Starting an Orchard

Part of the dream of homesteading is being self-sufficient as possible, right?  And part of having a blank slate of acreage is to create the vision, right?

However, the reality that comes along with digging six 3-foot holes in shale to plant an orchard is quite tiring and painful.  This is how we spent a handful of hours one spring afternoon -- digging holes, slamming the shale bar, and remarking at how beautiful that day was.

(The wheelbarrow is so old but the trustiest one we have.  Even the wheel is metal.)

Placement for these trees was also something important.  We had to take into consideration the slope of our back acres, where the water flows, and wind direction.

We got three kinds of apple trees, one apricot, one plum, and one pear.  We also got semi-dwarf trees so that we will be able to manage fruit collection (one day) and get fruit a bit earlier than with a traditional root stock.  I like to call it the future orchard, but I've been criticized that six trees don't make an orchard.  

Meh, I don't care.  If one day I get fruit from these babies, I will continue to call it an orchard.  If I end up killing all six trees, then we will pretend this never happened.

(There really is nothing quite like a flowering fruit tree.  So pretty!)

Garden Plan for 2016

We have a lot of plans for the garden this year.  For one, I am so excited that we actually get to participate in growing some spring lettuces and cooler crops -- last year we didn't get the garden in until early June because of the septic installation.

Taking from our experience in the garden last year and the crops we grew, we decided that we need to double the size of the garden.  We want to add about seven more raised beds to grow some other crops we haven't tried yet.  So by the time we are completely installed, the garden should be 50 feet deep by 50 feet wide.  I guess it sounds big, but there's also space to walk around and enjoy the experience of being in the garden... and that really excites me!  I would love to get a bench or something to put out there.

We also have some plans for installing a garden fence.  In the late fall I found a guy selling 200 linear feet of basic fence post with rails.  It was deeply discounted and the guy offered to deliver, so all winter we have had tons of fencing sitting in our garage.  I know we are both looking forward to getting that out of there to get the tractor in to work on it (that's a whole 'nother story/issue that hopefully we will be exploring in a few weeks...). But we should be starting garden fence installation here in a few weeks, which means digging post holes and lining up fencing.  With the amount of fractured shale we have around here, digging the post holes should be pretty interesting....


Ok, back to plants and gardening.

(I have a seriously nerdy way of planning the garden.  It must be the teacher in me!)

Last year we grew: 4 different kinds of tomatoes (but didn't have 100% success because of some blossom rot), lettuces, kale (lacinato & curly), broccoli, English peas, golden beets, red onion, carrots, herbs, collards, cantaloupe, butternut squash, radishes, tatsoi, nasturtium, cucumber, eggplant, red and purple pepper,

This year we are continuing what we grew last year, except for a few that we discovered we weren't that fond of, and adding: spaghetti squash, corn, sugar snap peas, strawberries, garlic, asparagus (we don't expect to harvest this for a couple years), ground cherries, pumpkin, and potatoes.

Last week when I planted the garlic, asparagus, some beets, radishes, and lettuces, I put some chopped up leaf matter in the beds, turned the soil, and then topped off with more of our stash of gardening soil.  All the current beds are ready for planting...

I also have my seed starting operation up and running in our basement, which is awesome!  I have a lot of seeds started, but I really need to start some more of the plants I need to wait until after Mother's Day to plant.

(Two shop light fixtures per row; one cool and one warm bulb in each fixture -- that way you get the whole light spectrum for the plant babies to grow up!)

How do you all start your seeds?  For the past few years I've been very must dependent on the lights-in-the-basement system, but I'd really like something more environmentally friendly.  I would LOVE a passive green house, but a hoop house is probably a good intermediate step?  Not sure about these options yet, but I would be excited to know what others use and have found to be the most efficient.  Obviously hoop houses and green houses serve different purposes (extending season v. seed starting), but I'm just looking for some anecdotal evidence from people who use them.

Cheers!
~L

Raising Baby Chicks

We've been so excited to get our baby chicks.  Surprisingly, they come in the mail!  We ordered 15 chicks -- Barred Rock, Easter Eggers, Rhode Island Reds, and White Leghorns.  We were a little unsure about where we would keep them, but a good friend assured me that playpens in the basement or garage were best.

Here are our cuties eating some chick food to help them get big and strong.  Sadly, though, we lost all but one of our White Leghorns in the first week -- one was DOA, and the other two died shortly after.  It was pretty sad to experience these little babies' deaths, but it's all part of keeping livestock on the homestead.  (At least we don't have kids yet to become attached to any young animals!)

A few pro-tips: 

• Don't put them in your basement.  EVER.  Even if it means having to wait a couple of months to get the babies.  I would never EVER keep them in the basement again.  Everything quickly became dusty and I had to do a VERY thorough cleaning of the basement after we moved them to the garage.
• Death is all a part of this process, so if you want a certain number in your flock, over-order by at least five chicks.  Although our flock is 15 now, which is a good number, I still wish it was closer to 20.
• Don't use pack n' plays as baby pens unless you have them laying from rearing a few children.  We used them and now they are pretty beat up and I'm not sure they'll be useful again in the future.
• Do learn how to sex your chickens -- we ended up with one rogue rooster after we became attached to him, mainly because we thought he was a she and the most natural leader.
• Try to find a local supplier -- it's not ideal to get chicks through the mail, but it's the only way if you want to start rearing them in the middle of winter.  I would wait until March or April next time and get them from a local place.