Projects That Get Out of Control

A lot of projects on a backyard farm start small then get out of control. Watch how a $10 kiwi plant from Lowes explodes into a major project involving time and money.

Of Pasture Walks and Garden Walks – Part 2

By uncle Dale

Our agrarian culture is long gone. Or is it? There are over 700 people following this blog. There are tens of thousands who want to reconnect with their food sources. We can bring our agrarian culture back – right into our towns and cities. Here is how to do it in 2 steps.

Step 1. Grow food this year. It is early May and a perfect time for planting seeds or transplants. Anyone can do this – in your window, on your terrace, in your backyard, in your front yard, in that vacant lot down the street. Become a farmer now! When people ask what you do, you will say “I am a school teacher and I am a farmer” or “I am an office worker and I am a farmer” or “I am a _______________ and I am a farmer” You fill in the blank with whatever your do and then tell them how you farm. 

Step 2. Join with other backyard farmers and conduct garden walks. Read my article on pasture walks to understand what I am talking about.  Take turns going to each other’s gardens. Start with prayer to thank Heavenly Father for our sun, rain, and soil to grow food. Then walk your garden and explain your farming methods to your fellow backyard farmers. Answer their questions. Ask for their suggestions. Really pick each other’s brains on how to improve production. Share seeds and produce. End the garden walk with a wonderful dinner made in your own kitchen created from your garden produce. If you need recipes for your garden produce then click here. 

Let’s bring back our agrarian culture and values into our homes, towns, and cities. 

A Nice Soft Bed

In a previous article I let you know that our soil is not ideal for gardening. Marisa and I knew we would have some work ahead of us when we moved in. After all, we live in the high desert of Utah and lush gardens aren't the thing that one thinks about one hearing the word desert. Here is what we did to prepare our first plot. Hopefully there will be many more like it.

Here is the before picture of the garden area.The first order of business was to till this area up and loosen the soil.

As discussed in a previous article, we had someone deliver a load of mink poop that had been composted with pine shavings for 3 years. 

 Marisa called her brother ( a landscape architect one of our contributors) Cameron  and he gave us the equation to figure out how much compost we would need. Our first plot is 15 ft x 25 ft which is  375 square feet. We decided that we wanted 6" of compost. Using the information on yesterday's post we calculated how many cubic yards we needed to add. (375 square feet *.5)/27=6.94 square yards of compost. This seems like a lot of compost, a but we considered it an investment that would pay off. Then we loaded the compost into our wheelbarrow and added it to the tilled garden area. Using a rake we spread it out about 6 inches deep throughout.

Next we tilled the 6 inches of compost in. We are trying a wide row method in this plot. Our rows are 2 feet wide and since we have a lot of space we made rows that were about 10 inches wide. We raked all the dirt from the paths into the raised rows so they are about 6 inches higher that the surrounding area.

Our goal with this plot is to refrain from tilling. Now that it is dug up and loose, we will probably just continue to add mulch and compost as our backyard farm produces waste. As we add this material our expectation is that our soil will get better and better without having to be tilled up each year.

As a side note, it is still pretty cold at nights here in Utah so we haven't planted our starts for fear of them being damaged. Where are you in the process of getting your gardening?

~Michael

Getting the Garden Ready

Maybe you're asking yourself, how much can I plant? How much area do I need? How much of that monster pile of compost or soil to I actually need?

To determine how many plants you can fit use formula: 

Square footage x Spacing factor = quantity of plants

Let's take for example, I have a garden area that is 8 feet wide and 20 feet long. I'm interested in planting some squash and cucumber. According to the seed packet or pot they should be planted at 18" on center.

160 square feet (8x20) x .42 (spacing factor) = 67 total plants

If you've ever been to a mulch or soil yard, it can be very intimidating to guess how much of the huge pile you want in your pickup truck or trailer. Use this formula to gain some confidence in your numbers. (You might want to ask if they deliver...compost mixed soils and especially sand are very heavy. I have compromised the suspension in my pickup truck trying to be overly ambitious!)

Use this formula for cubic yards of mulch, soil, compost, etc.

Square footage x depth factor = cubic feet/27 (3'x3'x3') = cubic yards

We will continue with the example as above. My native soil is pretty pathetic and I want to till in some compost to amend the soil. (This is a great way to get your plants adapted to the native soil. It will provide nutrients for establishment and allow the roots time to strengthen before they enter the native soil.) A healthy 6 inches of compost will be adequate for me to till in this season.

160 square feet (length x width) x .5 (depth factor) =80 cubic feet / 27 = 2.97 cubic yards of compost.

Happy Backyard Farming!

Cameron

Red Rock Relay-Moab

This weekend I survived a 70 mile relay race through beautiful Moab. I ended up running 10.5 miles of the 70.  This is a picture of me and my cute team, The Red Rockettes. There were 5 beautiful dancers...and then there was me that can't even clap to a beat. This biker wanted a picture of us with his bike, fun huh? That is me on the very left.

Did you have a good weekend?

Hardening Off

This week we have been hardening off our plants.

What is that you may ask.

Your plants up to this point have had a cushy life. The temperature, humidity, and moisture, has been closely monitored. They have not experienced full sun, wind, or changing temperatures. Hardening off is the process of slowly getting them used to the environment they are going to move to. A typical hardening off at our home may go like this:

Day 1: Move plants outside in the shade for 2-4 hours on a nice day.
Day 2-5: Move plants outside for 2-4 hours in the shade and one hour in the sun making sure the weather isn't too cold or snowy.
Day 6-7: Move plants outside for 2-4 hours in the shade and 2-4 hours in the sun.
Day 8-10: Move plants outside for 2 hours in the shade and 6 hours in the sun.
Day 11-12 Move plants outside for 8 hours in the sun.
Day 13-14 Leave plants outside all day and all night in the area they will be planted. Be sure that the weather overnight won't be too cold or windy.

I won't get to take advantage of the great weather we are supposed to have this weekend. I will be running a 70 mile relay race in Moab. 

What are you doing this weekend?

The Big Day

Saturday was the big day. Bee pickup. The day that we officially became bee keepers. It was 20% thrilling, 80% terrifying. 

In January we ordered a 4 lb. package of bees from Knight Family Honey with some Christmas money we received. How do you weigh a package of flying bees? Your guess is as good as mine!

We show up at the warehouse and walk into a swarm of people and bees. Apparently one of the packages busted open and pounds of bees were on the loose.  As the bees were buzzing in my ear and on my 2 year old daughter, it was a struggle to stay calm. The man working there told me not to worry, they were just like flies. Right! Flies that sting!  At that moment it was also hard to remember why we were doing all this.

When we got to the car, LUCKILY we realized that the OUTSIDE of the package we were about to drive away with had bees on it. Can you imagine getting in the car driving away and having 30 bees loose in the car with your daughter strapped in a car seat? I think it would have put me over the edge.

We were all set, the boxes were ready to go, we just needed to dump the bees in the box. 

Michael had to take a few Lamaze breaths before he started.

 

He took the lid off and took out the queen.  Nice to meet you, Your Highness.

Michael then rubber banded the captured queen to one of the frames so that all the knights in shinning yellow and black armor could rescue her.

Next order of business,  dump the bees in the bee box.

A close up for you,  in case you aren't grasping what is going on here.

Are we out of our mind?

Yup, completely crazy.

He then carefully put the remaining frames in the box trying not to squish any of the bees.

We have a syrup mixture in the top box, which they will drink from for the first month.

Once it was all over and done with, we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Nobody got stung, and all the bees made it safely into the hive. Well, all but a few casualties.

Michael will check them weekly for a while, then he will start checking on them monthly.

~marisa