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!
