Sarah wanted to try her hand at incubating chicken eggs, so we purchased a Nurture Right 360 incubator. It was the last one tucked under the customer service counter at our local Tractor Supply Store. They were also sold out of all chicks. It appears that everyone wants to raise chickens and start gardening. Seed […]
We planted two beds worth of asparagus in 2018. We read that you shouldn’t harvest any that first year, and only a light harvest the second year. So, this is our third season and we can finally harvest pretty heavily. We cut 1 pound of asparagus into 1″ pieces and pan fried with butter and
As of March 22nd there are 26,909 Corona virus cases in the U.S.A. which has caused 349 deaths. Schools have been closed for the rest of March at a minimum. The Stock Market has fallen about 30% from this year’s high and is currently trading at 19,174. A disagreement between OPEC and Russia has caused
Corona Virus (COVID-19) & Local Grocery Shopping Read More »
We have 8 blueberry bushes in our garden, but we would like to plant some in our new little orchard. Below is a link to an article about propagating blueberries from cuttings. We will be trying this in a couple months. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/start-blueberry-plants-another-grown-plant-57053.html A honey bee pollinating a blueberry blossom in the garden.
Brent and I have been helping our dad build a greenhouse. Between the rainy weather and corona virus precautions the progress on my parents greenhouse has slowed way down. Greenhouse progress…all pressure treated framing.
We currently have one Langstroth style bee hive in the orchard, but we would like to have a few more hives. We can buy a packaged box of bees that includes a queen for about $125. However, we may be able to catch local honey bees that are swarming, usually in the Spring. There are
Making Honey Bee Swarm Traps (Layens Bait Hives) Read More »
This past spring we inoculated about a dozen red oak logs with a cold weather shiitake mushroom strain called Snow Cap. They have been fruiting all winter long! We also inoculated logs with a warm weather strain called Halo. Between the two we should be harvesting mushrooms more regularly throughout the year. Picked almost a
We are already getting our seedlings started inside for the spring garden. For these seedlings we’re using a standard set of 4 foot LED lights as grow lights…nothing special. We also use a couple thermostatically controlled heating mats to help some seeds germinate. A 10″x 20″ flat of brassicas (brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli) planted
We had a nice open area where the harbor freight portable garage was, so we made some more raised beds. These garden beds are made from cedar slabs, or first cuts from the chainsaw mill. I’ve been saving the good ones that have significant heart wood for building projects like this. The finished beds. 1/2
We weigh all of the fruit and vegetables that we harvest from our garden, with the exception of some herbs that we pick for cooking. This year we grew 1260 lbs. of food, which is over 250 lbs. more than last year. Our biggest crop by far was tomatoes, which we canned the majority of