Monday, April 30, 2012

Close food part Duex

Well, here it is almost May and my crops are still not in the ground.  It turned off a bit cool, but also had a few rainy days here that prevented me from re-plowing my garden to get it ready to plant.  I finally got it done over this past weekend, but didn't have enough time to plant.  I will be planting this week in the evenings, so I will post a few things about that when I do.

On a completely different note, I finished my new quail cage, so when the 20 eggs get out of the incubator, they will have a new home to move into.  I started raising couternix quail last year, but wanted to keep my brood small until I decided if I wanted to move forward with them or stick with chickens.

I have decided to increase production on the quail due to the lighter requirements (foodwise, they eat less than the chickens) plus the much faster turnaround time (after hatching, they are either ready to lay eggs or butcher in about 8 weeks).

My plan is the increase production to the point where I can harvest about 4 - 6 quail per week to supplement my families diet.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Keep your friends close and your food closer!

Something is reassuring about being able to walk out of my back door and see food.  Whether it is my chickens, quail, eggs, cherries, grapes, or food that is growing in my garden.  The closer that you are to your food source, the better off you are.

Here are a few pics of some of the food that I have been working on.  Some of it doesn't take much because I have already put in the work to get it started such as my grape vineyard, cherry tree's, blackberry patch, or my grove of wild plums.

You may not be able to make out the tiny green cherries in the crappy picture above, but my cherry tree's are loaded.  


Above is a picture of some of my grapes.  Should yield plentiful abundance to make a ton of grape juice and raisins.


However my garden is my main local food source and something that takes time and energy to get it to yield.


In the past 3 years I have had about 3500 square feet of garden space, but I cut that down to about half this year because my job really cuts into my day and I plan on doing a few more projects this year that will eat more of my time.  I will highlight those additional projects in the coming months. 

Above is a picture of my garden space this year.  I have plowed it once, but want to go through a few more times before I plant, but rain has kept me from doing that yet.

Because of the reduction of space, I have to cut down on what I will be planting, so here is the list: 

Okra (I ADORE FRIED OKRA)
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini Squash
Acorn Squash (after the Yellow and Zucchini are done)
Cucumbers
Peppers (Bell, Banana, Jalapeno)
Sunflowers (my kids love the huge flowers, plus they are great to keep the birds away from the other things and to keep the bee's coming in)

Due to the much warmer than normal weather, this time next week I should have my garden planted which is about a full month earlier than normal.

I will keep things posted.