Garden Planning

This is the first year I've planned out the garden area before planting... I still have to write a bit of a journal of sorts for what I'm doing and where, but I created a to scale rough idea map of the space I have and where things will go. Kinda cool to see how it will all fit in here... I totally rearranged the garden this year too. I'm going to be trying to implement a Ruth Stout no till method from this point forward. The new row direction now flows with the wind, so my open pollination plants can self pollinate. :) You can click on the photo to view it larger, but then you'll lose the what is where key below. lol Can't win 'em all...

1. Garlic
2. Onions
3. Potatoes
4. Russian Tea Bush
5. Corn
6. Mustard
7. Dill
8. Tomatoes
9. Beets
10. Squash
11. Cucumbers
12. Blueberries
13. Kale
14. Salad Mix
15. Lettuce
16. Peas
17. Asparagus
18. Beans
19. Parsley

• Just outside the garden this year, I will also be planting more cucumber, watermelon and pumpkin. An old timer in the area plants these outside his deer fencing, and the deer don't bother them, so I'm trying it myself to see if I can get more out of the "outside" of my garden by not planting the space hogging pumpkins and melons there.
• Areas 14 through 18 are meant to be interchangeable in order to have rotation for lettuce, beans and peas all within a shaded area with similar sized planting spaces.
• #1 and #2 go back beside the rabbit hutch.

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Local Food

I am a Locavore. I love eating as locally as I can... and one of my favorite ways to eat locally is to visit the farmer's market. One of the vendors in the Roseburg, OR Farmer's Market is Big Lick Farms. They are local farm supported by what is called a CSA. What is a CSA? Glad you asked!! CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Say you don't have room or time for a garden... (which I bet you do, but that's a whole different post) You want to eat fresh produce, and you want to know how it's grown... you want to eat seasonally available vegetables. In some cases, CSA's also provide meats. By being part of a CSA, you pay a farmer up front, and basically invest in their farm. In return for your investment, the CSA provides you with fresh food as it becomes available. This year, I plan to take part in Big Lick's HONEY CSA share!!

Photos used courtesy of Big Lick Farms
Big Lick offers a lot of OTHER things too!! They provide baskets to their CSA members every week in the summer starting in June and ending in November. One of the things I LOVE about Big Lick, is that Suzie blogs regularly about some of the produce coming up, and offers ideas for how to prepare them!! If you live in the Roseburg area, and want access to local food grown fresh and naturally, visit the Farmer's Market, or sign up to be part of Big Lick's CSA!! There are delivery drops to the south of Roseburg too!! Big Lick Farms is located on HWY 99 outside of Winston in Myrtle Creek.
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21 Secrets briming with amazing.

Have you signed up for 21 Secrets? Have you been thinking about it? It's NEVER too late!! The classes run for 4 months, and ALL of them are open now!! 21 Secrets is hosted on a ning site, and ALL of the classes are open to you, and available until Aug.1 for you to view and interact!! Joining sooner only guarantees you'll have more time to play with other participants!! Joining later shortens that time, but you'll still have access to any or all of the PDF's that go with each class, and have time to continue to work past the closing of the classroom itself.

I'm here today, to share one of the teachers with you!! Her name is Lisa.

Lisa is teaching a workshop at 21 Secrets called

I visited her blog today, and was blown away by the authenticity in her MOST RECENT POST. These are the kinds of people I get to be teaching with, and I'm humbled and honored. I hope you hop over to Lisa's blog, and get to know her. Then I hope you hop back here and SIGN UP for 21 Secrets!!
Click below to sign up through my affiliate link!!

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Lucy

My goat "dealer" had a doe that I was hoping to get a doeling from this year, but up to now, this particular doe hadn't ever had doelings!! lol She kidded yesterday, and not only came through with ONE doeling! She came through with THREE!!
Meet Lucy.

She has THE cutest white leg...

I love the combination of her beautiful white mommy Luna, and her all black daddy.

She has her daddy's blue eyes too. :) I should be able to bring Lucy home around the same time Ginger is due to kid!! I can't wait to have little goatie babies on the farm!
While I was at Myrtle Mist Farm, I took a photo of Harriet's mom...


I think she has the same shape in her face as her momma...
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The chicks DIED!

Travis and I got the chicks all set up in their outdoor brooder last night, and everything looked great when we went to bed. This morning I went out to check on them, and bunch were missing!! Someone had left the washing machine open when they started the last load, and so when it filled up, it never started washing. A bunch of the chicks got into the water and drowned!! I had to fish them all out. I was crying the whole time...
And then I woke up.
I'm telling you. I have THE WEIRDEST dreams.
First of all, "someone" starting a load of laundry... HA!! That would have been me most days. Once in a while Travis.
Second of all. The WASHING MACHINE is in the house. Not in an animal pen.
THIRD, how in the HECK would chicks have gotten up INTO the machine in the first place!?!? lol
THANK GOODNESS it was all a dream!! When I really went out this morning, everyone was happily cheeping away!!

They may all look redneck and hobbled together, but they WORK, people. And I love that I got most of this done with what we had on hand, or for very "cheep". lol Sorry. I couldn't resist. Travis helped my build a hoop house for the chicks to grow up in!!

That's it on the left. Made it with cattle pannels, and tarp. Once the chicks are bigger, there is a spot to open the area that the big chickens are in to this new area. The floorspace is about 8X10 feet.
I took some photos of my two favorite chicks. This one has a goopy eye... has had since she hatched. I took a photo of her on her good eye.

Isn't she too cute? Well. I'm pretty sure she's a she. I hope so. I wanna keep her.

This little gal has a gimpy foot. It's all sorts of twisted up wrong. She gets around just fine though, and I love her coloring. (again. I'm hoping she's a she.) I also love her white tips on her toes. lol

A couple of the bantam hens and my barred rock!

In other news, it's been beautiful and sunny here so I got some pictures of Keena... to show you how beautiful she's become!!

I think she's gotten bigger. She's definitely gotten her coat back.
Here she is now...

This is her the day I brought her home... it's hard to tell how thin she really was, and how bad her coat really looked.

And lastly...
Spring is here.


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