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| Our first chioggia beet of the season. May 20, 2013 |
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| Fixings for a true garden salad. We have more lettuce than we can eat these days. May 20, 2013 |
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| The greenhouse is packed with things needing to get their roots into real earth. The tomatoes, basil and marigolds will be moved to the farm on Friday. May 20, 2013 |
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| Farewell friend! This beautiful guy hung out with us in the kitchen for nine long months before showing his first sign of decay. R.I.P. in the compost. May 20, 2013 |
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| Bloomin' onions. Companion planted in all of the tomato containers. May 20, 2013 |
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| The cold frame is out of control. I was using the space to bulk up a few at a time (the previous batch is in pots to the right) but I forgot to transplant these in time. All of our tomato plants are flowering except these. May 20, 2013 |
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| A downward view of the garden rows. A heavy rain came right after seeding so the rows went a big askew. Still, trying to follow the up/down row model. May 20, 2013 |
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| Sweet peas in a pod. I snitch on these, the sugar snaps and the snow peas so often that whenever I go to "harvest" them, the pickin's are slim. May 20, 2013 |
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| The bachelor's buttons which were planted for our wedding two springs ago are making random appearances throughout our yard. We don't mind. May 20, 2013 |
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| Our first carrot - a stumpy purple dragon with gorgeous orange flesh. Our flower bed is only a few inches deep, so they had no where to grow. May 15, 2013 |
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| Our farm has daisy fever! We were thrilled to discover acres and acres of them on our last visit. May 10, 2013 |
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| Our farm also has potato beetles. They've managed to eat up quite a bit but we're slowly gaining ground. Go back to Colorado! May 10, 2013 |
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| We planted potatoes in a finished bin of compost. We think the stack-able frames will be perfect for mounding. May 2013 |
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| A surprise bumper crop of cilantro has served us well. May 6, 2013 |
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| Crimson clover made a return to our yard this spring. We mowed most of it before it flowered, but left a few section go wild for the bees. April 2013 |
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| Crushed egg shells. I've read that saving them, baking them on low til they crumble and using them as a soil amendment helps with calcium levels. April 2013 |
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| Our first bean emerges from the earth. April 13, 2013 |
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| Pork tacos. A great way to use up the pork shoulder leftovers from the workday and to make a dent in the pickled onions we canned this summer. February 25, 2013 |
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| Our first major cutting of lettuce from the cold frame. Notice the lino knife - we saw them on clearance at Sears and were correct in thinking they would make handy harvesting tools. February 23, 2013 |
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| 16 of us gathered to give the farmstead a face lift and prep the garden beds. |
CLICK HERE to view more photos of our first farm workday which was held on February 23, 2013.
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| Soup for a stormy day made easy with the stock we reduced yesterday. Kale and onions from the Summer of Solutions garden on 12th Street. Bacon, beans, and biscuits round it into a lovely meal. February 18, 2013 |
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| I built up the shelves a bit and this little greenhouse is working well. Mike weighted the shower curtain door to keep it from blowing open and we've figured out a way to ventilate it on really sunny days. We've been able to scavenge almost all of our seed starting supplies to keep costs down. It's not glamorous, but it works. February 5, 2013 |
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| What to do on my 30th birthday? We decided to top off an excellent day with an evening at Vino's (in Little Rock) swapping information with other young farmers who attended the SSAWG conference last week. Pizza, beer and educational community - I approve. February 1st, 2013 - contributed by Rebecca |
COMPOSTING BINS designed by Mike
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| Similar to composting bins we worked with in New Zealand, the bin in the center is made up of stackable frames. In order to create something lighter weight and easier to store, Mike designed a stackable "lincoln log" type frame where each board nestles together to house the compost at the desired height. The piles on the right and left are sharing one of these sets. The one of the left is nearly finished. As it shrunk over the last three months, we took off the boards and began a new frame (on the right). One gets taller, the other gets shorter. This compost bin should be filled with layers of appropriate ingredients, covered with burlap or a scrap of carpet and then left to rest for about three months. No need to turn it. |
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| We weren't sure how this method would work back in Arkansas, but we are quite pleased with the results! |
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| And our worm population is thriving in the new bin. |
Added on January 30, 2013
Our Backyard GREENHOUSE
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| Our first greenhouse. Construction took less than a day and materials cost about $80. We used old pipes and scrap wood we had on hand. The door (a slit covered with an old shower curtain) is under probation but seems to be working well. January 21, 2013 |
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| An inside view of the construction. Very simple. We wanted something that will be easy to take apart in case we want to move it to our land. The plastic is hooked on with 1/2 inch rings of PVC pipe which have 1/3 of a side cut out. It provides enough tension to hold the plastic in place without any damage and can be removed easily. Also, by twisting the PVC piece once it's on, you can control the amount of tension on your plastic. January 21, 2013 |
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