It's moving weekend!  Getting the keys tonight and moving in tomorrow!  Can't wait to check in on the chickens!  A lot of posts and photos to come this weekend I'm sure!

So...this is Karen...and it's my first attempt at blogging....what to say, what to say...while Michael has been busy planning for the farm I have been busy with the logistics of the move, changing daycare for our little one, changing the address with services, etc, etc.  Not the romantic details of the move, but definitely making it feel more real!
Thanks to my co-worker Jamie we have found a great store in LaSalle on Malden Road where we will be purchasing our organic chicken feed, so nice and close.  Happy to support a local business for all of our farming needs!
Here's a link to their website!    http://www.takebackthefarm.com/
They also carry other great supplies such as Mason bee houses (great pollinators!), organic seeds, etc.
On a sad note, I just heard today that Klassen blueberries, a great local family run blueberry farm is closing (due to retirement)...let me know if anyone knows how to get their hands on some of the bushes that they're clearing out...will have to look into that.
Bye for now!!

What's the plan?

They say you've got to have a plan, and for me anyway, a plan starts with a list. I know we haven't even moved in yet, and we won't be planting anything until the spring but if I have a list of what I want to grow I can spend the winter planning how best to lay out the garden.

There are a few perennials already there that I don't need to worry about this year. I will just need to keep an eye on them and see how they do next year. Those would be the fruit and nut trees, and the berry patch. Yes, you've read that right, the property comes complete with an apple, a pear, and a peach tree, as well as two Japanese heart nut trees (a beautiful looking heart shaped kind of walnut you probably saw a picture of in the first post). There is also a large patch of everbearing strawberries and raspberries. Aside from doing a little research to see what pruning may need to be done with the trees in the fall I'm not planning on doing or changing anything about them this year with the exception of adding some blueberries to the berry patch.

However, the veggie garden is another story. While it is already a nice large traditional garden with a good variety of veggies that look to have done very well I'm hoping to expand it and organize it with long rows of wood pallets. It might work, it might not, but I like this idea and have been excited to see that others online have already tried it with what looks to be good success. I'm hoping the pallets can help create a raised bed that warms up earlier than a traditional ground garden extending the growing season. I'm also hoping that they help minimize weeds while organizing the rows of veggies. Lastly I'm hoping that they make for a good sturdy base to attach my tomato cages to so they don't blow over in the wind.
Here's a picture of what I have in mind...

...let me know if you have any good sources of pallets. I'm going to have a lot of other projects that involve these free roadside resources.

So, what am I going to plant in all these pallets? Where's that list I mentioned? After discussing it with the misses we've agreed that we're not going to go whole hog just yet. We're going to have a lot on our plate this first year and we recognize that there's a steep learning curve in front of us. We're going to experiment with small amounts of the following...

Veggies:
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Green Beans
Corn
Broccoli
Poo-sprouts (aka Brussels sprouts - these are obviously for Wifey and Offspring)
Cauliflower
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic

There is also a good sized pumpkin patch on the property we will likely replant with pumpkins and squash. But for the most part veggies are going to be our garden focus in the upcoming year. 

On a final note, we had a bit of a sneak preview of what we are in for next year....I hope. I turned a few pounds of fresh organic tomatoes from our local farm share into a few pounds of tomato sauce. They only thing that could make it better is fresh garlic and herbs, but one step at a time right.

Thanks again for stopping in and feel free to leave comments, feedback, and suggestions. Just remember we reserve the right to remove anything distasteful or overly negative.

What am I up to anyway?

I'm just going to make a quick little post today in hopes of giving everyone an idea of what this blog is going to contain, or at least what we are intending it to be. There's more of you than I would have guessed having had about 150 views so far.

Primarily this blog will be a photo journal with 5 key focuses. We'll be making posts about Gardening, Chickens, Special Building Projects, Food Preservation & Cooking, and maybe the occasional post about Hunting. For the most part we're just going to be documenting the things we do on the Lil Acre and taking lots of pictures. We might occasionally link to a book or resource we've found particularly helpful or post some ideas we get from other back yard homesteaders. I'm hoping that every so often we might even get someone to volunteer as guest writer.

Right now the goal is going to be making a couple of posts a month so please don't expect too much. We welcome comments and feedback but please keep any negativity to a minimum. After all, this blog is mostly for Lily, so that one day she can look back and see how her home took shape and why we do the wacky things we do.


Anyway, I'm off to toast the removal of conditions today. It's a 100% done deal now.

Thanks for checking in!

Intro

I've sat here staring at the screen for the past hour trying to figure out how to start this blog. What witty or insightful thing could I say? What inspiring words or anecdote has lead us to this decision? In the end, when you get down to brass tacks, it's not something intellectual driving us to this, it's something instinctual, and therefore very hard to put into words.

The city has had much to offer, and our house in the city has been good to us. It has been our home and sanctuary but things change. Our family has grown, it really was the birth of our daughter Lily that has been the catalyst for this change. We want to get back to basics and raise her with a real understanding of how things work and maybe learn a few things about how they ought to be ourselves.

We want her to know down to her core where food comes from. We want her to know what it's like to get dirty and to breathe fresh air. We want to be somewhere she's free to toot around on a dirt bike, shoot a bb gun, or to catch tadpoles in a ditch. We want her to discover things in her own back yard that city kids only get to read about or see in video.

We want to provide her with fresh natural foods. Big industry food is a major bone of contention with us, and I'm sure will be the subject of it's own future post. For now let's just say that we're no longer interested in being part of that industry, even as a consumer. We want her to see what it takes to grow those veggies that are, right now, being carelessly tossed on the floor with every meal. We want her to know where meat comes from so she can make informed choices about it when she's older. Mostly we want her to learn to live as independently as possible so that she isn't reliant on any government, society, community, family, or individual for support. We want her to be able to take care of herself so that when she is part of something bigger than she is it's because she wants to be, not because she has to be.

So after that diatribe it should come as no surprise that we've sold our house in the city and have purchased a small hobby farm out in the country. This blog is to help us document our move, our changing lifestyle, and the lessons we learn along the way. We still have a month to go before we move, but I do have some pictures to share.