Decision Made...Garden Ho!

 

After a week of yet another artic blast sending daytime and nighttime lows plummeting below freezing, I reached a decision about the garden. It's full steam ahead with seed starting this week. I just can't chance a long hot summer arriving too soon.

I've got some broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, napa, carrots, and onions planted into soil blocks. It's no where near what we'd need to be self sustainable, but it's something. Yes, I'm trying for a spring planting of my cabbages this year. I've ordered row covers to help protect them from the moths. I'm shooting for a 35% of our needs. That will be a pretty good start for these new sustainably bound crops. I rarely plant brassicas because the in season price makes it unnecessary. But things change and times are demanding I rethink this. I'd rather have some than none. If I get a fall season planting too, that'll increase our yield to 50%. 

The garlic and leeks beds have over wintered quite well under the thick hay mulch. As did the asparagus so far. I should be set at sustainable levels for garlic and leeks this year. I'll be dehydrating most of those harvests. I can always pull some up that have naturalized in the orchard area in a pinch. Oh, and all those yummy garlic scapes to cook with. I'll have to share a recipe with y'all for them on a Wednesday entry when it's time to harvest some in May.

We are watching and waiting for the chickens to start their spring laying glut of eggs. We are down to eight hens now. It's been a rough winter for them. At the peak of summer they numbered twenty-two. Mel is so fed up that she's lost interest in chicken farming as an income producer for the homestead. All the hens that went broody last year are dead so it will be interesting if any of the others will go broody this year. Now that Big Red, Rhode Island Red rooster, is entering his 4th year on this earth it'll be interesting to see if he's still fertile. I'll decide next month whether I want to bother and order some new chickens.  They won't start laying until summer. I still think it's good idea.

The quail are doing fabulous. We are now fully self sustainable in the little, dark meat birds in eggs and meat with just 25 quail for the two of us. In the spring, I may bump up their numbers to 50 and try to sell the eggs, hatching eggs, and breeding quads (3 hens and 1 roo).  I may just look into being certified for selling across state lines, but then again the way things started out last year and are continuing this year, I may do well just selling them in my five county area too. I wonder if the local livestock market will be open this year? They suspended all auctions last year because of the virus. But, there's always Craig's List. Or, I can just be happy that I'm self sustainable in one meat product.

Anyhow, I just thought you'd like to know what we're up to this week.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo