Fall 2022 Recap

Hello! Welcome back to the farm!

Big changes incoming! We got our LLC filed and our tax ID application in, so the store page should be opening up really soon! We also got our garlic harvest in, but that was a bit overdue so I have no idea how well the garlic will or won’t store. We will probably mince and freeze most of what we don’t plant, just to be on the safe side.

The garden went mostly to the weeds again this year, so I’m working hard to try to get ahead of it for next year. I’m pulling weeds, and as I go I’m putting down a layer of cardboard, then the pulled weeds that haven’t gone to seed. The weeds that have gone to seed are getting tossed over the bank! A weed is just a plant growing where you don’t want it, and that bank could use some extra erosion-preventing foliage. Once the weeds have thoroughly desiccated in the sunshine, I’m going to put down fresh chicken and duck manure to cure over the winter, topped probably with another layer of cardboard. That should give my soil enough protection to not erode over the winter, while leaving me a mostly clear workable space come spring!

This weekend we are planning to harvest some long-overdue rabbits and maybe a couple of chickens. We’ve also got to get the frame feeders installed in the beehives. We must be in a dearth - those girls have gotten MEAN! I got stung while I was pulling up the garlic, at least 20 feet from the hive entrance! If they survive the winter, we are going to have to move them a lot further from the house. My one year old is getting really mobile and curious, and I don’t want him stung just for toddling around our front yard.

I’m working on getting some grant applications in for some exciting projects coming next year - we’re hoping to upgrade our chicken enclosure and get a few more rabbit runs built. I firmly believe that our rabbits are happier on the grass, and it reduces our feed bill too. Win, win!

Next year I’m looking at planting our corn, squash, and beans in the 3 sisters method. Anyone with experience with that style, please leave me a comment below! How did it work or not work for you? Lessons learned? Anything you’d keep or change about it? Corn is just such a space-intensive crop, I don’t really have room to plant all that I want to plant unless I start mixing other things into it. Anyone have experience growing cucumbers instead of squash? I know many squash are in the same curcubit family… Let me know what you think! Thanks a bunch in advance!

Winter Chores and Sprintime Plans

Hey there. Welcome back to the blog!

Winter is a different season for homesteaders.  We put our bees to bed, did what we could to winterize our chicken coop, and have been focused on getting caught up on the indoor tasks that got pushed aside during the hustle and bustle of the fall.

Our beehives are tipped forward on a 2x2, ratchet strapped in place, have an insulating board stuffed underneath (up against the screened bottom board from the under side), and have a mouse guard across the entrance.  We purchased some typar to wrap around the hive, but winter hit early and with a vengeance, so that part has not happened yet. We’ve been listening periodically through a glass pressed to the outside of the hive, and the girls are still in there, so that has been a comfort.  I hope to pick up an inexpensive stethoscope before Christmas to make confirming their presence easier. I have spoken to other local beekeepers who have already lost hives this year. Fingers crossed our girls make it.

Our chickens refuse to stand on snow, so they’ve been staying in these last 3 weeks.  Their coop is elevated on cinder blocks with logs between them, so Mr. L. affixed a hard plastic ramp under the roof of the coop, blocking snow from immediately in front of the chicken door, to enable them to get out of the coop and hide underneath it.  This effectively doubled their square footage, but they’ve not made much use of it. They’ve also all stopped laying eggs, in spite of the fact that only 2 of the 12 are old enough to be molting. This weekend I will go shovel their enclosed space and throw down some straw for them to stand on.  I may also try to find some pallets for them to use.

I have been working on getting caught up on spinning Theodore’s wool into yarn.  My hope is to have some of that for sale early in the new year. I know that I am getting a repair kit for my spinning wheel from Mr. L. for Christmas, so I look forward to more efficient yarn-making in 2019.  Right now I am using a drop spindle, which is convenient in terms of space but difficult to maintain consistent thickness. Theodore was neutered 11/20/2018 in the hopes that he and our new addition, Maxwell, will be able to become friends.  Maxwell goes in for his surgery 12/4/2018 and we’ll work on introducing them in early January.

When I do have yarns for sale, Theodore is all white, and that yarn will take color well.  Maxwell is a Chocolate variant (unsure if agouti, or chin, or something else - I will read more into this and come back with better information).  I’m excited to use Maxwell’s fiber myself. I’ve never enjoyed knitting or crocheting with white yarns.

Mr. L. and I have been working on defining what we want out of our homestead life.  He is very interested in providing as much of our own food as we can; he wants pigs and chickens and meat rabbits, whereas I am much  more interested in being able to financially support ourselves and am looking for products to sell, such as yarns. Food products are heavily regulated, so to sell meat would require a higher investment of time (regular inspections, etc) and money (licensing, inspections, herd testing, and so on).  In the immediate future, we will be adding a hive to our apiary in the early spring (April is when the nucs and packages become available where we are). We are planning our wedding for June, and hope to become property owners sometime soon thereafter. We intend to start breeding meat rabbits for our own consumption as soon as we have the space.  It will be interesting to see where all this takes us. Thank you for coming along for the ride!

:)