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Thursday, March 22, 2007Happy Spring!What a glorious time of the year this is! Every day, I walk through the gardens and witness new plants emerging from the ground!
We are starting up a new program this Spring called Rent-A-Chick(en). We'll have more info on our website soon but basically, we are offering baby chickens on a rental basis for Easter baskets so children in town can experience the joy of a baby chick. In future years, we hope to include rabbits and ducks as well.
We have two new does, Cinnamon and Lavender, who are Nubian and Oberhasli mix. A year from now, we will be enjoying a richer milk thanks to their Nubian heritage. They are quite the sweet kids, fun and playful. Born on March 1, they are growing by leaps and bounds.
This year, we plan to cut back at the market to half season so that we can focus more on our farm. We will be enhancing our herb gardens, offering classes for kids as well as our usual classes, plus we will be attempting to participate in more festivals.
All the human kids are growing by leaps and bounds. Sage is such a sweet baby. His smile could light the darkest corner of the world. He is discovering that he can move around if he shifts onto his feet, not quite crawling but mobile nonetheless. Jaden has been doing preschool at home and is having a great time with it. Adelena and Caleb are doing well in school and hope to attend soccer camp this summer.
Life is good here on the farm. As we enter into another growing season, we are hopeful that we are helping to create a world worth living in for our future generations.
Sunday, September 17, 2006Our family has grown by 2 feet! Our sweet baby boy made his appearance into this world after a short two hours of active labor. He was caught by daddy. The only people present were mama, daddy, big sisters Adelena and Jaden and a close friend. The birth was quick and relatively painless and perfect.
Sage was a whopping 8lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches long and two weeks early! (mom is glad he wasn't past term as she was originally hoping for).
 He is a content baby and rarely cries. Night time is a breeze and his little big sister loves him to pieces. Wednesday, August 9, 2006When Life Gives You Tomatoes, Make Sauce! Our tomato plants have been producing like crazy and I've been putting them up as quickly as possible. Pints and quarts of sauce are filling our pantry as well as lots of sundried tomatoes in the freezer for maximum storage time.  I've also been canning juice, relish, sweet pickles and jelly. It's been a bountiful harvest which is surprising given the lack of rain we've had this summer.  We are preparing to have another little one around. It doesn't seem possible that it will be here in another month or two. Time sure does pass quickly! Not to be outdone, our dog had puppies...8 of them! They are very cute and soon I'm sure I'll be chasing them out of the garden and away from the cats and chickens. Once the puppies are weaned, we'll be finding good homes for them and Dot has an appointment with the vet to be spayed. She and Patchouli (our cat) go under at the same time. Perhaps they'll let them share a cage since they are good buddies around the farmette. We are hoping to find a Nubian doe and buck to increase our milk supply next spring as well as increase the cream content in the milk for butter making purposes. We lost our doeling a few weeks back, most likely to the heat. Soon we'll be harvesting apples and making apple butter and sauce. The blackberries are finished producing as are the peaches. Using the clay spray on the peaches worked well in protecting them from the japanese beetles. Hopefully, it worked on saving the apples from the worms as well. Saturday, July 1, 2006Where Does the Time Go? It seems like just yesterday I updated this journal but in truth, it has been over a month!
The beautiful weather has kept us busy outdoors, tending to our gardens, working on fencing for the goat pasture and designing outdoor projects such as a solar oven for cooking our meals, future gardens, an outdoor kitchen and an outdoor shower.
We took a week off to head out to Colorado and enjoy some of nature's finest views. Coming back, we discovered the weeds had taken over the garden which required a week's worth of weeding to get back under control. Currently, we are harvesting beets, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, peas, calendula, squash, zucchini, onions and basil. Soon, the tomatoes will be ready as well as green beans, blackberries and peaches. We are truly blessed with a rich harvest of fresh foods to feed ourselves.
 In addition to the vegetables and fruits, we have a supply of fresh eggs and raw milk. I've been experimenting with making various cheeses such as cheddar, parmesan and cottage cheese, as well as making the usual yogurt and simple cheese. We are currently searching for nubian does to replace our current herd as nubians have the highest cream content and will allow us to make some more Luna Farm favorites: butter and ice cream.  We have several broody hens that are ready to set eggs. In a few days, we'll have araucana eggs ready to place under the hens in hopes to boost our green/blue egg supply. Once the chicks have hatched, we'll start culling out the hens that aren't productive, mostly the brown leghorns. On the herbal front, the established herb gardens are fairing well. I've harvested several roots this spring such as dandelion, burdock and dock. The St. John's Wort, while not producing at its peak, has given me several blooms to start a beautiful blood red oil. I've harvested stevia and catnip and will be harvesting comfrey, peppermint, lemon balm and yarrow shortly. Elderflowers are ready for harvest as well. I'm hoping to expand the herb garden some more this summer. Our prepped area has grown up with weeds as I just didn't have the time to fill it in as quickly as I had hoped to.  The kids are doing great. Caleb, my oldest, is going to be in 7th grade this year! Hard to believe he's going to be 12 next week. My oldest daughter, Adelena, is a treasure to have around. She has started growing her own little fairy garden. She currently has 5 plants in it. She plans to add a small water feature soon. Ridge is growing by leaps and bounds. He and Jaden get along splendidly. Jaden is amazing. At 22 months, she potty trained mostly on her own. She speaks full sentences and it's a joy to sit and have a conversation with her. I am constantly amazed that she's not even 2 yet but has such a full vocabulary. She is quite smart.  I'm getting larger and larger by the minute. Baby is head down and kicks vigorously. It's hard to believe there will be another little one around here in just a short while. So much to do before its arrival, so little time! I hope to have a lot of meals stored in the deep freeze, vegetables canned for winter consumption, gardens up to par...the list goes on and on! Sunday, April 23, 2006Happy Earth Day! When we moved to Luna Farm, we knew we were in for a lot of work to get it up and running. We have come a long way in just one year. We've re-built the chookhouse, put in a chicken yard, starting building our raised bed gardens, cleared out a lot of poison ivy, brush and weed trees. The biggest task that has been ongoing is picking up all the trash that the previous tenants left behind, and believe me, they left a lot!  As you can see from this picture, this is just a small gathering. We've also unhappily had to send a lot of it off to landfills. We do recycle what we can: glass, metal, plastic, etc. We even have a 'treasure' spot on the side of the barn:  The kids have done a great job at helping with the trash pick up. They have picked it up from the garden area, the goat pastures, and behind the barn. They do it without complaining and do it well.   Someday, this farm will be beautiful and trash free again. Saturday, March 25, 2006Twins! There has been a lot going on since I've last been able to update our farm journal! Our doe had twins on February 28, a buckling and a doeling. The doeling(the black kid) we've named Violet. In two years she will join our milking team. They are a lot of fun to be around. They love to hop and jump and will climb up anything and anyone who will hold still long enough. violet is a doll. she loves to lay in my lap and be petted. Every morning when I go out to milk Ginger, my older daughter tags along to play with the kids.
Our cat Patchouli will be having kittens in another week or so. She's such a tiny thing herself I can't imagine her being a mama kitty.
And, not to be outdone by all the animals giving birth, there will be a new addition later this year. We are expecting our 2nd, 4th and 6th baby. Not many people can say that, can they?! 2nd baby for us together, 4th baby for each of us, 6th baby total between the two of us. Jaden is going to have a hard time adjusting to sharing mama with another tiny being.
Jaden herself is growing by leaps and bounds. Her vocabulary is amazing and she learns new words each day. She throws away her trash, takes her plate to the kitchen after dinner and wipes up spills. She loves to help me care for the animals each day and carries the egg basket for me to the coop.
Our free range chicken eggs are in popular demand. We can barely keep up with the requests. Sometimes, it's hard just to save enough for ourselves to use! We've been discussing utilizing the larger chicken shed behind the smaller one we are currently using to bring in a few dozen more layers as well as a year's supply of fryers for ourselves.
We also hope to add to our milking herd. The goat's milk is delicious, nutritious and more digestable than cow's milk. I have made butter and cheese with the excess with great success. It's time to buy some rennet and cultures so that I can start making hard cheeses.
This spring/summer we are expanding our gardens. Our raised beds will go from 3 to 21 total. We'll have a field of melons, pumpkins and winter squashes. And, the best part of all, I'll be starting the permaculture herbal medicinal garden which will be about 53' x 65' when it's finished. Our orchard is looking better than ever and with the help of some organic clay spray to protect the fruits, our yields (especially peaches) should be a lot higher this year. We are going to be putting in more blackberry bushes and starting raspberries and possibly getting a hive of bees.
The study group is going well. I am enjoying the new format and have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the participants. I have met so many wonderful people through this group.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Thursday - December 29, 2005Happy Holidays to Everyone. The past two months have gone by in a whirlwind. For several reasons, including not wanting to be a part of the materialistic, consumeristic craze that just buys, buys, buys, all of our gifts were handmade this year with the exception of one purchased toy for our 3 older children. Gifts we made included handmade notecard sets, flower presses, a sketchfolio set, knitted stuffed animals, hacky sacks and golf club covers, soap, wooden tree block sets and food (chocolate covered pretzels, toffee, fudge, biscotti, preserves and pickled peaches).  I enjoyed making the gifts and already have ideas for gifts to make for birthdays and the holidays next year. I would prefer to start sooner this year. August seemed like enough time but unfortunately, I didn't have a good list created until November of what needed to be done. I was a bit worried about the kids' reactions for only getting one gift as they usually get 2-3 gifts. However, my worries were unfounded because the gifts were thoughtfully chosen and something that each child adored and spent the day happily playing with. The love for our children and the joy of being together dominated our solstice and the emphasis was on being a family and not being materialistic. For our solstice, we had our traditional 'welcoming back the sun' ritual followed by a delicious winter time dinner. Afterwards, Greg lit the bonfire and the kids played around the fire until it died down. The next morning, the kids emptied their stockings and opened their gift. After breakfast, everyone got to spend the day playing with their gift and enjoy the beautiful day (it got up to the 60's). Now that the holidays are past us, our focus turns back to the farm. Ginger is obviously pregnant and due in February so we need to get another stall built and finish fencing in the first pasture. I have started compiling a list on vegetables, fruits and herbs we wish to grow this year. Not having a garden or the market to shop at has put a huge dent in our grocery bills to try to keep up with the demands of feeding 4 growing children with healthy organic food. I add 'greenhouse' to the list of priorities for the next year. Our chicks have become pullets and should start laying at any time. They are free to roam our yard everyday and enjoy the freedom. Right now, we are only getting 6-7 eggs a day. Once the pullets start laying, that number should easily triple. We have a list of potential egg customers so hopefully they'll get busy real soon with that! With the new year also comes a new series with the Herbal Studies Group. This year, I will be writing the lessons instead of using prewritten lessons. I am very excited to start the second year of the study group. All the kids are growing by leaps and bounds. I found some pictures taken of Caleb last year and he has grown so much. My boy is becoming a man. There's a hint of mustache on his lip, and his facial features are so adult now. He has lost a lot of that baby face he had just a year ago. It's amazing how quickly it happens! My older daughter is much taller, but just as thin as usual...just as I was as a child. Jaden is learning more and more each day. Her vocabulary keeps growing by leaps and bounds. Her latest word is 'sorry' and she has started singing along to music. She discovered she can climb into the rocking chair by herself. Her favorite activity is to climb up in it and read a book.  I hope all is well with everyone. We look forward to having another great year here at Luna Farm(ette) and wish everyone a very safe, peaceful and joyous new year. Tuesday - November 1, 2005Got my Goat! Pope and Seitan, the bucks We brought our goats home last Monday night. They are doing well. We have one doe, one wether and two bucks. One buck will remain so and become the farm buck. The other buck we will soon wether and will raise for dinner. The doe, Ginger, is sweet and lovable and runs up any time she sees me. We are hoping she is currently pregnant and will kid around February. I’ve already begun milking her as the youngest buck (Pope) has not been weaned. The wether, Oberon, is also a sweetheart. The previous owner had planned on using him as a pack animal. I plan on training him for packing and for pulling a cart. He got his name for being born on the summer solstice 2 years ago. He is jet black and quite a beauty. The oldest buck, Seitan, was wild when we brought him home. I have been working with him daily and he now approaches me and allows me to lead him out to tether every morning. He is sweet natured and I think over time will be a great asset for our goat family. Everyone is quite enamored over them. Even my dad who was never quite the goat person says he finds goats fascinating (I caught him crouched near Pope, trying to entice him with a sprig of honeysuckle).
Ginger, the doe
Oberon, the wether
With the market and most festivals behind me for the year, my focus now is turned to making gifts for the solstice for friends and family and our kids. My son has finally reached the point that he no longer believes in santa and I think the younger two are ready to believe also but afraid they won’t get presents anymore. I am so ready for this. I never wanted to expose my kids to the lie of santa but was overruled by other family members. I have no plans to do the same with Jaden. Being older and wiser, I refuse to buy into the consumeristic myth of ‘depriving’ my child by convincing her that santa, the Easter/Ostara bunny and tooth fairy exist. Gifts for the kids this year will be less than last year, as was the year before…my eventual plan to wean them from the "gimme, gimme" feeling they so easily latch on to. Most likely, the gifts will be handmade items, perhaps a few thoughtful store-boughten items but mostly, things that take time and love to create. I know they are too young to appreciate most of this now, but over time, they will understand where I am coming from on this.
My step-son will have the hardest time with learning this lesson. Last weekend, we attended a birthday party for a friend’s young daughter. I made her a set of tree blocks similar to those found on http://treeblocks.com complete with a bag to store them in. at the party, once the gift was open, all the kids descended upon them and spent the next hour creating everything from a birthday cake to a dollhouse. My step-son sat and watched in awe and said to me ‘I can’t believe they are playing with those the most. I didn’t think they’d like the gift.’ He is so used to the commercial plasticized gift world that his imagination can’t grasp the joy and fun of playing with something as simple and wholesome as blocks made from trees from our own backyard. Hopefully with time, his perception of that will change for the better.
Winter is descending upon us. we are working hard to cut back energy costs wherever possible. We have yet to turn on the heat and I am hoping to hold out until the end of November to do so. We are on a tight budget and only can afford 4 tanks of propane for the next year. That sounds like a lot, and from April to October, we use less than one tank. However, in the winter, when it is cold outside, a tank of propane only lasts about 4 weeks if we want to enjoy a lot of warmth. This winter, we won’t be able to afford that luxury so we’ll be piling on the down comforters and dressing in lots of layers! Even if we could afford the gas though, I don’t think we’d use much more than what we will be. Conservation is a big deal for us and also lack of consumption. We continually strive to use less resources so that there will be a world for our great-great-great-great grandchildren to enjoy decades from now.
  This weekend, we will be setting up the cold frame and preparing to grow a winter crop of fresh greens. I already miss the foods of summer…okra, green beans, zucchini and summer squash. Next year I hope we are able to grow a lot more. The last of the tomatoes are ripening on the vines. Temps are again soaring into the 70’s this week so we should be able to enjoy at least another week of fresh tomatoes from the vines. The garlic is sprouting so soon we’ll be able to enjoy garlic greens. The gourds have been harvested and stored into the former dubbed ‘goat shed.’ We decided not to put the goats in this shed as there is a concrete floor which is bad for their hooves. Greg prepared a wonderful stall for them in the main shed. He’ll be adding a few more stalls as the fall progresses to give the bucks their own space and the kids and does a separate area once our herd starts becoming established. Life is good here at Luna Farm. Even as I ward off a shiver from the cool evening, I am happy and content. I love and I am loved.I have such a beautiful family, 2 sweet and beautiful girls of my own, 1 strong and budding young son of my own, 1 sweet step son and a partner that is sweet and loving and shares my dreams with me. We have worked hard and come so far in our dreams and we’ve only just begun. We recently reflected on how much we’ve accomplished these past 9 months on our ‘farmette.’ We’re not quite where we want to be but we are so much closer than we were five years or even a year ago. Every day is a step closer to our ultimate goal of sustainable living. Sweet, sweet life! Wednesday - October 19, 2005Monthly Farm Report
Fall is in full swing here at Luna Farm. Jaden is walking well now. It's so cute to watch her stagger around the house and yard like a drunken sailor. She loves to chase her sister and brothers all around the house. I'd forgotten how much fun this age is. It's been so long since my others were this little! This past month has been busy as usual. The final week of the market came and went and now our focus will turn to the Herbal Share Program and planning next year's garden. We have begun selling our eggs. The demand has overtaken the supply. Hopefully our chicks will start laying by mid-November so that we can keep up with it and have some leftover for ourselves. I canned 13 half pints of sweet pickled cherry tomatoes, which are a pleasing chutney type of concoction. The garden is winding down and we've begun the annual fall planting of the garlic. We got plenty of okra but ate it instead of pickling...it was too yummy to wait! We have been gifted 4 alpine and alpine/oberhaus mix goats. One doe, one wether and two bucks. By next spring, we'll be producing our own milk and hopefully adding to our own herd with more does. I already have a waiting list for fresh goat milk. We were supposed to bring them home last week but had a few delays. They should be arriving the next week. Life is good. We live simply and strive to conserve and not consume. Our children are learning a valuable lesson by raising fresh organic food (and becoming spoiled by it which is a good thing)! We work hard to teach them to be responsible and not needlessly waste electricity and water. I don't ever want our kids to take those resources for granted. They are precious and Americans in general are spoiled and careless when it comes to using more than our fair share. This winter, we will be hosting viewings of various documentaries that are very important for the public to view. One viewing will be Kilowatt Ours. Another documentary I hope to show is Go Further. Stay tuned for more information on these upcoming events. Thursday - September 8, 2005Monthly Farm Report
Harvesting has been under way. My daughter and I went back in the orchard last week and filled two five gallon buckets with two varieties of apples...red ones and green ones (beyond color description I couldn't tell ya what type they are). Ever since, I've been making applesauce. I've never seen my kids light up so much when we had a fresh bowl of applesauce on the table for dinner...for the last year, we've had to limp by on eating yucky store boughten applesauce. Even when I was working full-time out of the home and a single mom, I made the time to make my own as there just is no comparison, especially in my kids' taste buds! Last year, due to being on bedrest, taking care of a newborn and commuting the kids 30 minutes away to school each day, I was unable to put up any. We have lots of pumpkins and gourds growing like crazy right now. Since I enjoy making all my holiday gifts, I'm thrilled to see so many gourds filling the vines. Next year, I plan on making some gourd bowls having been inspired by the beautiful works of art I have seen at the market this year. I'm hoping to get a few to keep for us to use as drinking glasses as well.
The tri-colored beans are coming in strong now, the okra is finally blooming (it'll just squeak by on producing some okra for me to pickle for Greg before the frosts hit), the cayennes are ripening with a vengence!
I have such mixed feelings about this time of year. Living without a/c, it's nice to get a break from the summer heat (although I grew up without a/c and do not miss it at all). But, I do not look forward to the cooler weather that will kill off the gardens.Next year, hopefully we'll have the greenhouse finished so that we can continue to harvest fresh vegetables year round. I also dread the darkness. Rising in the dark and eating dinner in the dark depress me. On the other hand, I love the view after a fresh snowfall. I love the crispness in the air, even if I don't like the briskness of the cold. I love being forced to slow down which allows me to focus on indoor crafts such as knitting, spinning and sewing. I hope to put together Jaden's quilt this winter. I also love to browse all the seed catalogs and plan the next year's gardens. And, this winter, we will be doing a lot of that! A friend of Greg's offered us several pygmy goats. We almost took them up on it but after weighing the pros and cons, decided it wouldn't be worth it. We want goats we can raise for meat and milk. Pygmies are not a good source of either. I also want goats that can pull their weight around the farm...I have plans on hooking them up to a cart. It takes less full sized goats than pygmies to do that. Plus, Greg hasn't had a chance to put in the goat fence yet and we need it to be goat proof before we bring any onto the property. The last thing we need is for the goats to run off into the neighboring subdivision.
Friday - August 19, 2005Second Batch of Chicks Arrives at Luna Farm!
this morning, we got a phone call at 6:30 am from the post office. our chicks had arrived! we hopped into the dodge and headed down to pick them up. jaden and her sister were excited to see the new arrivals.
after inspecting them, befriending them and counting them, we headed out to the chookhouse to settle them in.
hoping to find a hen broody enough to take them under her wing, we released one into the chookhouse. unfortunately, the hens were scared to death and would flee from any baby that ran their way. it was pretty funny to watch. needless to say, no takers so we put them in a tub in the dog crate and got them settled in with fresh grass clippings, water and feed. next summer, we're hoping to be able to offer fresh eggs for sale. we should have about 14 dozen available a week...we'll take orders and any leftovers we'll sell via drive-up. Sunday - August 14, 2005Birthing Day Celebration Very Memorable!
lots of excitement yesterday. including ourselves, we had around 40 people here to celebrate our baby turning one. it started out hot but sunny. the set up was beverages outside and food was inside. we had a croquet game set up and a 'spectator tent'(my market tent) next to it with chairs.people were sitting around, chatting, playing croquet and having a great time. suddenly, we looked up and the sky to our west was ominously dark. adelena began shuffling jaden's presents inside as she was worried about them getting wet. we all thought 'yay! a storm will blow through, give us some rain and cool things off and in 15 minutes it'll be over with.' well. no. all of a sudden a huge gust of wind kicks in. i joked to my mom that greg had finally turned on the fan when chaos took over. the wind got really strong and limbs started flying. my tent started walking and then tumbled off into the corn field. everyone starts heading inside...kids screaming,adults ushering the little ones to the basement. as i looked back, i saw eric and ellen hauling the washtub full of beer up to the porch. i saw the table with the glasses (half glass, half metal) tumble over and thought 'well there goes the remaining glass wine glasses that we had'...seconds later my step-daughter appeared with 3 glass ones in hand and said she had asked karl to retrieve them moments before...in the subdivision next door, the dust was swirling in tornadic like gusts. the sirens were going off, greg's older sister asked for a radio to turn on, my mom pointing out the practicality of having a tv (ours is not hooked up to an antenna as we never watch tv around here)...i was busy trying to juggle a nursing/half asleep baby and my daughter who was scared to death. i finally took her to the basement to calm her down. one cat was inside with us, the other was under the porch, scooched up next to the basement window...we could see him from the inside but couldn't get to him. falling tree parts crashed through a card table my dad brought and smashed two resin chairs. on the north side of the house, another limb crashed down right next to todd and jenny's van but according to todd later missed it by 'that much.' during the basement adventures, jane called and asked if it was too late to come over. i told her no, the party was still in full swing but she might want to hold off about 15 minutes as we were in the midst of a possible tornado (they live 15 minutes away from us in the next town over that is north of us and wasn't getting nearly the weather we were). adelena and i peered out of the basement steps door and saw the tansil's pop out of their car and make a run for it. the rain continued on for the next hour or so. my poor daughter kept saying it was the worst party she had ever been to. the party continued indoors. we ate the food, drank the drinks and chatted away. luna and autumn started ripping into jaden's presents so we decided to let jaden open presents...needless to say, she mostly watched everyone tearing into them.
happy birthday sweet baby. mama and dada love you very much! Thursday - May 12, 2005First Herbal Study Group Night
Last night, eleven people ventured out to Luna Farm to partake in the new monthly Herbal Study Group. We had a good time tasting all the herbs and being surprised (and not always for the better!) at the varied tastes that were encountered. For our first lesson, we followed Susun Weed's first lesson "Herbal Healing - Be Your Own Expert Part 1." This lesson involved tasting quite a few nasty herbs! It's amazing that those same herbs have such power to heal when they are so bitter to chew. We sampled quite a bit of herbs. The first lesson was a starting point for us to get to know herbs. We learned that all plants have some type of poison whether it be an alkaloid, glycoside, resin or essential oil and by tasting the herbs, we started sensing the difference. Some herbs never tasted bad. Some were merely sour. Then, there were the herbs that started out tasting good and the longer you held them in your mouth, the worse they got. And finally, there was goldenseal! It was bad from the get-go and never got any better. Susun's point is that it's alright to be wary of herbs, especially when you are finding them in the wild for the first time; however, by tasting them and being familiar which each's poison, you'll soon learn that you can test herbs without harming yourself. Thursday - May 5, 2005GOT DIRT?
10 cubic yards of compost arrived first thing yesterday morning. Let the gardens begin! Warmer weather is on the way! Having met my personal goals for the day, I decided to check out a few links from blogs that I read regularly. One gem I found last night was food not lawns (http://www.foodnotlawns.com/). I love reading about others' daily/weekly/monthly public events they hold to educate the general public about a more sustainable lifestyle. My fave folks are at http://www.pathtofreedom.com/journal.html. They are a constant source of inspiration. I look forward to the day when I too can offer such events. Thursday - April 28, 2005COLD AND DREARY BUT KEEPIN' CHEERY!The past week or so has been a step back towards winter...cold, dropped down to freezing on saturday night. I'm ready for the warm weather (and sun!) to come back to our little piece of the earth so I can go forward with the gardens. Right now, I have a cold frame planted with seedlings, a large (2' x 3') flat of cukes and summer squash as well as several small trays indoors all waiting to plunge their tiny roots into the soil. We have so many plans for the farm that it's hard to prioritize and start doing...I'm one of those people who wants to do it all at once but it's not possible...we have poison ivy to kill off (that will take several years to accomplish), gardens to build up (we will doing mostly a permaculture style garden system with probably 6 - 5' x 20' raised beds for annual veggies), fences to build around the garden, goat area, main pasture, chicken coop...plus I want to plant the orchard with hairy vetch and comfrey and other plants to kill off the poison ivy and weeds and make it a permaculture orchard, eventually putting pigs in there. Then there's the herbal business. I need to get those gardens up and running ASAP (i have several new plants started and an area ear-marked for the herb garden). I have several ideas for adding products to my product line. Plus, a earth medicine share program I'd like to start (a csa for herbal products of sorts). Not to mention, I want to build a commercial kitchen, a classroom for teaching and a store so I can teach my classes on site and out of the house. Then, there's the herb walk that I want to start hosting...which means I need to get the woods ship shape, identify the herbs, plant those it's lacking and get it flourishing. There's just not enough time in the day, is there?! |
