Weekend of Bowling w/a little Farm Work

We have been in Bowling mode since Wednesday.  Alex and his high school bowling team from St. Benedict were in the State Bowling Championship this weekend.  The event started Thursday with the Individual Championship.  Alex was 6th in our region so he was able to compete in the individuals.  24 kids were in the first round and then the top 6th went on to the next round.  None of our boys made it to the next round but they all did great. 

Friday was the start of the team competition and SBA's Boys and Girls teams both made it to the final round of competition.  Our boys lost to Battle Ground Academy (Franklin, TN) and our girls lost to St. Agnes (Memphis).  We are so proud of both our teams for receiving the Silver Trophy for State Runner-Ups. 

That left only Sunday to work on farm related stuff.  The hoop house at our house in Memphis is nice and warm and humid (thanks to the 70 degree weather we had yesterday) so we got our seed trays ready by putting a mixture of compost and peat moss in the trays and then placing them in the hoop house.  We are giving the dirt a chance to warm up before we plant the seeds in them. 

Next weekend Cris plans to plow a part of the lower field to plant wheat.  We are going to try and grow our own wheat (for personal use, not to sell) and then grind it ourselves. 

Weekend of Jan. 22-23, 2011



Seedling Hoop House at our home in Memphis



Seedling Hoop House in the early stages



Our Composter - We have had it for over a year.




That is some BEAUTIFUL compost. :)

 We stayed in the 'city' this weekend to work on the seedling hoop house that will stay at our home in Memphis.  That way I can monitor the seedlings progress from home and keep them hydrated and hopefully they will grow up to be big strong plants.  We used pvc pipe and had the hoop house up in no time.  It is already getting toasty inside it.  We put our Rosemary plant in it and will build some tables to use for the seedling trays.

I also emptied out some of our compost from our composter.  The compost is really nice if I don't say so myself.  It does not smell bad at all, which is a good sign.  Compost is NOT suppose to smell bad if it has composted correctly.  I loaded it in the garden cart and will mix it with some peat moss then use that to fill our seedling trays.  The compost consists of a year's worth of kitchen scraps (vegies, egg shells, bread, paper towels), leaves and grass clippings (no chemicals on the grass).  You can't put anything greasy in  there like meat or butter.  You have to take this special compost tool (or a shovel) and mix the compost once a week to add oxygen to the mixture. You also have to keep it moist but not soggy and add a shovel full of dirt once in a while.  I am truly amazed at how great the compost looks and how it did in fact compost all the pounds and pounds of kitchen scraps we placed in there. 

We stopped by the Farmer's Market at Cooper and Young this morning and visited with our friend Walt who owns the dairy farm.  We also met some farmers from Mississippi and I gave them our e-mail address to keep in contact with...they were very nice people.  I have found most organic/non-chemical type farmers to be very friendly and eager to help.  I am not saying non-organic farmers aren't nice...I just don't know that many.   We talked to them about raising chickens and how the state of Tennessee won't let farmers butcher their own chickens to sell them at farmer's markets.  There aren't any butchers in the state of Tenneessee permitted to butcher them either, unless you are a huge farm with over 500 or so chickens to butcher at one time.  Makes it impossible for small free range farmers in Tennessee to sell butchered chicken.

We also stopped and had breakfast at the Trolly Stop Restaurant and Market.  The owners also own Whitten Farms and have branched out with the restaurant.  The market portion allows year round farmers to sell their items and the restaurant uses only local and or organic ingredients.  My breakfast was a farm fresh egg, fresh sauteed spinach with mushrooms and cheese on texas toast.  It was yummy.  I picked up some more granola that our friend, Uele sells.  It's called 'Groovy Granola' and it's the best I have ever had.  If you live in the Memphis area, you need to stop by the Trolly Stop Market. 

Cris and I may get a few chickens and put them in our backyard. (don't tell the neighborhood association!)  We have to build a chicken coop first and them we will get about 3 chickens...no roosters!  Roosters make too much noise and would give us away.  It would give our dogs a chance to get use to having chickens around and hopefully they will learn that chicken is our friend....and not something to kill and drag around the back yard.

This Is One HOT Cold House!

Alex helping with the hoop house

Preparing to install the doors

Doors

Preparing to put the sheeting up

Our Finished Hoop House

Inside - that's sheep manure

"Wiggle Wire"  - A must to have when installing a hoop house.  Keeps the sheeting in place.

Snow Day

Birds eating from the feeder

The hoop house is complete.  It is really considered a "cold frame" because no 'artificial' heat or cooling source can be used.  Just the sun and the wind.  We thought getting the sheeting around the long portion of the hoop house would be very difficult but it turned out to be very workable once we got the first section started.  Three of us worked on the hoop house and I must say, we did a great job. 

It was about 45 degrees out yesterday when we installed the sheeting and within 20 minutes, that hoop house was up to 75 degrees and humid.  The ground inside is currently covered in sheep manure to assist in preparing the ground....and let me tell you, 75 degree, humid sheep manure stinks! I can see us planting in the hoop house in February without any problem...once the ground warms up, we are good to go.  Irrigation will be easy enough.  We are going to install water lines that will run along the ceiling portion and attach sprinkler nozzles then use the pond water and a water pump to water the plants. 

We spent the night on the farm Saturday night thanks to the kerosene heater Cris purchased.  Poor Alex used a sleeping bag and slept on the floor while Cris and I had the double bed.  Even the dogs didn't want to sleep on the floor so they climbed into bed with us.  I think I will invest in a raised camping cot for Alex so he doesn't have to sleep on the floor.

We attended our monthly sustainable farming at our friend's dairy Saturday night.  I sat down and talked shop with one of the members who is a master gardener.  She gave me some wonderful advice on planting and what to plant with what, when to plant and how to plant.  She swears by the Farmer's Almanac and planting by the moon phases, which is also detailed in the Farmer's Almanac.  She must be doing something right, she wins prizes every year for her peppers, flowers and other vegies.  Cris brought his Scythe to the meeting and explained the uses and why he loves using it much more than a gas powered weed whacker. We talked to an older farmer about his bees and he mentioned that he is having trouble keeping his bees alive.  He speculated that it is because he lives near alot of row farms that grow corn, Cotton and soybeans.  He believes that the bees collect pollen from these row crops that have been covered in pesticides and end up dieing from the pesticides.  He made a very valid point.  We are not near row crop farms so hopefully our bees will stay away from that stuff.  We are trying to keep our bees close to home by offering them plenty of pollen filled goodies on our land.

We picked up our beef from the butcher a couple weeks ago.  We have ordered a side of beef the last two years from a farmer who raises grass fed beef.  They only eat grass .... no grain.... cows were not meant to eat grain but many farmers and beef lots feed them grain to fatten them up for quick sale.  It's all about the money.... but don't get me started!  Anyway, we really enjoy the grass fed beef.  I am getting used to eating deer meat too. 

Speaking of deer.... Alex and I were headed to our farm and darn if a deer didn't run out in front of me.  She was too close for me to stop in time and I broad-sided her.  I was able to brake so the impact was not as bad as it could have been.  She bounced off my car, fell in the ditch, rolled head over rear a couple times then got up and ran off.  We watched her run in the field to make sure she didn't have any broken legs but she seemed fine.  My car was fine too except for the deer hair in my Volkswagen emblem.  One the way home, darn if 4 deer didn't run out in front of us but they were far enough that we could stop this time....same street, same area.  Funny thing is, 3 of the deer ran across and one deer decided to turn back and head back to where she started....must of been the one I hit...she wised up. 

Next weekend we are staying home in Memphis to start work on a mini greenhouse for the back yard.  I need something to start the seedlings in here.  It is easier to have the seedlings growing at our home than the farm since I need to keep an eye on them and water them everyday. 

January 27-29 we will be in Murfreesboro, Tn for the High School State Bowling Championship.  Alex was 6th overall for our region in bowling so he will be trying for individual championship and he will also be playing with his team for the team championship as they were undefeated on our region.  I am looking forward to the mini vacation and also, there is a REALLY good German restaurant near Mufreesboro that we like to eat at!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

We decided to wait and put the plastic sheeting on the hoophouse next weekend.  They are calling for snow tonight and we didn't not want to have the sheeting halfway done and then something happen to it if it snowed.  I don't want all my hard work to be for nothing if snow messes up the sheeting. 

We cut and cleared more trees around the pond instead.  I can really see a difference now and it looks good.  We have hauled all the trees (thanks to my Polaris ATV) into the field and will rent a chipper probably next month to make mulch for the compost pile.

Speaking of compost, Cris and Alex left this morning to try and get two loads of sheep manure from our friend Susan's farm before the snow hits.  I got to take a day off from the farm but that doesn't mean I am sitting on the sofa eating twinkies and watching the Lifetime channel. (I do not like twinkies or the Lifetime channel....I am more of a SciFi girl)  No, I have to keep up with our city-homestead...laundry, ironing, cleaning. 

Our bees are staying very close to home these days.  They huddle together towards the middle of the hive box and keep the queen warm.  Must be nice to be the queen bee.  A mouse has taken a liking to one of our hives and Nugget (labradoodle) is hell-bent on finding that mouse.  We have had to set up barriers to keep him from chewing the hive box.  He has pulled out the bottom tray of the hive that is used to keep the mites away and the corners of the hive box are chewed up from Nugget.  Cris put up some sheeting around 3 of the 4 hive walls to help keep the bees warm and Nugget pulled those off in less than a minute.  I know he is just doing his job by being rodent control but this is becoming a pain.  Cris is going to set up a mouse trap under the hive box and hopefully we will catch the mouse.   

Our monthly dinner with friends will be next Saturday night.  We meet about once a month with a group of farmers, hobby growers etc to discuss various sustainability options.  We meet at a dairy that raises grass fed dairy cows and sells raw milk.  They recently installed a slow-pasteurization system so they can now sell their milk to restaurants.  One of the members of our little group has been growing vegetables for years and is knowledge on 'moon planting' where you plant during various cycles of the moon.  Many people swear by this way of planting.  I think I will do alittle research on the subject and see what it is all about.

Misc. Photos - click on the photo to enlarge it

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT

The Alex's thought it would be funny to turn a hay roll over.... it wasn't!  Had to use the ATV to put it back up.

Our bees busy taking food to the queen.  They carry the pollen/nectar back on their legs.  They got into a hummingbird feeder because their legs are all red.

One of our compost piles...contains leaves, sheep manure and hay

Found this strange looking plant - reminds me of the crown of thorns.



Polyface Farms in Virginia.  Great farm that practices rotational grazing of their cows and they raise free range chickens and turkeys.

Birds have finally found the feeder.  We had 5 visit it yesterday.

My Lumber Jack clearing trees around the pond

The pond... a work in progress - we want to clear the trees that run along the edge of the pond

Cris has the hoop house 90% complete.  We plan to install the sheeting next weekend so the hoop house starts warming up and get it ready to plant tomatoes in the Spring.  We should receive reimbursement for the hoop house by the end of January.  The gov't is actually giving us money back for a change!!  They have a grant for hoop houses but it has to be a cold house which means no other heat than the sun can be used and no other cooling than ventilation and all the plants have to be planted directly into the ground so we can't use it to start seedlings.  We are eligible for on hoop house a year for three years I think.  The hoop house is good to grow tomatoes, lettuce and other things that need a little shielding from the direct sun. 

Yesterday we cut down alot more trees around the pond.  We will have alot of firewood for next year.  We are also using the smaller, but sturdier ones as fence posts.  The remainder will be mulched up and used in the compost pile.