And what does your garden grow?

It's February. Most of the country is covered in snow and ice. Here in San Francisco, we're supposed to be wading through torrential downpours, but as global warming would have it, we've had a long streak of warm, sunny days with a sprinkling of rain thrown in.

And my poor plants are confused.

I noticed the confusion last year when our faithful lilac didn't bloom, but we had tomatoes! For those of you unfamiliar with San Francisco summers, we rarely see sun from June until Sept. Our summer tends to be an endless, gray fog with temperatures in the low 60's. Not ideal tomato weather.

Anyway, back to this strange February garden.

Currently blooming or growing plants: 3 blueberry bushes, a dozen strawberry plants, a dwarf improved meyer lemon tree, rosemary, thyme, and sage in my boxes. Oh and the faithful lilac is starting to bloom.

MyFarms boxes: Box 1 - ground cover, Box 2 Favas, Box 3 - I 'm not sure because it has the row cover on it, Box 4 - onions, garlic and lots of ground cover, Box 5 - favas, Box 6 - Favas. Random large square trench - asparagus.

Not yet sprouted or bloomed in my boxes: potatoes (banana and purple) and peas. Tulips have started coming up. Daliahs, fresia, and gladiolus are getting ready. Lavender is beginning to flower. Some of the primroses are flowering while others are just leafing out. And random little shrubby-type soft perrinals that I've forgotten the names of.

All this in a space roughly 25x60 plus a jungle gym, chicken run and 2 bee hives.

We're really making this little plot work!

You have WHAT??!

The above is a common reaction when I mention that we're raising chickens and starting our own little farm in San Francisco's foggy Richmond District.

So, what possessed me to turn my back sand lot (because it really could not be called a backyard) into a little piece of urban heaven? I really don't know. I'd been actively trying to tame the sand and weeds for 7 years planting flowers, putting in a jungle gym for the kids, laying mulch, building raised beds and experimenting with growing veggies and flowers. It looked pretty but I felt it lacked something.

And then, on July 4th last year, I went to the Marin County Fair and fell in love with the chickens. I had to have chickens! They'd eat the weeds, they'd give me eggs, they'd make great compost! So I ordered up an Egglu from Omlet along with 3 18-week old hens and 2 weeks later I had chickens.

In late August, I ran across an article in the SF Chronicle about a new company called myfarmsf.com that would install, maintain and harvest veggies for you. I liked the idea, but didn't want to give up my involvement in the garden. MyFarm assured me I could work as much as I wanted in the garden. I thought 'why not': they'll lay the drip irrigation and do the crummy winter gardening. Great deal!

And now, as of last week, I have 2 very tall bee hives nestled into the back corner of my yard. The bees haven't been installed yet (not until late March) but there seems to be a lot of bees hanging out around the hives. My hope with the hives is that the bees will help pollinate the flowers and veggies plus we'll get yummy honey.

What's next? I'm hoping the city will let windmills be installed. We may not have sun in the Richmond, but we certainly have wind!