"May your seeds be ready, and your fingernails dirty." - Shannon at Nourishing Days blog
BEAUTIFYING THE GARDEN - Front Yard
My vision of the front yard is an oasis of refreshing beauty, a welcoming display of flowers and shrubs, and a water feature. The layout is undecided; we still have branch/log clean up to finish from the tree removal caper, and the perimeter fence to install. When those tasks are done, I can dig in and start creating our front garden. For this project, I've begun gathering flowers, plants, shrubs and trees.
BUILDING THE GARDEN - Back Yard
The back yard is the main component of our farm; other than livestock, our vegetable garden and orchard will play a major role in our ability to have homegrown food. As in the front yard, there is a significant amount of branch/log clean up to complete, and then install the perimeter fence, before we can develop our garden and orchard.
In the meantime, I've started in on our container garden and have a handful of fruit trees as well:
HAVE - Bing & Rainier cherry, Italian plum, apple
WANT - Peach
HAVE - Tomato, strawberry, raspberry
WANT - Blueberry, kiwi
HAVE - Artichoke, potato, rhubarb, onion, broccoli, hops
WANT - Asparagus
HAVE - Chamomile, lavender, chocolate mint, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic, ginger
WANT - Basil
AQUAPONICS:
HAVE - Cattail, willow (weeping & shrub)
WANT - Duckweed
In the meantime, I've started in on our container garden and have a handful of fruit trees as well:
HAVE - Bing & Rainier cherry, Italian plum, apple
WANT - Peach
HAVE - Tomato, strawberry, raspberry
WANT - Blueberry, kiwi
HAVE - Artichoke, potato, rhubarb, onion, broccoli, hops
WANT - Asparagus
HAVE - Chamomile, lavender, chocolate mint, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic, ginger
WANT - Basil
AQUAPONICS:
HAVE - Cattail, willow (weeping & shrub)
WANT - Duckweed
Raised Bed / Wood Chip Garden hybrid project
(photo Paul Gautschi)
I decided to do a wood chip garden mostly due to an online video "Back to Eden", by Paul Gautschi. I was stunned by how much good sense this technique made, and I'm excited to get our garden beds ready.
Creating a wood chip garden is very simple:
Find and acquire a local source of covering (grass clippings, wood chips, leaves, etc)
Prepare the garden bed for the covering to be applied (remove weeds, apply damp newspaper, apply a layer of covering)
Plant seeds or starts
Nourish and water the garden, but don't till or mix the soil; just add more layers of covering as needed at the end of the growing season
I decided to do a wood chip garden mostly due to an online video "Back to Eden", by Paul Gautschi. I was stunned by how much good sense this technique made, and I'm excited to get our garden beds ready.
Creating a wood chip garden is very simple:
Find and acquire a local source of covering (grass clippings, wood chips, leaves, etc)
Prepare the garden bed for the covering to be applied (remove weeds, apply damp newspaper, apply a layer of covering)
Plant seeds or starts
Nourish and water the garden, but don't till or mix the soil; just add more layers of covering as needed at the end of the growing season
VARIOUS PROJECTS
Rainwater Harvesting
Permaculture
Beekeeping
I plan on adding bees by 2017. I'm researching hive types for honey bees, but I'm most interested in the top bar bee hives. An interesting take on hives: Appalachian Rotating Beehive.
Mason bees |
Native bees |
Honey bees |
Top Bar
|
Vermicomposting (Red Worms)
Slimy and unattractive, the humble red wiggler worm (Eisenia fetida) is nonetheless a voracious composting asset, turning many items like paper products, fruit and vegetable scraps into gloriously dark rich worm castings, and producing "worm tea" (the liquid byproduct of composting with worms), which is a fantastic fertilizer.
Red wiggler worms will play a vital role in our little farm, breaking down otherwise wasted items and transforming them into high quality soil amendment medium and fertilizer.
Red wiggler worms will play a vital role in our little farm, breaking down otherwise wasted items and transforming them into high quality soil amendment medium and fertilizer.
Red Worm Composting
Blog, facts about vermicomposting with red worms, great ideas and experiments.
Blog, facts about vermicomposting with red worms, great ideas and experiments.
Washington State Department of Ecology
"It's easy to turn your food scraps into nutrient-rich compost and reduce your garbage by letting
worms do the work! Vermicomposting, or composting with worms, can be done in the basement, garage or in a protected area outside your home. All you need is a worm bin, bedding material, a sheet of plastic, food scraps and, of course, worms. Within three to six months, you can have rich compost for your garden or outdoor potted plants."
"It's easy to turn your food scraps into nutrient-rich compost and reduce your garbage by letting
worms do the work! Vermicomposting, or composting with worms, can be done in the basement, garage or in a protected area outside your home. All you need is a worm bin, bedding material, a sheet of plastic, food scraps and, of course, worms. Within three to six months, you can have rich compost for your garden or outdoor potted plants."
Vivam Solid Waste Management Pvt. Ltd.
"...It must be realized that soil along with its faunal components constitutes Living Soil.Today we realize to our dismay that soils are dying! Let us strengthen our soil again with the help of all kind of Perishable waste and with the help of farmer's friend - The Earthworm."
"...It must be realized that soil along with its faunal components constitutes Living Soil.Today we realize to our dismay that soils are dying! Let us strengthen our soil again with the help of all kind of Perishable waste and with the help of farmer's friend - The Earthworm."
Canadian Wildlife Federation
"...This fascinating indoor recycling practice can be practiced by both apartment and house dwellers alike. Outdoor and indoor plants will benefit from the worm castings, which are a natural soil amendment/fertilizer that is known to have a highly productive impact on the yield of your flower blooms and overall health of your garden."
"...This fascinating indoor recycling practice can be practiced by both apartment and house dwellers alike. Outdoor and indoor plants will benefit from the worm castings, which are a natural soil amendment/fertilizer that is known to have a highly productive impact on the yield of your flower blooms and overall health of your garden."