Winter has descended...
Too soon! As a newbie farmer (and one that lives with mobility impairment), frost and snow caught me by surprise and derailed my fall preparations for 2021!
From dreaming about being on land to grow for so long, I knew I needed to prepare plant beds and sow fall crops. Barely anything got done this year due to injuries, not enough planning, and juggling too many other things. I got three types of garlic into the ground before the snow hit, even though I wanted to plant 6 heirloom varieties. I did not get the expanded plots tilled and mulched before the snow. The rototiller is really rough on my body and injuries, so I managed to get 1/3 done, then had an apprentice help me outline the rest, and recruited some lovely volunteers to help on Dec 12 to get the rest of the sod cleared for a pit in the spring. I am hoping that the weather will cooperate and warm up, making sod removal easier than trying to break frozen ground. In 2021, I have an expanded "kitchen garden" which will be for my family, but also herbs for Haven Herbs companion planted in there and any surplus will be sold through Market Wagon. I plan for corn, winter squashes, summer squashes, collards, kale, brussels sprouts, romanesco, lemon balm, mullein, yarrow, 4 types of tomato, 2 types of sweet pepper, and 5 types of hotter peppers, peas, beans, and more. In addition to the kitchen garden, I also have an oval shaped depression near it where water collects and it gets marshy when it rains. What better thing to plant there than marshmallow (and horsetail)? I also have a horseshoe shaped driveway framing this growing area, and need a ton of tulsi for Haven. So there is a crescent shaped bed to be carved out to be filled with tulsi! On another part of the land, I am planting shrub and bush crops all along a pasture fence line. I will be planting multiple kinds of berry bushes there, as well as roses and hibiscus. There is an existing box bed for calendula.
The other huge project of expansion for 2021 is chickens. In January, we will be getting 80 chicks (easter eggers, green queens, buckeyes, wyandottes, mostly) and building them a coop and enclosed run. We will set up brooders for them and then put them outside in their newly built home in March. We hope to start to have eggs by midsummer and sell them on Market Wagon. Lots of plans, and a ton of work getting there! I'll have pictures soon!