black raspberries Archives - A Country Girl's Heart -Beats that Matter

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Spring of 2019 is nearing its end, although some days have reminded me that it is indeed still spring as the temps have been unseasonably cool. In this post, I am going to share some of my homestead goals for the coming summer months and take a look back at the past three here on CG Heartbeats Farm.

A Look back at Spring 2019

Our Indiana spring produced a lot of rain. The saturated ground has created a delay in getting crops seeded, including on this homestead. While I have planted some seeds, there are several that still need to be planted. The big hold up is getting the ground ready as my plan was to have some ground plowed. There are a couple back up ideas floating around in my head that will be decided on soon.

I am excited about trying a new to me way of planting corn, beans and a third cover plant. Right now, I am using watermelon and squash, but more on that later this year. For now, here is a picture of what it looked like as of the beginning of June.

My first 3 Sisters Garden… This picture was taken June 10. Would you believe now, 10 days later, the plants have doubled in size!!

Using wood chips has proved effective in week control in the garlic gardens. I planted candy onions in between the rows of garlic. So far it appears to be working well. The garlic will be harvested in another 3 to 4 weeks.

Sweet Potatoes

9 Sweet Potato plants with 3 more to be added this week.

I used 3 different methods to start sweet potatoes this year. I, spontaneously, tried removing the sprig from the potato and planting it directly in soil. To my surprise, the little plant thrived. Thus when it was time to plant sweet potatoes in buckets I removed springs from a potato and planted them directly into the soil. They are doing well. Look for more info on this year’s sweet potato crop on this web site after harvest this fall.

Shipping Chicks

I shipped chicks for the first time this year. This is a first for my journey and I look forward to successfully shipping additional chicks in the future. If you want to pre-order chicks(deposit required) or have your name added to the list(no charge) be sure to send an email.

Shipping Eggs

I have continued shipping eggs and to the credit of the Post Office, the eggs arrived in great condition for every shipment this year.

Broody Hen

A Swedish Flower Hen went broody for her second time. One of my breeding goals is to increase the number of broody hens in my flock. As I understand this is a genetic trait. I intend to keep all pullets from the group of six chicks she hatched to add to my breeding stock. The first time this pretty hen went broody she was less than a year old and there was no rooster in her pen, yet. I ended up giving her fertile eggs from another pen. You can read about how that ended up in the blog post titled: A Broody Swedish Flower Hen Breeding goals aside, I find the tenderness demonstrated between a momma and her babies endearing and the beauty of it all warms my heart a way nothing else does.

Silver Gray Dorking

I am excited the fertility has improved in the Silver Gray Dorking eggs over earlier this year. It is not as good as last year, unfortunately, but then summer isn’t over. Due to the eggs not staying viable long enough to hatch, my next step is going to be adjusting the temperature on the incubator slightly.

Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner

I am still facing difficulty with fertility in the Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiners, unfortunately. I intend to continue to work with this pretty breed.

Grapes

I admit to feeling a bit disappointed to ending up with only an additional 2 grape plants after caring for almost 20 starts over the winter. I will say I am happy to have 2 more plants in the ground outside. My latest experiment, if you will, is taking this year’s new growth from a grape plant outside and placing into a jar of water. My hope is that it will grow roots. Look for a coming post about the process.

Summer 2019 Thoughts

Finish Planting

For a stretch of several weeks northern Indiana experienced excessive rain. The first round produced over 5 inches in less than a week. After the ground was saturated, the rain continued to fall almost daily, or often nightly. Thankfully, I was able to get some seed in the ground as I mentioned above. I find I enjoy this venture, planting and learning as I go. Onion bulb(yellow and white), potatoes, carrots,

Attending local farmer’s markets in Bremen and Culver

One of CG Heartbeats Farm spring market display.

Last year I attended a local farmer’s market for the first time in Bremen, Indiana. I also attended another on in Nappanee, Indiana on Saturdays. Over the winter, I found a local indoor market to attend in Culver, Indiana and have continued to attend their outside market. Their summer market occurs on Sat and Tue. CG Heartbeats Farm plans to have a vendor booth at Culver on Tuesdays (5 pm to 7 pm), Bremen on Wednesday’s (4 pm to 7 pm) and back at Culver on Saturday mornings (9 am to 1 pm). Products available include seasonal items such as black raspberries, black raspberry plants, mint plants, farm fresh eggs, 4 varieties of garlic, soup beans, decorative and edible popcorn, black walnut tree seedlings, popular tree seedlings,

Maintaining Gardens

Keeping up with weeds and my case, the weeds are actually grass that works hard to take over, seems to be continuous, but using wood chips and chaff, helps to keep them at bay.

Pasture Maintenance

Summer always brings the need for pasture maintenance. Mowing down weeds (I do not use chemicals on the pastures) and keeping the fence rows cleaned out seem to be 2 jobs that I am always behind on. There are new fences to construct if I am to continue with my plans. These jobs are a bit tougher for me now as I work to balance my activity level with getting enough rest.

Black Raspberries

I am looking forward to eating these soon! The extras will go to the local farmers markets and my freezer!

This spring I pruned 3 of my 4 Black Raspberry patches. I am impressed with the berries that are appearing on the pruned plants. I will also be offering black raspberry plants for sale at the farmers markets I attend. One of my goals is to also look into shipping plants and selling from this website.

Garlic Scapes

Notice the curl on the top of the garlic plants? These curled tops are the scapes.

As of this week the garlic scapes are almost ready to harvest. Garlic scapes, you may ask? These are the top part of a garlic plant that will produce a flower and seed if not removed. The plants energy is directed into producing a larger garlic bulb instead.

Ongoing Projects

There are always chicken pens to clean. I have started a new manure pile leaving the previous one to compost. I started work on a container garden area, but the progress has slowed in the last 6 weeks. I want to continue working in the beds near the house. They were intended to be flower beds, but I have been using them for planting vegetables too. There is an area back of the chicken barn that needs to have old boards removed to the burn pile. The hold up is I want to remove the hardware on the boards It seems I have accomplished that step, yet.

Personal Goals

One of my personal goals for this year is to spend some time riding again, even if it is only a short jaunt in the round pen or around the pasture. I intend to enjoy these summer months. A final (personal) goal is to begin playing fiddle again, perhaps practicing on my fiddle again would be more accurate. What are your summer plans? Leave a comment below to share your plans.

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I remember as a child a long row or two of raspberries in my Grandpa’s garden. If I remember correctly, he had black and red raspberries. I recall how the row had T-posts at each end and along the strip every so often. In between there was string tided at two levels to support the shoots and keep them from falling over. I do not recall being a big fan of the fruit eat fresh, but I always enjoyed the black raspberry jelly made and canned by my Grandma. I remember eating that yummy jelly with butter on bread.

As I have slowed down the last couple years and given attention to what is happening on this 11 acres, I discovered black raspberries growing freely. I enjoyed a bowl of fresh fruit a few seasons. In the fall of 2017 my Dad helped me transplant 7-9 plants that were growing along the house. We may have removed half of what was growing there. The crazy thing to me is that I did not plant them. Actually that area had been more or less let go and the black raspberries had come up on their own. I had decided to plant my own little patch in the intended garden location. We dug up the sod, drove fence posts and planted the pruned black raspberries.

Do you want to learn how to prune your Black Raspberries? Get your FREE printable of How to Prune Black Raspberries today!

Fast forward to last summer, 2018. I had begun attending a local farmer’s market in Bremen, Indiana. Giving thought to what other items I had to sell at the market, I decided to begin picking the black raspberries growing on the property. I knew they seemed to thrive along the woods. I found two spots where the plants were abundant. One spot in particular produced the largest, sweetest berries. The few plants my Dad and I had transplanted a couple years past were only a drop in the bucket compared to all the plants available to pick from last summer.

I did in fact take some berries to market to sell. I spent a bit of time sharing the company of my parents as we picked one afternoon and enjoyed sending them home with the bounty. I even froze a few small containers of them to savor at a later date. They proved to be a delicious treat in the heat of August, pulling out whole frozen black raspberries to cool down on a hot, humid day. I stretched out eating of the last container of them well into January.

As you can see, over the last year black raspberries have made a delightful impression on me. I observed where the larges berries developed. I remembered hearing my grandfather speaking of pruning black raspberries. I researched information as to how exactly this pruning is to be conducted. I learned that pruning black raspberries takes place in March and April. As side note: Black Raspberries and Red Raspberries are pruned differently. Red Raspberries can produce 2 times a year based on how they are cared for. These past couple weeks I begin the process of pruning Black Raspberries here on CG Heartbeats Farm.

The plants located in various places around the property had been growing unattended for a few years. Even the ones I had transplanted received no pruning after transplant. The info I found on pruning raspberries seemed to assume the plants had been pruned previously or at least where for a younger stage in the plant’s life.

A black raspberry plant grows at its tips and grows ‘branches’ as these extend, they fall back down to the ground. They will grow roots where they hit the ground. A wonderful creation of continued life. I am conducting a bit of a trial to see how this works going forward.

Do you see the dead cane or stalk on the left?

In this picture the dead cane has been removed at the base.

I trimmed the canes and removed dead ones. A black raspberry cane lives only 2 years. I am experimenting as I said. I left the shoots that had fallen to the ground and grew roots. I am hoping these will form new plants to be transplanted this fall.

I am looking forward to picking black raspberries, having fresh fruit and taking their bounty to the farmers market. But I might be even more excited to eat frozen ones in the heat of summer. I was dreaming of eating delicious black raspberries, along with memories of days gone by, I pruned black raspberries.

Do you want to learn how to prune your Black Raspberries? Get your FREE printable of How to Prune Black Raspberries today!

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