Tag Archives: farm

order & chaos

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So I’d say our farm, like most, is a bit chaotic. Not in a stressful, busy kind of way, but in a we-have-a-lot-of-stuff kind of way. I think it’s pretty natural for farming spaces to become ‘collection’ spaces, but like anywhere, collection spaces can quickly become messy spaces. That’s why one of our farm goals is to sort, purge and organize (something this blogger loves).

We’ve been chipping away at tackling parts of the farm storage system that have been forgotten, discovering valuable tools and useful odds and ends in the process. I took a stab at tidying and reorganizing part of our barn last weekend (photo above) and while thinking about other areas to tackle, came to realize that we’ve actually made a pretty good dent with this stuff already. Bit by bit, on all fronts, this lovely little farm is becoming even lovlier. It’s almost been a year since we started and our progress is showing – yay!

So, to all the other neat-freaks out there like me, here’s to many more organizing parties & experiments in creative recycling! 

building deep beds

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Although the rainy, cold, west-coast season has arrived, there’s still a lot to do on the farm.  The chill in the air has made it harder to get motivated to go outside, but the heavy rain held off long enough on saturday for Chris and I to get a second deep bed built (he did the building – I just helped hold things in place :).  Two down, two to go!

We got a great deal on some beautiful yellow cedar which is what we’re using to build the deep beds out of.  Our initial plan is to have four deep beds.  We’re building them north of the barn and chicken coop.  The soil in that area is already rich and healthy and it’s the highest point of land on our 2.5 acres which means better drainage than anywhere else.

We have a really great visual in our heads of what this section of the farm is going to look like when it’s complete.  In addition to the deep beds, there will be a large trellis arch holding up our kiwi vines.  Built in below the trellis will be benches and a large feasting table so that come next summer, we’ll be able to feast in the garden, from the garden.  We’re also planting our red japanese maple tree in this area, building a better composting system, rabbit hutch and greenhouse.  It’s going to be quite the transformation!  Still lots of work to do :)

For now, it’s a dark, rainy monday morning.  Here’s to being productive on a farm when the weather gets yucky!

 

gettin’ around to some actual work

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So, as I’ve mentioned before, the 2.5 acres my friends and I are living on used to boast some lovely veggie gardens and a host of farm animals, but beyond some blackberry, blueberry and raspberry bushes, some potted tomatoes and a small container garden of herbs, that farm that once was died off a few years ago. Our goal: to revive it – making it better (and prettier) than ever!

We’re waiting until September (when everyone’s back from summer holidays) to really set out some serious farming plans and get cracking on the work involved, so in the meantime, I thought I’d get my hands dirty by tackling what’s already in need of some TLC – the gasping raspberry bushes that have been getting choked by some seriously overgrown weeds.

I put in a couple hours of weeding on the weekend and have been putting in about an hour each day since then and I’ve still got a long way to go. Those are some serious weeds!  But the fun part (the part that always motivates me with these kinds of projects) is seeing the difference my sweat and itchy arms are making. I’m seeing progress!

My hope is to get all the weeds out and then to lay bark mulch down around the base of the plants to help protect them and retain the moisture they need on these hot summer days (a raspberry plant care trick I learned from my community gardening days in Ottawa).

I was planning on doing some sluething on craigslist for some free/ cheap bark mulch, but yesterday something even better happened. Lesley and Brian (some friends of Julie’s) came by with a truckbed full of free firewood to give us and Brian asked if we ever needed bark chips. Perfect! He’s going to bring a free load by when he’s accumulated a good solid pile.

Can’t wait to get the job done and take some photos of our soon-to-be happy, healthy raspberry patch with the neat and orderly bark chip pathways! Gosh, this kind of stuff sure makes me happy.