Click on the link below to see recent photos from the farm.
https://picasaweb.google.com/102597985594428577815/MemorialDayWeekend2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOrgMmfoJu_Mw&feat=directlink
Cris and I both took Friday off so we could knock out some of the items on the “things that need to be fixed/touched-up” list so we can get our Memphis house on the market. The best time to sell is in the Spring and we are unfortunately a bit late for that. It’s really hard sometimes trying to maintain two households.
Saturday Cris went to the farm with Teddy Bear (wheaten terrier) and I stayed home to do some of the cleaning that never seems to get done….like wiping down the ceiling fans, baseboards and decluttering some more. We are going to have a “living estate sale” after we sell the house. Since we are downsizing from 2600 sq ft to 1300 sq ft, we won’t need as much furniture and other household items.
The other reason I stayed home was to take Nugget (labradoodle) to the vet….seems he ate something he should not have and at first he kept coughing and gagging trying to get it up…. Then he finally got it down but…. (no pun intended), he could not get it out the other end. Poor pup kept trying and trying to go potty but nothing would happen. The lovely vet aid gave Nugget an enema of warm soapy water and that was all it took. He was such a happy pup after that!
Anyway, enough about that. Sunday, Alex and I went to the farm and helped Cris. Alex did some bush hogging and weeding; I planted 216 plants…. Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage and green cabbage. Cris worked on the irrigation system and he has it working great. All we have to do is turn on the pump at the pond and the little sprinklers water the veggies. It is such a time saver.
Seems like there is always something to fix around the farm. The UTV needed a new fuel line….fixed that last week and now the carburetor sounds dirty. Flat tire on the lawn mower, flat tire on the small spreader. Had to get a new tractor tire last week. I am just so glad that Cris can fix about 95% of what breaks down.
We made more mushroom logs this weekend too. We have mushroom logs with Chicken of the Woods, Lions Mane and Reishi mushroom inoculated in them. Next month we have a group coming over to learn how to make mushroom logs. It is the Hardeman County Sustainable Living Association. We have been members of this group for over a year and we trade techniques with each other. We meet once a month for dinner and discussion. Last month two of our members brought spinning wheels to show us how they spin wool into yarn. I have 3 bags full of fleece that one of the members is going to clean for me so I can eventually spin my own wool. When I ever have free time that is. Sounds like a good winter project.
The really exciting news is that the well and septic will be going in this week. We have electricity since about 3 weeks ago. I can’t wait for running water. The ac/heat pump may have to wait until later in the year but we have a couple window ac units for the time being.
GARDEN UPDATE (check out the link above)
Hoop House - as you can see by the photo…. Tomatoes and Green Peppers are loving the hoop house. Plenty of buds on the tomato plants that should be sprouting tomatoes very soon.
Onions and Potatoes are fantastic. We have eaten the onions raw…they are so sweet. Cris brought some of the potatoes home for dinner….delicious but they still need to grow a bit.
English Peas - we picked some for dinner last night….Cris made a pasta dish with just linguine, peas, onions, Parmesan cheese and a little olive oil. It was great. I think we are keeping the peas for ourselves this year and will grow more next year. Not enough planted to sell.
Okra, cucumbers, squash, limas, lady peas, butter beans… all growing but some had to be replanted. We planted straight seeds and think that next year we will start them as seedlings in the hoop house and then replant outside for better results.
Next week we plan to chip the trees finally. They have been scattered on top of the hill for sometime and we need to get them chopped and chipped. The mulch we make from chipping will be used to create a mushroom bed to grow morels.
We are getting into the hot weather season.... makes for some long, hot days on the farm so we try to do the hard outside work either first thing in the morning or in the evening.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
I didn't realize how long it has been since I last blogged. The time gets away from me.
So here's an update:
In the hoop house we have well over 100 tomato plants of various types. They LOVE the hot, humid temps in the hoop house and are thriving. The little plot of lettuce was planted is doing great. It's a variety mix of greens and we have enjoyed them with our dinners. Hopefully the hoop house will allow us to grow lettuce all year round. We also have about 100 pepper plants: green peppers, yellow peppers, jalapeno peppers and chili peppers I think. They like the hot, humid temps too. I don't, but I will have to just suffer. It gets very hot in there at times.
Out in the fields we have 3-4 types of onions: chives, vadalia, candy apple, and something else. We have red and russet potatoes planted as well as garlic that was planted last fall.
The corn (sweet and organic popcorn), squash, zucchini are just starting to sprout out of the ground and some of the various peas are sprouting as well. The upper field we used last year has okra, turnips, mustard, rutabagas and sunflowers.
The fruit trees are great - the pears and peaches are full of fruit. The apple trees are slower to fruit and may not actually have any apples this year. The blue berry bushes have some berries but nothing really to speak of; just enough for Cris and I to enjoy this year. The blackberry bushes as thriving and have grown from 4 little plants to over 10 plants.
The strawberry plants have fruit on them despite being planted this year. Next year will be a better producing year. I love the fact that they are perennials and we don't have to replant them next year.
This past weekend Cris and I planted 100 asparagus plants. They need a year to really start producing and again, they are perennials so I like that!
The modular home was installed about a month ago and hopefully this week Clayton Homes will complete all the minor repairs we have requested. We have started to move a few items in but are waiting to really start moving in until they have completed the repairs. The utility company has installed poles and electric lines and the electrician will install the meter and get electric to the house this Friday. Next comes the septic system and then the well. The ac/heater unit will have to wait until late summer so we will use window ac units to keep us cool until then. The home is not huge; only 1200 sq feet so it won't take much to cool the rooms. The breezeway between our portion of the house and the 2nd bedroom (Alex's room) is a covered deck which offers the nicest breeze....guess that is way it is called a 'breezeway'. We have a great view of the pond from the back and the fields from the front.
We have been de-cluttering our home in Memphis to get it ready to put on the market within the next 6 weeks. Alex moves into his dorm at college Aug. 25th so by then, we should be all moved into the farm home.
We plan to sell on Saturday's either at the Bolivar Farmer's Market or the Cooper Young Farmer's Market. We may try the Botanic Garden on Wednesday this year but then again, that may wait until next year. This is our year to test the waters and see what it takes to sell at farmer's markets.
It has rained at least twice a week so that has helped water the plants outside. I had forgotten how much it rains in the Spring here. Last year at this time we were busy building a barn and did not plant until June, which was when the rain stopped.
We also plugged more mushroom logs a few weeks ago. Hopefully this time we will grow some fungus! Our logs from last year did not produce one single shroom.
Cris found a patch of Morel Mushrooms in the woods and we were able to pick about 25 mushrooms total. They are hard to find and it was by luck that he found this patch. We have not been able to find anymore. They were so delicious. Cris made a pasta dish that was just pasta, the Morel mushrooms, some garlic and butter and it was one of the best dishes he has ever made. Alex raved too so that really says something. The flavor of fresh Morels is like no other. They have a short growing season though so we will have to wait until next year to find more. Once the ground heats up to a certain temp, they stop growing. The good thing is that we can go back to the same spot next year and they will be growing there again.
Weed control - being an organic farm, we do not use any non-organic pesticides or weed killer. So, that means, alot of weeding by hand at times. One way we are trying to keep the weeds down is by using hay. We have hay rolls from last year's field cutting and we spread the hay in between the rows of plants to keep the weeds/grass from growing. It has worked well with the strawberries. We spread a bunch of hay in the hoop house last weekend and that is helping to keep the grass from growing around the tomato plants. Fire ants are a problem too so we use the 'grits' method of fire ant removal. We spread instant grits on the fire ant mound and within 2 weeks, the ants are gone. Seems they eat the grits and the grit expands and it kills them. I love the Internet....you can find anything!
Pond - our fish are so great! They are reproducing like crazy and the brim are growing nicely..... within a few mos. I think they may be large enough to catch and eat! They are so well trained too. They hear us pull up on the atv's and come swimming to the edge to be fed.
We have our first farm animal - it's a Scottish Highland calf and her name is Hyacinth. She is staying with her momma on our friend's farm until we have a place for her at our farm. She is no bigger than a dog and she knows her name. Scottish Highland have a great temperament and do not get huge like an Angus cow. Our friend names all her cows starting with the letter "H". There's a Hamilton, Hero, Hannah. Since our first calf is named Hyacinth, we are going to name our heifers/cows (females) with flower names. Don't think we will name the males since they will become dinner. Our friends named the pig they planned to butcher, "Freezer". I like that. :)
I will take pictures this weekend and post them. I will try to make a video too soon.
So here's an update:
In the hoop house we have well over 100 tomato plants of various types. They LOVE the hot, humid temps in the hoop house and are thriving. The little plot of lettuce was planted is doing great. It's a variety mix of greens and we have enjoyed them with our dinners. Hopefully the hoop house will allow us to grow lettuce all year round. We also have about 100 pepper plants: green peppers, yellow peppers, jalapeno peppers and chili peppers I think. They like the hot, humid temps too. I don't, but I will have to just suffer. It gets very hot in there at times.
Out in the fields we have 3-4 types of onions: chives, vadalia, candy apple, and something else. We have red and russet potatoes planted as well as garlic that was planted last fall.
The corn (sweet and organic popcorn), squash, zucchini are just starting to sprout out of the ground and some of the various peas are sprouting as well. The upper field we used last year has okra, turnips, mustard, rutabagas and sunflowers.
The fruit trees are great - the pears and peaches are full of fruit. The apple trees are slower to fruit and may not actually have any apples this year. The blue berry bushes have some berries but nothing really to speak of; just enough for Cris and I to enjoy this year. The blackberry bushes as thriving and have grown from 4 little plants to over 10 plants.
The strawberry plants have fruit on them despite being planted this year. Next year will be a better producing year. I love the fact that they are perennials and we don't have to replant them next year.
This past weekend Cris and I planted 100 asparagus plants. They need a year to really start producing and again, they are perennials so I like that!
The modular home was installed about a month ago and hopefully this week Clayton Homes will complete all the minor repairs we have requested. We have started to move a few items in but are waiting to really start moving in until they have completed the repairs. The utility company has installed poles and electric lines and the electrician will install the meter and get electric to the house this Friday. Next comes the septic system and then the well. The ac/heater unit will have to wait until late summer so we will use window ac units to keep us cool until then. The home is not huge; only 1200 sq feet so it won't take much to cool the rooms. The breezeway between our portion of the house and the 2nd bedroom (Alex's room) is a covered deck which offers the nicest breeze....guess that is way it is called a 'breezeway'. We have a great view of the pond from the back and the fields from the front.
We have been de-cluttering our home in Memphis to get it ready to put on the market within the next 6 weeks. Alex moves into his dorm at college Aug. 25th so by then, we should be all moved into the farm home.
We plan to sell on Saturday's either at the Bolivar Farmer's Market or the Cooper Young Farmer's Market. We may try the Botanic Garden on Wednesday this year but then again, that may wait until next year. This is our year to test the waters and see what it takes to sell at farmer's markets.
It has rained at least twice a week so that has helped water the plants outside. I had forgotten how much it rains in the Spring here. Last year at this time we were busy building a barn and did not plant until June, which was when the rain stopped.
We also plugged more mushroom logs a few weeks ago. Hopefully this time we will grow some fungus! Our logs from last year did not produce one single shroom.
Cris found a patch of Morel Mushrooms in the woods and we were able to pick about 25 mushrooms total. They are hard to find and it was by luck that he found this patch. We have not been able to find anymore. They were so delicious. Cris made a pasta dish that was just pasta, the Morel mushrooms, some garlic and butter and it was one of the best dishes he has ever made. Alex raved too so that really says something. The flavor of fresh Morels is like no other. They have a short growing season though so we will have to wait until next year to find more. Once the ground heats up to a certain temp, they stop growing. The good thing is that we can go back to the same spot next year and they will be growing there again.
Weed control - being an organic farm, we do not use any non-organic pesticides or weed killer. So, that means, alot of weeding by hand at times. One way we are trying to keep the weeds down is by using hay. We have hay rolls from last year's field cutting and we spread the hay in between the rows of plants to keep the weeds/grass from growing. It has worked well with the strawberries. We spread a bunch of hay in the hoop house last weekend and that is helping to keep the grass from growing around the tomato plants. Fire ants are a problem too so we use the 'grits' method of fire ant removal. We spread instant grits on the fire ant mound and within 2 weeks, the ants are gone. Seems they eat the grits and the grit expands and it kills them. I love the Internet....you can find anything!
Pond - our fish are so great! They are reproducing like crazy and the brim are growing nicely..... within a few mos. I think they may be large enough to catch and eat! They are so well trained too. They hear us pull up on the atv's and come swimming to the edge to be fed.
We have our first farm animal - it's a Scottish Highland calf and her name is Hyacinth. She is staying with her momma on our friend's farm until we have a place for her at our farm. She is no bigger than a dog and she knows her name. Scottish Highland have a great temperament and do not get huge like an Angus cow. Our friend names all her cows starting with the letter "H". There's a Hamilton, Hero, Hannah. Since our first calf is named Hyacinth, we are going to name our heifers/cows (females) with flower names. Don't think we will name the males since they will become dinner. Our friends named the pig they planned to butcher, "Freezer". I like that. :)
I will take pictures this weekend and post them. I will try to make a video too soon.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Weekend of 2/26-27
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| The New Farm Truck |
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| A Little Muddy This Weekend |
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| A Farmer and His Dog |
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| Strawberry Plant peeking out of the mulch |
We worked on the water pump at the pond and got it hooked back up. We have a hose running from the pump in the pond to the hoop house so we can water the herbs and lettuce that we planted last week.
The wheat Cris planted last week has already sprouted and the onions look good. We aren't so sure about the potatoes but they take a little more time.
Cris ordered worms which should arrive this week. He's created a 'home' for them in a plastic tub that is filled with shredded newspaper that has been watered down. We will be raising worms for vermacompost. Basically, the worms eat the shredded newspaper and any food scraps we feed them and what comes out of the worm is vermacompost.... which is super rich in nutrients for the soil. A little worm poo goes a long way they say and people pay good money for bags of this stuff.
Cris spent the night on the farm Saturday while I went home to tend to the city home and the never ending chores there. He spent Sunday cleaning up the barn while the dogs hunted for the one mouse that has alluded us in the barn. He has avoided the glue pads and even was able to eat the cracker off the mouse trap without it snapping his neck. Teddy on the other hand, got his paw stuck in one of the glue traps. I could not stop laughing... he looked so pathetic.
Cris also cleared some more trees around the pond and worked on the spillway to make it so we don't lose any fish to the spillway. It was too wet to do any planting so the carrots will wait till next week.
We traded in my mom's 2000 Chevy Venture and bought a 2004 Chevy truck. It is a nice big truck but gas mileage is not so great. My commute to work is only 1/4 mile so I will drive it during the week back and forth to work (if I can pry it out of Alex's hands!... he loves the truck).
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Strawberry Fields Forever.....
Weekend of February 19-20
While Cris got the wheat planted on Saturday, I finished up the vadalia onions. We planted about 1500 onions total and I am not sure how many red potatoes. Cris and Alex planted most of the potatoes and onions last weekend while I was in Maryland visiting family.
We have about 1/4 acre of wheat planted for our use this year. It is a test plot to see if it is worth our while to plant more to sell. Cris will use the scythe to cut down the wheat when it's ready, in the late summer. We plan to store the wheat and grind it as needed.
Sunday we planted 400 strawberry plants. We ordered 500 but only 400 came in so we will have another 100 to plant in the next week or two. I could not have done it without the help of knee pads! The ground is a bit hard on the knees after a while.
In the cold frame (hoop house) we planted herbs: Sage, Thyme, Parsley, Basil, Dill, Cilantro and yesterday Cris planted various type of lettuce in there as well. We planted seeds straight into the ground. (rather than seedlings)
The seedlings we started at home are doing well. The tomatoes and cabbage are sprouting but the green peppers seem to take longer to sprout.
Our fish are coming back up to the surface again and are eager for us to feed them fish food. The bass and blue gill are growing nicely. We have seen a few turtles in the pond but hopefully Teddy killed the one and only snake last year. Teddy cannot afford to get bit by another water moccasin. Unlike other snake bites, a 2nd bit from a water moccasin could be deadly to Teddy. His body does not build up an immunity from the snake, but rather, makes it worse if you are bit again.
Saturday night we had our monthly dinner meeting with our friends at the dairy. We had a large crowd of about 30 people and the food was great. We discussed going in together to purchase butchering items so we can have a mobile butchering system and then farmers could borrow it and butcher their own animals for personal use (not retail sale). One of the members in the group is a trained, certified butcher who can assist. We would use it for smaller animals such as pigs, sheep, chicken.... we can't handle cows as they are too big and you have to hang them for days before butchering them.
We lost one of our bee hives last week. Unfortunately, this can happen if you are not there everyday to check on them. Another bee hive (possibly a wild hive) robbed one of our hives of their honey. Our bees put up a good fight but the other hive was a stronger hive and ours just didn't make it. They were all dead or gone within 3 days. If we had caught it in time, we could have closed up the entrance to the hive and put a sheet over the hive to keep the stealing hive from getting in and then they would have given up and moved on. Our other hive is fine and they have been busy gathering pollen. Their little legs are filled with yellow pollen. I plan to charge up my video recorder and try and tape a few hours of the entrance to the hive so I can see just what goes on during the day with these little busy bees. We are going to order 'nuc' hive to replace the one we lost. It is basically a queen and about 400 bees. You put them in their new hive and then they start reproducing and growing their hive.
Cris and I decided that it is more important to get moved out to the farm than to take the time to have a house built so we took a trip up to Dyersburg, TN and looked at some modular homes for sale at Clayton Homes. They are basically fancy trailers. We chose the model called Evolution because it has an "E Home" feel to it and it's really cute. It is 1200 sq. ft. and have 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, 2 bathroom, sun room. It also has a breezeway between the main house and the 2nd bedroom. The 2nd bedroom is almost like it's own little suite separate from the main house and has it's own bathroom. That will be Alex's 'pad' or for guests when they visit. We plan to put a large deck on the back. Cris and I can put up a deck in no time now that we have built a barn.... a deck will be a breeze! I really like the covered breezeway that the house has. I can see myself sitting there in a rocking chair and looking over the pond or farm.
The link to the house is: http://www.claytonhomes.com/home_details.cfm?modelno=37EVL16802AH
The guy who is going to move the house out to the farm came out and checked the land, driveway, etc. and said it will be no problem getting it moved there. We plan to have the house on the top of a little hill and fortunately, no dirt has to be moved to accommodate the house. As soon as we finalize all the paperwork, we can get the house out there. We have to make arrangements for electric, septic and a well. We have an idea how much the septic and electric will be but the cost of the well is determined by how far they have to dig.
So, if all goes well, we will house our Memphis home on the market this summer. Alex is going to live on campus at the Univ. of Memphis this year....much to his excitement. He is really looking forward to college life....but I think more for the socializing than the actual education! (like most kids!)
While Cris got the wheat planted on Saturday, I finished up the vadalia onions. We planted about 1500 onions total and I am not sure how many red potatoes. Cris and Alex planted most of the potatoes and onions last weekend while I was in Maryland visiting family.
We have about 1/4 acre of wheat planted for our use this year. It is a test plot to see if it is worth our while to plant more to sell. Cris will use the scythe to cut down the wheat when it's ready, in the late summer. We plan to store the wheat and grind it as needed.
Sunday we planted 400 strawberry plants. We ordered 500 but only 400 came in so we will have another 100 to plant in the next week or two. I could not have done it without the help of knee pads! The ground is a bit hard on the knees after a while.
In the cold frame (hoop house) we planted herbs: Sage, Thyme, Parsley, Basil, Dill, Cilantro and yesterday Cris planted various type of lettuce in there as well. We planted seeds straight into the ground. (rather than seedlings)
The seedlings we started at home are doing well. The tomatoes and cabbage are sprouting but the green peppers seem to take longer to sprout.
Our fish are coming back up to the surface again and are eager for us to feed them fish food. The bass and blue gill are growing nicely. We have seen a few turtles in the pond but hopefully Teddy killed the one and only snake last year. Teddy cannot afford to get bit by another water moccasin. Unlike other snake bites, a 2nd bit from a water moccasin could be deadly to Teddy. His body does not build up an immunity from the snake, but rather, makes it worse if you are bit again.
Saturday night we had our monthly dinner meeting with our friends at the dairy. We had a large crowd of about 30 people and the food was great. We discussed going in together to purchase butchering items so we can have a mobile butchering system and then farmers could borrow it and butcher their own animals for personal use (not retail sale). One of the members in the group is a trained, certified butcher who can assist. We would use it for smaller animals such as pigs, sheep, chicken.... we can't handle cows as they are too big and you have to hang them for days before butchering them.
We lost one of our bee hives last week. Unfortunately, this can happen if you are not there everyday to check on them. Another bee hive (possibly a wild hive) robbed one of our hives of their honey. Our bees put up a good fight but the other hive was a stronger hive and ours just didn't make it. They were all dead or gone within 3 days. If we had caught it in time, we could have closed up the entrance to the hive and put a sheet over the hive to keep the stealing hive from getting in and then they would have given up and moved on. Our other hive is fine and they have been busy gathering pollen. Their little legs are filled with yellow pollen. I plan to charge up my video recorder and try and tape a few hours of the entrance to the hive so I can see just what goes on during the day with these little busy bees. We are going to order 'nuc' hive to replace the one we lost. It is basically a queen and about 400 bees. You put them in their new hive and then they start reproducing and growing their hive.
Cris and I decided that it is more important to get moved out to the farm than to take the time to have a house built so we took a trip up to Dyersburg, TN and looked at some modular homes for sale at Clayton Homes. They are basically fancy trailers. We chose the model called Evolution because it has an "E Home" feel to it and it's really cute. It is 1200 sq. ft. and have 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, 2 bathroom, sun room. It also has a breezeway between the main house and the 2nd bedroom. The 2nd bedroom is almost like it's own little suite separate from the main house and has it's own bathroom. That will be Alex's 'pad' or for guests when they visit. We plan to put a large deck on the back. Cris and I can put up a deck in no time now that we have built a barn.... a deck will be a breeze! I really like the covered breezeway that the house has. I can see myself sitting there in a rocking chair and looking over the pond or farm.
The link to the house is: http://www.claytonhomes.com/home_details.cfm?modelno=37EVL16802AH
The guy who is going to move the house out to the farm came out and checked the land, driveway, etc. and said it will be no problem getting it moved there. We plan to have the house on the top of a little hill and fortunately, no dirt has to be moved to accommodate the house. As soon as we finalize all the paperwork, we can get the house out there. We have to make arrangements for electric, septic and a well. We have an idea how much the septic and electric will be but the cost of the well is determined by how far they have to dig.
So, if all goes well, we will house our Memphis home on the market this summer. Alex is going to live on campus at the Univ. of Memphis this year....much to his excitement. He is really looking forward to college life....but I think more for the socializing than the actual education! (like most kids!)
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