Law of the Farm. Basically, the point is, some things have to be done at a certain time (planting, for example) and some things just take time to happen (crops ripening, for example). No matter what you do, you can't break those laws. Therefore, sometimes you have to plan ahead, and if you fail to start at the right time, you will not succeed no matter how hard you try or what you do. This is one of the two nuggets from that book that I remember.

So now, as an indoor farmer myself, I have to respect those laws. 

My kids surprised me at Christmas with a giant indoor hydroponic growing system, called The Farm! It has an electronic control system that turns the lights on and off at the right time, adjusts how often the internal water is circulated depending on whether you are in the germination phase or the growing phase, and an app to alert you about water levels. It came with seeds for cherry tomatoes, lettuce and herbs, which I got started on New Years Day. Soon I'll be moving some of the cherry tomatoes into other containers, and starting some other kinds of larger tomatoes. I'll harvest or move the lettuce and herbs to other containers in a while, and will start (mostly flower) seeds for the outdoor garden in it. Once I transplant the outdoor seedlings, I'll start eggplants and peppers in The Farm. 

Kale, two varieties. I continually snip off the largest leaves
and shred them into my salads.
I also like the extra light at the dark end of my kitchen counter.

I've decided I don't want to try lettuce and greens outside, because I don't like the slugs. I have my four little hydroponic units from last year (same company as The Farm) and I've got lettuce and kale and herbs going there. I'll try to keep an indoor crop going all summer - last year, I planted everything out and didn't start the countertop garden again until Thanksgiving. I've been eating lettuce and kale and dill and thyme (SO MUCH THYME) and basil and thai basil since Christmas. 

The seed catalogues start coming in December now, and according to the Law of the Farm (and limited supply and increasing demand) I have to buy seeds now. So I've got more varieties of lettuce and other greens to grow. Often, my trips to the supermarket are driven by needing salad makings, and much of the lettuce I get seems to slime up quickly. So I much prefer my own, seconds from counter to bowl, but I'm not quite self sufficient yet.