Farm Update
3-19-2015
Babe and Lilly having their morning oatmeal
Well I am moving
along on a lot of projects from raising peeps to chickens so that we can have
our own eggs here ion the farm to installing a swimming pool in the green house
to planting veggies for the third annual open house here at Yockey Greenhouse here
on the farm.
Well first
thing I intend to talk about is the progress I am making on planting of
veggies. Of primary importance I have found a non-GMO supplier of seeds and
found that in Toddsseeds.com.. a GMO seed is one that has been altered
genetically for a variety of reasons altering forever the original heritage
variety , mutating in effect what would have taken eons for mother nature to do
it naturally if it ever would. All the seeds sold there are heritage seeds and
arte certified to be non-GMO seeds. This also means if you were to save the
seeds from the produce, you could in effect regrow the same produce year after
year, with no additional purchase necessary, and you can assure yourself that
you are getting time tested and proven seeds that will yield year after year,
without the need to purchase new seeds yearly as you have to with the so called
hybrids. A little secret about a lot of the so called hybrids and that they are
just heritage, or non-GMO seeds just repackaged and claiming to be better than
original breeds. For this they claim a higher price for nothing and get you to
dump the seeds at the end of the year. In effect , having you create a need for
more so called hybrid seeds.
panoramic view of work at Bolivar dam
I will have 5
kinds of tomatoes as well head lettuce like you buy in the stores, peppers , of
both green and yellow varieties as well banana peppers and some hot peppers. I will
also have melons and squash. By the time the open house comes along I intend to
have some other varieties of veggies I haven’t mentioned yet. I am also working
on some innovative methods of growing tomatoes easily in a container type
environment. I will be making a straw bale garden, and also a method of raising
tomatoes where there are 2 cages with the inner cage filled with my compost and
the outer cage filled with tomatoes in a circular pattern. This supposedly cuts
down the need for watering as once you have the compost moist it serves to keep
the tomatoes in the perimeter moist and supplies them with much needed
nutrients while at the same time providing support for the tomatoes keeping the
fruit off the ground. I am also going to try growing strawberries in tubes and
feed them a nutrient tea.
These are just a
few things I will have going on this year. Also I intend to be open for 3 weeks
this year, with daily set hrs.. So you can stop by anytime or you can call and
still make arrangements to come and visit if you like. Again as I did last year
I will be giving away a carved bear to some lucky person who enters the
contest. The rules will change this year and I am still working on them to make
it fair and at same time allow me to get the best benefit from my work. Details
will be added later. I have quite a few petunias growing now and will have
hanging baskets available again this year. These will be hybrid as I don’t think
it makes much difference if flowers are hybrid or not, as we don’t eat them,
although my bees will pollinate them and make honey off the nectar , still the
small amount of hybrid flowers is inconsequential to the overall production of
honey.
work on back side of dam
I will be adding
more chickens to my small flock as I purchased 8 Rhode Island reds to help us
provide free range eggs to our homestead. I will be feeding them in addition to
letting them roam and will also train them to return to their chicken house
nightly to avoid being eaten by predators. I still have my 2 retired chickens
and have found that they take to herding quite well and hope I can train the
young ones by using these older chickens to show the new ones the ropes. I just
need to get a new chicken house built. If I see that we have an abundance of
eggs I will let you know and will be glad to sell you fresh eggs as they become
available.
concrete batch plant?
I plan on
adding a swimming pool to my greenhouse as I need to use it for rehabilitation
purposes as water, or swimming has a lot of health benefits available to it,
and with adding it to the greenhouse it will help condition the atmosphere
inside the greenhouse, at same time allow greater flexibility and privacy that
one doesn’t normally get with a backyard pool. If at the worse I have to
abandon this idea , I will throw some fish in it and use the water to water and
fertilize plants. Depending on our watering needs it may not be a bad idea to
have a storable water source to assure I have plenty of water during dry times.
I will begin adding water to the pool today. As I plan on being in it as early
as May 1st. The sooner the better, as far as I am concerned. It seems
every year it is harder to get through the winters and body aches, it will be
nice to have some minor comfort I have found before with swimming.
rhubarb growing from seed
So I have plenty
of things planned for this year. In addition,
I have also shut down my kevscarvings.com
site since I am doing no carvings for anyone else but myself for the next 2
years. After I close the greenhouse for the year I intend to go full steam
ahead on the foundation of my new addition to my house. I’m finalizing the plan
and hope to have something soon for all to see. I still expect it to take me 2 years
to complete as I had previously stated. Part of that is due to the drying of
the wood I intend to cut. By my next birthday a year from Dec. 22 , 2015 I intend
to be living in the new house. If you never make plans then you never have anything
to change, but then again you never have nothing. I would rather change my
plans than have nothing. Keep watching for more details as I go along.
these are my peeps
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