I slowly digested Ten Acres Enough by Edmond Morris in the summer of 2018. Reading a few pages while I ate lunch or found I needed to sit down for a break. As I read, I often felt renewed energy and motivation to continue, keep on with the tasks at hand staying focued with the big goals.
The end of 2020 is approaching. I find myself looking back at what I accomplished and what goals I want to set for 2021.
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Current horse pasture, but may serve a new function as the year unravels.
I gained a new perspective for the property I live on reading thorough Ten Acres Enough. My view shifted. Instead of seeing it through the eyes of where a horse barn, shelters, and pasture could go, I began to see where blueberries, grapes, and garlic might produce the best.
Click on the picture above to purchase your copy of Ten Acres Enough
The mistaken ambition for owning twice as much land as one can thoroughly manure or profitably cultivate, is the great agricultural sin of this country.
At times, this homesteading journey can feel a bit lonely, but reading Ten Acres Enough I found a kinship with a man and his family now passed. After living and owning a business in the city for 20 years, he fulfills a longtime dream of owning farm ground in the country.
His farm, he purchased in the 1850’s. This is no typo. Nor is the price he paid, $1,000.00 for 11 acres, with a house and barn on it. The land I have is 11.7 acres and believe me the price was well above $1000.00.
I found myself inspired as I read Edmund’s account of creating food and an income to support his family by farming 10 acres of land.
The words he used to share his story have added to my vocabulary. Some I have never heard in this day and age and likely will not.
This book provided me with a new view of our land and produced many new ideas to ponder on. I intend to reread Ten Acres Enough, as I plan for 2021. In the coming months and years I will reference certain practices mentioned though out this book
It takes a man a great while to learn the way of Providence, and to understand that things are better contrived for him than he can can contrive for himself.
I recommend this book to any and all who desire a homestead lifestyle. If you read or have read this book, I would be trilled to hear what stood out to you.
I met Julie in the summer of 2018 the night we both attended
Bremen Farmer’s Market. I think the first words I spoke to her were, “I love your
cart.” She was selling fresh cut flowers on a repurposed old fire hose reel
cart. We became friends. And it seems that I have known her longer then the year
and 3 months I actually have. Julie finds value in the skill of food preservation.
She welcomed me to her house to share and teach me her take on canning stewed
tomatoes. I wanted to add onions and
garlic and we worked that in to the process.
I awoke last Monday morning excited for my day. I would also get to see
the Swedish Flower Hen chickens she raised from my flock. More on that later.
With the two of us working together the preparation process took us under 2 hours. Of course, the water bath and cooling of the jars took longer.
Ingredients
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Salt (optional)
Items Needed
Water Bath Canner
Sharp Knife
Cutting Board (or 2)
Stainless Steel Pot
Container for cold water (or a sink full of cold water
Jar Remover
Jars, lids, and rings
Towels and Cleaning cloth
Scrap Bucket
Small sauce pan
Prepare Jars
I brought 12 pint jars. Our first step was washing them in hot water and setting them to the side to air dry. This after, we had water in the canner on the stove, but not heating yet, and a larger pot of water heating for the scalding process.
Prepare Onions and Garlic
Before we started on the tomatoes, we removed the outer skins
of the onions and garlic, washed the dirt off, and cut to the desired size. I
placed some of them in a 3 or 4 of the jars.
Prepare Tomatoes
This part flowed well with the 2 of us working together. It definitely
sped up the process. First I cleaned the tomatoes under running water and
removed any terrible bad spots. She encouraged me to wait to actually core
them, just pop off the protruding stem. There were a few tomatoes I still
needed a knife to core them. The stubborn stems would not come off with out a
knife.
Next the tomatoes were gently set into the now boiling water
for 30 seconds. Carelfully dipped out with a large spoon and dropped into the
cold water in the sink. The peelings almost removed themselves. Working on a
cutting board I finished removing the peelings and any parts of the core that was
left. The tomatoes had not all been picked that morning and there were a few
more soft spots to remove in this step.
As I removed the skin, I proceeded to chunk up the tomatoes.
I cut them into roughly a square inch. Julie continued scalding the tomatoes
and placing them in the cold water. She added additional cold water due to the
hot tomatoes warming the water in the sink. Once she had the tomatoes through
the scalding process, she took over removing the peels. I continued cutting the
tomatoes into smaller pieces. In this step one can choose the size of the
tomato chunks. There is no right or wrong size. When I had a few pieces cut, I
added them to a jar. This process seemed to take the longest, but with our
teamwork and fun conversation it flew by.
When she had the tomatoes peeled she helped by adding the
remainder of the onion and garlic to the jars. I had estimated the amount of
garlic and onions I would need. The last
3 jars received about 3 times as much as the other 7. Experimenting, I say. An important step in
the process involves pressing out the air and creating a bit of juice. Often,
the lowered level requires the addition of cut up tomatoes.
Preparing to Water Bath
The chunks of tomatoes made quite a mess or perhaps I did as I placed them in the jars, around the tops and down the sides of the jars. Julie cleaned the tops and sides of seven jars.
I finished up chunking the tomatoes. We had previously set lids into a small pan and brought that to a boil. This process I skipped when canning tomato juice, but I learned to do this helping my grandma can as a child. When I canned 20 years ago, I did this and Julie, too, uses this method when canning.
When preparing the cans to go into the water bath, place lids on clean jars, add the rings making sure each one is tight. Hand tightening works well, but the rings should be tight.
After setting 7-pint jars in the canner, Julie topped off the water level bringing to around an inch above the jars.
Water Bath Canning
At this point, we started heating the water in the canner. I had brought my canner along and we used that for the first 7. Julie showed me how she cans her food using a towel in the bottom of a large pot and water bathing it. We both learned a new thing. I did not know the towel trick.
Get a FREE PDF on how to preserve Stewed Tomatoes.
12 steps complete with pictures.
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We sat in her kitchen at the table and chatted about farmer’s
markets, our winter plans and relationships while waiting for the water to start
boiling. Once it hit a rolling boil we headed out to look at her chickens and
the beautiful creation of her chicken run.
Then when we headed back in, the water bathing process was
complete. I removed the jars and set them on her counter to cool. We had preserved
10 pints of stewed tomatoes from 2/3rds of a 5 gallon bucket of heirloom
tomatoes.
The next day, my friend Beth and I drove paid Julie a visit. I wanted Beth to see Julie’s coop and run ( It is sooo cute!) and needed to pick up my jars. I did not want to transport them until they had sat for a day. Later I dated and stored them in the basement.
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.
Before
After
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!
This is a guest post by Maria from Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm about how she came up with her own chicken breed for her homestead. Her breed is not official in any books, but rather this is the story of a lady breeding for traits that are important to her. Read one way she has made homesteading her own. Be sure to check her bio at the end of this post.
I met Maria of Country Girl Heart Beats Farm on Instagram due to a #catskillhomesteaderchickens hashtag that I use to tag photos of the “landrace type” chickens I’ve been breeding for over 5 years. A conversation started and she invited me to write on her blog about my chickens.
This journey to create a landrace started in 2012 with a broody Easter Egger hen named Daisy and a nest of eggs. One of the resulting chicks grew up to be a handsome rooster I named Michael Jessie. I had wanted to try breeding my own red & black sexlinks with pea or rose combs for our cold winters in Upstate New York, but Michael Jessie and his father, a Blue Andalusian, changed those “plans”.
Michael Jessie
I realized that while I loved trying all different breeds, each one had pros/cons. And it seemed like the plain looking ones laid the best and the prettiest ones were slackers in the egg department. Through trial and error, plus “research” on Back Yard Chickens forum, I learned the basics of breeding, even though much information was pertaining to pure breeds.
In 2013, I purchased a Genesis 1588 incubator, more broody hens hatched chicks & I quickly become hooked on incubating eggs! “Chicken math” became a reality as my chicken population doubled during that summer, though many were roosters which ended up in our freezer.
It wasn’t until the spring 2014 that I began to formulate goals for breeding. Eye appeal was at the top of the list, along with good egg and meat production. Not only did I want colorful chickens, but colorful eggs too! It was also important that they be excellent foragers and not just stand by the feeder all day or constantly preening to look perfect. The other goal was the produce winter hardy chickens that didn’t need heat, weren’t afraid to go outside in the snow and continued laying through winter (except for when molting). I wanted hardy, independent chickens that didn’t need to be “pampered”, but were self-sufficient, adapting to their environment and reproducing on their own, hatching and raising offspring like they were created to do. Basically, I wanted to create the “perfect chicken” or at least what I considered to be “perfect”! Things like uniform feather color, leg color, comb type, body type, consistent egg color, clean or feathered shanks – they weren’t a factor. Thus, Catskill Homesteaders could never be a recognized “breed”.
One important lesson I learned in 2013 was I had a handsome Golden Laced Wyandotte rooster, who was a “runt” as a chick, very slow to feather, but was a favorite because he was very docile and handsome. Unfortunately, his offspring either had a deformity, were also runts or failed to thrive before maturity. There was only one pullet that I kept for breeding, though I wouldn’t have if I knew what I know now. Lesson learned: only breed the very best, even if they’re a favorite!
Breeding Group # 2
At that time, I also had several Red Sex Link hens which I hatched from, thinking it’d give me great layers. However, every hen crossed with the RSL ended up having reproductive issues, so they were eventually eliminated from the breeding stock.
Breeding group #1
David, rooster of group #1. His father was a Freedom Ranger Rooster
I also experimented with some Freedom Ranger (slower growing meat hybrids) that were raised by Daisy the broody hen and were very active despite their large size. The 3 FRs (1 too, 2 hens) were crossed with other breeds. I got several generations of crosses from their offspring, though their influence in the present stock is very minimal. But again health issues presented themselves due to them not being bred for longevity. The FR rooster began to have trouble walking around 7 months old and was culled & the two hens died of what I think was CHF/ fluid around the heart. The FR rooster’s son also developed leg issues but not until well past a year old. The FRx hens lived several years before being rehomed & didn’t have any issues I was aware of. One of the great-great-granddaughters of the FRs did become an internal layer/ very fatty after she was 18 months old. So while I considered those crosses a success, long-term the resulting Freedom Ranger offering tended to also inherit some of the shorter lifespan and reproductive issues common with “commercial production hybrids”.
My goal wasn’t to produce the best layers or best meat chickens, but ones that could lay eggs over a longer period of time even if not as frequently, while the extra roosters and spent hens would provide meat.
Swedish Flower Hens
Both Swedish Flower Hens and Icelandic chickens were part of my inspiration for breeding more of a landrace type vs standard breed. I loved all the individual variations within one flock. I had actually considered getting Icelandic chickens, but they didn’t meet two of my most important goals – colorful eggs and decent meat production. I had also found a lady in Arizona who was breeding “Aloha” chickens which I thought were so cool! But she was breeding them to withstand over 100 degrees in the summer, not the below zero temperatures in winter we can have. I even tried breeding pure Swedish Flower Hens and Bielefelders for a few years, thinking they’d be close enough to my goals to satisfy. But I ran into inbreeding issues due to purchasing stock that was unknowingly too closely related. Yet when I crossed them with unrelated chickens, their offspring had great vigor. Some of the other original breeds I originally used, now have little or no trace in the current flock. They included Rhode Island White, Partridge Rock, Partridge Chantecler and Dominique, with the later two being more instrumental in the original “foundation” stock.
Would I do thing differently if I had to do it over? Oh yes! The main thing is I wouldn’t use hatchery chickens, but purchase the foundation breeds from quality breeders. The only exception being Michael Jessie, as he sired chicks until 2017!
As the years progressed, I outcrossed to better quality, sometimes rare breeds, including Bielefelders, Barnevelders, Buckeye/Buff Orp/EE cross, Swedish Flower Hen and a few others. But, it does takes more work and time to breed for “better quality” than if I’d started with breeder quality chickens at the beginning.
The challenge now is having enough space for all the breeding groups I want to have!
Not only do I have stunningly handsome Catskill Homesteader roosters, but I also have out-cross roosters that I want to use. They include an Olive Egger (Marans/EE), Gold Spangled Spitzhauben, Crested Cream Legbar, Blue Wheaton Ameraucana and a Birchen Marans. Except for a few pure or 2-breed cross hens, the hens are multiple generations from the original chickens or even the previous out-crosses.
Am I pleased with the progress I’ve made in 6 years of “actively” breeding them? Yes. Of course there’s always room for improvement and fine tuning, but any breeder will say that.
But now, when people ask me what their characteristics are, I reply: Locally adapted, winter hardy, “eye candy” dual purpose chickens who are great foragers, lay a wide variety of colorful eggs and will often hatch and raise their own chicks. To me, that’s what a “perfect” chicken looks like!
About the Author:
Maria lives on 0.6 acres with her brother Joel in Delaware County, New York, where she breeds, hatches and raises Catskill Homesteader Chickens. During summer months she raises meat turkeys. She has a few quail and hopes to add more this year.
She juggles working two part-time jobs at the Heart of the Catskills Humane Society and Mandy’s Farm, which consists of yaks, pigs, sheep, donkeys, poultry & 2 barn cats.
She also has a food waste collection service @delhicommunitycompost, which she is in the process of making into a business. Mix in trying to maintain the house and batch cooking a week’s worth of meals on Tuesday evenings, boredom isn’t in her vocabulary
I first learned how I enjoyed Concord grapes in 2015. While competing in the 2015 TCA Thoroughbred Makeover, I went grocery shopping at local Walmart near the Kentucky Horse Park. I devoured the grapes in a matter of days. They may have been the same variety my Grandma used to make grape juice with. The desire to grow my own was fueled when I could hardly find them anywhere.
I researched online and in person. Some plants were priced as high as $40 and others as low as $8. I learned Concords were not known to produce themselves correctly via planting seeds. The best way to get new plants was by using a vine of a healthy known producing plant. In my conversations I found that a new friend at the time was willing to share cuttings of her Concord Grapes with me. I was again like with the sweet potatoes, unsure if this would really work. From reading articles online, I learned that grape cuttings could be placed in water or in soil and then would produce roots. Seems amazing doesn’t it? It was suggested to cover the cut part of the vine that was being placed in soil or water with a root hormone to help it grow. I am all about doing things as natural as possible and choose to go the tougher route without any root hormone.
A few weeks after placing my first cuttings in water I began to see changes, the stems developed what is called callouses, then roots, and eventually some leaves. I like to try new things and I think I prefer starting the cuttings in water so I can see the changes. After all, if the vine is buried in soil, I just have to wait, wait and see only looking at the vine from the surface. It is like have a horse breed and not having her checked to see if she is pregnant. She will show no outward signs for at least 7 to 8 months. While the grapes may produce leaves sooner (2-4 months), I still prefer to see the roots developing in the water.
My first time starting new grape plants from vine cuttings was a crash course for me. I only ended up with a few that made into soil. I do not remember numbers, I think I may have had 6 – 8 and perhaps one or 2 made it into a pot. I did not watch the water levels in the jars and several died when they dried up due to lack of water. At the time those that survived were ready to plant the weather was too cold to plant them outside. I must have cut the vines in October or November, if I remember correctly. I tried cutting vines again and late winter/early spring. These too, I neglected along the way and only had a couple plants to show for it. I remember thinking the temperature may have dropped to abruptly where I had the cutting sitting and caused them to die. I had several irons in the fire and in the course of my days the animals came before my ‘experiments’ with plants. I often struggled with energy levels and while the process of caring for the grapes was not exceeding difficult some days once I had finished what had to be done…I was done for. This is by no means an excuse or a pity party, simply the reason I neglected to care for the grape starts to standard. I remember not being 100% sure as to why some of them did not make it some consideration was temperature and of course hydration. I was able to share one plant with a neighbor and she has happily planted on her property. One lived for a long time and I may have either over or under watered it at one point. It did not make it.
In the late winter or early Spring of 2018, I once again trimmed vines at my friends and put them in glass jars with water.
When the weather was warmer, I determined this year (2018) I was going to get some plants in the ground this year.
Potted in the house from my first cuttings.
I think it had been potted for a year and half at least. I found a spot on our 11.7 acers where I believed the grapes would flourish the best. I researched online for info on the best place and how to plant them.
Pictured below show how much the above pictured plant grew indoors for a year and a half.
Finally! I planted my first Concord grape plant.
About a month later my Dad planted the four that were doing well from the 2018 cuttings. These four went directly into the ground from the glass jars. This is now my preferred method as I have less of chance of forgetting to water them and it eliminates the step of potting them inside until the weather is nicer.
Here it is fall of 2018 and I wanted to help my friend prune her grapes. I hate to see anything go to waste so on the spur of the moment, I took a big bunch of the pruned vines home with me. After all she was going to burn them. Snipping and cutting the vines into smaller sections, I soon had around 40 starts in 8 glass jars with water.
These grapes belonging to a friend of mine, have not been pruned for quite some time. (The property is new to her) This was the first round of what will include more pruning sessions as we work back the vines.
My thoughts went something like this: Oh, what was I thinking? Here I was going into winter with all these grape starts. I now needed to make sure the water levels stayed high enough or plant all that grew roots and keep those potted grapes watered properly until next spring.
My response to my thoughts and doubts went like this: You are simply going to have to stay on top of caring for them. It is a simple matter of making it a part of your daily routine like caring for the animals. It will need to become a part of your chores. You have less places you have to be than in previous times and you’re are feeling better. This is what you do and you are going to do it!!! Have confidence that you will see this project through.
Now I do not expect every one of the 40 vine cuttings to become a plant. If I end up with 20 plants, I would be excited. It seems by my experience so far not every cutting grows roots. Perhaps I would increase my success if I used a root hormone. I recently learned from a follower on the farms FB page (A Country Girl’s Heart ~ Beats that Matter) that a willow branch is a natural growth hormone inducer and specifically with grape starts it will promote root growth. I am still researching, but I intend to try it at some point.
To date I have spent $0 on the grape project. I will be most rewarded the day I actually harvest my own grapes. I will savor that first bite!! I might make jelly or grape juice (frozen or canned). What is your favorite way to enjoy Concord grapes? Leave a comment.
This fall marks the third year I have planted garlic. The first year(fall of 2016) I planted about 6 cloves of 3 different varieties for a total of 18. When I harvested in 2017 I kept what I raised to either plant or use. Year #2 (2017) I planted around 18-20 cloves (each) of the same 3 varieties. I only sold a few of the 2018 crop choosing instead to save most of the bulbs harvested to plant and use personally for human consumption and for putting in the chickens water. If you are unfamiliar with planting garlic, one planted clove grows into a bulb of garlic. Each bulb has 4 to 9 cloves depending on the variety.
Using what I have:
The entire homestead project has been largely using what I have available. Although some money has been invested along the way, most money has been invested into the chicken project. I have looked and continue to look for heritage vegetables that are sustainable and do not require seeds to be repurchased every year. One of my biggest struggles has been ground to plant in. Yes I have 11 acres at my disposal, and it grow grass abundantly. The grass has a fantastic root system that makes gardening a challenge for me. At this time I have not found a local person to turn the sod for me(with a plow). I will need to invest in a tiller of sorts, sooner than later as I grow the garden project. I do not want to fight weeds and grass roots with only my energy (which seems lacking) and a shovel. Even in the large flower bed, it is the grass that has taken over. I had a help a couple years in a row and still the grass returned. The benefit was that at least the ground had been worked in the flower bed and was easier to dig in compared to the lawn. This was where I planted my first garlic, a small section of what was previously a flower bed. My Dad helped me prep the ground the first year. We went over the ground with spades, removing as many of the roots as we could. It was a project that took approximately one afternoon. 18 cloves of garlic planted!
Area where garlic was planted in 2016 and harvested in 2017. The space was probably less than 3 ft. by 3 ft.
Year 2: I spent more time prepping the ground, but had not started early enough as cold weather was upon me. Hardneck Garlic needs to be in the ground before the ground freezes. While I did work to remove more of the roots, I knew I left some. It was either leave some roots and not plant the garlic in time or I would miss getting it planted altogether. I tripled the amount planted and was able to spare a few to select customers in the summer of 2018. I share the planting process and more about the first and second Garlic seasons in a previous blog post titled: Garlic
The garlic plot in the fall of 2017
Year 3: This year I added a forth variety called Spanish Rojo or Spanish Red. The other three varieties remain the same as the past two years: German, Music, and Montana. As I have said, this marks the 3rd fall I am planting garlic. I intend to again increase numbers planted to about between 10 and 140 cloves. Of course I need more room to plant the higher numbers. After consideration I decided to once again use the flower bed expanding the area, and add another spot on the farm as well.
Garlic beginning to grow in the early months of 2018
This spring, in a section next to the garlic, I worked removing grass, roots and a few weeds. Here I planted four tomato plants. I did need to weed a little from time to time, but as the tomato plants grew they provided enough ground cover to keep the unwanted growth at bay. These produced many little tomatoes both grape and super sweet varieties. I took some to the farmers markets and shared with friends. I also enjoyed many delicious tomato sandwiches, even though they were the small tomatoes.
In the last couple weeks as I began to prepare the ground to plant garlic I have certainly seen a reduction of roots, weeds and grass thanks to the ground cover provided by the tomato plants.
Instead, I found myself picking up an extreme amount of tiny tomatoes to avoid the seed springing to life new tomatoes plants next year. I am sure I did not get every single one. Should they appear in the 2019 growing season I have a plan. I intend to feed the young plants to the chickens who I learned enjoy eating the tomato plant leaves. A bonus use of unwanted plants in my opinion.
Beginning to prepare the soil in the fall of 2018.
The picture below shows last years space and the additional space in the flower bed. This picture was taken before transplanting some of the Day Lillys.
I had a chicken pen that was approximately 5 ft x 5 ft where the sod finally appeared to be almost non exsistent this fall. I moved the panels to a new location giving the chickens new ground and the homestead an additional place to plant. With the sod almost completely gone I began turning the dirt over. Trilled with how soft the soil, I did find some roots under the surface.
No matter, the work proved considerably easier compared to digging up sod. If I did not share previously, I currently have not a plow or cultivator. My ‘tools’ consist of myself, a shovel, wheelbarrow and other non-motorized gardening implements. I also have almost no money invested in the garlic venture, only the initial garlic cloves. The chickens did a wonderful job and by next year they will have removed more sod for me to increase the garden. In 2017 I set the chicken pens up specifically where I want a garden. It has felt like a long process, but I was hesitate to leave the chickens out for any length of time. Now that I have housed select pens outside I am seeing much faster progress in sod removal.
The pen in its new location and the dirt turned in the old location.
For the 2019 growing season I will plant garlic in the 5ft. x 5 ft. space the chickens cleared for the homestead.
About half of the garlic is planted in this picture.
As I have in years past after the garlic is planted I cover with hay chaff. (Using what I have) and later in the season as wood chips become available from the wood shed I added wood chips all to help reduce the unwanted plant growth among the garlic plants.
Garlic Scapes and Pesto
I want to add that this past growing season(2018) I made use of the garlic scapes when I removed them from the plants in June. I made pesto from the scapes. All who enjoy the taste of garlic gave the pesto positive reviews.
Here is the ingredient list I used:
garlic scapes chopped
parmesan cheese
coconut oil
salt and pepper to taste
The scapes, removed usually in June, allow the energy of the plant to grow bigger bulbs. Below is a picture of the flower that develops into seeds if the scapes are not removed.
I am looking forward to next years harvest garlic harvest. I think the harvest is the most exciting part for me. The Spanish Rojo smelled good and I am certain I will enjoy eating it next year. I feel pretty happy when planting the cloves too.
Preparing the ground is a bit of a drag for me and the hardest work of the whole process. As I write this I have about half of this years garlic planted. My progress this past week came to halt as probably close to 2 inches of rain has fallen. I am waiting for the ground to dry out. When I see the forecast includes lows in the 20’s for 3 nights in a row, I plant the garlic despite unwanted roots and moisture.
Please share your experiences with fresh garlic in the comments below.
P
