Double Rainbow

Last week we had some rain while the sun was shining.  We went out on the porch to see if we could see a rainbow.  There was a huge double rainbow in the sky.  This is only part of it, and the picture really doesn't do it justice...it was so pretty.  It was also a learning lesson for the kids...we talked about the rainbow signifying God's covenant with us to never flood the earth again.  The kids thought that was neat...but also asked if there might be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  We can dream, can't we?

Signs of Fall

Pictures of Fall from around the farm:

A Pond For The Farm

We are getting a new pond dug for the farm.  It's pretty exciting, really. 

 This is a pic of the new crossing that lets us drive to the backside of our property.  The front and back is divided by timber and a fairly deep creek bottom.

 Here to the right of the crossing is the site of our future pond. 

There is some water in it already (very shallow).  There seems to be a spring or ground water that flows to this point.  Hopefully with winter snow and next spring's rain it will fill up nicely.  It won't be a real big pond, but we hope to maybe stock a few fish in it, or use it as a alternative water source for gardens/animals in the future.

Pictures From Around The Farm

I took some pictures today and thought I would share them.  Let the farm tour begin!

 Above is a picture of our square foot gardening experiment.  I am really happy with it so far, and the plants are growing really well.  We plan to add more boxes to the garden yet this year. 

 Troy built a new composter out of old picket fences we already had.  It is just two bins, but it's a start to making black gold for the square foot garden.

 Here is a shot of our dwarf fruit tree orchard.  We have 2 apple, 2 peach, 2 plum, and 3 pear so far.  We had to put fencing around the trees becasuse the deer were munching on them.   I am planning on planting another apple and some cherry trees as well.  We have more standard and semi-dwarf fruit trees planted on the property too...can't wait until they are all bearing fruit! 

 Here are some blueberry plants I bought on clearance, waiting to be planted.  We are going to make an edible plant border along the front of the house.  I love the idea of walking out my front door to pick a snack.

 I thought I would share my little rock garden.  We planted this over our septic tank to hide the ugliness.  I have coneflowers, daylilies, russian sage (all blooming) and dahilas (about to bloom).  I also planted an old bucket and washtub with annual flowers.  Please don't mind the yard that needs mowed!

 This is a little area along the timberline by the house that Troy has started clearing out.  We are going to put a little playhouse here for the kids.  They have plans for their own "Secret Garden".  It should be fun!

And finally, we moved the firepit and benches into the timber a ways and set up a little "campsite".  We had a bonfire the other night and the kids had a blast.  It kind of felt like we were in Canada...we just need a fishing pond and we'd be set.  The joys of living in the country!!

Pictures From The Farm

I thought I would share a few pictures that I had taken in the last week or so.  This is a view to the south of our house when we had that big rainstorm last Sunday.  It looks like a new creek running through the yard.  The tilled ground is where the popcorn is planted. 

 This is another view of the "creek".  The chicken pen in the picture is where we keep the meat birds (they get moved daily to fresh pasture).  We had moved them to higher ground after the last big storm when we lost 36 birds.  A hard lesson learned:  Don't keep the chicken pens in the low portion of the field, or they may drown in a flash flood. 

This is a picture of our potatoes after weeding and laying more straw over their tops.  We are trying this method this year for the first time.  If it works, we'll just lift off the straw when it's time to harvest and won't have to dig potatoes...they will be laying on top of the soil.  Troy really likes this possibility!

Here is a pic of our corn coming up.  This was taken a week ago, so they are a bit bigger now.  Come on sweet corn!

And lastly, a picture of harvesting onions.  I planted them pretty close together with the intention of harvesting every other onion for early green onions, and then leaving the rest to grow bigger.  So far, so good.  We are also mulching with grass clippings to help keep the weeds down.  It's working well too.

So, that's the garden update for now...stay tuned.

Farming: A School of Hard Knocks

Well, we had some major disappointment this morning when we woke up.  We lost close to 40 of our broiler chickens in the storm last night.  The silly things seemed to stay out in the rain (on the side of the pen that is covered in chicken wire so they get sunshine), instead of getting under cover where it was drier.  So it looks like they died of exposure.  This is a pretty big loss... not sure if we will have broilers for sale at the end of June like originally planned.  We also gave the goats to a friend.  Nettie wasn't letting me milk her (plus my inexperience with that and lack of time) swayed my decision to give her away.  She will have a good home with other goats and more experienced goat keepers.  The garden is a huge mudhole right now, too muddy to plant or weed.  Such is life on the farm...it's not always easy (I guess it rarely is actually), but we are not ready to give up.  This way of life is important to us, so we just try to learn from our mistakes and come up with a better plan.  So, right now we are rethinking the moveable pens for the meat birds (who seem to be much more finicky than the laying hens) and also what type of meat birds we will raise.  We have had some problems with these Cornish X type birds.  But, with all of the disappointment, I try to keep it in perspective...thank the Lord we have not lost our family or our home in recent tornadoes.  We are all alive and healthy, and that is the most important thing.

What's Happening On The Farm

We have been planting a lot this week, getting ready for the rain that's coming this weekend...and even today.  Not sure how much we have gotten so far, but it rained pretty good for a little while.  We have planted green beans, cucumbers, zucchini/summer squash, sweet potatoes, asparagus, sweet corn, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and I'm sure I am forgetting something.  We have gotten quite a bit accomplished thanks to all of our helpers.

 Here is a pic of our newly planted sweet corn field.  We are trying two different varieties this year, a bicolor and a white sweet corn.  I can't wait until harvest time...we love us some sweet corn!  My Mom and Randy also planted popcorn in another field down the hill.  That will be fun to try.  We've never grown our own popcorn before.

 Sorry for the picture quality on these by the way...it was super sunny out when I took them.  My strawberries are blooming!  I am really happy with the quality of the plants and seeds I ordered from Johnny's Selected Seeds, by the way.  They have great products and a high standard of quality.  I can't recommend them enough.

And here is a picture of my onion chives in bloom.  They really look pretty, more so than this picture shows.  So, things are growing...a little slower than I would like, but growing none the less.  I have to remind myself that we are doing great considering all of the other things on our plate, like my husband's full-time job off the farm and children to homeschool!

New Farm Marketing Items...

We just received all of the items that we ordered from Ramaeker Screenprinting and are happy with it all.  The t-shirts turned out great.  We also had some egg signs made, along with a banner sign (not pictured), shopping bags, and business cards.  We'll wear the shirts when we are selling at the farmer's market.  It's exciting to see things coming together!  Now, no more snow!

The Greenhouse

We were finally able to get the greenhouse covered on Saturday.  Not the best day to do it as it was pretty chilly and WINDY.  The wind definitely made it more challenging, but it's done, so I can't complain too much.  Below is the pic I took before we started covering it.

Here is a pic midway through.  My Mom and Randy were able to come help us, which was great.  We needed the extra hands!

Here is the finished house.  It isn't the prettiest greenhouse, but it is functional.  We hope to be able to make it look better next year, when we have a little more time and funds.  We're planning on getting out there tomorrow morning to pot on some seedlings, start more seedlings and set up a heater for nighttime use.  More pics to come.

Farm Shirt Design

We met with Ramaeker Screen Printing today and ordered some t-shirts, business cards, and bags.  This is what the front of our shirts will look like.  In our logo, the Bountiful Harvest Farm is a gold color, but we didn't think it would show up very well on the gray shirts we wanted, so she is doing the lettering in white this time.  I like the way it looks.  We will probably get some more shirts and hats done later with the other logo though.  Can't wait to get the shirts back from the printer and see how they turned out!

Bees and Trucks

Last year we started the season with two bee hives.  Sadly one died, but the other thrived.  We decided to leave the honey in the hive hoping the bees would survive the winter.  We checked them last week and they are very much alive!  Below is the hive.

This picture shows us feeding them some sugar to get them through to spring, when everything starts blooming and they can feed themselves again.

And, in other news the farm has a new dump truck.  We had a regular pickup that we sold because we thought we could get more use out of a dump box.  This one was scored on Craigslist for a pretty good deal.  It has a hitch so it can pull just about anything, plus we can haul just about anything...manure, compost, wood chips, mulch, rock for driveways and landscaping materials.  It has been well taken care of and looks good for a 1981 model.  That makes it vintage, right? 

On Chickens and Valentines...

This is an interesting blog post title, isn't it?  The chickens are loving this warmer weather we are having.  It has been in the 40's with 50's and even a day of 61 in the 5 day forecast.  It feels like a heat wave!  The snow is melting and the mud and muck are beginning.  I'll take it though, as opposed to the freezing temps.  I need to remember that Winter isn't over yet ...it is Iowa after all and we have been known for some big snow storms in March (even ocassionally in April):(

This is a picture of my Valentine's present.  I am really excited about the cookbook.  It is called The Farmer's Wife Harvest Cookbook.  It has a lot of old time recipes and menus that farm wife's put together for threshing days.  Some of the recipes go back to the early 1900's, with most of them from the 20's and 30's.  Here is a sample of a menu used by a farm wife in 1921 to feed a crew of threshers:

Roast Beef with Gravy

Baked Beans

Mashed Potatoes

Bread and Butter

Cabbage, Peanut, and Banana Salad  (interesting combination...)

Soft-Top Pie

Cake with fresh fruit sauce or gelatin fruit salad

Salad

Iced Tea or Coffee

This should be fun to read through and even try some of the recipes.  It will be a good history lesson as well, I am sure.

Welcome to Bountiful Harvest Farm!

Welcome to our new farm blog!  We decided (finally) on a new farm name...this seems to be the one that is sticking after three tries!  Bountiful Harvest Farm...God's Blessing is Your Bounty.  God has blessed us and this farm many times over, and we hope we will be a blessing to you this coming season as we strive to grow great local produce, chickens, eggs, and honey.  More to come soon!

Name Change?

It's been awhile since I've blogged...we are contemplating many things about the farm. One of those is a name change. When we named the farm "Picket Fence Farm", we thought it was unique to our area. Since then we have found out about Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward, Iowa that has been around longer than we have. In an effort to be more unique and original we want to rename our farm. So we are currently brainstorming ideas. We are also coming up with new marketing ideas, farming practices, and deciding what we will grow for the 2011 season. We are thinking at this time we will operate a small CSA and try out selling at area farmer's markets as well. Our goal is to try to make our farm our primary source of income in the coming years so that we can do it better. It is hard having the husband working full-time off the farm, as well as trying to raise a family and grow a business. This farm is what we are passionate about...providing local, farm-fresh, chemical-free food for our own family and our community.

Some Pictures...

Below are some pictures from today's harvest. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herb bundles (Chives and Thyme). I love the Fall colors of the pumpkins!

Sheep and Chickens

So, we are thinking of purchasing some Katahdin lambs and broiler chickens soon. Is there any interest from our local customers in buying meat? We would be raising them on pasture, naturally with no chemicals. I have been in contact with some breeders and they say the lamb chops from their Katahdins taste like ribeye steak and the lamb burger is better than hamburger. The chickens are bought as baby chicks and then butchered at around 7-8 weeks of age for whole fryers. If you are interested, please email us and let us know (especially for the chicken) so we know about how many we should order.

This is a pic from allposters.com of a Katahdin lamb:

Here is a pic of a broiler chicken from Murray Mc Murray Hatchery. Not quite as cute or cuddly as the lamb:)

Mowing in the Garden

Well, with all the rain we have had (almost 14 inches in the month of June alone), the weeds are growing like crazy. We resorted today to mowing in the garden. We have sections that had early crops that are now done, plus in between rows that are a mass of weeds, so we just mowed them down. We will have to start thinking about sowing seeds in July for a Fall harvest, so we will till these plots under again before we replant. We also have a new flame weeder we will be trying out. We are hopeful that it will help too. We also worked on putting weed barrier down around the tomatoes. There is A LOT more weeding to be done, but it felt good to make a dent in it anyway. Tomorrow we will start weeding melons, zucchini, and probably sweet potatoes.

Rain, Rain Go Away and a New Purchase

Well, this rain is just getting ridiculous! We haven't been able to get out in the garden and weed for a week and it's looking crazy out there! We need dry weather. I am hoping to get out there tomorrow to assess things and see what we will have to harvest this week. If it doesn't start to dry up I am worried we will start having mildew and disease problems on the plants. On a more exciting note:

We were able to make a new to us purchase for the farm off of Craigslist. We bought 2 high tunnel greenhouse frames, 1 is 18X84 and the other is 18X96. They need new end walls and plastic covering, but the frames are in good shape. We plan on making 4 moveable greenhouses out of them that travel on skids...allowing us to rotate plantings and extend our harvest. We are excited for this purchase! It will help us to get an earlier start and harvest later into winter. It will also be a more controled enviroment (more protected from pests and the weather). The below pic is off of Craigslist...the next big task is getting them to the farm!

Our first harvest this season...

Tomorrow will be our first harvest of the season. We'll have green onions, radishes, turnip greens, and MAYBE lettuce...we'll have to check it out and see if it is big enough to cut. On farm pick-up will be Friday afternoon and Pella delivery will be Saturday morning at 9:00 am. I have sent out an email to our members, so hopefully everyone will know to make it! We are excited for this growing season and hope our members are too. :)

Washout...

Well, the rain yesterday at the farm was very heavy and some of our rows that were just sowed with seeds got washed out...bummer. It seems to be worst along one edge of the garden, so hopefully most of the rows will still be intact. It even washed out a pepper plant already established in the ground...I replanted it and hope it didn't disturb the roots too much. So is life on the farm. Unexpected things happen sometimes. We are just blessed it wasn't worse (like hail--which they said was possible). On a happier note, the melons and cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great and they will be planted out very soon!