Rainy day catching up

It has been raining here since yesterday and since I wasn’t going to be outside much I decided to get on the computer and up date the weblog. It’s been almost a year since I made an entry and we have continued to plug along on our homestead journey. So I’ll start off with the garden and then move on to the other subjects.

The Garden

We expanded the size of the garden this year and got in more then we did last year although our yields fell short. Our red potatoes came in fair. The problem was that I didn’t dig the soil deep enough to have enough soil to build up around the mature plants and so we didn’t get the yield that we should have. The corn did very well and both us really enjoyed the flavor. I planted two crops of 20 plants staggered with three weeks between and we had plenty for Beth to freeze. The cantaloupes were a happy surprise; while the flavor was very good, the size was lacking compared to store bought. I planted baby spinach and leaf lettuce. The first planting did very well, but once I got the second planting in I started to fall behind in the garden and the rest was lost. The cucumbers were a little late, but are still producing. The store bought tomatoes also got off to a slow start and haven’t done so well, but I didn’t have any blight like we did last year. I transplanted a number of tomatoes plants that grew wild in the location were we over-wintered the chickens and they did great. The summer squash and zucchini was a big failure this year compared to last; onions were so so, as were the carrots. All in all the bigger garden meant more work and I’ll have to adjust my time next year to keep up on it because we are going to increase by adding two new plots.

Fruit

We planted three pare and two apple trees, each of a different variety. Also we planted three grape vines, one seedless and two seeded Concords, which we'll use for jelly making. Our one peach tree did well this year. I cut back the tree in February and we had a nice amount. Beth was able to freeze a bit and has made some peach pies that were extremely good (she's a great cook).

Winter Plots

We planted two 1 acre plots for winter forage. In the first plot we planted turnips and oats, and fertilized with 50lbs of nitrogen. In the second we planted Austrian pea-pods and oats, and fertilized with 50 lbs of nitrogen. We'll post and let you know how well we did and how the sheep responded.

Plot 1 (turnips and oats)

Plot 2 (pea pods and oats)

Catching Up Again

It’s hard to imagine that it has been since July that we updated the web log. So much as happened it’s going to be tough to remember and cover everything, but we’ll break it out in to segments so we cover the highlights. Additionally, I plan to get the narrative up first and then come back and add the pictures we took.

Unpacking and Organizing II

Unpacking all of our household goods and organizing the house got pushed of to the side. Outside work became the main effort once we found all of the things we needed to get by in the kitchen. But even during Beth’s Christmas vacation we were unpacking containers and hanging pictures. Though there are still a number of picture piled up in the corner of our bedroom because we are not sure where they should go, or if we are even going to kept he stuff. I think we are turning into minimalists.

Garden

The garden had it ups and downs. Once we bought the goats and sheep the time spent in the garden became smaller. But over all we were very happy with what we were able to produce and right now plan to double the size for next year. However, we are hoping to get more things in during the spring and fall and minimize the hot summer.

The Field

Cutting and clean up the fields was still the biggest part of the work. Since the fields were in such poor condition we tried to cut as soon as the plan growth was shin high, so that meant we were always cutting. But the pay off will definitely be there down the road with better improved pastures.

The Goats

We made a purchase of seven goats, six Boar and one Nubian La Mancha cross, to assist clearing the pastures that had been overgrown with briers and multa-flora rose. They have done great job, but as fall approached and the forage dwindled and we had to start managing them differently and that it added to the daily chores. Right now they are staying the barn over the winter and I bring them to a new paddock each day. We lost two, one to bloat and the other to a neurological disease, we believe. Right before Christmas the first of four does birthed and so we have for seven new kids running around (one buck and six does).

The Sheep

We purchased eight Katahdin sheep, seven ewes and one ram, during the fall. The sheep will become the center piece of the farm as we want to sell commercial lamb. So far they are doing quite well on our pastures and if the ram does his magic we’ll have some lambs around the end of May or first of June. One of the ewes that we purchased came pregnant and on 8 January we were surprised by two lambs out in the field. We were told she was bred but as we were to learn sheep don’t really show and don’t have the tell tale signs a goat has indicating that a birth is impending.

The Chickens

We started out with 25 chicks and lost one straight away, and then 3 more died. But since the middle of December they have finally begun to lay eggs. Right now we are up to about 12 a day, which we are very happy to get in the middle of winter. Especially as cold as it is this winter. We’ll probably stay with these 21 for the next year, unless I can find a wheeled platform to build another egg mobile.

Right now the egg mobile I have is on skids and doesn’t have a floor. Not having a floor is great because there is little clean up, but I can’t move the chickens as fast and far as I would like to, mainly wanting them behind the sheep as they move from paddock to paddock. So if I can find something I would like to have another 50 chicken, which would go through the grass and sheep dung. But otherwise we’ll just stay with the 21 and plan for another way down the road.

Wood Cutting

Wood cutting became the number one priority when our firewood supplier bailed on us in mid October. One day we received a call from him telling us he sold all 30 cords of wood. What the hell I said to myself and to him later on. And in that conversation I asked “Why,” which of course there was silence; you know the kind when you question your children about something stupid they just did.

Well we planned on getting 5 cords to see us through until March and then we figured we’d have enough money saved to buy a new chainsaw. Well we don’t have the money to buy the chainsaw, hopefully that will come in March, so we are making due with my small Sears Craftsman that we bought back in Dayton for suburban life. I have four chains and chainsaw chain grinder and files, so do a lot of sharpening and moderate amount of cutting. Right now I stay about a week ahead.

Finding the deadfall was difficult in the fall but as winter came on we have been able to find enough. The problem we have is that the property was forested twice in five years before we purchased it so there isn’t the amount we’d feel comfortable with; but we are making due.

But for next year we’ll be set. We started selectively falling trees and well be set from here on out. We can really say there was a lesson to be learned. It’s just the way it goes. The guy sold us the wood the year before and we figured the same ting would take place this year…but so it goes.

New Barn

We had a new barn built for our equipment. It’s a nice one, 12 ft x 48 ft. The guy that did the finish carpentry on our house framed and roofed it, then I helped to side it with rough cut poplar boards. It turned our real well.

Looking back at all we have accomplished since May and my returning from overseas it has been wonderful. We’ve really made some great head way.

For the rest of the winter, we are clearing the fence line for a new perimeter trail, which straight line distance will be three miles, and for the perimeter fence we’ll start putting in as time allows. Also we’ll be continuing to clean up and expand the pastures from the growth. And at least once a week update this web log.

Replacement Egg Layers Arrived

Our replacement egg layers arrived today; 25 Rhode Island Reds we purchased from Ridgway Hatchery. We lost our Black Stars to a raccoon last winter. These 25 will give us plenty of eggs plus a few extras.

Moving the Chicken Coop Across Meigs County

We built our chicken coop over at Beth's Grandparent's farm back in 08' while we staying there and needed to get it over here to get our egg layers started. My youngest son and his friend were here and gave me a hand getting it over here. Thanks to our neighbor we were able to use his trailer and the move went incredibly smooth. Here are some pictures from the move.

May and June Update

The May and June updates slipped by and we figured before July was over we should get a post logged. Hopefully we can get into the habit of posting a weekly update, at least during the summer. Right now there just isn’t enough time in the day during the summer to get this out, but once a week sounds possible. While we hope this interests our family and lets them know what we’re up to, it’s also a partial record of our progress. So since it’s raining here so we’ll get this posted.

Unpacking and Organization

Well since I returned home in May we jumped into cleaning up and unpacking. As most of you know Beth moved into the house around the end of October and unpacked just the essentials to get by with the help of her family who live here. When I came home on vacation in December we unpacked a little bit more, but the bulk stayed in the garages. We still have a good amount of our home goods packed and it looks like it won’t be unpacked until we get some furniture with storage space.

The undertaking second to unpacking has been reorganization of the stuff. We have stuff stored between a three and a two car garage, a two story garden shed and a barn. Much of what we did was to take inventory of what we have, figure out what were going to move into the house, and then reorganize the space so we could make use of the building for its intended purpose. Once we got the garden shed organized we made some head way on the two car garage, and with a visit from my Mom and Dad and youngest son, and their help, we were able to get to the three car garage, which is were the bulk of our stuff is and where my shop is located.

Garden

For the first part of May we experienced almost nine straight days of rain, which made it almost impossible to get in a new garden. By the end of the second week I was able to rent a tiller to turn over the top layer and get some peat and top soil into our clay soil. We decided that we would put our garden in to the plot the folks we purchased the house from had theirs because the ground had been worked a little and was in good spot. Unfortunately much of what they had put in had been absorbed by the clay and the ground didn’t offer anything. But it is still a good site and we plan to make this our garden site.

Once I got the area tilled I took a large plastic tarp we used to protect our fire wood and laid it across the area to burn off the grass and weeds that was in the soil. After a week or so we headed to the farmers market in Athens to get our plants. Here’s a list of what we planted between May 22nd and 25th:

1 row, 6 plants Better Boy Tomatoes (Farmer’s Market (FM) purchase)
1 row, 6 plants, Cherry tomatoes (FM purchase)
1 row, 6 plants, Grape tomatoes (FM purchase) (We thought we were buying Roma’s but they weren’t marked correctly.)
3 rows, carrots, planted along side the tomatoes (seed)
1 row, marigolds flowers (seed)
1 row, 6 plants, leaf lettuce (FM purchase)
3 rows, Baby Spinach (seed)
3 rows, Swiss chard (seed)
3 rows, Baby Spinach (seed)
1 row, 6 plants, (unknown hot pepper) (FM purchase) (We thought we were buying bell pepper plants, which wasn’t case.)
1 row, yellow Bell peppers (seed)
1 row, red bell peppers (seed)
1 row, Zinnia flowers
2 rows, white cabbage (FM purchase)
6 rows, snap peas (seed)
2 plants, Summer squash (seed)
2 plants, Zucchini (seed)
9 rows, 8 plants, Sweet Corn (seed)
8 plants, cucumbers, planted with the corn (FM purchase)
2 rows, 8 plants, broccoli, (FM purchase)
3 rows, red radishes, planted along side the broccoli, (seed)

About week after we got everything in the ground we had two days of heavy rain and it washed away all of the carrots, spinach, peppers, and radishes. The tomatoes got off to a slow start but after some mulching are doing well. The lettuce we bought was doing well but after the rain ended we got a couple of really hot days and next thing you know the plants bolted. So we only got a couple of cuts from them. The Swiss chard is hanging in there, but I’m going to have read up on lettuce because I’m not sure I planted it correctly.

We went to the big hardware store in town and bought some mature bell peppers to replace the seeded ones we lost and they are doing very well.

All of the flowers are doing great.

We lost all the snap peas, two of the cabbage heads and all of the broccoli.

In June I planted the second plot of corn by seed (8 rows, 8 plants), which is doing very well. Also I planted 9 rows, 10 plants of bush beans by seed and that’s doing well too.

Around the house Beth has been focusing in our flower gardens, which became overrun with weeds in our absence. She started this spring cleaning and pruning back the growth and it's coming in nicely. Next spring we’ll have better luck now that we know what plants are perennials and those are just weeds. Beth also cuts the lawn, which has been looking great all season.

The Fields

We have been hitting the fields pretty hard getting a ton of dead fall that lies along the edge off and burned and then the cutting of the grass and woody growth. Since we don’t have any livestock on the paddocks yet we have been cutting it to mimic grazing rotation.

Much the farm had been cut for hay in the past by the last two owners without anything being put back into the ground. This has caused the soil to become weak and without any humus, so for the last three years Beth and I have been cutting it and letting the grass fall back to the ground. While this isn’t the end all, it has and will help until we get our sheep on there.

I'll end here and pick up with the rest of the goings on in a new post.

FARM Tractor Rollover Protection

This is very informative and well worth the time to watch for those of us new to farming and farm machinery.

Pomeroy Ohio 2010 New and Old Pictures

I came across this short film featuring our county seat, Pomeroy Ohio, called "Pomeroy Ohio 2010 New and Old Pictures" at our county tourism website. It provides a nice snapshot of today and years ago.


A Charlie Mankin Film