Our Farm

[ahavah]

I've been neglecting this blog. I'm going to try to work on that. I've been sharing most of our pictures and updates on facebook, so a lot of you have probably seen these already. I'm long overdue for a picture post about our new place though, so I thought I would share

Comments

[lolacat]

This is so fun to read! Keep it up!

[ahavah]

Thanks so much! I'm hoping to have awesome things to report much more often. :)

wow! that is so wonderful!

[i_scribble]

I love your farm! It's wonderful, all that land, space for animals, Philbert (hope you can re-find him!)... I'm jealous.

Do you know what crops you might raise, eventually? Any other 'farm animals' other than chickens? Do you think you would consider an orchard, maybe?

Good luck on everything!

Re: wow! that is so wonderful!

[ahavah]

Thank you! Our goal is to be self-sufficient, so eventually we hope to grow nearly everything we use. Last year at our old house, I had a successful garden for the first time. I focused on salad & salsa makings (lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, & volunteer squash from our compost pile). It was the first time I was ever able to grow anything, and it took years of working with the soil & composting to make it happen. So an actual farm will probably be slow going. I plan to start with another kitchen garden and work my way up to more crops. (If you're interested in seeing last year's work, I have my garden album here).

I'm hoping to add potatoes (which I've tried before with little success), broccoli, and anything else that catches my fancy when the seed catalogs come. Eventually I hope to get into herbs & medicinal plants, and possibly try a few citrus fruits if when we get a greenhouse built. I do indeed really want an orchard, but we'll have to wait until we can afford to clear out several more acres. I'm wanting

Re: wow! that is so wonderful!

[i_scribble]

I'm really impressed. While I am virtually certain that a farm life is not for me, I'm always impressed with people that can make it work.

I love pecans... They're so tasty. :)

When you do eventually get in the beef cattle market, you can probably do well with high-end meats- organic, free range beef. Maybe even lamb & goat...

But yeah, I can see wanting to wait until you can manage large animals! And doing rescue work w/horses is great.

Think you might do anything w/heirloom crops, either in the kitchen garden or in the fields (when you get to that point)?

Re: wow! that is so wonderful!

[ahavah]

That's definitely our goal. We'd love to have everything organic, and I'm hoping to focus on heirlooms. At the moment, I'm just going to use up the seeds I have. Last year we got lots of cheap (like 25 cent- a dollar) seed packs from Wmart and the dollar store. I plan to use those, and grow them organically. Anything I order will be either heirloom or organic seeds. I ordered lots of catalogs, if they'll ever arrive, and I'm considering buying a membership with Seed Savers. I may wait until my skill level gets better though, so it's not a waste. I need to actually go through my seeds and see what I still have.

[fairouz]

This is so cool! So much land to explore, the kids and animals are so happy (and you two, of course). Congratulations!
And grrrr on biscuit's owner. He thought the best way to deal with a dog was to starve it? He would be good for target practice.
Just sayin'.
We're still not completely unpacked and we've been here 5 years.

[ahavah]

Thank you so much! We're all very happy. I can't wait until it's warmer and we can actually start the farming part.

I was pretty disgusted by Biscuit's "owner" as well. I didn't realize he was starving her at first. She had a scavenged turkey leg the first time we saw her, when we test drove the car, and she was scared and ran off with it (obviously feeling like she needed to guard it!). We went to pick her up several days later (almost a week, I'd say), and when Josh went to get her from their back yard, he said that there were no food or water bowls whatsoever. And there were also several cats whom the guy called "strays" that adopted him. Poor Biscuit got car sick on the ride home, and she threw up the turkey we'd seen her with days earlier. She'd had no other food since then. :( I just can't fathom how someone could do that to an animal. We've been feeding her well and giving her table scraps to help get her more nutrients. Poor thing. She's doing so much better, IMO, and she absolutely loves us to death. I think she's grateful

[aimingforpeace]

Is there an spca you could call out there to go rescue the poor kitties?

[ahavah]

I thought about that. But Josh says that the cats look healthy. They're not stuck in the yard, so they're getting food and water elsewhere.

[maiabee8]

Everything sounds really awesome! Do some research about which plants do best where you are - tomatoes will grow as weeds here in St. Louis as will peppers but it sometimes gets too hot for squash without shade etc. The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a lot of resources to help people garden - I'm pretty sure they'll do soil sample analysis for free and help you plan out good rotations on garden crops. Raspberries and currants grow well here too and might be an idea for sweeter fruit so that you wont have to wait for apples.

On getting all your stuff moved in, the only way we were able to do it is by inviting a bunch of friends from out of town to stay over the weekend with us. There is no better motivation than having guests to get your house looking nice. If we didn't have friends over for dinner or to play games regularly we'd probably never clean. :)

[ahavah]

Thanks! I really appreciate all the local tips. I've been gathering fliers and catalogs from the local extension office, and I'm hoping to get some of their berries & currants. I'd love to find a place that will do a soil sample for us! That's something I've never done and know little about.

Our goal is to have a housewarming party in late summer, so I have plenty of time. Sorta. I'm still trying to decide whether we want to paint right away or not. It'll probably go faster if I choose "not".

[jenandbronze]

This was interesting to read, I love your "furkids"

[ahavah]

Thank you so much! They seem to be multiplying, but that makes for a happy and full family. :)