My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Farmer Friday

Lancinato (Dinosaur Kale) and Rainbow Chard
The kale and chard in the low tunnel is finally taking off and ready to pick. I picked a mess of collards too.

Eggs!
While I'm still waiting for some of the older birds to start laying again, I still have a lot of eggs~ about 38 a day!

pallet fence
I got a little bit done on the pallet fence out front, but need to trim a couple of them to fit right. Hopefully when finished the pigs won't be able to get in the yard any more.

fence from the other side
rain clouds
I finally had some rain on Thursday, 1.5". Except for .1" awhile back that's the first rain since September. I hope we get more rain over the next few months, we are really behind. I got just over 10 inches for all of 2017.

Monday, February 12, 2018

Harvest Monday

egg production is picking up
Harvest Monday, a day to show off your harvests. Brought to you by Our Happy Acres This post is for two weeks because last week I was having issues connecting with my wifi.

After a long spell of very few eggs production is picking up. Some of the old girls are laying a few extra large eggs a week while the young hatchery girls I bought last fall are just getting started with small pullet eggs.

baby pak choi
There's still lots of baby pak choi and red mustard greens. It's getting so warm some of the pak choi is trying to bolt, but still tastes delicious.

There's not much else to pick right now, since it was so hot and dry in the fall a lot of things didn't make it. I still have a pile of small and medium spaghetti squash, but the Red Kuri and the Delicata are gone. I just put in the first batch of lettuces so hopefully they will be ready soon.

A little catching up, January totals. totals do not count buckets of greens pulled for the chickens

crop TOTAL
 pak choi 13.0000

herb, cilantro 0.6875

herb, parsley curly 0.1875

herb, rosemary 0.0625

herb. Sage 0.1250

mustard, red giant 6.3125

Month total 7.3750

Eggs: January 2018  526

Feb
Crop
Pak choi           4.625
Red Mustard     3.3125
Spinach             1.25

Feb total            9.1875

Friday, February 2, 2018

Farmer Friday

tomato seedlings
The tomato seedlings are up! I'll be putting them into bigger soil blocks on Sunday.

broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi and lettuce
This week saw the second terrace and bed put in the new garden. I planted over 200 transplants into it, broccoli, cauliflower, baby pak choi and lettuce.

sage and rosemary planted below the wall
I planted some culinary sage and rosemary along the base of the retaining wall. They will catch and use water that seeps down from the garden.

Suzy in the back, Edda and Giotto
Edda is settling in well. Still a little skittish, especially with visitors or if I move too quick or make a loud noise.

one gap left
Today I worked on the fence around the garden. There is one little gap left to plug up.

fence at moms house
I worked on fence at mom's house too. Plugged up the gap where Edda was getting out of the yard.

Front yard pallet fence
I spent one morning working on trimming vines and shrubs and adding to the pallet fence around my front yard. A little more to go and I can start working on planting in the front yard without fear the pigs will get into it.

I spent this morning getting ready for the Superior Farmer's Market tomorrow. I picked baby pak choi, red mustard, cilantro. Egg production is picking up so I'll have lots of eggs. I may get a few more herbs picked too.