Seven Is.
Seven is a lot of things, yes? I'd tend to agree. I'm also a lot of things. Hunter, soldier, Marine, philosopher, mathematician, programmer, lunatic, sociopath... But I don't think even I saw this coming. But, I need this, and in that I'm doing it.
I'm starting a small farm in my backyard, and I'm gonna be documenting my progress with photos and such. My crops are gonna end up small; I don't have a whole field in Modesto to work with unfortunately. But they'll still be my plants. We've decided on lettuce, corn, peppers, raspberries, artichoke, carrots, watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe, tobacco and various decorative and medicinal flowers. Oh, and peas. We're giving peas a chance.
I'm gonna do my damnedest to keep a photo journal of their progression, each different strain. I'm growing various strains of each (including the tobacco for blending purposes), to monitor how they do and what all will be best in our gardens. So keep follow on the blog if you want to hear about our suburban farm.
But today's update. Starlight and I spent most of the afternoon in the "farmland," (photo of why that's in quotes to come), turning up the dirt, mixing in a little topsoil and fertilizing it, before setting out four lines of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce. It's supposed to be one of the most popular home-garden lettuces, made mostly for homegrown salads. We then brought ourselves to the adjacent fence of the farmland, and set up two small transplanted raspberry bush stalks, setting them beneath the blackberry bush on the opposite side of the fence. As the day winded down and we decided we needed to get some more supplies, we traced out the edge of what will be our cornfield with the hoe and lines of twine.
My hip hurts but I feel good, like I'm doing something right for once. What the hell, man. I can't work more than four hours out in the "fields" it seems (which means I can't work for more than one hour, but I'm stubborn. So mleh) but that gives me more than enough time before the equinox to at least get the first crops ready to germinate.
I think the most interesting part will be when the tobacco gets here. Tobacco is somewhat unique in that as it grows, you slowly have to let its pH level rise, from about 2 once you first transplant them, to 7 after flowering. Just something interesting to me.
Anyway, love you all. Photos next, maybe.
Edit 1: I love you so much, don't I? I'm far too kind. And by that, I mean
This is our second planter box in the yard, closer to the trees but still full-covered in sun all day. Starlight's taking over it for watermelons, cantaloupes (Hee, can-ta-loo-pay). Right now it's a huge weed mess.
This is the other planter box, currently populated with dying strawberries. Plans for cucumbers on half the planter, unless I'm mistaken. Still have a bit of time to figure that one out.
This field is gonna remain open for now, but I'm documenting it because the gardeners our landlord pays to clean our yards won't come near this area. I hope maybe one day I can use it for more tobacco crop. In the back I'm going to plant flowers, and more flowers.
The north field is going to mostly be trees and berries; currently the only thing Stephi and I have planted here are two tiny, almost invisible in this picture, bush stalks of raspberries.
I decided on the giant oak tree to provide the partial sun for my more delicate tobacco leaves, and it also makes it easier to keep bugs off them from here; birds that won't eat the tobacco keep away bugs that will.
This is our lettuce patch, planted and watered today. It'll be about another 7 to 10 days before they begin to germinate; we planted pretty generously so it's gonna be kinda rough to play God, deciding which plants live and which ones die for the greater of the patch. I'm also going to grow another 36 square feet right next to it starting in thirty days, to have rotating patches of plants.
Finally, what will be our corn field. While not terribly large, this space will actually bear enough corn for eating, processing into alcohols, and if I add another 30-60sqft of it, even possibly make diesel. Starlight brought up corn meal as well. Mmmm, thoughts of corn bread fill me.
A lot of soul is gonna go into this "farm." I hope it's beautiful.
I'm starting a small farm in my backyard, and I'm gonna be documenting my progress with photos and such. My crops are gonna end up small; I don't have a whole field in Modesto to work with unfortunately. But they'll still be my plants. We've decided on lettuce, corn, peppers, raspberries, artichoke, carrots, watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe, tobacco and various decorative and medicinal flowers. Oh, and peas. We're giving peas a chance.
I'm gonna do my damnedest to keep a photo journal of their progression, each different strain. I'm growing various strains of each (including the tobacco for blending purposes), to monitor how they do and what all will be best in our gardens. So keep follow on the blog if you want to hear about our suburban farm.
But today's update. Starlight and I spent most of the afternoon in the "farmland," (photo of why that's in quotes to come), turning up the dirt, mixing in a little topsoil and fertilizing it, before setting out four lines of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce. It's supposed to be one of the most popular home-garden lettuces, made mostly for homegrown salads. We then brought ourselves to the adjacent fence of the farmland, and set up two small transplanted raspberry bush stalks, setting them beneath the blackberry bush on the opposite side of the fence. As the day winded down and we decided we needed to get some more supplies, we traced out the edge of what will be our cornfield with the hoe and lines of twine.
My hip hurts but I feel good, like I'm doing something right for once. What the hell, man. I can't work more than four hours out in the "fields" it seems (which means I can't work for more than one hour, but I'm stubborn. So mleh) but that gives me more than enough time before the equinox to at least get the first crops ready to germinate.
I think the most interesting part will be when the tobacco gets here. Tobacco is somewhat unique in that as it grows, you slowly have to let its pH level rise, from about 2 once you first transplant them, to 7 after flowering. Just something interesting to me.
Anyway, love you all. Photos next, maybe.
Edit 1: I love you so much, don't I? I'm far too kind. And by that, I mean
This is our second planter box in the yard, closer to the trees but still full-covered in sun all day. Starlight's taking over it for watermelons, cantaloupes (Hee, can-ta-loo-pay). Right now it's a huge weed mess.
This is the other planter box, currently populated with dying strawberries. Plans for cucumbers on half the planter, unless I'm mistaken. Still have a bit of time to figure that one out.
This field is gonna remain open for now, but I'm documenting it because the gardeners our landlord pays to clean our yards won't come near this area. I hope maybe one day I can use it for more tobacco crop. In the back I'm going to plant flowers, and more flowers.
The north field is going to mostly be trees and berries; currently the only thing Stephi and I have planted here are two tiny, almost invisible in this picture, bush stalks of raspberries.
I decided on the giant oak tree to provide the partial sun for my more delicate tobacco leaves, and it also makes it easier to keep bugs off them from here; birds that won't eat the tobacco keep away bugs that will.
This is our lettuce patch, planted and watered today. It'll be about another 7 to 10 days before they begin to germinate; we planted pretty generously so it's gonna be kinda rough to play God, deciding which plants live and which ones die for the greater of the patch. I'm also going to grow another 36 square feet right next to it starting in thirty days, to have rotating patches of plants.
Finally, what will be our corn field. While not terribly large, this space will actually bear enough corn for eating, processing into alcohols, and if I add another 30-60sqft of it, even possibly make diesel. Starlight brought up corn meal as well. Mmmm, thoughts of corn bread fill me.
A lot of soul is gonna go into this "farm." I hope it's beautiful.