Summer recap 2019

On the Farm

This past summer was crazy busy between the Farmer's Market, my parents visit, our visit to Joshua and getting things prepped for Mark's egg business, we didn't have a lot of down time.  Here is a recap of what happened on the farm.  Mostly garden projects...

A pic of the garden at the beginning of summer...it always looks so small but by the end of the summer, it was hard to even walk through it...I will refer you to the garden video in one of the August blog posts.

I really upped my fermentation game this year.  Here are half gallon jars of carrots, cucumbers/pickles, and salsa.  I ended up fermenting about 4 gallons of salsa.  I really like it on my morning eggs.

The cauliflower did really well this year.  I ended up freezing some of it but also canned some dilly cauliflower.  I also fermented some cauliflower.  It was super stinky while fermenting but tastes really good so I'm glad we stuck it out.  The broccoli did well this year too and I froze a lot of that too.  I have a much better idea about how much I need to plant.  I planted too much of some things and was able to donate to the food bank so nothing was wasted.

Finally got back to planting some nut trees.  It is a little hard to see but I planted 2 English walnut trees and a Hazelnut.  There is also a very small beechnut tree that has survived and is looking good.  I ordered another 2 hazelnuts and 2 chestnuts that will come in the spring.  I have finally decided where I want to put some pecan and oak trees but that may be a project for next year.

Made 2 raised strawberry beds that will be planted in the spring.  Here is a pic of the beds.  They are 8 x 4 feet in size and we put 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the bottom.  They are 8 inches tall.

 We put some dirt in the bottom (lower bed) and then a layer of rotting hay (upper bed).

 On top of the rotting hay, we put a layer of compost (didn't get a pic of this).  Then, we put a layer of rabbit shavings (bottom bed) and then a final layer of soil (upper bed).

Then, I just threw hay all around over the cardboard.  It will settle a little over the winter and we will fill it up with more compost in the spring when we get ready to plant the strawberries.

I started on another "food forest" that goes along the lower part of our driveway.  Here, Yeti is helping my put down cardboard and hay on top of it.

 I got all the cardboard and hay down and planted in a few items: bee balm, lavender, echinacea, thyme, oregano, lupine and transplanted in some feverfew and lemon balm in from my herb garden.  I planted a gooseberry and choke berry bush.  There was already a serviceberry and choke cherry tree in the area.  I have ordered an almond tree to put in the middle.  There are still about 7 areas left that can be planted in to in the spring.  I will probably divide some rhubarb and put in there and I also ordered some horseradish that will go in there.  I will probably also try to divide some yarrow and catnip and get it in there...so many possibilities...it doesn't look like much now but it will be nice in a couple of years.

 I want to continue with this food forest all the way up the driveway so as you drive in you can see lots of different flowers/herbs all along the drive.  I forgot how much work it was to move all that hay and collect all the cardboard so it might be a couple more years before I get to the top part...

Headed out to the garden today to try and collect as many veggies as possible before the big freeze comes tonight!

Happy Fall!
~Denise