Damping Off Prevention

Damping-off: 2 Me: 16

The casualties: 1 giant grey-stripe sunflower seedling, 1 borage seedling.

But the battle's not over yet. I had to do some research tonight on 'natural' prevention and have three methods I'm going to try.

1. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon on soil, only needs to be done once. Done.
2. Water with chamomile tea at 2x normal drinking strenth. Brewing now.
3. One cup hydrogen peroxide to one gallon of water. Tomorrow's project.

If I have to, I may give in and buy something made to prevent damping off. I would rather not spray my little seedlings with chemicals but if it means no seedlings at all...

Sprouts

The seedlings are coming up nicely now and seem to be doing ok - though the damping-off fungus is just itching to raise it's ugly head. I have to leave the cover off the tray, and water next to the seedlings or the ugly white hairs start creeping over them. So far, I believe I may have lost one borage seedling. It has yet to poke through the soil, and white hairs are criss-crossing over the soil where we planted it. The other borage seedlings have all sprouted, along with a few sunflowers, one of the nasturtiums, and a few more tomatoes. They are currently in a very sunny window, but we're going to rig up a real light for them this weekend. Hopefully my other seeds will get here soon, I'm really looking forward to starting the strawberries!

Seed-starting

I am really terrible at it! For three years now I've started seeds and to date I've lost nearly all of my seedlings to damping-off. I planted seeds a few days back. The borage seeds are just starting to sprout and already I can see the thin white hairs that indicate damping-off. I have the seedling tray sitting in on the sill of an open window. I put a few drops of garlic water on the hairs themselves to try to curb the growth until the soil dries out enough to kill the fungus. At least I have plenty of seeds year - guess I'll just continue to practice until I finally get it right.

Sign of Spring

Our apple tree is going gangbusters with the blossoms this year! I probably will not let it produce at the rate it wants to (average 15-20 blooms per branch tip!), but wish I could! It's nice to see that the tree seems to approve of the care it is receiving. What is telling is that I haven't seen a single honey bee around the flowers...After our new trees get settled in and start blooming we will be starting up a little hive of our own.

Gearing up for veggies!

My son was sick today so while he napped, I was able to get some things done outside during daylight hours. I got the vegetable/flower bed in the front filled with compost. I started prep on the other bed (weed removal). I was able to plant the goji berry bushes and the last loquat tree. I even decided to get a little crazy and start some seeds. Cherokee purple tomatoes, borage, nasturtiums, asparagus, and giant sunflowers are now beginning the germination process in a flat inside, while outside, I planted a bush-type cowpea and borage seed next to each new tree. The larger trees will become trellises for the more normal, vining type. It will be interesting to see how they do.

Long day

After work and a DMV visit, I got 9 fruit trees in the ground. I was very impressed with the root systems on these bare-root trees. Still have to plant two blueberry bushes, two passion flower vines, and a loquat tree (all potted) but that can wait for another day - I am beat!

Headway

We have progressed towards our goals more in the last three or four months than we have in the entire previous year. It feels great to finally be taking steps in the right direction.

Goats: Our two girls are doing great. Our older doe, Daisy, is showing her pregnancy now in both size and attitude. She's going to be a challenge to milk, I'm afraid. We've been working on touching her belly and udder while she's eating her grain at night and she gets quite acrobatic. I hope to have a milking stand built soon so we can start practicing on it. We have less than two months to go before her scheduled kidding time.

Little Sierra is growing like a weed and has become something of a pest. It can be difficult to do chores when she's nibbling (or biting!) your pants leg or using your back as a spring board. She's lucky she's cute :)

We have another doe to pick up in June after she's weaned her kids. It's going to be quite the drive to pick her up but she's worth it - her dam is an 8th generation star milker (8*D) which is quite a feat for Nigerian Dwarves. I am ecstatic to have her.

As soon as the weather breaks, I'll be fixing up our larger red barn in order to move them out there - as it is now, we have the goats in our backyard - not the best set up. My hubby has been very understanding but I can see that he doesn't appreciate their mischievous ways (when it comes to the various things they have access to in the backyard). The goal is to have them moved before Daisy kids.

Chickens: The girls we have left are doing very well. I hate to brag but our girls are obviously well-fed and healthy-looking, with bright eyes and silky feathers. Our neighbors were so enamoured with our girls that they bought a little laying flock of their own - with two roosters. The roosters have 'access' to our hens when they free-range so here's hoping we'll have some chicks later this year. As for plans - I am planning out a nesting box to attach to the outside of the coop. The girls don't like the current set-up, and they show it by not laying in the nestboxes. That will be another project for when the rains (finally!) go away.

Garden/Produce: I have gone slightly crazy with the seed and plant ordering lately. I also have tons (and tons) of plans and projects for this year's growing season. I hope to be semi-successful but I'm afraid this year is mostly going to be the beginning of a very large learning curve. It's taken me quite a while to get to this point - I generally procrastinate until there's no more time to do anything due to a huge fear of failure. This year, I just keep repeating - You can't succeed if you never try.

Other: I ordered some large, air-tight containers for food storage and ordered organic red wheat berries to fill them. I also bit the bullet and purchased a manual grain mill. I see a lot of baking and sore shoulders in my future.

And, finally, I'm planning a grey-water system, at least for the washing machine. It is such a waste to pump all of that water to the septic when we don't get rain all summer long. I haven't divulged this last plan to the hubby yet. He's not going to like it, but I'm sure he'll see the benefits after a while.

Until next time!

First seedlings have sprouted!

This weekend I planted some spinach, lettuce, and radish seeds. I wasn't expecting to see any sprouts for 2 weeks or so (according to package directions) but as of this morning, many of the spinach and lettuce seeds have sprouted! When starting seeds indoors, I lose nearly all of them due to damping off. This year I believe I'm better prepared, so here's hoping for salad in a few weeks. The radishes were planted in a pot outside and don't look to have sprouted yet.

Slowly building

We made some progress yesterday.

While out buying chick starter and a heat lamp, we noticed the store had good prices on fruit trees so we bought two, an apple (with Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji) and a peach (Florida Prince). I've never planted trees but tried to be as gentle as possible with the roots and amended the soil as we filled back in the hole. I'm a little worried about the fact that neither of these trees had much of a root system. We'll keep 'em watered and see how it goes.

Hubby started mending the pasture fence while I did the laundry and other house chores. Our neighbor approached him and actually offered him a free gate! He got the hot-wire spacers set up and we should be able to bring my horse out next week.

One thing I noticed yesterday is that I'll have to rethink where to put the bee hives. I thought I had the perfect spot, on the east side of the house where no one really wanders - until I noticed some sort of meter there, possibly gas. I doubt the meter man would enjoy climbing over a hive when trying to read the meter - might be entertaining to watch though.

We removed one of the oleanders - we now have two small ones to go. I would have pruned the pomegranate and walnut trees but I can't find any of my pruning shears - not looking forward to buying new ones; they're so expensive.

I can barely keep my eyes open, so that's all for now.

Big plans

<--- My new canner!! (and accessories!)

It's been a while and I'm sure it seems like I was taking the summer off. While that's true to an extent, I have also been busy reading, learning, and making plans.

My garden was basically a bust this year. Partially my fault (not getting it tilled early enough, not keeping up with watering and weeding), partially due to our new puppy. Even though the garden is fenced off from the rest of the yard, she continued to break in and destroy the plants - first chewing down every single corn plant, digging up my beans, chewing off the vines on my squash. Recently she has begun to remove grapes, one bunch at a time. Thankfully, she is also getting too large to fit through her usual (and consistently blocked!) holes. She's also slowly learning that doing things like this only results in bad things later. She's extremely smart but also extremely stubborn. One of these days, she's going to be an amazing dog.

My grape vine is going gang-busters - I have many bunches of grapes that are finally starting to ripen. In preparation, I have picked up a brand-new All American pressure canner from Craigslist for an amazing deal! The plan is to make grape jelly when the time comes. I can't wait to use it, though I'm nervous at the same time. There seems to be a tough learning curve on a lot of things involving self-sufficiency. It's too bad I wasn't one of the lucky ones who learned these things growing up. I have also found an apple tree at an unoccupied house in my neighborhood. If there are enough usable apples, I'm going to make my Mom's apple butter!

Doves - too much work without enough in return is the conclusion I have come to. Especially since DH only wanted me to have one pair! I finally just requested that when he starts hunting (have to get the gun and license first) he hunt dove for me, as well as deer.

So, that's the basic update, on the to plans! The hubby and I are finally in the market for a house to call home. Musts include 1+ acre of usable land, a fireplace/wood stove, a kitchen that's easy to work in, and a large pantry or room enough to put one in ourselves. We've seen a few that fit the bill but we seem to find these properties 5 minutes too late. We're going to keep looking.

In the meantime I have started to use my dehydrator for fresh foods that we can't seem to use in time - one of our biggest problems is waste! I can't wait to have a few chickens to help with any leftovers. I plan to start with 3-4, maybe up to 6 hens the first year. Then I'd like to buy 5-10 straight run chicks the following year allowing a roo to two to mature a bit. If one of my hens go broody, let her raise some chicks, butcher the roo and do the same the following year. I don't want to keep a permanent roo for many reasons. These are my current thoughts on the subject anyway.

I have finally talked the hubby into letting me have a few rabbits as well. I would like to have a colony, and raise the fryers in grow-out cages as they get bigger. Big reason for the grow-out is I plan to have Californian, NZW, or a cross between the two and I don't know how I'd keep them all straight if I let the youngsters get too big before separating them all. Besides, I'll need the poo for the garden. What I've read suggests that rabbits in a colony breed pretty fast, so I'm thinking only 2 does and a buck should keep us in meat pretty well. When it's time, we'll keep a doe or two for replacements from my stock and buy a outstanding buck from other stock. I really like the idea of keeping the breeders in a more natural setting.

Now, for goats. I plan on getting two dairy does - breed has not yet been determined. All bucklings will go into the freezer, along with most of the doelings. After a few years, I plan to breed my best doe to the best buck I can find in the hopes of getting a doeling to keep as an eventual replacement. The other doe's kids will all be sold/butchered. I have no desire to show or keep registered animals - I'm already busy - so the buck may be of a different breed. I don't really care as long as he comes from a long line of exceptional dairy animals. All kids will be separated at night, I will milk first thing in the morning, and kids will be allowed in with the does for the remainder of the day. I realize this will cut down on the milk that I get for my family but it will also significantly cut down on extra chores as well as help keep me from getting too attached to the kids. From what I've read, it makes for some pretty tasty meat as well.

I also plan to have a hive or two of honey bees. I want to use the 'top bar hives' I've read about for several reasons. First, natural is always healthier, both for the animals and for my family. Second, the cost of bee equipment is rather inhibitive. Finally, we don't need that much honey - I don't plan to sell it, just want it for personal use.

Besides all this, we'll have a large garden every year, lots of fruit trees, a strawberry bed, and blueberry bushes. We may also plant butterfly bushes around the property for the bees and aesthetics.

I realize that things don't usually go according to plan, so this is a rough outline, subject to change.

New books and random other things

I had to run some errands today and while I was out I picked up three new books! Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats and Chickens and Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game by Mettler. I won't have time to read them anytime soon but I have something to look forward to when I get some free time.

I got my herbs planted this evening. Lavender, Thyme, Basil, and Parsley. I can't find my packet of chives seeds. Chamomile is next on the list if I can it. Also planted some California Poppies. They grow wild around here and are just amazingly beautiful. I didn't want to mess with the wild ones so blew 99 cents on a package of seeds. I can't wait to have some blooming outside my door.

The cauliflower seedlings are already growing like gangbusters. They just peeked above soil this morning and they're suddenly over an inch tall! The top is off the little greenhouse right now as it was pretty steamy in there. Every seed I've started inside has died due to damping-off disease so I'm trying to prevent that. I also read somewhere that watering with chamomile tea will prevent this problem. When they need watering, I'll give it a shot. The corn is already coming up too - planted two days ago. This why I love gardening - the promise of things to come!

New seedlings!

Yay, some of my cauliflower seedlings came up over night. So far, seven of the 12 have sprouted - in 4 days! I'm very impressed with the quality of this seed. Nothing from the strawberries yet, but here's hoping. We're off and running!

On another note, I had a dangerous thought last night...I can't have chickens because they are considered farm animals. I can't have rabbits because of the limits on the number of pets we can have and because the hubby would not be keen on the smell. But, maybe, just maybe, I can have some doves. I had dove once as a child and I have never forgotten how wonderful it was - they were delicious! Today after house-cleaning, gardening, and homework I plan to do some research on dove/pigeon husbandry. This may be do-able!

Some pictures

My pride and joy, a grape vine! We moved here over the winter of 2006 and saw this random vine growing from under the house. Naturally, we cut it as far back as we could - we would have removed it completely if we'd have been able to. Imagine my surprise when it started leafing out in spring and I realized we had a grape vine! It was cut back too severely to produce anything last year, but it's now covered with flower buds. Can't wait for fresh grapes. (Forgive the riding lawnmower - we have no where else to store it).

Not much to look at but these two pictures show the future garlic beds. The soil in this spot seems really nutrient deficient, though the roses do very well. I plan on adding some compost to get it ready.

Future strawberry patch! Last year this bed was full to the brim with begonias but many of them did not make it through the winter. This seems like the perfect spot for them - right by the front door, lots of sunlight, easy to observe. I decided to grow Alpine strawberries because they come true from seed but what I've read recently makes them seem rather difficult to grow. If nothing else, I can buy some strawberry plants from Wal-Mart, though I hope I won't have to.

As you can see, this bed houses five miniature roses. This is most likely where I will plant the chives that my hubby bought. This spot was full of small river rocks when we moved in. I removed most of them but the soil still doesn't seem very nutrient rich. This spot will also benefit from some compost. The bricks are going to go towards another project.

The hubby has agreed to help me make a composter. I know it seems ridiculous but I'm pretty excited. Buying dirt just seems so ridiculous somehow. Until mine gets going though, that's just what I'm going to have to do. These are the plans we're going to use: http://http//www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Tumbling-Composter

I hope it's going to be as easy as it looks! There is a fella on Craigslist selling drums, so that will be our first move.

I haven't talked about animals. The eventual goal will be to have some laying hens, dairy goats, meat rabbits, a few pigs, and perhaps a Jersey cow. Every spring we'll order some chicks for meat and perhaps buy a calf or two to put on the cow, as well as breeding her back. We'll probably drink the goat milk and use the leftover cow's milk (if there is any) for cheese, butter, cream. This is all a long ways off - when we finally get to buy our land. I tried to talk the base into letting me have a few laying hens but they were having none of it. As for the rabbits, I could probably get away with it if I had somewhere outside to put them. Luckily, I have a friend who raises rabbits for show. The ones that don't make the cut get sold to a processor so I'm talking to her about buying them myself. I figure it will save her a trip, I just hope she doesn't think I'm too weird.

The hubby is getting into the self-reliance groove a bit too - we bought a bow and he's going to learn to hunt. He's so excited. We're also going to buy him a shot gun for bird hunting - if you've ever had dove, you know that they are worth the time and effort. We're also looking forward to trying some quail - they seem to be everywhere here. He's going to take a safety course over the summer in order to get his license. He's acting like a kid at Christmas.

That's all for now, kids gotta get to school!

Here goes nothin'

For as long as I can remember, I have loved animals and plants of all types. I also loved stories and books that included self-reliance in the storyline...Some of my favorites as a child were The Boxcar Kids and the Island of the Blue Dolphins for that very reason. Finally, last year (hey, I never claimed to be intelligent!), I realized that I could put all of these things together. It even has a name - homesteading!

I joined some forums and started reading all that I could and am starting to form some ideas on how I want my eventual homestead to function. There is a problem however - I'm in the Air Force so I can't exactly put down roots. Not only that, but I live on-base meaning that there are many rules that I have to follow regarding how my yard is supposed to look, what animals I'm allowed to keep, etc. For now, I plan to stay in until retirement which is 12 years away. This leaves lots of time for planning but is also immensely frustrating somehow. I've never been a very patient person and dreaming and planning for something so far off almost hurts. Another thing is it's going to be so hard to start from scratch every time we move. You've gotta do what you've gotta do though.

So, here goes. I'm getting a late start this year, but better late than never. Two weeks ago I finally got some seeds in the ground - jalapenos, sweet peppers, tomatoes, cuke. This weekend, I'm hoping to get the beans planted (Blue Lake and Romano). Tonight I started some Alpine strawberries and cauliflower seeds indoors.

Future plans include digging a bed on the east side of the house for the cauliflower, as well as broccoli, spinach, and lettuce. It gets so hot here in the summer that I believe these vegetables will do best if shaded from the afternoon sun. I'll also be starting them indoors for the most part. I plan to plant garlic on either side of the roses in the front, as well as chives. I'm also going to plant a small herb garden - most likely in the back. This weekend we're going out to dig up a few wild blackberries. These will go on the west side of the house. We would also like some blueberries but finding them locally is proving to be tough.

I would love to plant some fruit trees but we'd have to leave before they got large enough to produce anything. We've been looking at dwarf trees, but I'm not sure that any truly stay small enough that we'd be able to take them when we leave.

That's it for now, as it's getting pretty late. I would leave with a few pictures but can't figure out how to move them where I want them (they automatically show up at the beginning of the post?) and I'm too tired to play with it tonight. Ciao.