Wow, I have not had the time to write in quite awhile.
There have been too many things to write about and many experiences have passed but for now beside the ever circular political debates and the ever present social arguments . It is again time to plan and prepare for spring.
Over the holidays I received a new, and hopefully productive, present. A High Tunnel greenhouse! It's not the grand and immense size of the ones at some of the farms and CSA's I have visited, but according to some of the articles I have regarding high tunnel growing it will be very useful. It could produce the bulk of vegetables for this household if managed properly. We will see how successful this project can become! It has completely taken over the garden and required me to level out some extra area so that I could build it on the present garden plot near the cisterns and where the soil has been amended and is rich. I Now have to finish securing the structure and reinforce the frame. The high winds we have are likely to be too much for it and I want to insure the work I put in will not blow away. The 80 mph winds we had did break things once already and now I will have to see just how sturdy I am able to make it. If the original frame won't take the torture I will be building something much more sturdy to put the covering on very shortly.......... I have been preparing soil and constructing raised beds on the inside in
preparation for the first set of cold weather plantings depending on
weather in late February. My plan so far will be to successively plant
different veggies throughout the spring, summer, and fall and until we get
the long hard freeze of winter again.
My neighbor has a very large High Tunnel and has an amazing rotating 9 to 10 month garden in it....
My daughter ran across an amazing purchase of spring bulbs, daffodils, tulips, crocus, hyacinth, and more...
My garage floor is now piled high with hundreds of bulbs. The kitchen counters are covered with trays forcing several colors of hyacinth and paper-whites. and there are jars and trays of others upstairs near the great windows drinking the sunlight. The plan is to scatter them through out the front yard (which is my wife's wildflower garden). I can't wait to see hundreds of flowering bulbs early in the spring and then the wild flowers through the summer and fall again. I hope my daughters vision of spring bulbs scattered throughout the yard is a complete success it will be beautiful.
On another farming front - My flock of hens was attacked by coyotes again, further reducing the population to the point that I must bring in more chicks this spring. I have had several raids by the pack of coyotes that lives up on the mountain behind us over the years but nothing like this fall and winter. I fear the amount of food has dwindled and that has pushed the pack to hunt my birds. I have noticed while cutting wood and riding the trails up on the mountain that there have been fewer cottontails and jackrabbits. I also have seen fewer great horned owls this year. So I guess the coyotes are forced to raid my hen house out of desperation. Still, the pack has grown and even with a few well placed shots there are at least six members that I have seen on raiding parties. I will be investing in more fencing when the ground thaws and seeing if I can run an electric wire around the perimeter and along the top of the fencing. They seem to like to climb on the wire roof of the chicken yard and cave it in to get at the birds! Smart!
