Snow Day

Well, the weatherman was way off the mark for this storm. He had predicted 6 - 12 inches of snow, and we got 26 inches! Fortunately, we had planned to spend the day indoors, baking Christmas cookies. So, we went to the store yesterday to buy a few ingredients we didn't have on hand. After breakfast, we got started baking. Jorene made Coconut-Macadamia, Chocolate Chip-Almond, and Cake Mix cookies; while I made Ginger Snaps and biscotti.


These recipes, and more, can be found on our recipes page.

Jorene likes to put a variety of cookies in colorful boxes for our friends each year.

Merry Christmas to all!

The Growing Challenge

We have decided to participate in The Growing Challenge next year. The requirements are simple.

1. Grow one additional type of fruit or vegetable than you did last year, and grow it from seed.
2. If rule #1 is not enough of a challenge for you, you may make your own rules.
3. Post about gardening once each week.
4. Check in every week at 1 Green Generation.
5. When signing up, make sure to include your zone and where you’re located.

More specific guidelines are available when you sign up. Since we already grow our garden, mostly, from seed and save a lot of seed, we will add a new challenge. Next year we want to extend our growing season using hoop houses and, hopefully, a green house. This will move us closer to our goal of self-sufficiency and eating only what we have raised, grown, hunted or traded for locally. I encourage everybody to grow a garden and join in the challenge.

Farm Roundup

It's been a long time since I've written. My goal next year is to post once a week. If I get into a habit with it, I'm sure I can keep it up. But it is time now for a farm review of the animals we raised this year.

The turkeys were a new addition to our farm this year. I raised 3 Broad Breasted White Turkeys, 2 toms and 1 hen. They were an absolute joy to raise.

I started them in a brooder house with broiler chickens. They looked much like the broilers, except for a longer neck. But, at 3 weeks, I could pick out the toms. They were strutting around, wings stretched out and trying to look big. It was hilarious. I moved them to the field at 8 weeks, later than the chickens because they were growing slower. Once they were in the fields, though, they showed their value as pastured animals. They will eat about 60% of their diet from the pasture (grass and bugs), which cut their feed bill down quite a bit. I supplemented their diet with a locally milled poultry finisher feed. In fact, all of our feed is locally milled and doesn't contain animal by-products, antibiotics or growth hormones.

I kept the turkeys in a movable pen and poultry fencing. The pen was very heavy and hard to move without assistance, so it needs some modifications before next season. The fencing was step-in posts with 4' high poultry netting. This worked fine for the turkeys until 18 weeks, or so. At that point, they were all at least 25 lbs. and just pushed the fence over. What was great, was that they would follow me back to their pen whenever they got out. Next year I will use electrified poultry netting to keep them safe from wandering and from predators.

I butchered them in time for Thanksgiving, at 24 weeks. The toms dressed out at 37 and 40 lbs. and the hen at 25 lbs! And they were delicious. We were very pleased with them.

I will definitely raise turkeys again next year. I'd like to try butchering them at different times to get some smaller sizes. I'd also like to make ground turkey for turkey sausage. They are far superior to raising broiler chickens because of their higher consumption of pasture, less prone to predator attacks and friendliness. They are one of my favorites.

I also started raising rabbits this year. I purchased 2 does and 1 buck from Polyface Farms in May, as well as a mixed breed doe from a local farmer. We raised several litters, putting them out to pasture in field pens at 6 weeks. The rabbits are another favorite of mine. Their field pens are tremendously easy to build and move and they are a joy to watch in the fields. Guests at our lodge loved watching the rabbits and feeding them grass. At 12 weeks, they typically dress out at 4 lbs., which is a great meal for our family. Liam, our 1 year old, loves roasted rabbit and will eat all that we put on his plate. If you would like to try rabbit, here is our favorite recipe.

We had to cull one doe from our breeding stock. I bred her twice but she didn't produce a litter. I also lost a litter because I didn't put the nest box in for the doe early enough. She gave birth that night and left the babies outside the box. When I found them the next morning they were cold and lost. I know now to put the box in a week before the planned due date.

Other than those setbacks, we have been very pleased with raising rabbits on pasture. They are easy to raise, consume a lot of grass and garden scraps which cuts back on their feed bill, provide us with clean manure for the gardens, and are a good meal. By comparison, they are far superior to chickens for meat.


Once again, we raised hogs. This year, I had some friends who were interested in whole or half hogs, so we raised 5 hogs. I bought them from a local farmer at 225 lbs. and finished them to over 300 lbs. I kept them corralled in a pen next to our barn, but would like to one day pasture them in our woods and fields. We have about 8 acres of land behind our lodge filled with hickory, beech, and oak trees. I hope next year to finish the hogs there, using electric fence to keep them contained.

This year, I learned how to butcher a hog, thus cutting down on our costs. This wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. I believe I got a better product than when I took them to a butcher last year. I kept 2 hogs for us, from which I made 60 lbs. of sausage, 30 lbs. of bacon, dry-cured hams, wet-cured hams and lots of roasts, tenderloin, chops and ribs.


I raised broiler chickens again this year and put them in field pens similar to the design at Polyface Farms. I had a major predator problem with raccoons, though. The raccoons pulled chickens through the 1 inch mesh wire and dug under the bottom rungs to grab legs and wings. I finally moved the remaining chickens into a shed and started setting traps for the raccoons. This summer I killed over 2 dozen raccoons and I don't think that is all of them. We are surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods, so I'm sure they will be around all of the time. My only solution is to surround the field pens with electric fence.

The chickens, though, are my least favorite to raise. They're smelly, even in the field pens, their stupid, and prone to predator attacks (much more so than the other animals). By comparison, rabbits and turkeys are much more enjoyable. Roast rabbit is just the same as chicken and I can make stock from the turkeys. The only reason I would see to raising chickens next year would be for fried chicken. So we'll see if I raise them again.

Tour of Polyface Farms

Last week, I visited Polyface Farms in Swope, Virginia. I wanted to pick up some rabbits for breeding stock and tour the farm. It was broiler day at Polyface and they were butchering 700 chickens! It was an impressive, efficient, and thorough operation. I picked up some great techniques for processing my chickens. Sheri showed me how they eviscerate the chickens, which was a much cleaner and quicker process than I had been taught. They invited me to help, and after working on a dozen chickens, I had the process down smoothly. That knowledge alone was worth the drive, and I am very thankful to Sheri.

Matt took time out of his busy day to show me around the farm also. First we went to the Raken house. Here the chickens and rabbits are housed together in a shed, with the rabbits in elevated cages and the chickens free ranging below. The rabbit droppings falls on the floor and the chickens scratch through it for nutrients. Chicken and rabbit droppings get mixed in the bedding material by the chickens' scratching making great compost. I would love to implement this concept as a winter house for the chickens and rabbits. I could set up a portable hoophouse over our garden. In the spring, the compost could be mixed into the soil to improve the less than ideal soil I have now.

While in the Raken house, we picked a 12 week old buck to start my breeding program. He will be ready to breed between 22 - 25 weeks. Their rabbits have been line bred for 25 years and are a cross between New Zealand White and Californians. They have selected stock that yields good litters (6 - 9 per litter) and high meat to feed ratio. Their colors bear little resemblance to the former breeds.






I also picked out two 12 week old does. They will be ready to breed at 18 weeks.












While in the hutches, they are free fed rabbit pellets from a local mill and fresh greens daily. Since they will be ready to breed soon, I will leave them in the hutches for now.

Rabbit pen in field.

Jorene's Budget Garden and Top 10 Budget Gardening Tips

As many gardeners know, it is very easy to get caught up in the excitement of purchasing plants and perennials; this euphoria often fades when the credit card bill arrives in the mail. However, there are many ways to keep the thrill going all season long at little or no cost. Below, I will describe the plants that I used in the Budget Garden beds that I created along with my best tips for having spectacular plant and perennials beds on a small budget.

I recently planted 2 large beds at the front gates of The Ponderosa Lodge. They are filled with shrubs and plants, most of which are deer resistant, fast growers, long blooming, and can tolerate heat and neglect. The total cost to create and fill both beds was approximately $50, including mulch and edging materials. While the beds do not look like much now, they should (with a little bit of luck) fill out quite nicely by next summer.

The Budget Garden includes 6 Itea Virginica Little Henry (Sweetspire) shrubs. I purchased Sweetspire via a nursery listed on Ebay--a great resource for finding good deals on plants. They arrived in good condition and will hopefully fill in the back of the bed by the end of next fall. Sweetspire has a compact, low-mounding growth habit, reaching 2-3 feet tall, and is covered with sweetly scented, pristine-white flowers that shoot off like sparklers in the late spring/early summer garden. I chose Sweetspire, in part, because I wanted a shrub that would not grow taller than the lettering on our business sign. However, it is also a great choice for underneath a window. It is deer resistant but at the same time attracts butterflies. It is also a real show stopper in fall, when its leaves change color from green to flaming-red. Sweetspire holds its leaves longer than burning bush and many other shrubs in the fall landscape. It grows in zones 5-9 under all sun/shade conditions, and it will stand up to drought. As such, it has truly earned its reputation as the "anywhere shrub."

The Budget Garden also includes many unidentified light, medium, and dark green hostas. The hosta (or funkia, plantain lily) grows in zones 3-8. Its bloom contains lavender or white flowers on tall stems during a few weeks in mid-summer. It is native to East Asia and contains lush foliage in varying heights, textures, sizes, and colors, including white, yellow, green, blue, and mixes of all of the above. Some of the hostas in the Budget Garden were on the property of The Ponderosa Lodge when we purchased it, and we merely transferred them to this spot. We also received a few more as gifts from our close friends Mac and Dee McCutcheon. Their hosta bed was overgrown with plants, so they gave us the extras. Hostas usually get bigger and bigger each year, and they can be divided and replanted elsewhere when they have overgrown the space in which they are contained.

I also placed some unidentified liriope in front of the hostas in the Budget Garden. This liriope was already in the front flower bed of my Fairlington Village townhouse in Arlington, Virginia, when I purchased it in 2002. It is the only slow grower of all of the plants that I placed in the Budget Garden. However, it was starting to take over a bit by spring 2009, so I moved some of the liriope to the Budget Garden. Similar to Sweetspire, it thrives in a wide range of conditions from dry shade to full sun and in zones 5-10. It is a short plant reaching approximately 12" high, and it has blue or purple flowers throughout most of the summer. Finally, liriope is deer resistant which is great for life in the mountains of southern West Virginia.

The Budget Garden also contains Convallaria Majalis (Lily of the Valley). I purchased 10 starters from Lowe's for less than $1 a piece. They were placed in the ground a few weeks ago but have yet to peak out above the mulch. I also purchased 5 full grown starters for $5 from another home gardener I located on craigslist who lives in Alexandria, VA. Lily of the Valley forms a fast-spreading carpet of graceful, 8" leaves. In mid-spring, it bursts into a hypnotically sweet-smelling shower of tiny bell flowers 6-12" tall. Lily of the Valley grows in zones 3-9 and in part to full shade. Like the lamb's ear described below, it multiples fairly rapidly from underground stems, so it should be planted in an area where it has room to grow.

Finally, the Budget Garden contains Stachy's Lanata (lamb's ear) that was on the property of The Ponderosa Lodge when we purchased it, and we merely transferred it to this spot. Lamb's ear is unique in the garden landscape as it is grown for its silvery, wonderfully soft, velvety foliage. It is deer resistant and grows in zones 4-8. Lamb's ear is a short plant reaching approximately 10" high, and it requires nearly full sun which is why we placed it in the very front of the bed. It has lavender flowers in the summer. Lamb's ear spreads rapidly and can become somewhat invasive over time. In fact, I used to hate it until I realized that I could just chop it up and move it all over the property or give it away to friends and visitors to the lodge who like it. However, because of its invasive nature, it is best to plant it in an area where it has room to grow.

We received the wood chipping mulch contained in the Budget Garden for free from a log building company located just a few miles from the lodge. Ken purchased the edging at Lowe's for less than $20.


My Top 10 Budget Gardening Tips include the following:

1) Look around your home and yard to see what you already have. Are some of your plants overgrown? Can they be transplanted to a different area rather than dug up and thrown in the garbage heap?

2) Let your friends, family, church members, etc. know that you will clean/thin out their flower beds for free if you can keep what you dig up. Many elderly, temporarily sick/bedridden individuals, and even busy young families enjoy their plants and flowers but do not have the time or physical ability to take care of them. Some people just do not like the work involved in thinning out a bed; they just want to see the final product of the beautiful plants and flowers. Many perennials such as daffodils and irises will not bloom when they are overgrown, so by cleaning and thinning out flower beds, you help them and yourself.

3) Place an ad in craigslist or in a local public place stating that you will clean/thin out flower beds for free if you can keep what you dig up.

4) Purchase items off craigslist. It's almost always less than half of what you would expect to pay at Lowe's, Home Depot, or a local gardening center. Additionally, home gardeners often have unique items that you cannot find at the big box stores or a local gardening center. It is also a great way to meet people in your area who have the same interest that you do.

5) Purchase items from reputable sellers on Ebay.

6) Wait for plants and perennials to go on clearance at Lowe's, Home Depot, or the like. They usually do. You can easily save 50-75% by waiting a few weeks, and most of the time, the plants will survive with a little water and TLC. If they do not, these stores usually have some sort of guarantee, so you can not lose either way.

7) Buy from your favorite gardening catalogs and websites after they have placed their plants and perennials on clearance. They generally always have coupons and rebates such as take $10 off an order of $40 or more.

8) Keep a shovel or small spade in your automobile, and dig up plants and flowers on the side of old country roads. A friend of mine recently told me that she also digs up bulbs on the sides of highways if she knows that they are about to be plowed under by the DOT.

9) Join Garden Web. Members on Garden Web will often trade plants and perennials or even send them to you in exchange for the cost of postage, especially if they know that you are a newbie who is excited about getting started in gardening.

10) Trade with friends, co-workers, or acquaintances who like to garden. . .

. . . AND 1 MORE JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE . . .

11) Let your family know that plants and flowers and gift certificates to your favorite gardening store make great Christmas presents.

First litter of Bunnies born on the farm!

Cocoa, our doe, gave birth to her first litter of baby bunnies at the farm. Three baby bunnies were born during Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning. I noticed the first baby when I was shutting up the chickens Tuesday evening. The mother and her baby were outside of their nest box in the pen. I thought Cocoa might have had the baby there, so I just put the baby in the nest box. It had a small lip on the doorway which I thought was high enough to prevent the babies from leaving the nest box. The next morning, I saw that Cocoa had delivered two more bunnies, for a litter of three. Unfortunately, one of the babies had gotten out of the next box, and its tiny head was stuck in the wire sides of the pen. I lost that one due to the inefficient nest box. So, I put another 1" strip of wood across the door of the nest box and checked on the other 2 baby bunnies. They were healthy and hiding under the belly fur that Cocoa had lined the box with to keep them warm.

Since then, I have not seen any baby bunnies out of the nest box. The two baby bunnies are three days old now; they are hairless and still have their eyes shut. As you can see from the above picture, they have started to develop some fur, (the baby bunny is also covered in the belly fur from Cocoa, the mother). They will not open their eyes for another week. It is tough to lose one baby, but that is why I started small with the new animals. No matter how much I read about farming animals, I find that the best teacher is experience.

This photograph is one of the rabbits from Cocoa's first litter. They are now 8 weeks old. I still have them in the hutch, but they get all the fresh greens they can eat along with their pellets. I hope to finish constructing the rabbit tractor soon so that I can relocate them to the farm fields. The rabbits from Cocoa's first litter should be ready to butcher by week 12 and will weigh around 8 - 9 pounds at that time.

Baby Chicks!

The first of our baby chicks arrived this weekend. We ordered 8 Cornish Cross and 6 New Jersey Giants. The Cornish Cross we will raise as broilers, for about 7 weeks. The New Jersey Giants will go in a mobile pen (chicken tractor) to weed our garden. Later, I will replace some of our non-producing hens with these new hens.

The Cornish Cross is a fast developing, broad breasted meat type chicken. It is the standard meat bird and grows fast, ready to dress in seven weeks or sooner. The New Jersey Giant is a dual-purpose bird. It is a good egg layer and also averages 10 lbs., making it a good meat bird.

I culled the hens yesterday. To check for good layers, you hold the hen by her legs and feel for the pubic bones. In a good layer, you should be able to get 2 fingers between her pubic bones. Out of 28, I have 1 Barred Rock that has never laid an egg and three other hens that are not as good as I might like. The 1 hen we will butcher soon while the other 3 I will check again early in the summer.

Liam and me picking out our chicks.

I want that one Daddy!

Putting the chicks in our brooder box.

Keeping warm under the heat lamp. The white chicks are the Cornish Cross
and the black are the New Jersey Giants.

Jorene's Shade Garden

When we first moved to The Ponderosa Lodge, the shade bed contained several very small rhododendron maximums, two day lilies, and a hosta that were covered with deer netting. The rhododendron maximum is a shrub of the heath family and may be recognized by its large, dark evergreen leaves and delicate pale pink or white blooms. It is the state flower of West Virginia and grows wild in the woods near The Ponderosa Lodge, often to heights of 6 feet or more.

During the first year at The Ponderosa Lodge, we removed the rhododendrons and transferred them to a hill out by the front gate. Slowly but surely, we have been transforming the area into a true shade garden. The items that are currently in the shade garden have been given to us by friends and repeat visitors to the lodge. We have also purchased them at Lowes Garden Center, in small catalogs such as Blue Stone Perennials, and at other specialty garden centers.

Our shade garden includes nearly every shape, size and color of mature hosta, including blue angel, frances williams, guacamole, middle ridge, patriot, great expectations, and august moon. The hosta (or funkia, plantain lily) grows in zones 3-8. Its bloom contains lavender or white flowers on tall stems during a few weeks in mid-summer. It is native to East Asia and contains lush foliage in varying heights, textures, sizes, and colors, including white, yellow, green, blue, and mixes of all of the above. Many of the hostas were on the property of The Ponderosa Lodge when we purchased it, and we merely transferred them to this spot, where they have thrived. We also received many as gifts from our close friends Mac and Dee McCutcheon. Our favorite hostas are a few true miniatures that we received from the Harris family. We have never seen them sold commercially, and they hold a spot of honor in the very front of the bed.

The shade garden also includes various perennial flowers. We purchased dicentra spectabilis (old fashioned bleeding heart) and clematis from Blue Stone Perennials. We planted dicentra spectabilis in Fall 2007, and it has already grown to nearly two feet tall. Dicentra spectabilis grows in zones 3-8, and it is deer resistant which is great for life in these mountains. It has pendulous pink flowers on slender stems that grow from clumps of fern-like foliate in the spring.

We purchased and planted clematis crystal fountain and multi-blue in Spring 2009. Clematis are prized for their incredible flowers; most are as large as your hand. Crystal fountain has lilac blue 4-5" double flowers with fountain-like centers. It blooms June to September, but unfortunately it does not appear that it will survive the transplant. Multi-blue has very dark blue to purple 4-5" flowers with thistle-like pronounced centers of yellow green. It blooms in June, July, and September.

We purchased aquilegia (columbine) from Lowes and a specialty garden center, and we have planted them at different times over the past two years (Spring 2008 and 2009). We also planted some by seed. Our most recent additions have been two pink and yellow winky aquilegia and two white ones from Lowes. Aquilegia grows in zones 3-8. It is deer resistant, and comes in a wide variety of colors. Aquilegia grows to 18 inches tall, and it is graceful, with blue-green foliage. It contains a wealth of flowers in sun or shade. It self-sows without overtaking other plants and yields interesting hybrids if near other aquilegia to cross pollinate. It blooms mid-Spring to mid-Summer.

We purchased several Lamium 'lemon frost' (lemon frost dead nettle) from Lowes, and planted them in Spring 2009. It grows in zones 3-8, is deer resistant, and will grow to 12" tall. Lamium 'lemon frost' is a nice contrast plant in the shade garden because it has yellow green leaves and dark, bright pink flowers which bloom in the summer.

I do not remember where we purchased astilbe or when we planted it. Astilbe grows in zones 4-8. It is deer resistant and blooms in Summer. Astilbe produces airy plumes that come in a variety of shades of pink, peach, and white. It lends a refined grace to perennial borders. Its lush deeply cut foliage is attractive for the entire growing season and is colored from green to bronze.

During Fall 2007 and 2008, I dug up two different kinds of fern from the woods surrounding The Ponderosa Lodge and transplanted them to the shade garden. One has thick, dark green, waxy foliage. The other is a lacy, light green fern. They both appear to be holding their own in the shade garden. I recently purchased Japanese painted fern (Athyrium N. Pictum) an ostrich fern to plant in the shade garden. Japanese painted fern has colorful fronds of grey-green blended with wine red. It has lacy leaves that are wide and taper to a delicate point. Ostrich fern has large green fronds that can grow to 4' tall, and is very useful to use in gardens for added height and interest.

We purchased helleborus in Spring 2007 at The Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina. Helloborus grows in zones 4-8. It is deer resistant and grows to less than 12" tall. It signals spring in the shade garden because it is always the first to bloom and holds its blooms for weeks. It contains short, waxy, dark green leaves. Helloborus can be purchased commercially in a wide variety of colors, including the black ones that we have. These plants are also very special to us because they remind us of the last "road trip" we took with Miss Lucie, our English Bulldog who passed away May 2008.

My future plans for the shade garden include removing several of the solid green hostas to transplant to two flower beds that I am making at the front gates. I will also transplant several of the patriot hostas (which are green with white edges) to the beds located along the front of The Ponderosa Lodge. Eventually, I will transplant most of the pink and white flowers, including the dicentra spectabilis, columbine, Lamium 'lemon frost,' and astilbe, to the far side of the The Ponderosa Lodge after we have the gutters located there repaired. I plan to add ostrich fern, a ground cover, and rudbeckia goldsturm (black-eyed Susan) to the shade garden during this growing season to add height, color and interest to the shade garden. Rudbeckia goldsturm grows in zones 3-9, is deer resistant, and grows very easily without any special attention. It grows to approximately two feet tall and has mounds of yellow flowers with a brown center. It blooms from mid-Summer to Fall. I have a number of these perennials throughout the property that I will simply transfer to the shade garden later this year. Essentially, I would like the shade garden to have more height in the back and throughout the middle. I would also like it to contain mainly yellow, green and blue hostas, ferns, and a few varieties of perennials that bloom long lasting purple and yellow flowers. As a final note, the above photograph was taken April 2009. We live in zone 5, so the perennials and plants were just starting to peek out of the ground.

Rabbits!

I just picked up our first rabbits! This is a pregnant doe, mixed breed, with 4 babies. She is due May 4. She isn't of the New Zealand breed that I would prefer, but she is still a good size and will get us started. I'll keep her in the hutch until she has her new babies and weans them.

Here is one of the babies from her current litter. These babies are 4 weeks old and will be weaned in another week. They will go in a pen to eat fresh grass and get lots of sunshine and exercise.

Another baby from her litter.

Planting Potatoes

Liam and Hope helped me plant another row of potatoes today. I have 100 lbs. of Red Pontiac and 50 lbs. of Kennebec. I'm planting this bed using the "lazy" or straw method. I tilled the soil to about 6 inches and formed mounds for the rows. Then placed each seed piece on the mound and pressed into the soil about an inch. They should be spaced 12 inches apart, but I spaced them at 6 inches. I will thin around July for an early crop of small potatoes. Then I covered them with 4 inches of straw. Straw promotes healthy plant growth, smothers weeds and protects tubers from turning green in the sunlight. The straw also acts as a mulch to keep the soil moist. Later, as the potato plants emerge, I will add another 4 to 6 inches of straw.

In September, I will begin harvesting clean, soil-free potatoes. I'll pull back the straw, take what I need and carefully replace the straw. After fall frosts when the vines die back, my main potato crop will be ready.

I like the straw method because the potatoes are soil-free, it's easy and no spuds are damaged by digging. I trade a friend eggs for the straw, so it is a very cheap way to grow potatoes.

I also want to build raised beds along the front of our yard where I'm putting this row. So this fall, I'll rake the straw in place, build several raised beds around the straw, and then add leaves. Over the winter, it will decompose and next spring I'll have nice garden soil in the beds, ready for planting.

A Review and Beginning

When my wife and I moved to West Virginia 5 years ago to open a Bed & Breakfast, we envisioned one day growing and raising most of our own food for our guests and our family. We've tried many approaches to this goal, and had many successes, and setbacks, along the way. But we have learned a lot about farming in a mountainous environment. We own 16 acres along with our lodge, about 3/4 is wooded and every bit of it is rocky. I've made many compost piles and hauled a lot of manure from neighboring farms and, eventually, from our animals. We relied on the advice of old time farmers and friends, websites, blogs and books. Along the way, we wanted to start a blog, a farming journal, but didn't get to it right away. Now that I'm starting it, I thought a good beginning would be to review what we have tried and what we are starting this year with.



One of the first gardens beds we started was our raised beds for strawberries. These are June bearers and were started in the Fall of '07. Last year they gave us a wonderful crop of the most delicious berries. I plan to expand our strawberry beds and include both everbearers and June bearers.

We also planted sunflowers along the wall, and carrots (Danver Half Longs) in the clay pots

We have started an orchard with 6 apple trees (Wolfriver, Golden Delicious, Yellow Transparent and Red Rome), 3 pear trees (Honeysweet, Moonglow and Delicious), 2 cherry trees (Montmorency and Surecrop Pie), 2 nectarine trees (Royal Giant and Crimson Snow), and 3 peach trees (Redhaven and Delicious). We have 12 Heritage raspberry bushes, 6 thornless blackberries, 12 concord grapes, 6 seedless grapes (various varieties), 20 blueberry bushes (I like blueberries!), rhubarb and asparagus. All of these have been started in the last 2 years and are growing very well. Our biggest concern here is deer damage. I have to cover everything with wire and netting to keep the deer away. Every year I have tried to dwindle the deer population during hunting season, and every year there are more deer than before. The other day, Jorene and I saw 20 deer in the woods behind our house. This year is going to be challenging. I'll keep you posted with our progress.



Last year we also started raising animals. We started with chickens for meat and eggs and hogs. We raised 60 cornish rocs for 7 weeks. When we butchered them I had lost 5, so we were down to 55. We enlisted the aid of some friends to butcher them one day. All 55 chickens were cleaned and packaged for the freezer that day. By the end of the day I didn't mind that we had lost 5 chickens. It was a very long day and I don't think we will butcher that many in one day again. Thankfully our friends are still talking to us after that long day.

We also started 31 hens and 3 roosters. We only wanted 1 rooster, but they are so hard to tell when they are a day old. Today we have 28 hens and the 3 roosters. 3 hens were lost to the extremely cold winter here. This spring we will cull the hens and take out any that aren't laying. As for the roosters, there is 1 Black Australorp rooster whose days are numbered. He is a mean one and has tried to spur me several times. The other 2 (a Silver Laced Wyandot and a Barred Rock) we will keep to try to fertilize some of the hens. Our hens are a mixture of Barred Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandots, Ameraucanas, Black Australorps and Golden Comets.


My greatest joy, and frustration, was in raising 3 pigs. In February, we bought three 8 week old piglets to raise to butcher weight. After several months of very little weight gain and sky rocketing feed prices, we learned that we should give them deworming medicine once a month. We also added a self -feeder for the corn and pig nuggets. I don't know if this is all necessary, I just know that once we made these changes, they gained weight. In addition to the feed, the pigs were given garden and table scraps (vegetables, fruit and leftover breads). I guess what frustrated us the most was the feed prices, which doubled in July from the March prices. In the future I plan to get the pigs later in the year, so we will have more garden and orchard scraps available for free. I also would like to fence in some of our fields for hogs. One field in particular has hickory nut trees, which I gathered the nuts last year for them.

My first year of raising animals has moved me closer to the idea of pasturing our animals. This year we plan to utilize mobile pens for the chickens and rabbits (chicken and rabbit tractors). We also are planning to get turkeys from a friend who is incubating eggs, which we will pasture with mobile fencing. Pasturing offers the animals a greater variety of nutrients in their diet as well as fresh air, sunshine, bugs and exercise while they provide fertilizer to the grasses.