The farm this year

Here is a little picture of the farm as it is now 

Redneck solar

A friend of mine whose sister also practices homesteading sans electricity gave us this idea. Yard lights as house lights. LED technology makes for great yard art in the day and interior lights in the tiny house at night. It may be a little redneck but it works and is better than cutting down the forest and taking out a loan to run power to the house 

Tiny house remodeling

The damage due to carpenter ants has taken a step toward repair today with the recovering of the walls upstairs. 

Early morning killing

His morning was a morning of death on the farm some imposed and some unexpected. One of the baby turkeys has unexpectedly succumb to eternal repose.   While the turkey incident is sad on a happier note we no longer have a mean male quail bloodily picking at the others. Our Italian quail, the bully, received a lecture on the repercussions of bullying and then quickly volunteered to be lunch. We appreciate his willingness to sacrifice and acknowledge his mean ways were wrong. The other quail do not miss him. 

Seasoned and ready to bake 

Quail tractor 2.0

Well the previous quail tractor proved to be a sub optimal design. It served its purpose but not so efficiently. Quail tractor 2.0 has considerations for egg gathering, ease of moving, as well as accessibility to grass while providing cover from kitty. Oh and quail tractor 2.0 also features larger living quarters for more friends.

Late night canning

It seems that, at least in our home, late night canning could be the title of every canning project. No matter how early in the day the cutting, jar washing, brine boiling and other canning festivities start, the end result is always late night canning. Tonight the fun revolved around pickled okra and canned Asian pears. Mmmmm 

More animals

The farm continues to develop, rapidly by some standards and laboriously slow by others. This week we saw the addition of 19 quail bringing the total to 21 as well as one rooster and 10 baby turkeys. The rooster is nice as can be and will even let me pet him though he is in the market for a girl friend. Preferably a social gal that enjoys early morning singing and tasty worms. 

Farming with friends

Our tiny farm is growing. We grow lots of grass and weeds thrive.while the fruit trees are thriving and the berry bushes are pumping out tasty treats the veggies leave something to desire. Turns out our soil is great for fruit but needs a little nudge in order to grow beautiful veggies. We are taking steps to address the soil needs, notably adding cow manure from a friend farm down the road. 

That said, we are considering teaming up with friends farms next year to offer a CSA ( community supported agriculture weekly food box). Here are a few photos of what one might look like. 

Upstairs ceiling

Well the wood ceiling is finally going in on the second floor. We liked the pine slat look we tried at our old house so here goes round two. His time we know what we are in for. 

High tunnel

The high tunnel is part way done. 

20X40 high tunnel for growing winter greens. We also made a small fence area to rotate the goats