i am one of those people who longs for acres of land to grow food and raise livestock...    my grandparents all grew up on farms,  and my maternal grandparents continued to homestead even though my grandfather worked in the automotive industry.   my mom grew up drinking goats milk and almost everything they ate they had produced themselves.   by the time i came along,  they still had several acres of garden,  a small apple orchard with at least half a dozen varieties,  a couple of tart cherry trees, a pear tree,  and 5 damson plum trees.    there were strawberries in the garden,  and wild blackberries in the woods.  there were chickens who laid green eggs.    i learned to can at the side of my grandmother, mother and aunts.

i always wanted a homestead of my own.   when i learned to spin and weave in college,  the need to have sheep was added to the dream.   over the years,  i've never lived anywhere that could qualify as a homestead.    i've had gardens, here and there, and the occasional fruit tree,  but never had the ability to have livestock of any kind.  well,  i had an angora rabbit for a few years,  but he was more of a pet than livestock, lol.

for the last 9 years i've been living in an apartment where,  while there is a pretty large yard,  i'm not allowed to plant things in it.   so my garden has been limited to what i can grow in containers.   this year i have rutgers and marglobe tomatoes,   and a heirloom eggplant, whose name i've forgotten....
it's my first time growing eggplant.  people keep telling me it's difficult to grow and prone to insect pests.    just recently i've noticed very small holes in the leaves,  but the eggplants are growing like crazy.   i'm very pleased.  :-)        the tomatoes have not been as happy with the weird weather this summer,  but i have one rutgers tomato that is nearly ripe.    and quite a few green tomatoes which will hopefully have time to ripen.  






pretty eggplant :-)

 

and lovely tomato :-)