Filed under: August 2022 | Tags: family, garden, garden produce, gardening, home canning, Love, Small Farming, Suffolk Punch horses
August 8, 2022
What a great reward for a little bit of work! Our gardens are in full swing, giving us produce almost as fast as we can pick it. I know that it is the same every year, but it never fails to make me humble. A little work, some seeds, topsoil and rain and a heaping scoop of God’s blessing and wow, what a harvest.
We are canning and freezing and keeping up. Hat’s off to my wonderful, hard working wife for her efforts. I do some of the dirty work, fetch and get, pick, husk and peel, but she makes the magic happen. She puts a little love in every single quart. I think that love is the secret ingredient that gets passed from generation to generation and crosses family lines. I say this because the food put up by my mom, my grandmothers and most anyone who takes the time do it correctly, tastes wonderful. It tastes like “home”. It fills your belly and warms your heart at the same time.
The work caused by growing one’s food, is a satisfying job. The sweaty brow, the dirty , sticky hands are just part of the experience. We involve our children and grandchildren, trying our best to pass on the love for land, wholesome food and a lifestyle that is a blessing. There is no work in a job when your heart is happy.
We still take time for fun! Maggee, at four months old, growing fast. She is shedding her baby hair. She will soon be weaned from mom. She gets lots of attention, as do all of our horses, but babies are so much fun! We mix work with fun, that balance makes everything better!
Filed under: August 2022 | Tags: firewood, freezing and canning, gardening, Small Farming, speltz, Suffolk Punch horses
August 2, 2022
The garden has started to reward us for our work of tending it. The harvest season begins slow, but soon we will almost be overwhelmed with fresh produce. My wife works steady canning and freezing so that we can enjoy the taste of summer all year. I do help, but once in awhile I am told to go do something else… I think I might cross the “bossy” line now and then. I am a great production guy. My wife is great in her kitchen. I found out that she doesn’t need me pointing out the obvious. We work well together. We laugh together and we love together. I think the yearly discussion over how the kitchen will be used allows us the reset needed in every relationship. It works for us! It has been working for 30 years this month and I wouldn’t change a thing!
Our young Suffolk filly is now 4 months old. She will get weaned by the end of the month. She is growing well. Her lessons come easy to her. She is shedding her foal hair out and becoming a big girl. She will be separated from mom and left to run with her sister and cousin in a big pasture. She is an independent lass, so I don’t see any real distress in her future. She is eating very well on her own and mostly nurses for comfort these days.
Once the main garden harvest commences, the last of this year’s hay will be cut. So the haying tools can be put away one by one. Then plowing and soil preparation for the fall planted spelt crop will begin. In the meantime, pasture mowing and wood cutting for the maple syrup woodshed fill our time. Training the young horses continues but that is more fun than work. It is hard to believe that the last month of summer has arrived, but the heat and humidity keeps it real! Enjoy the warm days…winter is coming.
Filed under: August 2020 | Tags: animal corn, garden, gardening, home grown, husky not fat, maize
August 4, 2020
We have gotten some much needed rain. The crops are showing their gratitude! The pastures are green and growing. The corn is amazing…or perhaps “a-maize-ing” :o)
The hay fields are growing steadily, making growth for yet another cutting. The gardens too are growing great and vegetables are ripening quickly.
These summer squashes made it into the freezer today. I like them in vegetable soup, especially on a cold winter day. The taste of summer lasts all year that way.
Today marks the usual start of our county fair. Wet weather has been a long standing addition to the fair activities. This year, much of the fair has been cancelled due to Covid-19. I guess someone forgot to tell the weatherman. I won’t complain, we needed this recent rain.
From the look of my picture, I think it is time for me to eat more squash and less potatoes! All garden rewards should not go to waste…in my case, should not go to “waist”!
June 15, 2020
I snapped this picture last night. The horses were all grazing on recently mowed pastures. The scene was peaceful to me. The pasture weeds have been throttled back, giving the grass room to grow and thrive. Brush hogging is boring work, but worth the effort.
The old style garden is off to a good start. Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, a few peppers and two hills of squash, getting ready to grow. Potatoes and corn require a bit of room. This garden used to be all the way to the white fence. We garden a bit smaller now as our nest got empty.
The raised beds too have been planted. The bed or the right will get most of the year off. It has been planted to a cover crop of buckwheat. The buckwheat will suppress weeds, enrich the soil and provide food for visiting bees. The bed on the left has been mostly planted to heirloom vegetables for our fresh eating pleasure.
Haying will commence again once a few nesting birds have fledged . We have about five acres of first cutting to go. There is no shortage of jobs to be done, but I just smile and whistle while I work.
Filed under: June 2019 | Tags: gardening, raised bed gardening, strawberries, strawberry
June 15, 2019
This was our first picking of strawberries for 2019…well not counting a few early ripe ones, eaten while weeding 😮 The wet weather has made it possible to have berries such as these, without any added irrigation. The raised bed also kept the plants from becoming waterlogged, with muddy fruit. I would say that the raised beds were perfect this year…not to mention no bending over for weeding or picking!
Here is a picture of our raised beds. We have two , side by side, one we keep a kitchen garden in, the other is planted with strawberries. We switch beds every three years. The switching allows us to fill the beds with soil and compost and amend with any nutrients needed, like lime.
The bed above is boasting a late summer growth cover crop of buckwheat. The buckwheat suppresses weeds and attracts all sorts of “good” bees. These beds produce lots of vegetables for us. In fact, one day we probably won’t need the main garden at all. Until then, we will garden in a traditional garden and tend to these wonderful raised beds and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Filed under: October 2018 | Tags: autumn, cover crops, gardening, weed suppression
October 4, 2018
In the photo above, buckwheat blossoms in our raised bed. The garden crops finished up last month, just after Labor Day. I pulled up all the plants, except for the Swiss chard in the foreground. The buckwheat germinated quickly and grew faster than I thought possible. These early autumn blooms providing a food source for many pollinators.
I plant cover crops often. Their value is amazing. In the case of buckwheat it draws honeybees and the like to the garden, helping to increase fruit set in many plants. I grow cover crops mostly for their weed suppression qualities. It must be noted, that cover crops also “mine” the soil of nutrients. The cover crops give those nutrients up, when they are incorporated back into the soil. The following crop gets the benefit of plant ready “food” right in their root-zone.
I could have left the raised bed garden fallow, void of any plants. Weeds would have soon taken over the bed. I have enjoyed a month of weed free gardening as the buckwheat grew. Now, I will enjoy these blossoms for a few more days. Soon, I will cut the buckwheat off and leave it to wilt and dry up some. Then I will incorporate the dead plants while preparing a seedbed for a winter cover crop of rye. The rye will suppress weeds for the few remaining weeks of the growing season. The rye then protects the soil from wind erosion over winter, while mining more nutrients from the soil below.
In spring, the cycle will start over at the time of planting next year’s garden. These are but two cover crops that we use, but their value is awesome. They save me work and provide beauty to be seen. The blossoming buckwheat against the blue sky, highlighted by the autumn foliage, is as pretty as, the green blanket of rye on a cold winter day.
Filed under: October 2018 | Tags: Ant and the Grasshopper, cover crop, gardening, potatoes
October 2, 2018
Yesterday, my wife and I dug our potatoes. This is the last garden harvest of this season. The ground was damp, so the potatoes are a bit muddy. I will lay them out on the floor of the shop to dry some before storing them in their crates. The drying cures the spuds, while allowing the mud to dry and fall off. Much better to have the dry dirt on the shop floor, rather than the basement.
These will keep in our root cellar until next March. Plenty for the two of us. In past years when the kids were all home, potato harvest was a much bigger deal! Funny how garden size and portion size shrinks as we age.
As we dug the last shovel out of the round, we paused to say….ahh, my aching back! We laughed with each other as we finished the job. It was a good feeling to make the harvest complete, just before forecast rain. I even managed to get the whole garden rototilled and seeded to a cover crop of rye. The garden now put to bed for winter, I can focus on the remaining jobs to be done before the snow blankets us all.
Yesterday too, I managed to get all of the summer compost spread on ground that will be plowed for next year’s corn. I pushed hard as the skies threatened to rain, but alas, no rain came until the overnight. The winds of autumn are starting to blow. Rains sprinkle us often, as the leaves start to turn color. When it comes to the fable of the “Ant and the Grasshopper”, be the Ant.
Filed under: July 2018 | Tags: butchering, canning and freezing, farm to table, farmstead, gardening, homesteading, pigs, pork, self-reliance, Small Farming
July 17, 2018
Several years ago, a young man stopped to visit with me. He was full of excitement about living a homesteading lifestyle. We had many talks about farming, gardening and family. He was a well read man, who knew what he wanted. It was easy for me to expand his knowledge. At the time, he was very interested in trying to raise his own pork.
I talked with him, showed him and encouraged him to try raising pigs. I explained what I believe to be the best methods. Buy young pigs at weaning called feeder pigs. Keep the pigs in a pen on full feed and water ration. Give them treats like apples, garden leftovers even weeds. Keep their pen clean and keep the pigs comfortable, shade for summer, deep bedding and a warm hut for cool fall days.
The young man, Mark, went home to try and convince his wife that they could grow their own hogs. Sure enough, he wore her down and pigs soon graced the landscape at their farmstead. I went over that autumn and taught him how to humanely butcher his pigs. He learned well and was a quick study. They have raised their own pork now for seven years.
Mark has a young family. He is teaching his children all about gardening and animal husbandry. Mark’s wife too has a hand in teaching. She cans and freezes their food. They make cider, raise chickens for eggs and meat, and produce lots of vegetables in their raised bed gardens.
After using a makeshift yet sturdy pen for a number of years, Mark built this nice permanent pen. At the gate where the pigs enter the pen, he set a stainless steel fork into the concrete. The pigs pass this fork twice. Once when they enter the pen and the last time as they are slaughtered for food.
The fork keeps everyone grounded. The children know that the pigs are not pets. Sure, pet them, scratch their ears and rub them down, but keep in mind the purpose of the pig is to sustain the farmer and his family. The fork also signifies that the pork will be going into their mouths, so the pigs will be only fed wholesome grain, vegetables and other gleaned produce from the farm like apples and pumpkins.
I am pleased to have helped this young man out. He is paying it forward by helping others return to the land. This makes me very happy. We must teach the young ones where our food comes from. They learn kindness, responsibility, nurturing and become self-reliant. They learn patience and tolerance. They learn many things about “farm to fork”. Congratulations on your homestead Mark. Thanks for being such a good student, but most of all, thanks for helping others.
Filed under: June 2018 | Tags: gardening, growing potatoes, reflection, Small Farming, vegetable gardening, weeding, well being, work
June 26 2018
This morning, I was weeding the garden as the sun rose. The garden is behind a bit due to delayed planting from our rainy weather. It is easy to see that we should get a crop. It may come a little late, but it will taste good just the same.
Weeding is a great quiet time for me. The small weeds succumb to the sharp bladed hoe easily. I am alone with my thoughts. The animals have been fed. The horses are back in the barn after a night of grazing. The biting flies don’t like the dark cool barn, but the horses sure do.
The sheep and cattle are still laying peacefully in the grass. Their bellies are full and the cool morning refreshes them all. I hilled the potato rows. I was going slowly, tucking dirt around the small tender plants. The dirt wasn’t quite ready for this job, but rain is forecast for tomorrow, so I pushed to complete the job. Soon, in the soft hilled up dirt, potatoes will form and grow in the dark, warm ground. A tasty treat, boiled, fried or baked, makes my efforts worthwhile.
Today, I have to use the skidsteer to move the big, plastic-wrapped, round bales of haylage. It is a noisy job that must be done. The horses will rest in the barn as I stack the bales for winter feeding. I need to get them off the field before they kill the grass underneath. I pondered that up coming job as my hoe slid into the Earth, barely making a sound. This sunrise weeding is good for my well being. I sort my day, kill weeds and grow some of my food…all under a beautiful sky, in the cool of morning, surrounded by birdsong.
Filed under: August 2017 | Tags: American Made, cover crop, Family business, Garden tools, gardening, Homestead Iron, made in America, raised bed gardening, soil
August 10, 2017
Leaning on my cane, fingers in the dirt is a mental boost for this farmer! It’s been a while since I could “play in the dirt”, if you will. Many farm jobs got put on hold. A few jobs have been done by others. Yesterday, I was able to weed and till this section of raised bed garden. I even planted a cover crop of buckwheat.
Now, this surely is farming small, but my connection with the soil has been made whole again. This whole job took a total of about 20 minutes to complete. Before knee surgery, I would have knocked it out on the way to do something else. I was my whole focus yesterday and I was even tired by the time I had completed it!
I did this entire job by hand using garden tools made by a family business called Homestead Iron. The hand tools are forged and fashioned out of tool steel in a small shop. The shipping part of their business involves using their kitchen table. This is a family business, here in America, in the state of Missouri, owned and run by Mr.& Mrs. Will Dobkins. You can check out their website at WWW.Homesteadiron.com
I am amazed at just how nice these tools were to use. They are just the right weight. They are sharp and well balanced. They fit my hand well and the angle of the blade is perfectly aligned for working the dirt. These are made like tools were made in the “olden days”. I’m talking about the time when the guy making the tool used them too. Most of the junk tools available today are bulky, heavy, not sharp and not anywhere near ergonomically friendly. It’s easy to see that many of today’s tool manufacturers never had to use one all day long!
Friends, I am endorsing the tools made by Homestead Iron. They are tools that work for people who work too. The best part is that the guy who forges them uses them too. Each tool is hammered and shaped by one man. His wife answers the phone, sends email and ships the product…from the same kitchen where she feeds her family! This is true American work ethic in action. I urge you to check them out.
Thanks to the Dobkin’s, my day of gardening, though short, was a wonderful experience. The tools they made were a joy to use. The sun shined on my face and a little dirt worked under my fingernails making the whole experience for me nothing short of divine. Due to the recovery time from my knee surgery, I’m not able to farm in a big way yet. Getting my fingers in the dirt sure helped my healing…mentally and physically!
RicelandMeadows 