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Growing Season

I've run the marathon I've been training for, and now begins the farm 'marathon'. That would be the summer season of planting, weeding, watering, and growing. So far I've managed to grow more things then I've killed. I would call that success. I've started as many seedlings as I know how, and planted all my seeds in the ground. I've even planted some new trees and fixed up my perennial garden beds. I suppose that is what happens when not homeschooling, and neglecting the inside of the house ;) Here are a few pics of what is growing around here...

My apple trees have blossoms!!! So do my strawberry plants. This year fruit wise I'm hoping to get watermelons. Next year I think pears, grapes and blueberries will get planted.

This is my new garden this year. It has been planted with corn,pumpkin,squash,potatoes, beans and peppers.  If all goes well next year it will get even bigger.

In the far garden we have garlic,onions,peas,carrots,lettuce, cucumbers,squash,brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, basil and tomatoes.

Here is my pig 'garden'.  It is between my new garden, and fenced in one. You can see the hut in the picture above.   I accidentally left the hose running the other day and created a watery mud hole.
Who knew pigs did such a good job at creating 'ponds'.  Actually I read that once and I am pretty positive next year I am going to use them to do just that at another section of the yard.  I think I will get my pond after all!!  The ducks will love it!  As for turning up my garden...They have done that and then some.  Next time I will have way more corn in amongst all the chicken poop and shavings. That way they will be forced to dig through it a little more to create compost.

My new layers have survived and are now out on grass. I've opened up their coop to the rest of the yard so they can begin mingling with the rest of the layers.  I need them together by the time my meat hens are ready to get outside. Mixing two flocks is always a tough time as they do a great job at establishing a pecking order.  By that I mean  some bullying goes on until they figure out who is the boss.

This is what 300 meat chickens and 50 turkeys look like.  They are a day old and need to be kept as warm and dry as possible.  They will be in here for a couple of weeks before I open the door to the grassy yard.  In the meantime they will get fresh grass clippings and lots of love ;) 

My grass in the chicken yard is so long and lush. Just look at all the diverse plants. I think it is too long to mow with a lawn tractor. I think we need a family dairy cow to eat all this luscious goodness. It would save my husband time by mowing the lawn for him, and money by producing dairy products for the entire family...don't you think???? ;)

Farm Fresh Renewal

For the first time in two years I look around this old farm and can't help but smile. All I see these days are signs of progress, growth and renewal.  It could have something..o.k everything to do with the fact that I am finaly over my post partum depression and severe hormonal imbalances. 

It feels AMAZING to be able to breathe. To be working steadily but seeing results and being able to enjoy this life we have chosen.

Yesterday I walked around and took pictures of just some of the things that are making me smile these days and thought I would share.


I managed to plant a small strawberry patch and it is beginning to grow!!  Around it I planted rubbarb and will be planting melon and watermelon in the next few weeks.

My new layers are growing and ready to get outside onto fresh grass. In a week I will have 300 meat chicks to take care of.

My pigs are happy and busy making mud in next years garden. They are nicer then I thought they were going to be. They make me laugh how they purposely knock over the water bucket to make the mud.   And no they are not covered in poo. They stay away from their poo. The chickens however love scratching through it and eating the fly's.  Such a good relationship.

My garden is coming along. I have yet to plant everything, but so far my garlic, peas and onions have survived.

For the first time in 4 years my lilac bushes are blooming. In fact, everything I planted a few years ago is taking root and blooming. I think that is VERY symbolic of my life right now.

I planted 5 apple trees this year and so far so good. I can't wait for them to grow and bloom.

My front ornamental garden even got a facelift this week.  I'm mulching it will FREE Hay from the farm. It just looks so much neater.

My seedlings are doing O.K. and are being hardened off to go into the garden. I must admit that I'm pretty sure I just killed most of my tomato plants yesterday attempting to transplant them into larger containers.  From now on I'm just going to grow them in one large container. Enough of this transplant nonsense. I feel like I've just wasted time and money trying to garden like the big kids.

Remember my side garden ? Last year my husband had to dig it up to fix the well pipe. I am happy to say that it too is no longer an eye sore.

So yes. I'm once again in my happy place here on the farm. I run my Marathon in a week and I'm supposed to take it easy. That is very hard to do when there is SO much spring stuff to do around here. My days are filled with farm stuff, kids and attempting to put my feet up to prepare for the race. Literally...I come in, lay on my back and put my feet up.  Who needs a workout when you are farming. Seriously.

So that's it. I'm in my happy place, and finding my happy 'pace' in life.

Alyson

My garden 2012

My seeds are here. I am so excited to be starting my garden this year.  The more knowledge I gain about our food supply the more frustrated I become, so this year is THE YEAR!! I'm going to attempt to grow as much as I can this year, planting everything I seem to purchase from the store. 
Too bad I can't grow bananas, lemons, or avocados. Maybe in the future they will come up with some sort of cool greenhouse that allows me to.
Till then, I am on my way.  If you have been following my blog for a while, you may remember the PITIFUL start I had 4 years ago.
This year, I can't promise amazing success, but at least my heart is in it.  Knowing I have customers that will buy my excess vegetables will make the weeding less painful...at least that is what I'm hoping for.

Want to know what I'm planting??
Ready??
OH... and all my seeds came from a local seed lady  www.seeds-organic.com  

basil,onion,corn,sweet potato,potato,broccoli,brussel sprouts,beans,peas,carrots,corn,garlic,lettuce,spinach, thyme,basil, oregano, lavender, butternut squash,cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes, celery,rhubarb, asparagus,watermelon, pumpkins, melon, cabbage,

phew!!!! 

Now all I need to get started is scoop out a TON of composted manure and work the garden. Easy peasy right?? lol

'Fruits' of our labor

We are back from camp. The laundry pile is washed and put away, and I think we are actually caught up on our sleep again.  Summer has been HOT HOT HOT these past few weeks. So hot that weeding my garden other than at 4am was just not happening. Frankly getting up at 4am to weed it was not happening either. SO needless to say that I've allowed the weeds to take over. Just yesterday I looked at my garden with disdain and contempt trying to convince myself that I no longer care what grows.
Since it is raining today and I was outside chasing 106 baby meat chickens out of my flower beds and back into their pen (ahem), I thought I would bravely take a peek at what was, if anything growing in the garden.

AND VOILA!!!!!!

zucchini, potatoes,onions, and carrots.

Very cool. I also have corn, tomatoes,butternut squash, basil and lettuce.

It is a great feeling to see the 'fruits' of our labor. The girls will be very excited when they see this! It actually gives me the incentive to find the energy to get out there to weed and prune. It is worth it.

We also have 3 new baby chicks incubated from our own eggs. My friend did it for us as a homeschool project and look what we have!  So much fun. We decided that we will be keeping some of the meat chickens and roosters this fall and try to incubate them in the spring. It would be cheaper AND more fun to hatch the chicks ourselves.  I really HAVE become a country farmer haven't I ?????  ;)

I'm a Proud Country Mama

 The above picture is my vegetable garden. Notice the onions,lettuce and carrots growing all nicely and in symbiotic relationship?  I'm pretty happy about it. For the first time I planted my garden organically, planting things beside each other that help. 
This is the best year yet. Probably because the older girls shockingly have been WILLING and enthusiastic about helping me weed it. 
I'm confident that some day I'll have a huge garden and be able to feed the world ;)

 Here are my meat chickens at 4 weeks.  They are Heavy duel purpose. The brown ones are the females and the white are the males. 
Like my vegetable garden, I'm pretty happy with my choice of bird this year. They eat less and have more personality than the white rock chickens I've had in the past.

 As for the ducks... They aren't they just adorable?? And no I'm not eating them.

 At 4 weeks they are ready to be out on grass to explore their environment and be able to fully enjoy their 'chickeness'. 

I feel really good about the way we raise our animals. I am proud to be able to say that we raise healthy chicken who are able to spend their days being treated the way they should be. They eat bugs and grass, and soon will be on fresh grass every couple of days. I've learned so much  since moving here 4 years ago. I am a proud country mama today. Proud of the small difference we are making here.

Today was a good day. I cleaned two chicken coops, weeded a garden, hung laundry on the line, folded it, made muffins, took care of my babies, made a fabulous fresh supper, went for a family bike ride, and enjoyed a wonderful evening with my husband.

I like my life today, and I like that I like it ;)
That's it. Just thought I would share a part of my day.

Vegetable Garden 2011

I am SO happy to present to you my Vegetable Garden of 2011. It has been 3 seasons of blood, sweat and A LOT of tears ;) To get it this way.



In 3 years I have learned:

1)Plant in rows and mark them so you can tell what is a vegetable plant and what is a weed;

2)If you watch the weeds grow they won't go away. In fact they may grow taller than you and will grow in such abundance that you walk away and cry;

3)Weed in the morning to avoid black flies mosquitoes and a LOT of sweating;

4) Weeds grow all season long;

5) If you don't kill all the weeds SURROUNDING your garden, those weeds will seed and those seeds will blow into your garden;

6) Weeds grow between wood chips and when the wood chips breakdown they take nitrogen FROM the garden;

7) Old manure is GREAT for the garden. Just remember there are seeds in the manure and you may grow corn and grass is you don't WEED it;

8) Fresh chicken manure kills the plants AND chickens LOVE vegetables;

9) If you build it..They will come. And come I mean spiders, bugs,birds, snakes, skunks and raccoons.

10) Certain plants to NOT like to be grown next to each other. Others love each other and will help keep certain pests off each other. ( This one I will do this year. Very very cool and I'll post about it later)

11) Patience is important. Veggies take time and a little TLC. But it is SOOOO WORTH IT!!



Ta Da!!!! This is what my weed free (for now) garden looks like 3 years later.


The soil is so rich and soft

The BEST part is that THIS YEAR The girls have been more than willing to help me plant it. I have help! yay for help!

O.K so maybe my help has com in the form of THIS BEAUTY. It is not quite as Anne of Green Gables or environmental but who cares...I'll take all the help I can get a this point ;)

Spring Prep Begins...

The sun is out and the ground has thawed but for the end of March it is still quite cold. This year I'm trying to get a head start on my garden. I read that if you place black tarps over your garden for 6 weeks before the planting season begins it will prevent the weeds from rooting. We have a SERIOUS burdock root problem surrounding our garden and I'm pretty sure there are enough burr bush seeds in my soil to velcro ourselves together. Being cheap I used old tarps. I have a feeling I NEED a black tarp so the soil warms up a little more. We will see. I don't mind experimenting if I don't have to spend money.

This year I decided the girls are to be involved in EVERY aspect of this garden. I enjoy watching them work together and learn with me. Besides...Why have so many children if I don't employ them to help me with crazy ideas I come up with??

April 1st we will plant our seeds in the sun porch in hopes that by the end of May they will be good and ready for the garden. This year I'm taking a more organic and organized approach to my planting. I did alright last year but made some big mistakes.

I'm also hoping to try garden sharing again this year. My dream would be for someone to come over and build a bunch of raised beds, tell me what to plant where, come over and help weed, and then we eat and be merry. We could give the left over food to the food bank!?!

Anyone? Anyone? Please?

Chickens are Great For Gardens....

Now that the garden season is over we have opened up the garden to the chickens. I'm hoping they devour some of the leftover plants, scratch through and turn up the dirt, and poop all over it to add some much needed Nitrogen to the soil.

Oh...and they are also very useful in getting rid of pumpkins from Halloween.

A Garden Update

This is my garden after my friend Anita helped me plant my seedlings. I added wood chips thinking it would to keep the weeds at bay. Nice eh?


This was my garden yesterday as I took the rototiller through it to break up the massive amounts of weeds. I also found out that wood chips are NOT good for a vegetable garden because they suck the nitrogen from the ground as they decompose. Oh and that the supersonic farm weeds just laugh any attempt to be smothered. I'll get them yet!
I can't tell you how much of a workout controlling that machine was. I felt like wonder woman. One for the strength and two because I was wearing a skirt. Yes I'm always in a skirt. They are cooler and it makes peeing in the field easier. I'm just kidding. No I'm not. Yes I'm wearing rubber boots that fill with foot sweat. You'll know why in my next post.

And this is the result!!!! No that is not mulch between the rows. That's the bits of weeds I crushed up. I'm wondering how futile it is to leave them there since the roots of those weeds are lying there with them. Taunting me.

Let's see...I see potatoes,lettuce, carrots,peppers,corn,broccoli, and basil...

Yes that is ALL basil. I think next to salt it may be the only spice I use. Yes really. I take my basil very seriously and would not joke about these things. Seriously.

Ah Sweet Basil. FINALLY I have a successful garden. Well sort of. The wood chip thing doesn't count. Harvesting what I plant and painstakingly taking care of it day after day is so satisfying.

It is kind of like watching your kids finally share their fishy crackers after spending hours on character training, or eating chicken from your own backyard. Oh....that reminds me. Tomorrow I'll give you a chicken update.

I know..3 posts in a row! It's been a LONG time since I've done that. Wanna know why??

Because my life has finally slowed down a little bit and I'm finally feeling back to my old self again. It's good to be back. At least for now.

July so Far

July is in full swing here in Ontario and that means HUMIDITY and HEAT WAVE!!
We survived the usual 4 days of EXTREME. That means sweating while sitting and feeling as though you could EAT the air. Now that we made it through I can handle anything! 30C feels MILD compared to 40C I tell y'a. And no we don't have air conditioning.

Now the heat is lifting I am able to peel my sweaty body off the vinyl and get some needed work done. Yesterday I managed to weed my garden (those that know me know how the weeds LAUGH at me on a daily basis) and pick a ton of Black Cap Raspberries growing on our property.
The chickens are growing, the basil is abundant and I am happy once again to have outdoor chores to do.
I ALMOST channeled my inner Amish and weeded my garden at 5am. I said ALMOST.

So how am I filling my days?
Running? Baking? Cleaning? Cooking? Actually I don't think I'm doing ANY of those ;)



Nope. I've pretty much been living at my moms house and doing this.....

Which is VERY different from last year when I was doing THIS....

HAPPY JULY. This week I will return to the provincial park with friends,send my children off to day camp and continue to enjoy the humidity free summer....after I feed the chickens,clean the coop and weed the garden that taunts me.

What are YOU up to??

Random pics on a Monday

Today is Chore Monday. We clean, bake muffins and hang out. That's kind of what we do EVERY DAY, but today we do less formal school, more chores and I try REALLY hard to enjoy my life. After all, Monday comes 52 times in a year so I might as well enjoy it right?? Why complain about the inevitable. I find taking random pictures throughout the day helps with finding Joy in the 'mundane'.

Here are my favorite pictures from our day as well as some from this past weekend....

Erin Stole my camera and took this shot. There is 7years and almost 4 months between these two girls but it is like watching Lara as a baby all over again. It's kind of creepy. Good..but creepy.
A little boy in our house turned 3 this past week and is now the proud owner of his very own blue tractor. He spent the ENTIRE day on it.

This is what happens when the 'big boy' does not nap. He passes out at 530pm while a little dancer awaits her ride to class. I guess all that tractor 'work' tuckered him out. He is practicing to be a true farmer with the ability to fall asleep anywhere!

Me. In an apron after transferring 72 tomato seedlings into bigger containers. I'm hoping to sell some of them AND some of the extra tomatoes AND make a lot of sauce. I love aprons ;)
I have to keep reminding myself NOT to do this sort of stuff on a Monday AFTER I've spent the entire morning cleaning the house. I ALWAYS do too much on Mondays. Oh well. Less to do the rest of the week? Or just DIFFERENT stuff to do now??

Little man again...proud as punch about the blue tractor. He also got a Thomas DVD, Thomas cutlery, some metal tractors, and a cool yellow Bulldozer he is very happy about. I just love his posture here.

Blowing out the candles on his 3D train cake I made him. Honestly that is what he wanted for his birthday and I love how 'simple' it was to make him feel special on his big day. This was Saturday.

Back to today (Monday). We decided to eat supper in the living room picnic style. It was a great way to end the day. Roasted chicken from our backyard,organic carrots raw, and roasted potatoes from someones garden, and water from our well. Again...so simple.

Here is the 72 tomato plants on my front step. I think I've learned my lesson. Next year I will trust that all the seeds will sprout and only plant 10. Of course if I sell them and make money I may just have to expand my business ;) Needs tomatoes??

Picture of the Day...Miss Audrey at 7 months. She will be 8 months at the end of the week. THIS is VERY emotional for me. I'll explain in another post. Those that know me well know why....sigh.

A picture of me and my four babies my wonderful husband took on Sunday before church. I love that the girls are holding flowers and my little man a shovel. I am still in shock that I have four children. This after being told by doctors that I may never have one. God is so Good.

That's it for my Monday. (And a few pictures from the weekend). I could not possibly have a busier week than I had last week and I'm happy for the 'break'. All I have to do this week is laundry, cooking,cleaning, dance,soccer, track,running, chickens, weeding, planting, library and groceries. So nice to have a break ;) Hahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahaha