The 2010 garden

The 2010 garden is taking shape. This cold weather experience has given me the energy to adapt and change. My papers have a plot that shows the borders of fences and woodpiles. The center is blank. No rows or crops yet. OK, I put in the small greenhouse in the upper left corner. Next to that in the upper right corner is a dotted rectangle [maybe a high hoophouse] about twice as big as the greenhouse [about 15x20]. Down the page from the greenhouse is a row of 8 cold-frame boxes. Then beneath the 'maybe' hoophouse draw 2 more rows of cold frames. That would be 24 cold frame boxes. The rhubarb bed is in the way, so take 2 boxes out of the center row. Now there are 20 Coldframe boxes that are the Kitchen Garden. In '09 I had 11 frames. Some were perennial herbs, others flowers, garlic, leeks, and vegetables. The big summer garden is farther down the page --for another day of planning.

So here are spots for about 6 coldframes that I can plan with night covers to start a March garden of frost-loving plants. My wood-shop got finished this summer so I can saw and assemble the pieces inside. This could work. The studio is slightly heated so I could germinate some seeds inside at maybe 50 degrees. I will keep thinking......

Merry Christmas!

December carrots!!

Ok, I'm bad. There were two rows of carrots that were planted late and weeded over. I got one row out in November and I thought that was pretty good. With this late season, I got some out when the ground wasn't too frozen. They were good. Last week after the ground had frozen hard, I put bags of leaves on this last row. I thought maybe some insulation would help. So this week I went out with a bucket and started digging and chipping. Most of the ground was soft and the carrots came out easily. On the outside edge I had to chip out chunks of dirt with the carrots. So I got a bucket of dirt and carrots. I put the bucket in the bathtub and filled it with cold water. Today I cleaned them. They were crisp and sweet.

So I will think about this. How about a winter garden? Planting hardy plants like Kale, spinach, beets, carrots and turnips in a section of the garden, could be a good idea here. So I can do that. I will even get to eat some foods that I haven't had for years.

The snow is serious here. My homemade hoop house got a big snowdrift. The more it collapsed, the more snow piled on top of it. Is shoveling snow a garden activity?

Smart talk

Ok, I got out in the carrot patch, nipped the green tops off a row, got the fork out and found the ground frozen hard. Chip it or wait...... I decided to wait and dig them out later. I'm not totally stubborn[determined]. Since the ground was frozen I spread hay on the trails where I am laying out next years beds. I make 4x8 planting beds with paths around them. This part of the garden had daffodils last spring. We moved them and the ground got chicken manured hay that composted in during this summer. So next year I have plans for more herbs and flowers.

There should be 25 beds and rhubarb in this part of the garden. So now I have the paths made for walking between the future beds.

The logging was tough. We worked steady for 3 hours. He sawed trees and I carried wood chunks to the edge of the trail where the wagon can pick them up. When I am by myself I work like that for about an hour. So I guess I am way stronger than I thought I was. Am I sore now. Tomorrow we do the same thing. Then I should have wood until March. Life is good.

Happy day to you.

Frosty morning

It is cold and crisp this morning. Soon I will go out to get some buckets of carrots. Not going to the store for them anymore. I have 3 rows still in the ground and this 20-40 degree weather doesnt seem to affect them. After the rains and snows thing have dried out a little so I wont be digging in mud.

Anyway the garden is mostly put to rest now. The tall plants have been mowed and the ground has been shallow tilled to compost the greenery and extra zucs. I have about 40 garlics to plant this week and that is about it. My sister got me onto a Greenhouse experiment. She is moving little beets and kale from her outside bed into a greenhouse bed. She hopes to keep them going for salad greens until Dec.

Today I am working in the woods cutting firewood. I am working with a 'pro' so I can keep on task and work with some urgency. I work alone toooooo much.

Happy Days!

YES!

Yesterday was a big test day.  I brought a frozen chicken into the kitchen to let it thaw.  This is is the first cooked chicken from the second flock.  After it had thawed I split it and covered it with some spices.  Then baked it in the oven.  The smell was wonderful and the taste is awesome. YES! YES! I am validated!  Some of the things I tried as I raised these birds came through in the taste.  The green oats/peas as an suppliment food, the sunshine hours they spent outside the coop, the buckets of fresh water.  When these bird went for processing they were strong, active and fit. So I hoped they would be good.  I just never thought I could do this on my own.  So this winter we will all eat like kings and queens.  Now I know it is worth all the hours of work and observation to keep them fed and sheltered.  So the meat from this bird will go on to be the main course in two more meals.  Then the bits will go into a baked dish. The rest will become soup stock for a few lunches.  Funny! Until last year I had never tasted a Real chicken.  Now I am proud to be raising my own and feeding other people. 

Last week we had two nights of deep freezes. Now there are beets, carrots, squash, and sun chokes left growing in the garden. I have bags and bags of carrots but I dont know how to store them.  In the store they come bagged and chilled. I'll try to keep them in the shop but they might freeze.  Anyway they will be my snack food this month. It has been raining and misting so I'll try to stay out of the garden.  I'll need different breads this week for the dinners and soups. So Baking is on my list for today.  It is Saturday and electricity is cheap today.

Last Wed we got up on the hill and cut firewood.  We have enough for Oct and Nov now.  We are cutting near a trail so I can get the wagon in.  This part of the woods has mature aspen trees dying off as maples, basswood, ash and balsam are growing up to replace them.  So we cut the little trees that didnt make it and the aspen that died out. I am not so good at aiming the big trees as they fall, so I am taking the little ones first.

It is getting nicer outside. I'll start the bread and do some chores before I go up the hill. 

Ending the garden for now...Harvesting

Harvest is starting here.  I am pulling out the onions and storing them in bags. The carrots are going into plastic buckets. The blessing of the drought is that the cold weather is holding off for another week or so.  So this week I'll be pulling things in and tilling the ground and finishing up areas where the plants are done.  I decided that I am going to put up a small hoop house.  It may give me some choices on an earlier spring and a little more weather control for next year.  Anyway I need to get it up now in order to have the structure ready for Spring. The little apple trees [two years] are having a few apples.  Good eating!  Just not enough yet.  So I will spend some afternoons in the orchard, cleaning up around each tree and setting in braces and wire cages to keep them mouse and rabbit proof over the winter.   I am pretty happy to be a gardener.  These projects feel good and it is nice to see things fixed up.  Of course the trees are turning yellow and orange so I know the seasons are moving along. And I can do my fussing now when it is nice or do it later when it is 40 degrees, wet and windy.  It is so good to have choices.

Speaking of choices.... This year I have a torn rotor in my shoulder, two sprained thumbs and a torn thigh muscle.  All of these are slow healing and painful.  I could quit doing this work.  But I believe in it.  I am setting the framework/schedule to heal and strengthen myself during the gardening 'off season.'  I have to do it before I can write about it.  But I have made my decision. 

I spent a long time watching the sunrise today; from dark to day.  Incredible color... so soft and flowing in time.   These moments this morning are helping me.  I have to change my life. I don't know how yet.  Anyway the doctor and the torn shoulder have forced me to look at my life directions.  The deal for me is that I have to do 6 weeks of guided physical therapy with daily home exercise to restore my shoulder.  I can't do my farming like I thought I would even after 6weeks of therapy.  So maybe the 'soft and flowing' of the sunrise can help me today.  Maybe I can change in a soft and flowing way too. Maybe.....

So today I can do a few things.   The meat chickens were processed last week. It was sad to put them in cages but I know we could not have such good food without them.  We pick them up today-wrapped and frozen real food.  Most are sold already and I will send out some notes to other past customers to see if they want to order again.  The other good thing here is that I am not carrying buckets of water twice a day and lifting 50lb bags of feed and bales of bedding. So that daily strain wont be present in my schedule.   I start therapy and I will know a lot about what and how this will work. 

In the garden the drought is back. We had our last good rains two weeks ago.  The ground is dust again.  So  I am gathering and ending sections of the gardens.  The seasons are moving on.  It is hot now and soon the freezes will be here so I will be getting ready to have the gardens getting ready for winter and next year.  It is that time.  I bet there are a lot of one-armed gardeners and 'soft and flowing' gardeners.