Lazy Gardener's Little Town Farm

[Lazy Gardener]

Check out University of Maine cooperative extension. They have an awesome compilation of resources for the gardener and small farmer. A great video series on growing raspberries, and trellising. Also, written or video format regarding all other types of berries, building cold frames, raised beds, etc. This is ONE place where our tax dollars are actually used for good purpose, yet so very underutilized!

 

[wyoDreamer]

I will have to check that out @Lazy Gardener

I have found so much useful information on various University Extensions sites.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I love University Extensions. A resource that we could all benefit from. Re: pavers: Just realize that you will have canes trying to push up between the pavers. Those canes are relentless. I would opt to till around the bed to keep things in check.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I had a hankering for Iced tea today. I have a new favorite. This tea is sweet enough that it needs no further enhancement. I can get it for less than $3/box at a local discount store. https://shop.bigelowtea.com/Bigelow/black-tea/French-Vanilla-Decaf/04265

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Hopefully, my first customer is showing up this evening, to take 8 birds from my flock. If he shows, I'll see a 20% flock and feed reduction! Hoping that customer #2 comes this weekend to take an other 20. That will give me a much more manageable "herd." If flock size gets down to 10 - 12 birds, it'll be much easier to give them some rotational grazing, or build a chunnel to the garden.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've sold a total of 20 birds from my flock. Some of them were freebies (older birds, plus one roo). Hopefully, selling an other 6 tomorrow. That will bring my flock down to a good size.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Hubby helped me to muscle a huge rock out of the garden. This thing was massive. If I was "trying to hug it, my arms wouldn't be able to circle it at it's smallest diameter. Perhaps I'd come up 8" shy of being able to touch my fingertips together around it! It was buried just deep enough that I hit it every time I pushed the spade into the soil in that area. So, I decided it must come out. It took all of the strength that both of us had to offer, along with a 4' iron bar, and a 10' plank. I intend to roll it up against the front fence line, then... eventually remove a CP section to roll it out of the garden. Hopefully, Hubby can snag it with a chain, and drag it to the edge of the lawn. You wanna hear a funny? After he helped me get it out of the ground, he stood there and looked at the hole.

Him: "Now, you got a hole to fill."
Me: "Yeah."
Him: (looks around a bit more, and spies my pile of smaller rocks that have not yet been hauled out of the garden.) "you could back fill with those!"

Maggie has been sick for the past 2 days. Puking, black poop, off her feed, and most unlikely unrelated: a sore left front leg. She's eating tonight, so... hoping she's getting over what ever her issue was.

My last customer took the last batch of chickens. I believe I'm now down to 18 birds + a roo. I think 4 of the hens are older. So... that's not a bad ratio.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Garden is slowly coming together. I've been hauling and spreading manure. I think I may drag out the TroyBilt to mix the manure into the soil where I intend to plant potatoes/corn. The potatoes arrived from Fedco a couple days ago. They all look good. More Magic Molly, and 2 other fingerling varieties. Russian Crescent, and I forget the other, but it's a rose colored variety.

All the soil is mounded for the 4 new raised beds. I was going to just edge them with flakes of hay. But, a fellow who has a home based saw mill has some nice cedar slab wood. I was able to pick up the slabs for less than $1 each. So... plan is to Shou Sugi Ban them, and then screw together into 7 - 8' x 4' "boxes". This will give more permanence to the beds, and the treatment will be a non toxic way to preserve the wood. Hubby finished up the wood parts of the raspberry trellis today. Now, all we need to do there is string the wire, and tie up the canes.

This guy with the saw mill is selling rough cuts for a fraction of the box store prices. 70 cents/board foot. So... I'll be visiting him again to pick up some lumber to re-build the steps to the chicken coop.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I pulled a crawling, and one biting tick off hubby today. Thankfully, the biter was not "settled in". evil creatures. This brings the tick count to: dog x 3, me x 1, hubby x 2.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

It snowed all morning, and still spitting a few flakes here and there. It's cold, blustery. A good day for a warm fire. I am oh so very thankful that God gave me this perfect day. It's a fantastic day to be outside enjoying my yard. No mosquitoes, no black flies. Just me and my broadfork, and 5 ducks, prepping the garden beds for planting. I could be using the Troybilt. But, what's the fun of that? It's noisy, and hard to maneuver, even in the potato/corn bed. And, the broadfork gives me a total body work out, while allowing me to listen to the subtle music around me: tree branches rubbing together, wind, and bird song, ducks muttering and exclaiming over the delights of the soil.

This is shaping up to be the best garden ever, thanks to duck and chicken power. I am encountering very few grubs, as I hand work the soil. Chickens and ducks worked the garden last fall, and the ducks are doing the "fertilize as you go" plan now.