Planting Hornbeams and Privets in My Living Maze
8 hours ago
Friday, February 6, 2009
All future updates
All future updates will be over at our new official website SweetLocalFarm(dot)com. Please continue to stop by and see what we are up to!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
February- at least it's not January...
Some garden news:
The other half of my seeds came in the mail yesterday! I ordered 1,000 spinach seeds-wow.
We went and looked at the greenhouse in person and decided it wouldn't be right for our farm. It was enormous! Also, it needed to be disassembled within the next few weeks, but we are under 2 feet of snow here and it just didn't seem feasible.
However, we did buy 10 industrial food grade barrels to turn into rain water storage. That's 550 gallons of water!
I hung my springtime forsythia wreath on the door, even though we have a ways to go. I know this is the time of year to force forsythia too, but I can't remember where there is any to pick in this city. If you have it in your yard, go pick some and stick it in water. You'll have cheery yellow blossoms before you know it!
image from learn2grow
The other half of my seeds came in the mail yesterday! I ordered 1,000 spinach seeds-wow.
We went and looked at the greenhouse in person and decided it wouldn't be right for our farm. It was enormous! Also, it needed to be disassembled within the next few weeks, but we are under 2 feet of snow here and it just didn't seem feasible.
However, we did buy 10 industrial food grade barrels to turn into rain water storage. That's 550 gallons of water!
I hung my springtime forsythia wreath on the door, even though we have a ways to go. I know this is the time of year to force forsythia too, but I can't remember where there is any to pick in this city. If you have it in your yard, go pick some and stick it in water. You'll have cheery yellow blossoms before you know it!
image from learn2grow
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Mid Winter Blues
The only things left in my pantry from last years garden are some dried beans, a pumpkin, and a few jars of green tomato chutney. Luke doesn't like the sweet and savory taste of the chutney and I can only eat so much of it, so we still have plenty. Its times like this when I miss going out to the garden to pick fresh greens and carrots for a crisp salad.
We've been searching on craigslist for used greenhouses for the past few weeks and finally found something we are going to check out in person. With a greenhouse we can start plants earlier and extend the season. I've even read about the possibility of a four season harvest. I must buy this book!
Here is the greenhouse we are going to see. We would have to label the parts, disassemble it and reassemble it on the farm. New kits are ten thousand dollars or more for something this large, so hopefully our hard work will save us money.
We've been searching on craigslist for used greenhouses for the past few weeks and finally found something we are going to check out in person. With a greenhouse we can start plants earlier and extend the season. I've even read about the possibility of a four season harvest. I must buy this book!
Here is the greenhouse we are going to see. We would have to label the parts, disassemble it and reassemble it on the farm. New kits are ten thousand dollars or more for something this large, so hopefully our hard work will save us money.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inaugural Luncheon: A New Birth of Freedom
Today I hosted a small inaugural luncheon at my home. I served the the same meal Obama and Lincoln ate at their inaugural luncheons- cherry chutney with braised duck (don't worry, I used seitan to keep things vegan), and sweet potatoes mashed with molasses and maple syrup. I decorated with patriotic red, white, and blue place settings and a decal from Lincoln's White House china. We made a toast with organic sparkling cider. This was a special day that I won't soon forget.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Planning the Orchard
In planning the orchard, I want to pick fruit trees that will survive and thrive in my climate. I found that many varieties were developed right here in Massachusetts. Hopefully they will all produce fruit and become a living collection of local heirlooms. These are the varieties I want to plant:
BALDWIN Massachusetts 1784: Delicious cider base, and great for pies. Fruit medium to large, sometimes very large. Skin yellow, flushed orange, striped red. Flesh firm to coarse, yellowish; flavor sweet and crisp. Often a biennial bearer, but can be regulated with timely pruning and thinning.
HUNT RUSSET Massachusetts, 1750's: A rare apple, can be likened to Golden Russet. This is a little known heirloom apple with an exceptional taste. Generally yellow fruit, lightly overlaid with russet with bronze red cheek in full sun. The Hunt Russet has an acidulous pear-like flavor typical of most russets. A long lived, vigorous tree whose fruit has been known to keep in root cellars over a year!
MOTHER Massachusetts, 1840: Beautiful apple, good size with thin golden yellow skin covered with deep red marbled and striped with carmine. Fine tender, rich, aromatic flesh. Shows some resistance to scab. Great fresh off the tree!
NONESUCH (Hubbardston Nonesuch) Massachusetts 1830: Among the best early to mid-season eating apples. Fruit usually large with clear red skin in our climate, but color is variable. Flesh is white, moderately firm, sweet and rich.
ROXBURY RUSSET Massachusetts prior to 1649: Excellent old American cider apple, a keeper and good for eating fresh. Large greenish, sometimes bronze tinged skin almost covered with yellowish-brown russet. Remarkable for it's amount of sugar. Firm, slightly coarse, fairly tender, yellowish-white flesh. Tree medium to large, a good cropper on rich soils. Displays resistance to scab and cedar apple rust.
SEEK-NO-FURTHER (Westfield) Massachusetts 1796: An old favorite dessert apple. Creamy yellow, firm, medium-grained, crisp flesh rich, complex and distinct flavor. Fruit medium size, uniform. Skin is a beautiful, smooth deep yellow or greenish base, shaded red. Flourishes in well-drained, gravelly or loamy soil.
All photos and descriptions from Trees of Antiquity.
BALDWIN Massachusetts 1784: Delicious cider base, and great for pies. Fruit medium to large, sometimes very large. Skin yellow, flushed orange, striped red. Flesh firm to coarse, yellowish; flavor sweet and crisp. Often a biennial bearer, but can be regulated with timely pruning and thinning.
HUNT RUSSET Massachusetts, 1750's: A rare apple, can be likened to Golden Russet. This is a little known heirloom apple with an exceptional taste. Generally yellow fruit, lightly overlaid with russet with bronze red cheek in full sun. The Hunt Russet has an acidulous pear-like flavor typical of most russets. A long lived, vigorous tree whose fruit has been known to keep in root cellars over a year!
MOTHER Massachusetts, 1840: Beautiful apple, good size with thin golden yellow skin covered with deep red marbled and striped with carmine. Fine tender, rich, aromatic flesh. Shows some resistance to scab. Great fresh off the tree!
NONESUCH (Hubbardston Nonesuch) Massachusetts 1830: Among the best early to mid-season eating apples. Fruit usually large with clear red skin in our climate, but color is variable. Flesh is white, moderately firm, sweet and rich.
ROXBURY RUSSET Massachusetts prior to 1649: Excellent old American cider apple, a keeper and good for eating fresh. Large greenish, sometimes bronze tinged skin almost covered with yellowish-brown russet. Remarkable for it's amount of sugar. Firm, slightly coarse, fairly tender, yellowish-white flesh. Tree medium to large, a good cropper on rich soils. Displays resistance to scab and cedar apple rust.
SEEK-NO-FURTHER (Westfield) Massachusetts 1796: An old favorite dessert apple. Creamy yellow, firm, medium-grained, crisp flesh rich, complex and distinct flavor. Fruit medium size, uniform. Skin is a beautiful, smooth deep yellow or greenish base, shaded red. Flourishes in well-drained, gravelly or loamy soil.
All photos and descriptions from Trees of Antiquity.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Time to lead a farmer's life.
Go over to sweetlocalfarm.com to listen to the song!
We added the song "Life on the Farm" to the sidebar (right below the weather). It was written by Luke's old band, Piebald. It has special meaning for us now and has become our anthem! Please listen and read along:
Time to lead a farmer's life. You may not know why.
Hell yeah you have heard it right, still, you don't know why.
Well I am unimpressed by the secrets of the mess we've made here.
Peace and trees and peace of mind, now I've told you why.
Just want to live on the Earth, so I ain't a judge of man's worth.
Roam with the animals who live on this farm of mine.
Family and peaceful home on this land of mine.
I wouldn't say I own, its just the place that we call our home.
But I think I'm going back, now I told you why.
Cows, horses, pigs, cats, and dogs, geese, hens, and even the frogs.
Just want to roam with my friends, pet them until the day ends.
In a while I will escape this prosthetic life,
find myself a small farm, and live our own living.
Raise some carefree animals.
Work on a tractor - but mostly just ride my bike.
No one disturbs me. I do just what I like.
The world wants to attack but I ain't got no time for that - I'm planting seeds.
Don't want to see pollution or kill for a good solution. (oh, so lucian?)
Singing songs out on the sunset porch,
everyone's welcome so come and enjoy the peace.
There's never an alarm,
Life on the Farm!
We added the song "Life on the Farm" to the sidebar (right below the weather). It was written by Luke's old band, Piebald. It has special meaning for us now and has become our anthem! Please listen and read along:
Time to lead a farmer's life. You may not know why.
Hell yeah you have heard it right, still, you don't know why.
Well I am unimpressed by the secrets of the mess we've made here.
Peace and trees and peace of mind, now I've told you why.
Just want to live on the Earth, so I ain't a judge of man's worth.
Roam with the animals who live on this farm of mine.
Family and peaceful home on this land of mine.
I wouldn't say I own, its just the place that we call our home.
But I think I'm going back, now I told you why.
Cows, horses, pigs, cats, and dogs, geese, hens, and even the frogs.
Just want to roam with my friends, pet them until the day ends.
In a while I will escape this prosthetic life,
find myself a small farm, and live our own living.
Raise some carefree animals.
Work on a tractor - but mostly just ride my bike.
No one disturbs me. I do just what I like.
The world wants to attack but I ain't got no time for that - I'm planting seeds.
Don't want to see pollution or kill for a good solution. (oh, so lucian?)
Singing songs out on the sunset porch,
everyone's welcome so come and enjoy the peace.
There's never an alarm,
Life on the Farm!
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