Raised Garden Beds

Our garden area had been an abandoned weed patch for 15 or 20 years before we bought our place.  After three years of struggling to re-claim it we have decided to make serious changes in our approach.  It came down to either bombing the whole thing with Round-Up or making one last organic attempt.  We’ve decided to reduce the size of our garden, change everything to raised beds, plant cover crops in the raised beds, and lay weed barriers in between the beds.  If that doesn’t work, then bring on the chemicals!

I’ve used raised beds in smaller gardens before.  They are great for draining wet soils in the Pacific Northwest.  I chose not to use them here, until now, because our soil is already plenty dry in the summer.  I also, mistakenly, wanted to till a larger area with our tractor and plant more vegetables.  Well, I tilled a larger area alright, but I sure didn’t get any more vegetables out of it.  I ended up working harder and growing a really large crop of weeds.

We will be building our raised beds out of re-purposed lumber much of which I got for free.  We will be making beds 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 6 inches high.  We will be using short sections of 4X4 at the corners and 1” by 6” on the sides.  We’ll be, hopefully, getting a broad fork to deep till it.  Tilling in compost, aged straw from the chicken coop, and manure from the cows.  Chicken droppings are pretty hot fertilizer, but time and the old straw should cool them down a little bit.

Once we get the beds built we will be planting a buckwheat cover crop.  Cover crops can be used for a variety of purposes.  They fix nitrogen in the soil and plant matter.  When you till them back under, they can condition and loosen up dry soil.  They also grow quickly and compete with the weeds and hopefully prevent the weeds from taking hold.

Our raised beds will still require a lot of weeding, but hopefully after a few years we can reduce the amount of weed seed in the bed area.  Between the beds we will be laying a weed barrier, most likely cardboard, that will eliminate the need to pull weeds between our beds.

All this may or may not work, but the only alternative is to use chemical herbicides.  In some cases herbicides can be an important tool.  We use them on a plant by plant basis to control thistles in our pasture.  But spraying them on a large scale in an area in which we are growing our food is not something we really want to do. 

We’ve already built a bed and planted our fall garlic crop.  The garlic is actually sprouting because of this troublesome warm weather we’ve been having.  I’m planning on building another few beds in the next couple of days while this warm spell lasts.  I’ll have to cover the garlic shoots with straw to try to save them from the cold that’s supposed to come mid-week.

It’s not even the winter solstice yet and we are already working on next year’s garden plans.  Seed catalogs are arriving in the mail.  We are looking at what seedlings to grow indoors.  I’ll be trying to grow tobacco this year again.  I haven’t grown it in a couple of years.  We’ll be trying a few new ideas for our seedlings indoors.

I love the circle of the seasons.  Life, death, rebirth.   Hope you are all having a wonderful fall…almost winter.  Blessings.

No more new animals...

No more new animals until Whisper has her kids. Except for this Labrador Retriever we rescued from the shelter. She is only six weeks old and is completely adorable. She and Oberon are (more or less) getting along. They sleep together anyway. Her name is Titania.

Speaking of baby animals. Whisper is very, very pregnant and should be kidding within a week or two.

Hopefully she will wait until after I return from a backpacking/fly-fishing trip I'm taking with the boys. We are going up to a place called Kelly Creek to spend a few days. We plan on hiking in a few miles, setting up a camp, and doing some fishing. If the water is low enough, which is a bit dicey this early in the summer, the fishing is usually great. I can't wait. It'll also give Jenny a few days off from parenting.

The garden is booming along. We grew enough radishes to do the farmer's market, but the lettuce that was supposed to go along with it got eaten by the chickens. So, we have hundreds and hundreds of radishes that are getting ready to bolt and go "woody." I guess you can't complain about having too much food, although it's hard to do too much with a zillion radishes.

The good Lord has blessed us with a beautiful garden this year. We are enjoying it's bounty. We are truly, truly blessed.

Birth Class!

Oh my, spent all weekend in a Bradley Method birthing class. It's really starting to sink in that Jenny is pregnant. We spent the whole weekend talking about birth and babies. We covered a lot of topics in sort of a whirlwind. We will be having a natural home birth. It sounds like an amazing experience.

Came home late this afternoon and got some squash and tomatoes planted. The weeds are taking over, so it's time to spend a few days weeding, mulching, and fertilizing. We have a ton of stuff growing in the garden but with the weeds an general disorganization it looks pretty ramshackle.

We will be having over a hundred children and their parents over to tour the farm and learn about "where food comes from." They are coming from the Methodist Vacation Bible School. Pretty cool, but a little scary.

Well, it's off to say bedtime prayers with Jenny and then I'll probably spend a little more time housecleaning. Blessings,

Garden Trouble

Two days ago it frosted. Today we had a big hailstorm. The warm weather vegetables are not happy. The basil is history. The squashes will need to be re-planted. The tomatoes are half-dead. Spring on the Palouse. Well, life goes on. We will just have to re-plant.

We've got some friends visiting us for the memorial day weekend. They have four boys under the age of thirteen. That makes for a total of seven young boys in the house. The energy level is high. That's an understatement. It has been loud and rowdy. But really, we are having a great time. The boys are most certainly having a great time.

Our oldest boy has been taking on an increasing amount of responsibility for the animal chores. He's really doing great.

Caspian, the male goat, is getting worse. His front legs are in really bad shape. I have no idea what to do or even what exactly the problem is. I was really having a lot of...emotions...about possibly having to put him down. I don't really know when that decision might have to be made. Not today certainly. Prayed about it a little bit with Jenny. I can't really justify taking him to see a vet...but it is tempting. We decided to call a vet on Tuesday and what they could do in the way of a short visit if I can put Caspian in the back of the truck an bring him in for just a quick look. I was unprepared for how troubling I found the notion of killing him is.

Well, sitting here thinking about how precious each of God's creatures are. They are indeed a blessing. Each and every one of them.

Farm at the end of the rainbow

A beautiful rainbow leading right to our farm, where we capped off a hard day's work with a strawberry-rhubarb pie. We poured concrete for the base of the clothesline. After meeting some friends for lunch we planted about thirty tomato starts. I don't think all of them will survive. Some of the starts were getting pretty "leggy". That's alright. We should get a fair number of plants out of the deal.

Planted a second planting of greens yesterday. Salad greens, lettuce, and spinach. Also about 100 row feet of beets. The garden is starting to take shape after another long, late spring. Tomorrow we are going to take a day, or part of a day, off and go for a hike. We're going up to a little place called Kamiak Butte. If the weather is right you can see the green Palouse hills and wheat fields for miles around.

I may try to till about an 1/8th of an acre for animal feed. Field corn and sugar beets. The field corn can double as corn for cornbread too. It is a new project for this year. I'm praying for success, but whatever happens we will be blessed. We've got lettuce and radishes almost ready to harvest already. The pigs are looking great. I've never had such healthy, happy looking hogs. I'm really pleased with the piglets we got. Purebred Berkshire hogs from Rocky Ridge Ranch. We are in the planning stages to expanding their pigpen into more of a pastured operation. They need to be contained in a pen anyway until they get a little older, so we're not in a huge rush.

I have been really been feeling so blessed and so close to family, friends, and God this last week. My feelings of connection to God wax and wane. Part of my faith is the act of questioning. As much as I question though, I still always come back to the knowledge that we are all children of God. That this good Earth is an example of his handiwork. That we are so very blessed to live out this life in such a beautiful place. God bless.

Sunshine

The Sun made an appearance here in N. Idaho today. It was most welcome. It was a lovely gift on this Easter weekend. The long slumbering farm is re-awakening. The goats will soon be giving birth. The chickens are producing an ever increasing number of eggs. Piglets will be coming on Friday. Baby turkeys will be coming soon too.

Usually at this time of year we start corralling the chickens too keep them out of the garden area. Unfortunately that cannot happen right now due to septic construction. Therefore, the garden will be late going in. Sigh. We've planted some new cherry and apple trees though. Along with some raspberries. I'll be putting in an asparagus patch soon too.

Life is mighty fine here on the farm. We are truly blessed. I'd love to be planting more, but it will happen soon enough. By next weekend the construction on the septic will be done and we will be in a whirlwind of gardening activity. I hope your gardens and critters are all coming along. Whatever vegetables and animals we end up with will be a gift. God bless.

Pickled sprouts

Up close and personal with some pickled Brussels sprouts. Yum! I've never pickled sprouts before. I think they will be good. They certainly look good. As much as I have grumbled about my garden this year, I have been blessed in the brassica department. Lots of cabbage, broccoli, and sprouts.

First starts of spring are up!

The first starts of spring are up in the grow room! We have lettuce growing. We also planted two varieties of tomatoes, Muscovich and Burbank, on the heat mat tonight. The basil is planted as well. Now we have to figure out how to keep the cats from stepping on the tender little plants.

We were turned on to beef knuckles as a way to keep Luna from chewing everything in sight. At least for a little while, it attracted her entire attention. She is such a little darling, but she is getting big so fast.

My teaching week is over. It was a pleasant week. I felt pretty serene for most of it. Wrapped up the week by sitting outside with Luna watching her eat a cow hip bone she found. I thought I heard a pheasant in the yard. A nice hawk was perched on the windmill.

Now all the critters are asleep and I'm just relaxing and listening to a little music. Life is good.

All sorts of good stuff

Bird hunting season has ended, but here are some pictures of Luna's first bird, a gray partridge, before the end of season. At other times she has smelled birds and gotten "birdy", but this time she was distracted. She didn't really retrieve it either, but I gave her the smell of it. So she should be more mature next season. Grouse starts in September. Rabbits are still open, so maybe we can get into one or two before the end of that season.

She is growing and learning at an incredible rate. We are praying that she'll turn into a good hunting dog, but it's hard to imagine when she's still got so much puppy in her. We took her out for a nice long hike the other day.
We've got more and more bulbs coming up in the yard. Tulips, crocus, and snowdrops. One other flower I can't identify.

We planted some seeds indoors in the grow room last night. Lettuce and basil. We will plant tomatoes and peppers as soon as the heat mat we ordered gets here. I can't wait until little plants start growing. Spring is definitely on it's way. We even have the windows open today although it is a little chilly in the house. It's nice to get some air.

It's back to teaching today after a nice weekend. Say a little prayer and jump right into it. It'll be a fine day, even if I have the Monday morning blues a little bit.

Bunnies have left the area

We haven't seen but one rabbit this week on our morning walks. Hopefully they have left the immediate garden area. More likely, some have left and the rest have become nocturnal. We will see when we start the lettuce and radishes in the garden. I will play with Luna and a rabbit hide to make sure she has the scent right, but I had been kind of saving the hides for fly-tying.

Today is the last day of my "face to face" work week. I have four hours of face time and a few hours of prep to do. I'm not too overwhelmed. I will be on puppy duty all day Friday and have plenty of farm chores and work planning to do around the farm. I love working my own schedule but that means I have to actually set aside the time to do the work. Whether that's Saturday night at 2 am on the couch, or a sunny Friday afternoon at the picnic table. If I put it off, I don't get paid.

Well, it's breakfast, then off to teach.