our homestead: raised beds filled and gojis planted

My husband shoveling compost out of the truck

My husband and I planted our goji berries today. On Saturday, my husband built two raised bed frames out of pine boards for them, so all we had left to do to get the berries planted was to fill the frames with soil and compost. After breakfast, my husband and I set out in our truck to a family farm in our area that runs a compost business. When we arrived at the farm we were surrounded by steaming mountains of black compost. A worker came over to us and we told him to fill up the truck bed. He hopped in his construction loader, scooped up a big pile of compost and dropped it in the bed. We watched our truck suspension at work as the truck instantly dropped six inches down as it was filled with compost. We also saw the beauty of our V8 engine as we hauled the load on home.

Once we were back in the yard, my husband and I set about filling the beds. He shoveled compost into our wheelbarrow and then I would push the loads down to the bed frames (we put them near the bottom of our yard where they'll receive the most sunlight). It wasn't too hard to roll the compost down the hill as the weight of the wheel barrow and the tilt of the hill made for some nice momentum. Banjo also enjoying frolicking beside me as if he was racing me. Anyway, we ended up with some extra compost, so I spread some in the greenhouse and underneath the hardy kiwis and the honeyberries. 

Once the raised beds were filled, I dug three deep holes in them; two in one bed and one in the second. We're anticipating the arrival of three more goji plants in April from a different nursery, so we'll have to build another bed. Our plan is to plant two gojis per bed. I loosened the soil at the bottom of each hole and added lime (to raise the pH of the soil as gojis prefer alkalinity). The lime smelled very sweet...almost like  Lucky Charms cereal as weird as that sounds.  I then tossed in a few handfuls of compost, followed by soil and more compost and planted the gojis. I was starting to get a bit tired at this point, so I made a quick bamboo  pole and bird-netting fortress for the double goji bed and just tossed the extra bird netting on the single goji bed. I'm not going to lie...I did not enjoy working with bird netting. I seem to have a knack for tangling it. Hopefully it will keep the deer away from my vulnerable goji plants as they spend their first night in their new  home. I plan to build a more functionable enclosure for the gojis soon. I'm happy we were able to get them in the ground before they break their dormancy and I'm looking forward to seeing how they grow this spring.  Now I'm off to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea with honey and read about soil microbes with my sleepy pups at my side. Aww, the life! 

our homestead: goals and non-goals

Here are a few small scenes from our garden this year:

Our garlic patch 

Celery growing in the greenhouse

Sugar snap pea blossoms

Potato blossoms

One of our many sunflowers

With 2012 just around the bend I thought I'd take the time to write about some of my "homestead" non-goals from 2011 and some of my goals for 2012. I borrowed the idea of non-goals from my sister-in-law, Rachel. You can read her post from her blog here: Nickel Images goals and non-goals. Non-goals are things you might have accomplished or enjoyed or are motivated to continue. Here are my non-goals from 2011:

1) I started my own tomato plants on my windowsills in the wintertime and saw them through harvest.

2) I had a hoophouse built and was able to grow lots of tomatoes, celery and cucumbers in it.

3) I learned how to brew nettle tea for my tomato plants.

4) I completed another farmers market season selling produce for Frog's Song Farm. Every year I learn more and more from the markets in regards to the business of farming. This year I was also able to sell a lot of my farmers' produce at our local co-op, granting them another outlet for their labors.

5) I grew so much this year! Peas, potatoes, turnips, spinach, beets, kale, garlic, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, brussel sprouts, sunflowers, marigolds, sunchokes, corn, pumpkins, winter squash and more.

6) I canned jams and fruit butters and made lots of pickles, using homegrown or market procured ingredients.

7) I saved lots of seeds from my garden for next year's garden, acclimating these plant varieties to our area.

8) I established more planting beds in my yard.

9) My husband and I finally brought home the second dog we'd been talking about getting forever. We love our little Banjo and Oswald's quality of life has increased now that he has a playmate and snuggle buddy.

10) I ground my own cornmeal from corn I'd grown and dried myself.

11) I learned how to make soap with my mom. The old-fashioned, saponification-of-oils-with-lye-and-six-week-curing-process-style.


And on to the fun part! My homesteading goals for 2012:

1) To establish rows of interesting berry plants including: goji berries, honeyberries, gooseberries, lingonberries and hardy kiwis. We have already pre-orded three goji plants, due to arrive in April. We'll probably have to build some sort of trellis...but that means I can also throw a few more hops into the yard.

 2) To raise a small flock of chickens, perhaps a duck or three, in the spring. I grew up on fresh-from-the-backyard eggs and nothing beats the flavor. I'm still lucky enough to be able to bring home eggs from my mom's house, but I'd like to learn how to take care of my own hens.

3) To grow even more than 2011! This year I really want to learn how to grow broccoli, cauliflower, fennel and leeks, and  melons in the greenhouse. I've also already ordered red brussel sprout seeds...it'll be fun to see how these turn out. Joe has his heart set on doing a giant lacinato kale patch too. I'm also looking forward to seeing how my saved tomato seeds fare.

4) To grow a massive sunflower patch. Why not? I saved so many sunflower seeds this year that I just might have to grow a big plot of sunflowers to nap underneath. I want it to be so big that you can see it from the road below my hill.

5) To make more soap!