Weekly Update

Posted on September 29, 2012 by daniel

Better Backyard Project

Lately, most of my evenings have been spent working on my Better Backyard Project.  That’s the name that I’ve given to the work I’ve been doing to get my backyard back into usable condition.  So far I have cut down all the weeds and laid sod.  I’ve prepared to install a small patio in the back corner where I’ll have my Blackberries, Raspberries, Black Raspberries, and Fall Gold Raspberries (five of each) in 5 gallon buckets.  I prepared for, and laid a four foot diameter ring around my tree using retaining wall bricks stacked three high.  I planted my La Feliciana Peach tree in that ring and I’ve nearly completed the second ring where my Fan-Cris Pear will be planted.

Early Mornings

It’s been busy, and once again I’ve fallen behind on my writing.  In the past I’ve done my writing in the early morning.  That’s when I think most clearly (after I’ve thoroughly woken up).  In fact, it’s 5:15 am now.  The problem is that I haven’t been able to pull myself out of bed lately.  My alarm has been set, but when I sit up and try to get out of bed, my eyes won’t stay open and I end up laying back down to sleep another 90 minutes or so.  It’s a bad habit that today I decided to break by forcing myself to write.

Free Seeds for Spring

About a week ago I wrote a post about the seeds that I ordered for my spring garden.  Well, I’m very interested in having variety this year, so between the number of planters that I have and the size and number of the containers  I can use to plant them in, there are simply far too many seeds for me to use.  Further, I’ve chosen mostly heirloom varieties, and I’m very interested in collecting seeds to use in my spring 2014 garden.

So… I’m going to give away some of each type of seeds that I’ll be growing next year.  This is my way of saying thank you to all my readers and viewers.  It’s also a way for me to encourage each of you to try something new.  Many of the varieties that I’ll be growing are unusual, and even rare.  This is my open invitation to grow something other than Lettuce and Spinach for greens, or a Fat-Boy for Tomatoes.  And, if you’re new to gardening, or you’ve simply fallen away from your garden, take this opportunity to jump in head first.

If you are interested in any of these vegetables, watch my upcoming videos for more details about how you can get your hands on some free seeds!

Again, thanks for reading.  Feel free to comment and ask questions.  I always look forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Update | Leave a comment

Tip: Never Give Up

Posted on September 26, 2012 by daniel

Every wednesday I will give a tip for growing, raising, living, or building.  These tips will be pulled directly from my personal experience and be accompanied by a story.

Once again, I apologize for missing last week’s post.

This fall, I’ve learned that gardening has a lot of ups and downs.  This is especially true when you are making an effort to try new things.  This year, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.  Life, it seems, has been incessantly trying to show me how insignificant I am, and how little control I have.

I admit that on more than one occasion I have felt deeply discouraged.  At times, I thought my garden would string me along, only to die, one plant at a time.  Each time I begin to feel this way, I force myself to look past it until something great happens to lift my spirits.  I know that things always get better, even though that knowledge is sometimes blocked from view by self doubt.

Several weeks ago when hurricane Isaac passed through Luisianna, Slice of Heaven Farm–a farm that I follow–was completely flooded by the rising tides of the Tchefuncte river.  In just a few hours, all their hard work and preparation for their fall crops were lost.  They were forced to begin again from ground zero.  I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for them.

When I am tempted to feel sorry for myself, I need only consider the challenges faced by other people like Marieta and Brandon Easley from Slice of Heaven Farm.  I also remember that my own personal experience has proven to me that although difficult challenges frequently appear, they soon pass and positive results follow.  The key is to persist in working towards my goals and recognize that the hiccups are little more than distractions.

tip summary: The most important lesson that I’ve learned this year is how important it is to never give up, no matter how difficult and burdensome problems appear.  There is always a way to overcome any challenge.

Posted in Tip | Leave a comment

500 Video Views

Posted on September 25, 2012 by daniel

I just wanted to give a quick update to let you all know that today I hit 500 views of my videos.  I’m very excited about that and hope that you’ve all checked out my channel.  If you haven’t, go to humblehaven and watch a few videos.  I’m still learning, and my style is a work in progress, but I’m having fun, and I’d love to hear your feedback.

Also, today I went to pick up 72 retaining wall bricks that I’ll be using to build 3 different 4 foot diameter rings around the fruit trees that I’m planting in my backyard.  Unfortunately, loading and unloading the 72 bricks in our minivan was more time consuming than I anticipated.  So, the bricks are all still laying out on my driveway tonight.  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll move them into my backyard and begin working on the rings.

Basically, I need to lay out the first row of bricks for all three trees, then mark my sod where I need to cut it on the outside of each wall.  After that, I’ll lift the bricks off the grass and move the cut pieces to areas of my yard that don’t have grass but need it.  Next, I need to cut a trench, a few inches deep where the bricks were.  That’s so I can add a sand base and place the bricks on top.  From there, I’ll need to level the entire wall and cement the bricks in place with landscaping cement caulk. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?  I hope not.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for joining me on this journey.  I look forward to hearing your comments.  For those of you that are having a difficult time deciding what to say, try answering this question: Why do you grow a vegetable garden?  Or, if you don’t have a garden, why are you interested in growing vegetables?

Posted in Business | Leave a comment

A New Visitor

Posted on September 20, 2012 by daniel
baby lizard

a baby Green Anole lizard that I found in my tree

I was out working on getting my Pear tree planted this morning and I found a little lizard in it. It’s a baby Green Anole, or at least that’s what they called them when I was a kid. I had 3 of them as pets that I bought at the pet store. They are neat little lizards that change colors from a very bright, almost florescent, green to a dark brown depending on their surroundings and their mood.

Anyway, I moved this one over to my Peach tree so I could finish planting the Pear and that’s where I took the picture. I love seeing wildlife like this in my garden. I hope that more creatures come to stay.

Posted in Homestead | Leave a comment

Spring Seed Shopping

Posted on September 18, 2012 by daniel
seeds

seeds packets from my fall garden

Last night I got all my plans together and ordered my seeds for spring planting (starting in early February for me, zone 8b).  Originally, my plan was to wait until more near the end of the year.  However, my wife will be traveling soon to visit her family and I want to send them some seeds.  They live in an area that doesn’t have immediate access to the same resources as we do, so this will provide them with far more variety as well as access to heirloom varieties.

I still have a lot of planning to do, so I’ll let you know how things are going to be organized once that’s done.  For now, here’s a quick look at what I’ll be planting:

I’ve never seen most of these vegetables, much less grown them, so spring is bound to bring some interesting adventures, and a lot of new lessons.  As I’ve said before, I encourage you to try something new and take some risks in your own garden.  That’s the best way to learn and progress.

Posted in Garden | Leave a comment

Weekly Update

Posted on September 17, 2012 by daniel

Hey everyone.  I know that it’s been a long time since I’ve written a post.  I’ve been very busy and I’ve been meaning to write something all this time, but every time I sit down to write, I can’t think of what to say.  I suppose that half the reason for that is I haven’t taken sufficient time to do it.  The other half is that with so many things going on, there’s too many things that I could write about and I’m having a difficult time focusing in on any one of them.  Let me just give you a quick update on what I’ve been doing this last week:

  1. Bought and planted 20 bare-root Strawberry plants
  2. Transplanted existing 4 Strawberry plants
  3. Transplanted 9 Snow Pea seedlings to 5 Gallon Buckets (3 ea) with a tripod trellis
  4. Bought a Gala Apple and a Fan-Cris Pear trees (planting to come next weekend probably)
  5. Shopped for a La Feliciana Peach tree, bought one, returned it, and I’m now looking for a better one to meet my need
  6. Meticulously watered the newly laid sod (at least until it started to rain, and then never stopped)

Mostly, the trees and the yard are taking my time.  I don’t know anything about choosing or taking care of fruit trees so I’m doing a lot of research, trying to cram as much information as possible before I have to make a decision.  I’m sure that I’ll make a lot of mistakes along the way (which is good, since I’m using this as a learning experience for later when I have enough land to have a real orchard), but that won’t be for lack of trying.

Thanks for following.  I’ll post soon!

Posted in Update | Leave a comment

National Heirloom Expo

Posted on September 11, 2012 by daniel

Today is the first day of the 2nd National Heirloom Exposition at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa California. If you’re interested, it’s not too late to get tickets and join more than 15,000 other gardeners and suppliers at the event.

I won’t be going, but I wish that I could. If you live anywhere near Santa Rosa, I encourage you to participate. With so many other passionate and engaged gardeners around, I’m sure that anyone who attends will learn and grow. Personally, I am very interested in the different varieties of plants that I haven’t seen before. I would enjoy learning about the strengths and benefits of old heirloom varieties that aren’t common anymore. Often, these varieties offer special characteristics that make them excellent to grow in your garden, such as extra long storage, cold and heat hardiness, uniqueness that adds visual appeal to your garden, as well as increased nutrition.

Another thing that I would like to see there are the speakers. I love to learn, and the expo has a long list of speakers that will be talking about things like growing stronger plants, gardening to feed people in need, and keeping seeds for future use.

Finally, as I’ve mentioned before, I’d enjoy being around so many other like-minded people. I can’t imagine a better opportunity to meat other individuals who are interested and active in growing for themselves in a sustainable and responsible way.

I believe that it is important to be prepared for emergencies and unforeseen events. Two aspects of that preparation are seed collection and building diversity into your garden. First, collecting seeds is a simple, and effective way of ensuring that you will always have something to plant during the next growing season. This helps protect you against competition for seeds in the spring as well as unforeseen financial difficulty that might prevent you from purchasing seeds. Second, having diversity in your garden will protect you agains disease and bad bugs. Not all varieties of plants are susceptible to the same problems so it is wise to grow multiple varieties of plants in your garden.

Again, I encourage everyone to get involved wherever you are. If you live near Sonoma California, take some time to visit the expo, but if not, you could join a gardening group or start seed exchange.

I’d love to hear your comments, especially if you went to the expo last year. As always, thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Garden | Leave a comment

Freezing Fruit

Posted on September 8, 2012 by daniel
cut peaches

cutting some peaches to be frozen for use later in fruit smoothies

I’m getting some Peaches ready to freeze. I like to freeze any Peaches, Bananas, and Berries that get too ripe for me to enjoy fresh so that I can use them in fruit smoothies. I don’t like to add any sugar or other sweeteners to my smoothies so the stronger taste they get after they’ve ripened just a little too much makes them perfect!

We have a lot of Bananas that we got the other day from the produce co-op so in about a week I’ll be doing a big batch of them. So good!

Posted in Food | Leave a comment

Organic Produce Coop

Posted on September 7, 2012 by daniel

I recently joined a few online groups associated with homesteading. One was an opt-in organic produce cooperative. I’ve never participated in a food co-op so I was a little uncertain about whether I would participate. I was invited by a friend who I know is very engaged in the community which gave me confidence that it was legitimate and worth while. It didn’t take long before I had an oportunity to see that for myself.

Yesterday afternoon, a notice was sent to the group that there were Bell Peppers, Bananas, and Peaches available for very cheap. I quickly got ahold of my friend to ask him if he would like to split a box of each (the boxes are quite large and I’m still not ready to take the time to preserve them; canning, dehydrating, and freezing are on my roadmap, but still a little way out). He agreed, and I had officially participated for the first time… well, half-way anyway, next time I’ll have do the ordering.

Here’s what I got:

organic food

20lbs Bananas, 10 large Peaches, & 12 Bell Peppers… all organic!

Posted in Food, Life | Leave a comment

Tip: Don’t Be Lazy

Posted on September 5, 2012 by daniel

Every wednesday I will give a tip for growing, raising, living, or building. These tips will be pulled directly from my personal experience and be accompanied by a story.

Sometimes I have to learn lessons the very difficult way. I’m no different than anyone else in this respect, but I wish I was. Three years ago my family moved into our home. When we arrived our area was under water restrictions so the newly laid sod that had been put in by the previous owner to sell the home was struggling to survive.

At first I was incredibly excited about the prospects of taking care of my own yard. I imagined it being the very best on our block. Little did I know that someone down the street has a grass thumb (not just a green thumb, his thumb is a close cousin to the grass he is growing), but I digress. Soon afterward, with the pressures of a new career and our newly born son, I let my passion for taking care of my yard become a chore.

While my changing perspective on the work had a considerable influence on my behavior, I can’t say that it was solely responsible for the disaster that followed. The next summer (basically one year later) I planted my first garden. I tore up the grass in several areas and built raised for my plants. Thinking back on it, I still believe that I did almost everything correctly. However, there was one large oversight. I didn’t consider the sprinklers.

At this point I had reached my goals and my garden was underway. The grass had already become a full-fledged chore and I was more than ready to begin ignoring it. So, when it became apparent that the garden beds would be in the way of the sprinklers, I wasn’t too enthusiastic about correcting the problem. Instead, I simply turned the dial to off for my backyard.

The remainder of that year wasn’t too terrible. The real problems began the next year, and they were seriously compounded this year. In the absense of thriving grass, weeds found a new place that they could call home. I had become very busy with my career and was no longer keeping a garden in the raised beds so I didn’t even really notice what was happening to the back yard until it was too late.

This leads me to the point of this post: Don’t be lazy! The biggest problem that I had was my reluctance to just go outside and endure the heat while I did some undesirable work. If I would have adjusted my sprinkler heads to account for the garden beds when I installed them, or even if I had watered by hand or picked the weeds. Or, when I was no longer growing a garden, if I had just turned the sprinklers back on and spent a minimal amount of time controling the young weeds none of this would have happened.

Now, instead of enjoying the large, semi-private space we have behind our home, we have been dreading every connection with it. We’ve spent many, many hours uprooting large weeds, only to find them quickly replaced by others. It’s been a tough road that should have been avoided. Here are a few photos to help illustrate the point I’m trying to make:

backyard weeds

terrible weed coverage, and you can see the abandoned chair and ball

backyard weeds

more weeds and more trash

tip summary: don’t put things off until later if you can get them done now. Most of the time, these things will still need to be done, they will just become more difficult the longer you wait.

Posted in Homestead, Life | Leave a comment