This is the year to concentrate on our gardens

If I can borrow the money from my husband's 401K, or find someone to loan me the money, we will have a high tunnel here this year. My goal for the high tunnel is to grow all the plants we need for salsa, as well as growing extras for canning tomatoes for other uses and lots of garlic and onions for general use. I am hoping for lots of peppers and carrots for our own use. I'd really like to grow corn, beans, squash, cukes (pickles), cabbage (sauerkraut), and herbs. But, all of those will be grown outside of the high tunnel. I'd like to grow enough to preserve food for us and our daughter, and maybe have enough to sell at market. This year's other growing goal is to grow LOTS of herbs and flowers and most of the plants necessary for dyeing wool. I'd like to make my own teas and have dried herbs available for cooking and soap making. Now that we are not on the road everyday for 6 straight weeks, we are home more and can start working towards these goals!! These are the ways my grandfather taught me to garden. I don't remember spending a lot of time in my grandmother's kitchen learning canning, preserving and cooking as I am such a tom boy who wanted to be outside all the time. And, I certainly didn't learn it from my own mother as she worked full time and could barely get a meal on the table. All 3 of us kids learned to cook early on for self preservation. I thank my Home Ec teacher for teaching me a lot about food and preserving it! I love the idea of a victory garden and may see if I can impliment their plans. I love the idea of cutting and dropping the plant in place to rot into the garden thereby fertilizing the ground below it. We generally send the sheep and the chickens into the garden to clean it up as we have plenty of manure to put on top of the garden at the end of the season. My grandfather taught me no till gardening and companion planting. Practices I am still using 60 years later. The modern victory garden The Original Victory Garden

Oven Drying: One Way to Save Victory Garden Surplus

Rosa Rugosa

We have lots of this rose all around our farm. The acidity in the soil will determine the color of the flowers. Those nearest the gardens rich in sheep, llama and chicken poop are one color, and those out in the field that haven't been fertilized with manure yet are another color. The colors range from pink to white. The rose hips are what is left behind after the flower blooms. The hips are high in Vitamin C and can be used for many different things. Hop on over and learn more from this blogger.

Two months later...

I know, I know. I've been distracted by baby lambs being born, shearing starting up and trying to get more product made for NH Sheep & Wool May 9 & 10th in Deerfield, NH. There are deer back in the back pasture and a porcupine that has grown to maturity. It is time to put out the solar game cameras that I bought last year!! I will be back. In the meantime I am going to share some of the plants we have around the farm and their benefits. I will also be sending you to other blogs to learn more from their expertise.

Time to start blogging again!

I am more than a little upset that when I did a Google search for our farm name, one that we have had since 1993, it is on page 2!! There is a farm in Maine that stole our name and would not change it, despite me asking numerous times. I post on FB daily, but apparently that is not enough. So, I am coming back to blogging. Pictures and more posts will be coming soon!

Life on the farm