I spent the past two days trying to save our garlic and I’m only a third of the way done.Ă‚Â I am trying to remove our rye/clover cover crop from the entire garlic bed – that is the cover crop growing between each clove of garlic, and each clove is planted about 6 inches apart, […]
I just spent the entire weekend freeing roughly 600 strawberry plants from Henbit (Lamium amplexcaule) that is winding it’s way throughout the strawberries making it rather difficult to remove the henbit rooting system without damaging our strawberries.Ă‚Â Ă‚Â I just took a package of frozen strawberries out of the freezer so that I remember just why […]
This past weekend we hiked with our neighbors, the Daltons, along the ridge above our farm.Ă‚Â Winter makes for great hiking in the mountains because of the spectacular views the deciduous trees provide us with once they have dropped their leaves.Ă‚Â Thanks to our neighbors, who invited us and guided us on our hike along […]
This weekend we just finished pulling out the spent plants from this years greenhouse crop of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers and basil.Ă‚Â We have gotten in the habit each year, normally around mid December, to pull all the spent plants and trellising out of our greenhouse so that we can plant a cover crop.Ă‚Â (We […]
Ă‚Â We use a “burdizzo” to neuter our goats.Ă‚Â PETA would probably not be happy with us for this type of castration!Ă‚Â This method seems to work well for us as it crushes the spermatic cords and requires no tetanus shots, no possibility of infection, and it is a quick procedure lasting around 60 seconds […]
We chose toĂ‚Â use electrical fencing to contain our goats and horses.Ă‚Â The problem with electrical fencing is that it frequently needs maintenance; fixing wire that has stretched too much, cutting away trees and brush from the fence line, and cutting down the weeds underneath the wire so that it the electrical current is not shorted […]
I just got to thinking about the concept of a “toy” which is mostly for nourishing our souls, versus food, which is to nourish our bodies.Ă‚Â Within the last month or so the news has been packed with “toy recalls” for lead paint.Ă‚Â I then started thinking of Americans….. We are so concerned about lead […]
Ă‚Â Rainbow over our Valley.Ă‚Â The Rainbow is coming out of Bluff Moutain, over which the Appalachian Trail Passes. This beautiful morning, without much rain, we had an amazing rainbow over our entire valley.Ă‚Â The camera just isn’t able to capture the beauty of the entire valley, so we just can’t share what we experienced!Ă‚Â […]
It seems that we are at that point inĂ‚Â the season,Ă‚Â between summer and fall, where our production level is at an all time low for the season.Ă‚Â We worry about having enough diversity in our CSA boxes over the next few weeks because we don’t want our CSA members to go hungry!Ă‚Â Our plan was to […]
Occasionally one encounters something in nature that causes you to stop in your tracks just to check it out. You stare for awhile, blink your eyes, and ask yourself, “Am I really seeing this?”. That is what the Pileated Woodpecker does to us. It is a huge, amazing bird that in its quest for food, […]