have my own land and be self-sufficient

REALLY tiny, right now – a small rosemary in a 6” pot, and some basil and spearmint cuttings in jars on the kitchen counter. BUT, it is the beginning of the herb garden that I will have once we have land again!

And, that’s a good thing because ~

We are finally moving to a climate that is hospitable to growing things!

That being said, I am still reaping the rewards of prior effort:
1) Irises will be blooming soon
2) Strawberries are setting fruit
3) Discovered some small, lost garlic growing “wild” in the weeds
4) Although my rosemary died (it ISN’T supposed to survive our winters), all the rest of the herbs are back
5) Apple trees bloomed beautifully earlier this year, but as usual, will probably not hold their fruit long enough to ripen (45 – 60 MPH wind knocks them off when they get golf ball sized)

And, ok, I am not capable of “not gardening,” so I planted several dozen bean seeds. I don’t need to feed them. They pretty much take care of themselves. Just have to water them.

One of my favorites is Nature’s Harmony Farm’s pod cast. Trying to beef up my virtual library so that when the time comes, I’ll be well armed. Learning as much as I can while I am in a semi-holding pattern here.

Putting together all my “lessons learned” so I can apply them to future seasons, and reliving past seasons through the notes in my journals. Not self-sufficient by a long shot, but definitely walking down that path.

Zukes are starting to take off; harvested a few yellow squash; first pattypan is on the vine.

3rd set of beans harvested and eaten. Blackeye peas eaten like dow gawk in fried rice – they taste more like the yard long beans than “regular” green beans.

Corn is beginning to tassel.

Sunflowers in full bloom.

Life is good.

The nights are down in the 20F range again, even though the days are 40F warmer. This has significantly cooled down the compost pile. Still, it’s running about 80*F, so some little fungii and bacteria are doing their thing. Cooler temps, of course, means it smells better. Not sure it got hot enough to kill weed seeds – but after 120 days, it should be sanitary enough to add to the growing areas if it is composted down enough.

Watered areas that will be my new beds this Spring. Hoping the little weedy buggers will sprout so I can turn them under before planting out the planned inhabitants of those beds. May be a mute point if my compost is weedy-seedy, but I can try…

Still far from the vision, but getting closer every day!

I’m getting good at this chickie-poo composting thing. Or, rather, I’m getting good at letting Mother Nature do her thing. Pile up pine shavings chicken coop bedding that has a goodly amount of chickie-poo in it, add water, veggie scraps, egg shells, coffee filters and coffee grounds, left over juice, misc. feathers and that fuzzy thing from the fridge. Turn once a week if you have time and want your compost faster – just let it simmer if you don’t want to go out in the cccc-cold. It was barely 32F on Sunday and the compost was cooking at 120F. Spring Tomato plants are going to love it!

The goal this year is to get tomatoes to fruit in the desert. Nice, lovely green tomato Bushes, I can do… sweet red fruit is another thing…

Mary Jane Butters has written several books on farming and has a magazine/catalog that she publishes. Her “farmgirl sisterhood” is a group of women who learn and practice farm skills.

And into the compost pile they go! I should have healthy, calcium rich compost to spread around the garden this year! The pile from summer has already shrunk by more than half. I should start mixing this into the ground where I want my beds to be. Throw some chicken scratch on it and the chickies will do the work of tilling it in!

I guess this means it is time to start a new compost bed for the fresh stuff.

I supposed I should be baking and crushing the egg shells and feeding them back to the biddies instead of buying oyster shell, but it takes too much time right now and I am afraid they will get a taste for egg shell and start pecking at their own eggs.

Reading up on feeder pigs. Only 3 or 4 months investment and then into the freezer with them. Maybe I shall raise two this fall.

I will need:

• electric fencing and charger
• build a sleeping hut
• Wooden “deck” where their food and water will go
• somthing for shade and or to block the wind
• snout loop
• to be strong when it comes time to butcher and eat them

• how much it costs to butcher
• can I sell one of the piggies so that I can break even on my dollar investment

Chickens started laying this week – wooohoooo!