2020 Was The Best Garden We Have Ever Had

 Apparently being unable to travel leads me to make extravagant improvements in my gardening systems. The front riding pasture turned into a 60x120 Mittleider row garden, all of the pallet raised hotbeds were planted and harvested six times, and the greenhouse was full of asian greens that neither we nor the animals could keep up with and all ended up going to seed in June. 

The only real input we had that was different from other years was the amount of slow-release fertilizer I bought for the in-ground gardens. Our container (pallets, swimming pools, cardboard boxes) gardens have food scraps, wood, goat bedding, and rabbit manure in them so they don't need fertilizer most of the time. The Mittleider beds RELY on outside sources of fertilizer applied every few weeks to keep them productive.

When Fall arrived it was really obvious that I had over-planted everything but a few vegetables were actually going to waste instead of just having a bit too much. These plants were the ones that do well in a raised pallet hotbed. The greens, beets, and onions were just too easy to over-plant and then forget about. The beets needed MORE fertilizer and more space to get big. The swiss chard was big and beautiful but I planted so much of it that I couldn't get even a tiny fraction of it used before it got huge and less appealing. The onions wanted more sunlight away from the potatoes I had planted them next to. 

Why didn't I just feed it to the animals? Because everything was on all at the same time and there was still so much else to feed them with fruit and grazing trees that they turned their noses up at the garden produce. The animals utilizing most of the greens were the rabbits but we found that the in-ground greens gave them digestive issues while the hotbed greens didn't. My opinion on that is that there may have been some parasites in our soil whereas we start the hotbeds over every spring with new potting soil not native dirt. Rabbits are very sensitive to stomach bugs and because of this we stopped giving them the Mittleider grown greens. Since we don't eat our greens raw any bugs in the soil wouldn't have survived through the cooking process.

So the goats were eating grass and fruit trees and vines but where was the pig in all of this gluttony? We didn't buy him until July and he was so little that he also couldn't keep up with the massive food influx. By October he could but then we had pumpkins and canning remains for him to eat and still never got around to feeding him the greens.

The result of this year is a fine-tuning of what I grow where and why. Greens and herbs need to stay in the backyard raised hotbed systems. They are easier to monitor and harvest there. The greens also go in the raised hotbeds because again I can plant, harvest, and replant very quickly and I don't forget about them. All of the long-season vegetables need to go in the Mittleider beds in the front where they don't need to fight over sunlight and I water and fertilizer in one fell swoop on a regular basis. Included in these vegetables are peas, beans, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, sunflowers, and potatoes.

With the glut we also had some famine issues as well. The fruit trees (plums, apples, pears, apricots) are producing well but most of them don't ripen until early Fall. The bush cherries, raspberries, saskatoons, honeyberries, and aronia's produce in June and July. That leaves the months of April, May, and June a little bare in the fruit department. This means a secondary fruit-only garden needs to go in back by the greenhouse in the goose pasture. This will be planted in raised beds to strawberries and possible raspberries, I haven't decided the ratio yet. 

The last new garden I am putting in is just for the animals and will include field dent corn, austrian field peas, sunflowers, and some kind of seed (millet, quinoa, amaranth, etc.). The first year I won't overthink how much of each but will just get them in and see what we get at the end of the year.

What do you think? It was easy enough last year and can't help filling in all of my empty spots using the babies my plants put on this year. I won't even have to spend any money on starts because I figured out how to propagate my fruit plants. Hoping to get some cuttings up on the etsy store soon. 

RV Living After Homesteading?

I have always loved minimalism and the process of getting things sold and given away has freed up so much space! We are finding messes we didn't know existed under the girls bed and keep having to apologize to potential renters as they tour the house but wow does it feel good! The one crying point was selling all the rabbits, ducks and geese. That was rough. The girls and I did a lot of cuddling and talking after they were all gone.
At this point we are hoping that the renters want to keep the water and food storage so that we don't have to move it all. [I wrote this just before we left home]

Three months later...

Here we are on the road since August, currently in Oklahoma. I remember the feelings I had when I was writing that first paragraph. Our house was too big but I really didn't want to leave my animals and greenhouse. We packed and unpacked the RV three times but it wasn't until the last week that belongings were whittled down enough that the counters started to be visible all the time. I am so glad we came, it was a good decision. At the same time I really want to feel the dirt between my toes again, does that make sense?

Sourdough Bread for Celiac and Gluten Intolerant Diets

Going from a normal human diet to one that does not involve wheat can be difficult. When we discovered that the girls can't eat wheat either this was my attempt to help them feel like their bellies were full and satisfied. Our favorite way to eat the sourdough has been to keep a jar of the start in the fridge and pour it out for 'fry bread' when they want to butter and jam something up. Hope you enjoy the video!

How Much Land Do You Need to Homestead?

We had so much fun in our tiny homestead. For those who have been reading and watching us for a while here is your chance to see where we started!

June Farming is a Rush!

Wow! The kitchen is overflowing with the abundance of early summer...and we are running to get it all used before the next overflowing basket/bucket come in!

Goats: One gallon per milking means I make cheese every two days plus all the milk we and the baby goats can drink! My favorite is to put a square of 85% dark chocolate in a coffee cup of milk, heat, and then drizzle raw honey over it. It is very energizing and filling.

Quail: Enough eggs that I have to steam and pickle a new quart jar every week. Also, no bugs in the greenhouse!

Ducks: So many eggs that we can't keep up. Four laying ducks are giving us about three eggs a day and even though we eat a lot of eggs these are so filling that four is more than enough. We also have our muscovy with a proud flock of seven new babies!

Chickens: I don't even know how many eggs they are giving us. We are so hooked on the duck eggs that we sort through all the eggs to find them and turn our noses up at the chicken eggs. These get used with the quail eggs for pickling. We are down to four hens and one rooster with six little pullets free ranging in the back yard rather than with the adult flock.

Sheep: Moonlight is giving us nothing but a headache calling her goat mama who decided it was time to wean when she nipped and cut a teat.

Bunnies: We are eating rabbit from a friend and watching the bunnies grow with dreams of compost rather than meat in our heads. The bunny manure is so special to me that I don't like to butcher any rabbits during the growing season. That is some pretty amazing poop!

The greenhouse, swale and garden as growing quickly but no real harvestable meals yet. I am so focused on finishing KickStarter projects that I didn't get everything planted at the right time for early eating. However, everything is heavy with tiny fruit and veggies so it will come...we just need to be patient and keep on watering!