#small scale farming

[thestudentfarmer]

Seed saving succes!

I posted awhile ago about carrots I let go to seed this last season. I finally got round to doing the full seed cleaning, a small germination test and wanted to share on that.

Below, the heads when I finally pulled them, I did clip the heads from the stems and placed them in an open storage bin.

To be quite honest I set it aside and forgot about it for awhile. Day to day and all that. Thankfully the corner I set them in was well undisturbed save for a few spiders when I got back to them.

Still a lil bit 'stick'y but it's as filtered as I can get currently. I'll be looking into some sort of seives to make harvesting seed easier in the future.

Interestingly enough, when separating some of the junk, the seeds got a sort of perfume-yness to them? It was very pleasant.

I took the corn out to handle later, but the cleaned out carrot flowerheads I tossed them in the chicken compost area so any missed seeds would get enjoyed by either the girls or the wild birds and the remaining stems and sticks'll get composted before long.

Did a germination test on the counter to see if the effort was worth it.

Way more germination than I expected! 🥳 very much worth it!

Here's the seed bag, I expect there is still a chunk of chuff/junk that didn't seperate well but it weighed 9 oz. (gallon size ziplock) I'd feel okay saying mayby 5-7 oz seed from seed saving this year. Even at low end of 5 oz that's still pretty good :)

I think I'll keep half and sort the other half among some friends and family as gifts, and donate to the local seed library nearest to me.

And if opportunity arises I'll do the same with the next carrot grow :) they were pretty easy (aside from toppling so much), the pollinators loved them, they were beautiful plants and we can use every part of them as well which is a win win all around 🏆

They were from hybrids of rainbow x nantes carrots. Some got long (but not many, I have shallow soil) they did get nice and fat though and we enjoyed quite a bit of salad, pesto and pretty flowers thanks to them this last grow season.

🥕🌱 Happy Homesteading 🌱🥕

9.21.2023

[wannabehomesteader]

Carrot harvest and 3 sisters update!!! Everything is growing so nicely and oh my goodness I can't express how much I absolutely love harvesting carrots!!!

[cowboyposer]

If you're thinking of getting quail this is a sign DO NOT DO IT they're so stinky and skittish and only produce eggs during the warm seasons and it'll be so much more productive to get chickens or ducks if you really want poultry and have the space. I only got mine because I'm determined to raise some babies and I wanted to participate in my school's ffa club but I'm telling you right now IF YOU HAVE THE SPACE GET SOMETHING OTHER THAN COTURNIX QUAIL

I adore my little quails Gizzard and Lizard so much but I'm telling you they smell awful and do NOT want to cuddle! Unless you get maybe hand-raised quail, they're going to be extremely hard to tame. Unless this is a bird you genuinely want and know what you're going into and will be happy with, I'd recommend keeping off of them. But not every little animal wants to cuddle, and this is definitely one of them. Don't let their size mislead you

[solarpunks]

Local Food Nodes Kickstarter

Local Food Nodes connects local food producers to local food consumers as well as strengthening those relationships that already exist. We enable direct transactions, resilient communities and regain control over what we eat and how it is produced. A desire to make food local again. Local Food Nodes is building on full transparency economy. All transactions are open to see and reported here with regular updates. Go to our economy page for more detailed information regarding our economic stand points, and on how we work inclusively and create possibilities for co-deciding in how money will flow and be distributed trough the platform.

[farmer-v]

Mid-Summer Bliss straight from the dirt. Grown & harvested with hard work & care by the hands of many! Working on the field crew this season has been absolutely life-changing.

[westmillfarm]

Sick Days and escaped cows

Spent the last two days holed up at home sick with a bad cold. 

Before I met my husband I was completely set on getting my own little farm and making a go of it by myself. I still think this would be doable, but dang if it isn’t nice to have someone to lean on when it comes to sick days.

Yesterday, day two of devil cold, my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. as always for milking. My body simply wasn’t having it. “Babe.” I mumbled. “Can you just let the calf out this morning and handle chores?”

“Yep”.  He kissed my forehead, tucked me in, and handled everything. I slept another five hours.

One time back when I was an apprentice I was looking after the farm by myself for a weekend. I managed to get food poisoning somehow and was about as sick as I’ve ever been.  I remember slowly making my way down to the barn, intent to prove I could muster myself to at least milk the cow.  I was shaking so badly I couldn’t even connect the hose tubes to the milker. I accepted defeat and turned her out with her calf. 

Sick, tired, whatever, the farm doesn’t take vacations. Even with my husband,  I still wasn’t able to escape farm duties.

Monday I was under a pile of blankets on the couch and noticed Juneberry walking up to the front pasture. I thought it was strange, as there’s nothing to eat up there or anything really of interest. I’m not home during the day though so maybe this is typical?

About a half hour later, Juneberry started to moo. I don’t know about other people’s cows, but June only gets moo-ey for two reasons. 1) She wants some male affection 2) Something is amiss.

I looked out the patio door to the pasture and immediately see that Beatrix the calf has somehow escaped, is in the middle of the road, and is trotting along, halfway to the neighbor’s house.

In boots and a bathrobe I corraled her back to the barn, hoping no neighbors would drive by to see the spectacle. 

Calf back in the pasture, pride kept somewhat intact, I returned to the couch and mused on the idea that perhaps being home with a cold on that particular day was actually a good thing.

Here’s a photo of my nursing team holding paws.

[epimeliad]

Avie’s List of Apples

Gala

Honey crisp

Mutsu (crispin)

Black Oxford

Black Twig

White Pearmain

Bramley Seedling

Going to have to narrow this down to four, by wintertime...

[thestudentfarmer]

Hello and Welcome to the garden!

Today I have a bit of a smallish and short post~

The pumpkin is developing pretty good, the one on the trellis is a little smaller than this one. I'm starting to see new flowers on the vine, but I think I'll be picking them to use for stir fry/fried rice varient, ommlettes, or salad.

The first planting of the velour beans is starting to get what I think might be the end of their cycle, a few more flowers arrived but the plants aren't really b taking off to much in growth or producing. If I recall right I got around 48 oz of beans. (Their being crowded out by the sunflowers now.)

I'm gonna leave them in and jsut see how long/well they do.

Starting at the far left, sunflowers+ velour beans and pumpkin

2nd in from left. Starting closest to us. The broccoli and nasturtium. I'm gonna pick some of the broccoli leaves this week for pan fried veggies. Broccoli leaf+rice (not sure if blanching, pan fry w/garlic+butter or a cheese/broc soup.)

3rd row from left starting closest. The eggplants, who have some flowers but I've not seen any eggplant yet. Cabbages (2), they've got little heads coming in. I have not yet sprayed down with the tea but I haven't seen much more pest issue. And last the cucumbers. One is pretty much done, the other has teeny lil cucumbers coming in, but I don't expect too much more growth from them. If they do I may just let it go to seed and see if it does better next year in a different spot.

Edit to add, I forgot the last row!

4th row from left, second planting of velour beans, with the surviving cabbages and carrots. I picked a few of the carrots this morning

Close up of the dying/dead and the hanging in there cucumbers.

Finally got down to the hardware store. We got wood, pipes for extending the garden fence, dirt and some time.

We got 2 boxes made up. So next step is to get the fence panels made up to extend the garden space and protect it from the stray/feral cats.

I got peppers, tomatoes seed started this week, though im hoping I didn't lose a tray of peppers due to a watering malfunction. (Always check your seedlings daily!) I also got some garlic in the ground and some ginger root too.

Thats it for my update for now :)

🌱🌻Happy Homesteading and gardening! 🌻🌱

12 18 2023