Wednesday, February 22, 2012
New Blog for the farm
I seem to be unable to change the url for the farm blog from the original brandybrookfarm. blogspot.com so I've set up an entirely new blog for Stonewall Corner Farm that now reflects the correct url. I was hoping to preserve the history of the blog by just changing the name but, apparently, it doesn't quite work the way I'd hoped. I want people to be able to find us with the correct farm name, so this will be the last post at this url. Please visit http://stonewallcornerfarm.blogspot.com/ to continue reading about our adventures. Thanks!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Challenges and planning.....
I've tried in a variety of different ways to add this to the side bar on this blog:
http://www.sustainableeats.com/sign-up-for-the-urban-farm-handbook-challenge/
It's got a nifty little graphic and everything. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't get blogger to accept it. So, please check out the link instead.
The upshot of it is, that it's a 12 month "challenge" (11 challenges, one reflection month) to help transition to a more self-sustaining lifestyle. It's based on the book, The Urban Farm Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Farm-Handbook-Resources-Preparing/dp/1594856370/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328884747&sr=1-1) which I will admit I haven't read but stumbled over on another blog called Food In Jars (http://www.foodinjars.com/2012/02/books-the-urban-farm-handbook/) which I read fairly often. Food In Jars author Marisa does a fine job of reviewing the book (not to mention writing a great blog in general!) in the above linked blog post, so click, read, and enjoy her great review and lovely photos. Ordinarily, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to a book or challenge oriented towards 'urban' farmers because I don't think of us that way - we are definitely out in the country and not in an urban setting. Out of curiosity, mostly due to Marisa's wonderful book review, I clicked on the challenge link she provided to see what it was all about and the more I read, the more I thought, hey, this could be really helpful to us. The final clincher was the sentence, "This challenge will be what you make of it – the ultimate in crazy or just dipping your toe in." Oh, ok. No pressure, no deadlines. I won't look like a deadbeat to the world if I can't meet some list of required tasks if life gets too busy to do a lot but I can at least keep up by reading the monthly guest blog challenges. Maybe I can do this. Sounds very interesting to me, and I want to learn more about almost about all the topics listed (seed saving, soil building, dairy, preserving, grains, to name a few). Plus, it will give me some exposure to things I don't think too much about right now (like bartering or foraging, for instance). Sounds like a winner all around!
I am continuing to get the gardens planned and hope to finish that today. We are going to plant all three plots again this year. Just to complicate things a little more, in addition to companion planting I am also using crop rotation principles. In all seriousness, it doesn't really complicate things that much and it actually helps in deciding what goes where in each plot. For those of you not familiar with the concepts involved with rotation, it's pretty logical: don't plant the same plants or plants from the same family in the same space every year. It's proven to help reduce the incidence of pests and disease. For example: don't plant potatoes in one spot one year and then tomatoes in that same spot the next year. Potatoes and tomatoes are both nightshades and share the same diseases which can stay in the soil between seasons. I'm also going a little further with it in trying to take into account the nutritional needs of the plants. Another example: corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder, which leaves the soil it was planted in lower in nitrogen than before. Legumes (peas & beans) 'fix' nitrogen in the soil, so it would help restore nitrogen to the former corn patch if you plant beans there the following year. Simple things that will, hopefully, make a big difference in the overall health of the garden.
http://www.sustainableeats.com/sign-up-for-the-urban-farm-handbook-challenge/
It's got a nifty little graphic and everything. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't get blogger to accept it. So, please check out the link instead.
The upshot of it is, that it's a 12 month "challenge" (11 challenges, one reflection month) to help transition to a more self-sustaining lifestyle. It's based on the book, The Urban Farm Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Farm-Handbook-Resources-Preparing/dp/1594856370/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328884747&sr=1-1) which I will admit I haven't read but stumbled over on another blog called Food In Jars (http://www.foodinjars.com/2012/02/books-the-urban-farm-handbook/) which I read fairly often. Food In Jars author Marisa does a fine job of reviewing the book (not to mention writing a great blog in general!) in the above linked blog post, so click, read, and enjoy her great review and lovely photos. Ordinarily, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to a book or challenge oriented towards 'urban' farmers because I don't think of us that way - we are definitely out in the country and not in an urban setting. Out of curiosity, mostly due to Marisa's wonderful book review, I clicked on the challenge link she provided to see what it was all about and the more I read, the more I thought, hey, this could be really helpful to us. The final clincher was the sentence, "This challenge will be what you make of it – the ultimate in crazy or just dipping your toe in." Oh, ok. No pressure, no deadlines. I won't look like a deadbeat to the world if I can't meet some list of required tasks if life gets too busy to do a lot but I can at least keep up by reading the monthly guest blog challenges. Maybe I can do this. Sounds very interesting to me, and I want to learn more about almost about all the topics listed (seed saving, soil building, dairy, preserving, grains, to name a few). Plus, it will give me some exposure to things I don't think too much about right now (like bartering or foraging, for instance). Sounds like a winner all around!
I am continuing to get the gardens planned and hope to finish that today. We are going to plant all three plots again this year. Just to complicate things a little more, in addition to companion planting I am also using crop rotation principles. In all seriousness, it doesn't really complicate things that much and it actually helps in deciding what goes where in each plot. For those of you not familiar with the concepts involved with rotation, it's pretty logical: don't plant the same plants or plants from the same family in the same space every year. It's proven to help reduce the incidence of pests and disease. For example: don't plant potatoes in one spot one year and then tomatoes in that same spot the next year. Potatoes and tomatoes are both nightshades and share the same diseases which can stay in the soil between seasons. I'm also going a little further with it in trying to take into account the nutritional needs of the plants. Another example: corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder, which leaves the soil it was planted in lower in nitrogen than before. Legumes (peas & beans) 'fix' nitrogen in the soil, so it would help restore nitrogen to the former corn patch if you plant beans there the following year. Simple things that will, hopefully, make a big difference in the overall health of the garden.
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