Sweet Local Farm

Every day a new type of flower blooms here. The flower gardens are so lush and mature. As soon as one bloom fades another takes its place. Here are some of the beautiful peonies and iris:

A white tree peony:

The blooms were so large and did not fall over like traditional peonies.

The foliage is beautiful as well:

Pink peony bush:

Each flower must be staked:

So bright and cheery:

Purple iris:

I don’t know the name of these pretty white flowers:

This post is a Four-fer…aka, 4 posts condensed into the pleasure of one reading.

When we first moved into the house, the Raymond’s had given us a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. Since we hadn’t officially closed on the property at the time, we didn’t quite feel compelled to celebrate yet. But we’re happy to announce that as of 4pm yesterday, it became official. The ‘For Sale’ sign even came down…so hopefully people stop pulling into our driveway and peeking into our windows.

We also finally set up our rehearsal space in the basement. I’ve been waiting 15+ years to have my drums set up in the same place I live. Sweet Local Farm officially rocks! (In addition to the overwhelming amount of field stones we dig up everyday).

The Sidehatch/Bampf! tour bus pulled into the Sweet Local Workshop yesterday to get some work done. We’ll be renting it out to our friends in the Void Union for June, so we want to make sure it’s in tip top shape for them.

The Chicks have graduated from their infancy stage and have now been relocated to their own cozy apartment in the lower level of the barn. Check out Chick Cam to see what they are currently up to.

And on a final note…

Is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

Since our Live Stream is down for the moment, I figured I’d share these short clips of the chicks under direct supervision of Tofu the cat. She really does make a great baby-sitter, as long as she herself is being watched. These were shot on my phone, so please disregard the quality.

A few weeks ago, I branched out into the Craig’s List community to see what materials were available for my garden fence project. Within a few minutes, I found a post in the ‘free’ section from somebody a few towns over that was giving away an old rotting fence. Very soon after discovering this post, I was on the phone with the fence holder and was making arrangements to pick it up that very afternoon.

When we got there, we soon learned that the 8 fence sections were too big for my bus. But luckily, the very nice person that was giving the fence away was kind enough to throw it into the back of her pick up truck and take it over to us. Thank you so much JoAnn!!!

This past weekend the dismantling began. It was actually much easier than expected. Each nail literally popped out, so I was able to pull out every nail from every piece of wood.

The goal is to build a fence around the garden…a fence that is big enough to keep the rabbits and other small animals away. Luckily, we also have a huge assortment of scrap wood in the barn that will surely come in handy.

With the help of my main man, Don, we started to cut down some pieces of fence, removing the rotting parts, as well as dig some holes for the main posts. Within a few minutes of digging the holes, we ran into some huge field stones…much too big to remove with our mere shovels. One stone in particular put a halt to our project. We are now in the research phase of the most cost-effective way to remove the stones or build around them. If anybody has any ideas…please share!

Check out one of our Projects utilizing this recycled fence: BoNE Show A

Pretty soon I’ll be drinking fresh mojitos by the pool with muddled mint from….my new herb spiral!

“Herb spirals apply a pattern evolved in 1970 by Bill Mollison. The 6-8 foot diameter spiral at the heart of the herb spiral creates a diverse mini-ecosystem intended for planting commonly used herbs just outside one’s back door. Its three-dimensional nature creates drainage, sunny dry spots for oil-rich herbs such as thyme, sage, and rosemary, and moist partially-shaded spots for green foliage such as parsley, chives and coriander. In permaculture, the spiral bed is a favorite method to combine beauty, productivity, and variety in a small space.” from Center for Sustainable Community

Here is how I made the spiral:

I used rocks we pulled out of the field.

I filled the layers with loam and well composted leaves.

Here is the completed spiral!

I planted chives, mint, dill, basil, parsley, cilantro, catnip. I’m saving the top of the spiral for a rosemary bush.

For more information on herb spirals and the nutritional benefits of herbs, visit theherbspiral.com
eHow.com
GardeningTipsandIdeas.com

Update***- Check out the herb spiral now!

Watch the chickies strut their stuff live HERE

They are cute. They are little. They are here to stay! We welcomed eight baby chicks into our home on Wednesday. Sarah Claire was there to help set up the brooder. Its a toasty 92 degrees in there. The chicks don’t have names yet, so if you have any ideas, let us know.

We are in the process of setting up a live chick cam so you can hang out with the babies and listen to some real “tweets”.

As you can see above, we were digging out the garden beds by hand. It took a lot of work and a long time. Our neighbor came down the hill on his Kawasaki mobile and told us we needed a rototiller. That’s when we headed to the tractor store. We bought a pretty sweet rototiller and got to work.

Luke trying to control the powerful machine:

Now half of our overall garden is cleared. We planted broccoli, kale, peppers, swiss chard, beets, and eggplant.

You know you’re on the path to becoming a true farmer when…

You visit this place multiple times in one weekend.

There just never seems to be enough time to finish all the projects we have in mind. We took advantage of this sunny Saturday and worked till nightfall. Our goldfish pond needed a new pump so I ordered a replacement. We cleaned out the small pool that filters the water before it flows down the water fall into the pond. It worked great for a few minutes and the fish seemed to love playing under the falling water. So we went on to another job only to realize that there was a hole in the liner of the small pool and half the water had pumped out of the pond! I rigged it so the water still flows down the stones, but right now it isn’t be filtered. Add fixing the liner to our list.
The pond:

The perennial garden that surrounds the pond:

Luke cleaning the filter: