Well, here it goes. I've considered doing this for some time now, just never took the plunge. I don't know how interested people will be in reading about me, my family, and my little farm, but I guess there is only one way to find out. I don't have a lot of land, only around five acres located in DeSoto, Missouri, but it is attached to my parents larger 37 acre tract of land where I grew up. As this thing progresses I will add pictures of the farm and what we have going on here. I have a number of little experiments I am trying out, most of them are already started and some I will be starting in the near future. I consider my place a hobby farm because everything I am doing right now is just for me and my family's use. My farm does not generate any kind of income at the present time, but that is something that I would like to change, eventually. I don't think I will ever be able to be a full time farmer or anything like that, but it would be nice to market some home grown products.
One of the things we have here on the farm is a small poultry flock, which we will be increasing in the near future as soon as our chicks come in. We have all Rhode Island Reds, except for the rooster that is a Plymouth Rock. Our first group of chickens were given to us by a friend of my wife's. I was informed by her on a Thursday, that we would be getting them that Sunday, so I had to quickly erect a coup and a run that Saturday. It is definitely not much to look at, but it gets the job done. I will probably post a future blog when I have a chance to do some remodeling. The hens have been good layers so far, keeping us, my mother, and my mother-in-law supplied with eggs for most of the year. We have not butchered any for meat yet, I don't think my kids would eat any of it if they knew, but this is always a possibility in the future.
We also have a small garden that we are growing potatoes, lettuce, onions, spinach, broccoli, strawberries, tomatoes of course, sweet peppers, watermelons, cantaloupe, and one cabbage that my son brought home from school after a class project. There are also various flowers being grown. The garden is my wife's pride and joy. Prior to this year, we just helped my mother that lives next door with her garden. I would till it in the spring, the kids would help her plant, and she basically did the rest. However, she informed us last fall that the garden was just too much for her and she didn't want to bother with it next year. So, my wife and I started looking into some alternative gardening methods and decided upon something called lasagna gardening, sometimes called sheet mulching, and made some beds in our back yard. It is a no till method which seems to be working very well. I will have to keep you posted.
On a whim last fall, I also purchased some organic winter wheat and broadcast it over half of my mother's old garden area. It seems to be doing well so far and should be ready to harvest around June of this year. My goal is to grind it myself and make my own whole wheat flour. I think it would be very cool to bake some loafs of whole wheat bread from the wheat I had grown, harvested, and milled myself. I guess we will see how that turns out also. With the other half of my mother's old garden, I plan on planting a three sisters garden. This consists of companion planting corn, beans, and squash or pumpkins. This is a Native American traditional way of planting and each plant compliments the other. The corn provides support for the pole beans, the beans put nitrogen in the soil for the corn, and the pumpkins form a natural mulch to retain moisture and inhibit weed growth. These were also dietary staples of the Native American tribes. I will be planting the corn in the next week, and hope to post pictures and let you know how this progresses also.
The last thing that I have planned this spring is planting Blackberries, Aronia berries, and Elderberries that I have ordered from the Missouri Conservation Department. I am doing this to test how well each grows in my area. Aronia and Elderberries are very high in antioxidants and are supposed to be gaining in popularity in the U.S. for their health and medicinal benefits. Who knows, if they do well, maybe they can be turned into a modest cash crop. When they arrive I will be going through the planting process, hopefully with pictures also.
Well, so far that is it in a nutshell. I am hoping that those of you that drop by to visit will enjoy seeing what we are doing and maybe learn a little from our trial and error experiments. Maybe I can even inspire people to do some experimenting on their own. Thanks for stopping by, and don't hesitate to make any comments or ask any questions as this thing evolves, any input would certainly be appreciated.
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