Wind is coming today and I'm not happy. I do hate the wind. I'll almost take anything anymore but the rain. I was hoping to get out today and work alot on the wood. We need to get moving that real large pile of branches. I also want to get some of the big stumps that are cut over to places ont he farm for benches. One is in the shape of a heart and really neat.
This past weekend we took to the orchard. DJ finally got the two plum trees cut down that had black rot disease and there was nothing we could do about it. So now there's those branches to haul to the wood pile and cut up. He also took out an old peach tree that was pretty far gone. Going today to pick up new trees to fill in the gaps, even though they say it'll take years for the roots of the cut-down trees to decompose. I'll just have to amend with alot of nitrogen in those areas but I'd really like to keep the orchard we have as an orchard.
I also began to prune the trees remaining. I took out the succors under the real good peach trees and began to outline the garden with them - hopefully gaining a few more of those dwarf peach trees. It's not the best way to get new fruit trees, but I thought - what do I have to lose? We'll just give it a try.
Had knitting friends over for lunch yesterday and served fresh lettuce from the garden. They enjoyed it so much. I'm still amazed that most people don't realize you can garden all year round with low tunnels. I'm so glad we have some lettuce, kale and swiss chard. I can't wait for all the spinach to be ready. I have several beds in.
Crimson clover - here it is folks. The key to our farm's success. We've been reading alot about the benefits of this clover and then DJ heard all about it at his beekeeper's meeting in Roanoke last week. Our neighbor tried a field of it last year and had millions of honey bees in it. It's great to amend the soil also. So I've decided to till under a large section of land and plant crimson clover for the bees and then till it under next year to have some new great garden soil! Can't wait! Will order the seed today.
More chickens needed - I have a need for more eggs for customers - plus I need chickens to do some scratching on some land I want to plant. I found an ad today for 12 laying hens - older ones but they're cheap and still laying. I'm going to look into getting them and putting them out in the garden right away in a chicken tractor.
New Rose Bush
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
February 12, 2012
The coldest days of this winter yet. Hopefully it will be the only ones. I'm sure loving the mild weather we've had - especially when we have so much work to do outside.
I've gotten the children moving this past week and it was no different this weekend. For my birthday on Saturday all I wanted was help in loading and moving the wood piles - branches that are twisted and getting overgrown, cut from the poplar tree out in the pasture. We loaded and unloaded three more loads on Saturday! The second pile is finally getting smaller. The last pile of branches is so large I think we'll just have to burn it where it is instead of moving it, breaking it up and burning it in our woodstove. It's so much work.
Today we had to get out to the animals after church and give the llamas their worming vaccinations. We couldn't get Lance into the barnyard today and I ran out of the medicine anyway so we still have one to give some time this week.
Our most important project today was getting the creep made for Dan. He's getting bigger - and smellier and needs room to run all day. The wind prohibited him from being outside in the pvc pen we had for him in the courtyard so it was a bad weekend until we made the creep from panels the Ruszickas gave us with the llamas. We covered them in chicken wire and attached them to the walls of the run-in. Now Dan has a place to be outside with near the other animals during the day!!!!
I've gotten the children moving this past week and it was no different this weekend. For my birthday on Saturday all I wanted was help in loading and moving the wood piles - branches that are twisted and getting overgrown, cut from the poplar tree out in the pasture. We loaded and unloaded three more loads on Saturday! The second pile is finally getting smaller. The last pile of branches is so large I think we'll just have to burn it where it is instead of moving it, breaking it up and burning it in our woodstove. It's so much work.
Today we had to get out to the animals after church and give the llamas their worming vaccinations. We couldn't get Lance into the barnyard today and I ran out of the medicine anyway so we still have one to give some time this week.
Our most important project today was getting the creep made for Dan. He's getting bigger - and smellier and needs room to run all day. The wind prohibited him from being outside in the pvc pen we had for him in the courtyard so it was a bad weekend until we made the creep from panels the Ruszickas gave us with the llamas. We covered them in chicken wire and attached them to the walls of the run-in. Now Dan has a place to be outside with near the other animals during the day!!!!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
February 4, 2012
Finally had time to start my cold frame seed plan. I received the seed for the brassicas in the mail a few days ago, but never had time to get everything going. Joel was great in picking up 10 bales of straw in Moneta we found for $3.00 per bale - the cheapest I could find. We unloaded them in the garden and there they sat until finally this morning I got them in place, loaded up several loads of dry, composted manure found in the old barn, and layered that on the already placed beds of Little Ceasar's carboard boxes, straw, leaves and sheep and llama manure with a good soaking of water. On top of that went seed for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and onions. After our trip to Floyed I layered peat moss on top of the seeds and watered again. All the seeds are covered by the windows we took out of our family room last spring to remodel.
In another bed by other artichoke plants, I planted another packe of artichoke seeds and covered them with a good layer of straw for mulch. I do hope they come up. I would love to have alot of fresh artichokes. I need to look into growing Jerusalem artichokes also. I hear they do pretty well in this area and they would be different.
OK, our trip to Floyd was fun - winding up the mountain on a rainy Saturday. It was David's first time there and my second. We went in answer to a craigslist ad for a cart we could hook up to the lawn mower. We ended up with a cart, but not the one advertised. When we got there Mr. Floyd (really) who lived on Floyd Highway in Floyd was also selling another cart that was larger and better for our needs. We purchased it for $75.00 and visited a garden center nearby - getting the peat moss and some more fabric to make more low tunnels for lettuce soon to come, The Bread Basket for some bulk food and grain, the hardware store for a pin and had lunch at the Blue Ridge Restraunt. It was a fun quick trip and very profitable. I had fun once we hooked up the cart to the lawn tractor. I took it right away to the barn and loaded it several times with hay, driving it over to the shed by the pasture for David to unload it and store it closer to the hay rack for this week's rations. The hay is holding out pretty well I'm happy to say. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough. Next year when someone bales our field we need to keep alot more for winter feeding - especially since the sheep will be lambing and need even more.
So Dan is our newest member of the farm. He came to us last weekend from Mangham Manor Farm. He was a four-day old ram from a set of triplets that needed to be taken off the ewe. We've been bottle feeding him every few hours and having alot of fun. When it's sunny we take him outside to live in a pen in the courtyard-giving him room to run and be on grass, eating leaves. During the rest of the time he's in a pen in our breezeway. He loves to get out and run around the kitchen too - before or after feeding times. We're looking forward to fattening him up and having him ready to breed our two ramboullet ewes next fall. I can't wait to have our own lambing season on our farm. We also are looking forward to having alot more lamb to sell. Two other farm markets - Four Corner's Farm and Our Father's Farm have already agreed to sell lamb for us. At the Bread Basket in Floyd they were selling lamb for $10.00 to $15.00 a pound! We couldnt' believe it. We'll have to find a market like that for it!
In another bed by other artichoke plants, I planted another packe of artichoke seeds and covered them with a good layer of straw for mulch. I do hope they come up. I would love to have alot of fresh artichokes. I need to look into growing Jerusalem artichokes also. I hear they do pretty well in this area and they would be different.
OK, our trip to Floyd was fun - winding up the mountain on a rainy Saturday. It was David's first time there and my second. We went in answer to a craigslist ad for a cart we could hook up to the lawn mower. We ended up with a cart, but not the one advertised. When we got there Mr. Floyd (really) who lived on Floyd Highway in Floyd was also selling another cart that was larger and better for our needs. We purchased it for $75.00 and visited a garden center nearby - getting the peat moss and some more fabric to make more low tunnels for lettuce soon to come, The Bread Basket for some bulk food and grain, the hardware store for a pin and had lunch at the Blue Ridge Restraunt. It was a fun quick trip and very profitable. I had fun once we hooked up the cart to the lawn tractor. I took it right away to the barn and loaded it several times with hay, driving it over to the shed by the pasture for David to unload it and store it closer to the hay rack for this week's rations. The hay is holding out pretty well I'm happy to say. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough. Next year when someone bales our field we need to keep alot more for winter feeding - especially since the sheep will be lambing and need even more.
So Dan is our newest member of the farm. He came to us last weekend from Mangham Manor Farm. He was a four-day old ram from a set of triplets that needed to be taken off the ewe. We've been bottle feeding him every few hours and having alot of fun. When it's sunny we take him outside to live in a pen in the courtyard-giving him room to run and be on grass, eating leaves. During the rest of the time he's in a pen in our breezeway. He loves to get out and run around the kitchen too - before or after feeding times. We're looking forward to fattening him up and having him ready to breed our two ramboullet ewes next fall. I can't wait to have our own lambing season on our farm. We also are looking forward to having alot more lamb to sell. Two other farm markets - Four Corner's Farm and Our Father's Farm have already agreed to sell lamb for us. At the Bread Basket in Floyd they were selling lamb for $10.00 to $15.00 a pound! We couldnt' believe it. We'll have to find a market like that for it!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
January 25, 2012
It's been a while since I've written but we actually had some cold January days and alot of rain too. Now finally we've had two days of beautiful weather - sunny and in the 50's. I like that alot better. Don't even need a jacket.
I was able to finish homeschooling quickly and get outside today. I loaded two wheelbarrows of llama poop and poured it into the garden where I'm making the cold frames to start all my seeds this year. I added some old straw from the barn on the bottom of "Little Ceasar" pizza boxes to begin with, added the manure and now it's cooking. I was able to locate a great source for old straw bales for only $1.75 to line the cold frame and will pick those up on Friday over in Glade Hill at the Pendry's farm. Now I need to locate some more windows.
I also sat down finally and ordered my start-up seed. In January I can put in rhubarb, onion and artichocke seed. In February it's time to start all the brassicas - so I ordered cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Everything was ordered from Southern Exposure Seed company right here in Virginia. I seem to get the best produce from these locally available seeds. Usually they don't take very long either and I'll be able to get some of these in the ground soon.
I was able to finish homeschooling quickly and get outside today. I loaded two wheelbarrows of llama poop and poured it into the garden where I'm making the cold frames to start all my seeds this year. I added some old straw from the barn on the bottom of "Little Ceasar" pizza boxes to begin with, added the manure and now it's cooking. I was able to locate a great source for old straw bales for only $1.75 to line the cold frame and will pick those up on Friday over in Glade Hill at the Pendry's farm. Now I need to locate some more windows.
I also sat down finally and ordered my start-up seed. In January I can put in rhubarb, onion and artichocke seed. In February it's time to start all the brassicas - so I ordered cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Everything was ordered from Southern Exposure Seed company right here in Virginia. I seem to get the best produce from these locally available seeds. Usually they don't take very long either and I'll be able to get some of these in the ground soon.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
December 31, 2011 - Happy New Year
I can't believe it's the last day of the year. The weather has been so beautiful. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the temperature is in the 60's, and the lenten roses are starting to bloom. Could it really still be winter? I think we're in for a very mild winter this year, which suits me just fine.
We've been working for the last two days clearing more land and chopping up trees. There were so very many of these horrid trees with thorns we had to take down to clear land for the garden. They are such a pain to chop up - but we have to do it. We have alot of weeds to get out also and everything is going in the outside woodstove so that thing was cooking yesterday! It looked like a steam engine most of the time!
Olivia was able to prepare two beds for spinach and get that all planted. It probably won't be up until the spring but we'll have a headstart. We put in wire hoops and covered them with the agribon fabric for protection. See picture on left!
Happy New Year
We've been working for the last two days clearing more land and chopping up trees. There were so very many of these horrid trees with thorns we had to take down to clear land for the garden. They are such a pain to chop up - but we have to do it. We have alot of weeds to get out also and everything is going in the outside woodstove so that thing was cooking yesterday! It looked like a steam engine most of the time!
Olivia was able to prepare two beds for spinach and get that all planted. It probably won't be up until the spring but we'll have a headstart. We put in wire hoops and covered them with the agribon fabric for protection. See picture on left!
Happy New Year
Monday, December 26, 2011
December 26, 2011
What a wonderful Christmas. The weather was beautiful, the day lovely and fun, and it was just a pure joy to go to church, sing my favorite song: Who is He in Yonder Stall in my favorite way - accapella quartet, open lots of great gifts with a fire going in the fireplace in our newly remodeled family room, and eating a great dinner of fresh venison roast, cheesy potatoes, fresh lettuce from the garden, and crescent rolls! Later in the day we enjoyed dessert of boston cream pie, and many scrumptious cookies. Liv and I even stayed up until 1:00 a.m. watching Christmas movies! What fun.
OK, now for the farm and work day today. That was fun too, but boy am I sore! We had to start the day with a late breakfast of leftovers and then get out to the pasture and get the llamas in to the inner barnyard. They were due for their Dectomax shots - a preventative for a parasitic worm when in contact with deer. I wish we didn't have to give it so often and I wish the llamas were more amiable to us. Joel helped out David, Liv and I with rounding them up with a rope in a corner. Then Liv was able to halter them. We brushed them out and gave them their shots, with a little work. I think we put Hokie's halter on too tight and he was in a foul mood the whole time. Francesca wouldn't have anything to do with getting a halter on at all, so we gave up and just gave her a shot. She did hit Liv's hand real hard into the wooden fence post when she tried haltering her. So, after getting all the needles and syringes properly done up, it was all done - good thing. Now we don't have to do it again until February.
After that it was out by the garden area to clear more land. Joel is enjoying his new ax we bought him and still loves to work on those muscles, chopping tree after tree. David used a scythe to clear brush and weeds. I worked near the fence, clearing limbs from the fallen tree and more weeds, weeds, and more weeds. It was a very profitable morning, getting alot of the land cleared.
After lunch, I took the riding mower and cut on high all the grass and weeds from the current garden to the large barn - maybe about a 1/4 of an acre of land. After the first cutting on high, I raked it all up and put it in the established garden beds, then cut again on a lower setting, hoping to run over it with the pushmower and bagger, but that didn't work. I'll have to rake again, cut lower with the rider, then maybe be able to pick it up again with the bagger to put in the garden. Alot of work- but it looks great. The worse part will be the wild blackberries near the garage and fence. Next, we'll have to rent or purchase a roter tiller. It's just too large a portion of land to do lasagna beds as I've been doing - which works great for small areas you want to garden.
Looking forward to getting the garage in order soon to set up a large work table and hang my grow lights to start seeds. I'll need to get cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower seeds started soon to get it in the ground under tunnels. Hopefully I'll have enough land ready in February to start alot of cool weather crops under agribond fabric and hoops.
We made a list of things we can sell at our farm stand this year - filling in with alot of baked goods, honey, chicken, eggs and fiber/yarn. We'll have to do that for a while till the vegie beds get more established and the fruit comes in. Looking forward to putting in about 150 strawberrie plants this spring, 25 more peach trees and 200 tomatoe plants. We're thinking of offering work day opportunities to friends and neighbors to help out. We'll provide meals for a day and plenty of exercise to anyone who wants to come help plant, till, chop wood/limbs, build fencing or run-ins. There'll be alot to do this Spring!
My biggest wish and concern right now is getting a large moveable chicken tractor made that will withstand alot to put another batch of laying hens in, with a moveable fence in the new garden area for them to dig up and fertilize that area. It would be great to have.
OK, now for the farm and work day today. That was fun too, but boy am I sore! We had to start the day with a late breakfast of leftovers and then get out to the pasture and get the llamas in to the inner barnyard. They were due for their Dectomax shots - a preventative for a parasitic worm when in contact with deer. I wish we didn't have to give it so often and I wish the llamas were more amiable to us. Joel helped out David, Liv and I with rounding them up with a rope in a corner. Then Liv was able to halter them. We brushed them out and gave them their shots, with a little work. I think we put Hokie's halter on too tight and he was in a foul mood the whole time. Francesca wouldn't have anything to do with getting a halter on at all, so we gave up and just gave her a shot. She did hit Liv's hand real hard into the wooden fence post when she tried haltering her. So, after getting all the needles and syringes properly done up, it was all done - good thing. Now we don't have to do it again until February.
After that it was out by the garden area to clear more land. Joel is enjoying his new ax we bought him and still loves to work on those muscles, chopping tree after tree. David used a scythe to clear brush and weeds. I worked near the fence, clearing limbs from the fallen tree and more weeds, weeds, and more weeds. It was a very profitable morning, getting alot of the land cleared.
After lunch, I took the riding mower and cut on high all the grass and weeds from the current garden to the large barn - maybe about a 1/4 of an acre of land. After the first cutting on high, I raked it all up and put it in the established garden beds, then cut again on a lower setting, hoping to run over it with the pushmower and bagger, but that didn't work. I'll have to rake again, cut lower with the rider, then maybe be able to pick it up again with the bagger to put in the garden. Alot of work- but it looks great. The worse part will be the wild blackberries near the garage and fence. Next, we'll have to rent or purchase a roter tiller. It's just too large a portion of land to do lasagna beds as I've been doing - which works great for small areas you want to garden.
Looking forward to getting the garage in order soon to set up a large work table and hang my grow lights to start seeds. I'll need to get cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower seeds started soon to get it in the ground under tunnels. Hopefully I'll have enough land ready in February to start alot of cool weather crops under agribond fabric and hoops.
We made a list of things we can sell at our farm stand this year - filling in with alot of baked goods, honey, chicken, eggs and fiber/yarn. We'll have to do that for a while till the vegie beds get more established and the fruit comes in. Looking forward to putting in about 150 strawberrie plants this spring, 25 more peach trees and 200 tomatoe plants. We're thinking of offering work day opportunities to friends and neighbors to help out. We'll provide meals for a day and plenty of exercise to anyone who wants to come help plant, till, chop wood/limbs, build fencing or run-ins. There'll be alot to do this Spring!
My biggest wish and concern right now is getting a large moveable chicken tractor made that will withstand alot to put another batch of laying hens in, with a moveable fence in the new garden area for them to dig up and fertilize that area. It would be great to have.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
December 21, 2011
The longest day of the year today. It's already blah outside so it won't feel much different. It's very warm though, making it not feel like Christmas at all. We're having better luck keeping the woodstove going now, trying to put only small wood in when the weather gets so warm. It's much better now. We do have alot of small wood to put in. Trying to get son out there chopping up branches to put in everyday. We still have so many piles of branches to break up from the tornado last spring that we just may have to burn up some of the piles come a nice wet day this spring. We're eager to get the back pasture in order so we need to rid it of the piles. As soon as it's a little dryer and colder we can at least drive the dodge ram truck in there and load up the big wood to put by the woodstove.
Talking about the pasture. We had Jack O'Connell from the Department of Agriculture come spend the morning with me last week. He was very, very helpful in letting us know what we'd qualify for and what we wouldn't right now. We were hopeing we could get help putting in fencing in the back 6 acres at least because we have the spring running right through the middle of it. Unfortunately, they can't come in and fence off the water source until there is a problem with the water source. So we'd have to fence the whole thing around the perimeter and allow the animals to come in and pollute all our drinking water, then they would come in and fix it. This is how the government works. Lovely, isn't it?
Jack did give help on the quality of our pastures, encouraging us to get soil samples and having them analyzed by Virginia Tech which we did. Then once that is done we'll know how much lime to apply to the fields to get it back to good fescue and not so much broom weed. The Broomweed evidently is caused by the old tabacco crops depletion of the fields. He did say that we have pretty good fescue growing right now in the back so that's good.
He was very encouraging also about getting a farmstand going on our property this summer, selling fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm really excited about it because he was so excited! He really thinks we'd do well because of our location on such a major highway. We get a lot of traffic and everyone is so concerned with buying local and eating fresh. Now, we have the large task of enlarging the garden to 3 or 4 times is size to get it ready for spring plantings. I had the soil tested near the graveyard especially to put in a peach orchard also. I think that should do really well too.
There is a government pilot program out there right now for putting in a large hoop house on your property for free that I would love to do but I wouldn't qualify until I have the business up and running and it may not be offered next year. We'll see.
Talking about the pasture. We had Jack O'Connell from the Department of Agriculture come spend the morning with me last week. He was very, very helpful in letting us know what we'd qualify for and what we wouldn't right now. We were hopeing we could get help putting in fencing in the back 6 acres at least because we have the spring running right through the middle of it. Unfortunately, they can't come in and fence off the water source until there is a problem with the water source. So we'd have to fence the whole thing around the perimeter and allow the animals to come in and pollute all our drinking water, then they would come in and fix it. This is how the government works. Lovely, isn't it?
Jack did give help on the quality of our pastures, encouraging us to get soil samples and having them analyzed by Virginia Tech which we did. Then once that is done we'll know how much lime to apply to the fields to get it back to good fescue and not so much broom weed. The Broomweed evidently is caused by the old tabacco crops depletion of the fields. He did say that we have pretty good fescue growing right now in the back so that's good.
He was very encouraging also about getting a farmstand going on our property this summer, selling fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm really excited about it because he was so excited! He really thinks we'd do well because of our location on such a major highway. We get a lot of traffic and everyone is so concerned with buying local and eating fresh. Now, we have the large task of enlarging the garden to 3 or 4 times is size to get it ready for spring plantings. I had the soil tested near the graveyard especially to put in a peach orchard also. I think that should do really well too.
There is a government pilot program out there right now for putting in a large hoop house on your property for free that I would love to do but I wouldn't qualify until I have the business up and running and it may not be offered next year. We'll see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)