Early Spring Improvements

It is still to early to plant, but it is a good time to get some of the physical things in order in anticipation of the growing season.  In truth, I think I should be in the seed starting phase and as usual am late to get started.  It takes up a bit of the inside of our little house to do it and I am want to give up the space.

What I have done is to pull out the "chicken wire" fencing from around the main garden on the down hill side, as well as the boards that formed a bulkhead to hold the garden in place.  The stone wall just down hill of the garden is now going to act as the bulk head, thus giving us a little more room, and elevation, and letting me get the wood out of the ground that might have been a lure to pests.

new section of stone wall.  Bulbs looking very green in March.

 one of the first things I did yesterday was to take down a section of wooden picket fencing and begin to replace it with stone wall.  The stones for the wall have been accumulating in a pile over the past year and were now at an amount that seemed sufficient to start the build.

new section of loose stone wall.

I have a lot of rock on the property.  I chose to build loose stone walls where ever I could because the pitch of the property is so steep that the force of water running down hill would eventually overcome any structures attempting to hold it back.  The loose stones allow for some moisture to get thru preventing hydroscopic tension, but still hold the earth in place.  My walls at this spot are also allowing us to build up the level of the garden beds to some degree.

It is kind of nice to have the fencing down, though it feels a bit exposed, more so because I just cut back all the big grasses that lined the property where the road is.

All is still very brown/grey here, but a warmth has set in that speaks of green and rebirth and Springtime soon to come.  Next week is the Vernal Equinox so we are actually getting there.

Low Tunnel, revisited

A person at the Farmer's Market asked about our low tunnels so I thought I'd post some pics for her.

I made this tunnel out of reclaimed automobile garage/awning that got crushed by a fallen tree, some reclaimed wood, and some thin mil plastic from the hardware store.  The plastic lasts about 2 or 3 seasons and the structure has supported almost 2 feet of snow.

In the summer I leave the framing up but pull off the plastic.

For the late fall/winter we typically grow carrots, chard, kale, arugula, onion, and what ever odd veggie that we might want to try.

The area is 15 feet long by 10 feet wide with doors at both ends that we use to ventilate it on warm days.  We almost never water in the winter because of the condensation that accumulates and falls like rain if we shake the frame.

Low tunnel Fall 2011

This picture was taken as we were setting it up for the coming winter.  We have 2 long beds with a path down the middle.  The beds are each about 3 feet wide, the sides we can stretch across to weed and harvest with about a foot between the outside walls and each bed.

2010 Low tunnels in summer. Note the orange tree in a pot on the stump.  This year we got 19 oranges from this little tree and they became marmalade.

Low tunnel and really low tunnel in the foreground, 2010.

Boat shed that looks like a High tunnel.

White carrots for the white rabbit?

carrot from the low tunnel February 2012

Sweet tasting!

SWEEEET!!!!

Winter carrots

Now that the cold has set in and the ground is getting cold enough to freeze, occasionally, we are pulling all of the carrots that are under ground clothes, but not in the low tunnel.  This time of year they seem to get sweeter.  Maybe it is the cold that makes them sweeter, I don't know but it is something I look forward to now in the winter.
We will harvest the remaining carrots, as needed, from the low tunnel where the ground doesn't quite freeze.  Last year we had carrots right thru February.

Farm, Garden, Homestead, home.

No matter what it is called, what it actually does and what it gives should be the same, comfort, security, and sustenance.

If we are going to be spending most of the money we earn during our lifetimes on attaining it, then shouldn't it be one of our most treasured possession, I mean, that is, as far as treasuring possessions goes?  Yet it seems that people often spend little time at their home and when given a break from the routine, leave it as quickly as possible on vacations.  It seems to me to be a bit odd.

We are trying to coax this little plot of rocky, slopped and heavily wooded area, that we call our home, into sustaining us as best it can.  The trick is in finding out how it will best do this.

The recent weather that brought down a lot of trees and limbs has given us a boon toward next year's heating.  I will go on cutting and splitting and getting my exercise out doors and providing fuel for warmth against the coming cold.

This year we found that the Sunchokes, and the wineberries, the ground cherries, and the collards and the kale and carrots, all thrived and resisted the pests and the very rainy season just fine.  I have to file that in my memory banks and play that to our advantage as we plan for next Springs plantings, which we can start doing now as we look thru the seed catalogs and think about what seeds we have saved from this season past.

Let there be colored light

A dark corner of the kitchen gets a little help.

Old dark corner of kitchen

 An antique stained glass window that was a gift from a friend now finds some application.

New window in the kitchen

Greens, late fall harvest

The collards and kale are looking really nice right now and we are enjoying eating them.  We also started taking some of the carrots that aren't under the low tunnel, those are for later.  The carrots are very sweet.  I had forgotten how good they taste.  The tomatoes are all done.  But we got the last one a few days ago.