I have not posted all winter as there is not much to say about a small holding during the winter months.
We had a very tough year for goat kidding. Many of the goat kids died as a result of very poor planning on our part.
Goat gestation is 153 days, more or less. We let out buck begin to work the herd in August, which meant many of the kids were born during January, and unfortunately for us, they were born during a particularly cold snap at a time that we were away from the farm. Kidding can be problematic in good weather, at 10 degrees fahrenheit it turned out to be a disaster. Next year we will keep the bucks separated from the herd until the end of October.
Still, we had 12 surviving kids, and that means plenty of goat milk this spring and summer.
Most of our 35 chickens survived. We had a few predation casualties from a local hawk but what can you do. We free range our chickens and would not kill a bird of prey to protect the flock even if it were legal. The chickens were relatively safe in the barn as the hawk could not swoop in and out with the doors closed. I think they figured this out but I left this between the hawk and the chickens. I am looking forward to some new clutches of chicks this spring.
Our heifer and next year's meat steer did well this winter. We penned them in the garden area for the Winter to let them manure it and they performed the assigned task quite competently...
Speaking of the garden... This year I plan to "plan my garden and garden my plan". We will grow the usual suspects with special emphasis on the staples: Corn (both sweet corn for us and feed corn for the chickens), potatoes, and sweet potatoes in volume as our "calorie crops". For veggies, tomatoes (several types), cabbage, broccoli, spinach, garlic, onions, lettuce, kale, beets, beans, bell peppers, hot! peppers, cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, and egg plant. Last year we transplanted apple, pear, plum, and peach trees, and I expect a decent plum harvest with little coming from the others... it will take another 2 or 3 years to get the fruit growing going strong. Raspberry bushes are going in this year.
I hope to grow enough veggies to freeze enough broccoli, can enough tomatoes and corn, and store enough potatoes and cabbage in the root cellar to make it through to the following year... I will let you know. That means one big freaking garden and a lot of work, but that is the plan and I will let you know. BTW, I do not plan to use any fertilizer or pesticides in our garden.
I will be posting weekly throughout the spring.
2 comments:
I am intrigued with your comments on gardening. I just wanted to let you know that I am undertaking a suburban garden/farm project, and your comments were the most helpful after weeks of scouring the internet for information. I did learn about companion planting with corn, beans, and squash, and I will be doing a test plot this year to see how that works. Beans apparently bring nitrogen back into the soil, if you just till the plants back into the soil at the end of the growing season. The nitrogen nodules then will feed the soil as it breaks down and provide nitrogen for next years corn. You should google "three sisters" to get more information.
I am a single mother who nearly owns her small town, smaller home in Oklahoma. For years I have had the desire to do just as you are doing, for many reasons. By this time next year, my home will be mine, and I plan on purchasing land to get started. I came across your blog while googling to find out how much land I might need, and must say, Kudo's to you!
I'll certainly be following your progress and learning from you. I also hope to make my land even more self- suffient by purchasing a small windmill and installing solar panels on the roof of my home. Is this something you've considered?
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