We actually grew something!!!!

I can't believe it....yesterday we actually harvested edible potatoes and a handful of string beans from our garden. This is probably not a big deal to most people, but after a miserable failure at last years attempt to garden I was starting to think it was hopeless.

Last year I attempted to make the garden by tilling up an area of the yard...that is how most people do it right...well the weeds took it over before I could blink and we had the worst drought Virginia had seen in a long time. This year we made a raised bed and filled it with bags of soil...no weeding was the plan. We also put it close to the house so we could use the rain barrels to water it if necessary. Very scientifically I plopped a few old potatoes in there and covered them up! I didn't really think they would grow because I had no idea what I was doing. To my surprise a plant actually came to the surface. An Internet search told me to cover around the base of the plant so I did, still not thinking actual potatoes would grow. When all of the leaves died I started digging...no potatoes...dig a little deeper...no potatoes...then my husband stuck both hands in like a scoop all the way to the bottom of the garden and came out with five glorious little potatoes. We were so excited you would have thought we just had a baby!

Upon further inspection of the garden we noticed that some of our green beans were growing too. We had planted them to grow up the corn stalks because I had heard about the three sisters....we just did two sisters because I don't like cabbage. I was skeptical at first but it is actually working...I even see some corn growing too. On the downside our carrots never made it past the little spiky stage and only one tomato plant is growing out of many seeds we planted. I don't really have high hopes for it either because it is kind of sickly looking. Either way we are proud of our accomplishments...who knew a girl like me could get a real garden to grow. I am really enjoying the experience and feel like I learn something new everyday.

My chicks are growing!

A few days ago I moved our 12 Rhode Island Red bantam chicks to the main chicken house. They are almost three months old now and I think I can tell which ones are going to be the roosters. They seem to be assimilating well. These 12 are a group we let one of the hens sit on and hatch. After they hatched I let her keep a couple of them and took the rest up to the barn to grow in a safer place. We decided this time instead of letting the hen raise them, that we wanted to do it so we could handle them a lot. We have spent the last three months holding them and letting them get used to my 4 year old daughter. The extra effort has really paid off because now most of them are very calm and don't mind us at all. The hope is that when this group starts laying eggs we won't risk getting pecked so much while collecting the eggs. If things really work out then the plan is to let the egg collecting go to my daughter every day. She will love it...even though she is still a little scared of the rooster!! If I can remember to take my camera with me when I leave the house I will try to take some pictures to post next time.

What I want my farm to be!

In my imagination this is what I want my future farm to be like... lets start with 100 acres to make the math easy. On 1 acre I want to have my house, greenhouse, and my husband's dream shop. On 5 acres I want a huge veggie/fruit garden surrounded by a strip of various flowers (gotta have those pollinators and make them happy). I will need a lot of help with this garden because as of right now I can't even get a stupid tomato plant to grow!!!! That's where you come in!

On the next five acres will be an apple orchard with a few beehives...again pollinators. I would like to grow these organically so I need your advice on pest control methods.

Approximately 25 acres would be dedicated to my dream horse barn and pastures. This is purely because I love horses. I riding ring would be included so that I could make money on boarding and lessons. This acreage is also where I would raise a few cows for the family as well as guinea fowl for ticks and chickens for eggs. I would probably throw in a couple of goats for pasture maintenance.

On another 25 acres I would like to grow bamboo. From my research it appears to be an easy crop to grow, it is a nice green product, and it doesn't take lots of money to start. Major problem I have run into is who do you sell it to??? Any ideas people???

Finally the remainder of my farm would be dedicated to natural woods for the wildlife and to give us a place to go hiking or horse-back riding.

Yes all of this is a dream farm ...not totally realistic at this point in my life...unless someone has an extra million dollars they want to give me...just kidding! :) Either way the point is how everything on the farm has a purpose and everything ties together. Throw in some windmills and solar panels and the picture is complete. Do any of your farms look like my dream farm? If so ...how did ya get there???

Welcome!

Thanks everyone for visiting my blog!! My blog is going to be a little different...what I want the most is advice from all of you on how to run a better farm! About 4 years ago I started a farm with one horse and twenty acres. As a stay at home mom, I decided to start a horse boarding business to help contribute to the family's income while still staying home with my child. Now, four years later, my farm has horses, goats, chickens, guinea fowl, cats, and of course a dog. The things I have learned over these last several years I will share with you in future writings, however, it is time for this farm to make money instead of being just for fun. I also want to do my part to live more self sufficiently and less energy dependent. I have lots of ideas that I will share with you and hopefully many of you will share great ideas with me too. I believe now is the time to integrate ideas of homesteading with innovative technology as well as integrate plants and animals to produce a full circle farm. If you agree, please write to me and tell me how you do things on your farm.