Lazy Gardener
Super Self-Sufficient
I'm starting this thread for miscellaneous trivia that is pertinent to my management of my little bit of heaven. Hopefully, this will keep me from hijacking other folks threads with my trivia.
Hubby and I purchased this 4+ acre parcel of land in Central Maine 42 years ago. We built our own home with some hired help and a lot of family help. We are currently empty nesters.
Approximately 2 acres of cleared land. My gardening style is BTE or Ruth Stout style of deep permanent mulch. Most recent efforts at taming the land include a hugelkulture mound, BTE orchard, and sheet compost garden. Soil in garden is excellent sandy loam with gentle southern slope. Natural soil is heavy clay with LOTS of rocks. High water table.
Chicken flock: breeding goal: Produce a flock which is colorful in both feathering and egg color which thrives in my cold climate. Ground is frozen from November through mid April. Thus, my birds should have small combs. I occasionally bring in new blood with mail order chicks. Back bone of flock: Buck Eye roo and a few hens, Barred Rock, Dominique, EE, Black Australorpe, and a single Colombian Wyandotte. Flock is managed on DL in coop and run, fermented feed. Extremely limited in terms of free ranging due to heavy hawk predation. Successful broody hens and selection of eggs based on egg shaped gender selection produces approximately 60% pullets from every set with ~95% hatch rate. Extra cockerels are processed for the freezer. Housing: 10 x 12 standard frame coop, 500 s.f. run. During snow season, I can only use 200 s.f. of the run due to heavy snow load which slides off the coop roof. This area has walls covered with plastic, and a clear tarped roof over 1/2 of it. Interior temp of this "sun room" is about 20* warmer than ambient outdoor temp on a sunny day.
Food preservation: HWB and pressure canning, occasional dehydration. (need to develop my repertoire and comfort with using dehydrated foods) We bought an upright freezer a year ago, and I'm LOVING the way that freezer has revolutionized the ease with which I can put a quick meal on the table. I also love using a vac seal unit. IMO, frozen foods last much longer and quality is preserved using this system.
Gardening: About 2000 s.f. of total gardening area available to me, which includes fenced garden, HK, sheet compost, and tucking some plants into the orchard. I have an 8 x 8 Cattle Panel green house, and utilize hay bale cold frames and hay bale gardens. Trellising is accomplished with used swing sets, cattle panels, 2 x 4's with electrical conduit. Garden is fenced with CP.
I love little building projects and outdoor "make it better" activities. Have built CP coop, green house, several chicken tractors, incubators, book cases with tiled tops, stone retaining wall. Biding my time till spring: growing sprouts for myself and the chickens, dabbling with hydroponics.
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This morning, I baked some potatoes in the wood stove. I also decided to try roasting some garlic in the stove. The top of the stove is just large enough for me to set a 2 qt pan at the back. I've been enjoying the use of the stove surface for cooking part of the evening meal: rice, veggies, and such.
Hubby and I purchased this 4+ acre parcel of land in Central Maine 42 years ago. We built our own home with some hired help and a lot of family help. We are currently empty nesters.
Approximately 2 acres of cleared land. My gardening style is BTE or Ruth Stout style of deep permanent mulch. Most recent efforts at taming the land include a hugelkulture mound, BTE orchard, and sheet compost garden. Soil in garden is excellent sandy loam with gentle southern slope. Natural soil is heavy clay with LOTS of rocks. High water table.
Chicken flock: breeding goal: Produce a flock which is colorful in both feathering and egg color which thrives in my cold climate. Ground is frozen from November through mid April. Thus, my birds should have small combs. I occasionally bring in new blood with mail order chicks. Back bone of flock: Buck Eye roo and a few hens, Barred Rock, Dominique, EE, Black Australorpe, and a single Colombian Wyandotte. Flock is managed on DL in coop and run, fermented feed. Extremely limited in terms of free ranging due to heavy hawk predation. Successful broody hens and selection of eggs based on egg shaped gender selection produces approximately 60% pullets from every set with ~95% hatch rate. Extra cockerels are processed for the freezer. Housing: 10 x 12 standard frame coop, 500 s.f. run. During snow season, I can only use 200 s.f. of the run due to heavy snow load which slides off the coop roof. This area has walls covered with plastic, and a clear tarped roof over 1/2 of it. Interior temp of this "sun room" is about 20* warmer than ambient outdoor temp on a sunny day.
Food preservation: HWB and pressure canning, occasional dehydration. (need to develop my repertoire and comfort with using dehydrated foods) We bought an upright freezer a year ago, and I'm LOVING the way that freezer has revolutionized the ease with which I can put a quick meal on the table. I also love using a vac seal unit. IMO, frozen foods last much longer and quality is preserved using this system.
Gardening: About 2000 s.f. of total gardening area available to me, which includes fenced garden, HK, sheet compost, and tucking some plants into the orchard. I have an 8 x 8 Cattle Panel green house, and utilize hay bale cold frames and hay bale gardens. Trellising is accomplished with used swing sets, cattle panels, 2 x 4's with electrical conduit. Garden is fenced with CP.
I love little building projects and outdoor "make it better" activities. Have built CP coop, green house, several chicken tractors, incubators, book cases with tiled tops, stone retaining wall. Biding my time till spring: growing sprouts for myself and the chickens, dabbling with hydroponics.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
This morning, I baked some potatoes in the wood stove. I also decided to try roasting some garlic in the stove. The top of the stove is just large enough for me to set a 2 qt pan at the back. I've been enjoying the use of the stove surface for cooking part of the evening meal: rice, veggies, and such.
We could see things going on outside but, not who. 
