Short Intermission
2/28/08 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. I hate to interrupt the Off-Grid Living series in order to update y'all on the ol' homestead, but I will anyway. Daytime temperatures have been from mild to warm, but we did get down to the mid 20's yesterday morning. It was in the 70's by mid-day though. Today is supposed to be warmer, but we have had this breezy/windy situation going on for a week and it will probably continue today. Right now it is sunny and nearing 50 and I am about to get started out in the garden.
Yesterday Danielle was off doing laundry so Tracy continued canning Turkey and Bacon all the day long. I think we got all the Turkey canned, but we have more bacon to do. Robert, Jennifer and I worked on the garden... well... I worked on the garden and Robert and Jennifer made trips up to the front of the land with a wheelbarrow to get a lot of the well-aged manure up there. We have a LOT of manure to move. It looks like all of my plants made it through the cold night the other night, but the wind is taking a toll on some of my lettuce. Everything else is looking really good. I still have to move some of my seedlings and three of my tomatoes in and out of the house each day, but I hope to have some of the tomatoes planted and in the wall 'o waters by tomorrow sometime.
I've been getting reports that the other gardens in the community are moving along too, and from reading the Ante's blog I can see that their seedlings are doing well. If I get the third double-dug/raised bed done today I might post a picture tomorrow, but we'll see.
I did buy some asparagus crowns for an asparagus bed - I just have to figure out where to put it.
Anyway, I should be working on Part 10 of the Off-Grid Agrarian series later today. Make sure to comment and let me know what you think I should cover or if you have any questions.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
Yesterday Danielle was off doing laundry so Tracy continued canning Turkey and Bacon all the day long. I think we got all the Turkey canned, but we have more bacon to do. Robert, Jennifer and I worked on the garden... well... I worked on the garden and Robert and Jennifer made trips up to the front of the land with a wheelbarrow to get a lot of the well-aged manure up there. We have a LOT of manure to move. It looks like all of my plants made it through the cold night the other night, but the wind is taking a toll on some of my lettuce. Everything else is looking really good. I still have to move some of my seedlings and three of my tomatoes in and out of the house each day, but I hope to have some of the tomatoes planted and in the wall 'o waters by tomorrow sometime.
I've been getting reports that the other gardens in the community are moving along too, and from reading the Ante's blog I can see that their seedlings are doing well. If I get the third double-dug/raised bed done today I might post a picture tomorrow, but we'll see.
I did buy some asparagus crowns for an asparagus bed - I just have to figure out where to put it.
Anyway, I should be working on Part 10 of the Off-Grid Agrarian series later today. Make sure to comment and let me know what you think I should cover or if you have any questions.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
posted by Michael Bunker at 2/28/2008 05:44:00 AM
5 Comments:
Okay... I'll leave a comment...
;-)
I am really enjoying the Off-Grid articles. I am being inspired. I cannot do it all right now, but I am getting lots of ideas and I am looking forward to more, more, more! I can't think of anything specific that I want you to write about, but I am looking forward to learning new things.
One of these days, when I have more time, I will print these all out and put them on my reference shelf. :-D If that's okay...
Thanks for typing these out!
Thank you for these posts. With the manure collecting, how do you use it? Layer or mix it into the newest compost piles, I assume, for aging/decomposition? Excellent resource, those old cowpies!!
With your wall-o-waters, do you open the tops as wide as they'll go (or even remove during the warm daytime hours), allowing as much sun, as possible, to hit the plant? I found when I had to leave on all day in early spring with tomatoes; that even open, the plants tended to get leggy as they searched for sunlight. One nice thing about such a vast daytime temp. range, allowing removal!
Beth
Oh yes, one thought about the asparagus bed (or an herb bed). If you know where your permanent dwelling will be when it goes up; I'd put the asparagus bed near that (As I would an herb bed); since it takes a few years to establish, and then when producing well needs to be picked 1-2 times a day to keep up with it. How many crowns are you planning to plant? Good luck with the deep dug project. Compost it well, they eat heartily!
Beth
Beth, as far as the wall 'o waters, we have not used them since we have been here, so this is the first year. But when we used them in Smyer we didn't have any problem with them not getting enough light. They seemed to do really well - maybe it is because they get so much light here for such a long time.
As for the manure, if it is still hot, we mix it into the compost pile with other material like grass and hay. If it is purely dry, I have been layering it in the double-dugs, chopping it up pretty small, then kind of partially mixing it as I add more soil.
I think I bout about 30 crowns, is that too many?
Michael
Michael~I wouldn't think 30 crowns is too many if most of your family members eat asparagus; and besides if some don't, it can always be given fresh to others in the community, or be canned or frozen! I'm the only one that eats it here. My bed is 20 years old or so and is about 20-30'long, (Maybe 10-15 crowns?) but some of the center has died out due to weeds not getting pulled. Last year I incorporated it into the end of my garden better and kept it weeded. Planted some Walmart crowns to fill in but they didn't come up last year. (Good 'ol Walmart) Surrounding it with an edging would be a good idea to suppress grasses from encroaching(sp?). As you probably know, it needs to be put in rather deep and the trench gradually filled in as it initially grows. And then not picked the first year at all; and only a little the 2nd year. Then official picking can start the 3rd spring. And it loves very fertile soil, so aged compost would be a great fill. Beth
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