Garden and Seed Saving Updateand a Thank You

Hello I wanted to give an update on the state of the garden. Currently the garden is in a transitional phase. The items currently growing are bell and jalapeno peppers, watermelon, sorghum, asparagus and tomatoes. Garlic and potatoes have been harvested and are making excellent meal contributions, onions are done growing and are good to eat. The squash and zucchini had a tough time fighting the squash bugs and got pulled up but had provided some good food for the time they were going. We harvested the corn, carrots and beets and got them put up in the freezer. Some of the corn had been eaten by corn earworms but most of it was salvageable, next corn planting we will be more prepared to combat the worms. The heat and lack of rain has been taking it's toll, but at the same time showing which plants are more resilient to lack of water and forcing us to contemplate more efficient watering methods.

So now the garden work is focused on weeding and preparing plots for planting of pumpkins which Mike plans to have ready to sell for Halloween. We want to thank the visitors we had, Eli and her friend, for coming out and helping weed the garden, it was a big help! We also got a chance to pick peaches which Eli used to make a great pie. They were also nice enough to leave a generous donation, THANK YOU

I have the results of the seed germination test. So far about 5 of the romaine seeds sprouted, 13 of the mustard seeds and 2 of the kale. So this was out of 14 of each of the seeds showing 35.7% of the romaine sprouted, 92.8% of the mustard and 14.2% for the kale. I'll try the kale and romaine again to see if I can get a better germination rate.Allrighty I also harvested about half of the okra seed pods so far and got some sorghum seeds. Here's a few pictures of that, left to right, okra seeds and pod, okra seed up close, sorghum seeds. Thanks for reading, have a good day!

Saving Seeds

Here's a quick post about saving seeds from the garden. So far we have mustard (right), kale (far right) and romaine seeds (below) and later we'll get some tomato, watermelon and okra seeds. One thing to watch out for when saving seeds is cross pollination of plants from the same families. So since we have bell peppers and jalapeno peppers (of the Solanaceae family) planted in the same plot, the seeds produced may be hybrids which will produce fruit different from non-hybrid pepper or jalapeno. This could make an interesting plant with perfectly edible fruit, but is generally undesirable for serious seed saving.


And to test the germination of these seeds I took 14 of each seed (plus 2 romaine pods) and put them on a wet paper towl and tossed them in a zip bag. Within a few days at least some of them should have spouted, I'll post and update when that happens.All in all saving seeds is a handy skill to practice, if you're interested in reading more about it visit http://www.seedsave.org/ for some useful information. Thanks for reading!

Homestead happenings and projects

Wooah it's been a while since the last update, that's because there's been lots to do. Twice every day the dogs, goats, chickens and cows need fed. The garden and nursery plants need watered and weeded. The kitchen and dishes need kept clean and the chicken eggs need collected and cleaned. The goats need grazed, lest they start plotting against you.

But in addition to chores several projects have also been getting done. I've been spending time each day gathering Dewberries. And with these gathered dewberries is made dewberry jam (or preserves) and after the preserves get made, you put it on toast!

Dewberry jam tastes awesome, way better than that regular....grape jam. Plus it's pretty cool to pick the berries and have a way to preserve them for future eating (properly canned preserves are good for at least 365 days) The first batch produced about 8 jars and the bag is almost full again to make another 8 jars.

Another project that's been getting some attention is the milking parlor. We've been installing insulation, adding interior sheathing, caulking and painting. Cabinets have been moved in and need some restoration and the sink is awaiting some plumbing work (water line in, a drain for the sink and another drain on the floor) Once the milking parlor gets a few more touches we can start using it for goat milking. This will be much easier and cleaner than milking outside. Currently most of the milk goes to the kid goats but to keep the mom goats healthy extra is milked (which goes to the chickens)


In other news the goat herd has added 4 new goats to their ranks. This makes the goat population at the homestead now 21. The kid goats are healthy, doing fine and are becoming very adept at flopping and flailing about in the pasture.



The garden has been doing good and growing new stuff. Some of the new produce-ready-to-eat is zucchini, summer squash, jalapeno pepper and bell pepper.



Other items soon-to-be-ready-to-eat are corn (lots of corn) and tomatoes (more then I can count) And even some watermelon (what you don't believe me?) Fine here's the picture and in fact this watermelon is 2 - 3 times bigger today, six days since this picture was taken. With a little bit of rain I think this watermelon could be a contender for Guinness World Records world's largest watermelon.
Well I'll wrap this up with a "thank you" to a garden visitor, Green Tree Frog, found him hanging out on the onions. Check back soon for more posts about some food drying experiments, goat updates and garden news.

Nightly Garden Update

Well since it's about 11:30 pm this is gonna be a NIGHTLY Garden Update (see how that works) It was going to be a regular ol' Garden Update post but I was getting silly with the camera and long exposure pictures so I thought I'd post this photo and some notes about how the garden is doing.

In this picture you can see on the left starting in the foreground some Potato plants followed by the Corn, now reaching at least 5' high. Summer Squash is in the center foreground, followed by the Spinach and Beets plot. This past week I've been harvesting bagging and freezing Spinach (not to mention putting it on sandwiches) Beyond that plot you can catch a glimpse of Romaine (now starting to "bolt" meaning produce seeds) and in the background is the Carrots.
In the right foreground you can see some Tomato plants doing really well, followed by the Garlic plot. Next to the Garlic is a row of Cabbage and beyond the Garlic plot is the Onion plot. The Onions have recently started producing "seed heads." The seed heads get cut off so the plants put their production into the bulbs. Not pictured are the Bell Pepper and Asparagus plants which are doing great.
Ok that's about it, thanks for reading, check back soon for more posts!

A week of work

Been keeping a journal to give you readers an idea of some of the projects and tasks required for Homesteading. Just wanted to give you an idea of the work involved with caring for the garden, animals and chores. I'll try to post a summary each week. Thanks for reading!

4-24-11
Fed chickens
Worked on milking parlor
Fed dogs
Garden watering and weeding
Installed more insulation in milking parlor
Collected and cleaned eggs
Fed turnip greens and broccoli to chickens
Garden watering
Transplanted Mint, became root-bound
Fed cows, dogs

4-23-11
Fed cows, dogs
Grazed goats
Mowed front yard for grass mulch
Watered garden
Fed broccoli and turnips to chickens
Fed cows, dogs
Collected and cleaned eggs

4-22-11
Fed chickens, dogs
Changed dog water
Watered 1/2 garden
Moved chickens back to coop area
Added green mulch to compost pile
Weeded two plots
Misc garden watering
Note: Sorghum sprouted
Collected and cleaned eggs
Updated blog with kid goat update
Fed goats, cows
Milked goat
Washed dishes
Fed dogs, chickens

4-21-11
Watered garden
Fed chickens, dogs
Planted seeds
Transplanted Artichoke
Washed clothes
Watering trees throughout the day
Repaired section of fence
Grazed goats
Collected and cleaned eggs
Fed goats, cows, dogs
Milked goat
Assisted in helping newborn goats to drink from their mother
Got back from feeding the cows MORE food cause they wouldn't shutup HAHA

4-20-11
Fed chickens, dogs, cows
Watered half garden
Made egg salad (used 12 eggs from the chickens and spinach, carrots, and onions from the garden)
Installed 20% of needed insulation in milking parlor
Organized tools in and swept milking parlor
Collected and cleaned eggs
Fed chickens, dogs, goats, cows
Washed dishes
Cleaned kitchen

4-19-11
Fed chickens, dogs
Added leaf mulch to potatoes
Weeded onion plot
Trimmed bushes
Swept back porch and organized tools
Transplanted Eggplants
Swept floors
Vacuumed rugs
Collected and cleaned eggs
Random weeding
Fed dogs, chickens, cows

4-18-11
Fed chickens
Watered garden
Planted Sorghum, 1 plot, 4 rows
Trimmed 1/2 goat hoof
Washed dishes
Cleaned kitchen
Collected and cleaned eggs
Fed goats, dogs

The goat invasion continues...

Well what do you know just yesterday another goat gave birth to TWO more little goats. This brings the total goat population at the Homestead to 17! Both of the kids born are males. Here is a picture I snapped of the critters.

The mom goat had a slight case of Mastitis but we treated her with some antibiotics and she should be just fine. Stay tuned for more riveting posts!

Poppy finally POPS!

On April 7, 2011 Poppy the goat had her kid. Giving birth to a female goat quite in her likeness. Here's a picture of the little varmint.

The kid is doing well and so is Poppy and we'll post some more updates and pictures in the coming weeks!

Garden growing + other projects

Hello this is Frank to give you an update on the progress of the garden. Here are some pictures of some sprouting plants. To the right we have corn, and below is potato, beans and asparagus. All are doing really well and should make a lot of food. In addition we have tomato plants doing nicely as well as some cabbage just starting to sprout.
In addition to growing the garden we have also expanded the water system, digging a trench and putting in 3 new faucets. This will make watering the garden easier and will provide water for future garden plot expansions.

We have been working on other projects as well, including an outdoor shower dubbed the "Shower Tower" which also functions as a lookout tower and thanks to Michael and Dara the back porch got renovated and re-screened, creating a nice sitting area free of bugs.



Check back soon for more details about these and other projects!

Post by Ally

This place is so beautiful! I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I've never seen the kinds of flora and fauna that abound here, nor have I been somewhere so warm in March. The tomatoes are already planted, and many of the greens have already bolted! It is a strange and awe-inspiring environment. Every day I notice a new birdsong, see a new insect. I am confused by two types of flowers that have seemed to fall from the sky; no evidence of a tree or bush for them to have fallen from, yet they are scattered on the ground in flat, pink and white, or orange, yellow and bulbous. Haven't identified them yet!

This morning we witnessed the collection of cow pies by a host of dung beetles! Mike says many people in this area do not have dung beetles on their property, because they use too many chemicals. The idea that giving poisons to your livestock would kill the thing that eats and raises babies in their poo makes all the sense in the world. But another clue to healthy soil cropped up today: fungi! A couple big stands of them showed up in the goats' pasture, large and healthy and lookin' good enough to eat! Unfortunately they too are unidentified as of yet.

A couple who had decided to move here has come to visit! Dara and Michael have a farm in Minnesota and are full of good stories, information and tricks of the trade. Here is a French coil that Michael made, and placed under a wisteria to help straighten out its growth. Dara is a professional cook and has brought the gift of baking bread to the homestead, among many other skills.





And here's Poppy, who's almost ready to POP! Mike says she's almost due. We'll probably wait another week at the most. So exciting! New life on the farm! Doesn't she look like she's going to start labor any second?

Garden work and oxen training

Hello this is Frank to give you a progress update in expanding the garden. More beds have been tilled and planted as well as more area cleared for plots. Some of the items planted include beans, corn and asparagus. We have been eating some greens from the garden and they are great! Here's a picture of Mike and Sal doing the work. While I sit back and take pictures.

Brien and Ally have been at the Homestead a few days now and have been helping out with garden work as well as training the Oxen and working with the goats. I think the goats and Oxen have been much happier since they arrived. In about a month the goats will be having their kids and we will be learning about goat milking.

Here are a couple pictures of some local flora.
Check back soon for more updates, thanks for reading!

Planting time on the homestead

It wasn't easy to get the money together for the forest restoration project, but we did and it was the right thing to do. We planted 1000 long leaf pine trees, 50 wild plums and 50 wild Persimmon trees. Thank You, Frank and Sal for your hard work help planting all the trees. These 3 tree types were very important to the Native Americans that had their homesteads here for thousands of years and we are happy to be a part of trying to reestablish them back here. Now back to clearing, tilling and planting the rest of the garden, the greens that Reed and Kat planted are ready to start eating, and the chickens are laying more eggs than we can eat. The goats will be having their babies next month and that means fresh milk, butter and cheese.

Some very good sites

www.wwoofusa.org/ www.homesteadheritage.com/ www.ruralheritage.com/ www.crazycrow.com/ www.realmilk.com/ www.prairieoxdrovers.com/ www.draftanimalpower.com/ www.localharvest.org/ www.dairygoatinfo.com/ www.attra.ncat.org/ http://www.southernexposure.com/ http://www.territorialseed.com/ http://www.rareseeds.com/ Christian Biblical Church Of God - http://www.cbcg.org/ or http://www.churchathome.org/ Permaculture Info http://www.permies.com/ http://www.homestead.org/ http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ www.ecoseeds.com www.womacknursery.com www.victoryseeds.com www.taxidermy.net/ www.ic.org/ www.joyofhandspinning.com/ www.survivaltopics.com www.southernsyrupmakers.com