New this year is our mulch layer! It should save hours of labor of weeding. We are using this mulch layer on beds containing our large transplants (like broccoli, cabbage, squash etc.). It is 100% biodegradable in 6 months time and is made from starch. In addition to laying mulch it will lay two lines…
Category: Farming Techniques
New Irrigation System
As part of a USDA grant we are beginning a new project on the farm. This new irrigation system will hopefully make watering the fields easier and more automated. We hope that waking up at 11 at night remembering that we didn’t shut of the water to the greenhouse or field will be a thing…
Spring Planting
Spring planting is well underway! The temperature looks promising well into June, so we are in crazy planting mode. Probably 50% or more of the crops are already in the ground. Perfectly timed spring rains are also helping with the process! We are thankful for the Lord’s good provision.
Mushrooms
We’ve always wanted to try growing mushrooms, but never thought we would start them this year…that is until a catalog arrived in the mail, advertising mushrooms. We don’t usually buy things off the whim of mail advertisements, but the other ingredient to growing mushrooms was freshly available, cut logs. Since we recently cleared a section…
Egg Washer
Our 35+ chickens are now laying a substantial amount of eggs a week, sometimes over 16 dozen. As you can imagine it has become quite a chore to wash all the eggs. With the help of some internet research we developed our very own egg washer. It will handle about 6 dozen eggs at a…
Winter Cover
With snow now on the ground we are very thankful that everything is ready for winter. It was a rush to beat the frost and complete all the clean up tasks in order to make the farm ready for the next 6 months of cold! The winter rye in the new field germinated nicely and…
Tilling and Hilling
When we began to open up the new 100′ x 70′ field I dreaded the process of hilling the seed beds. This spring we hilled every bed by hand which was back breaking and tiring. Since then we’ve been looking for another method to do this labor, preferably mechanical and tractor drawn. Recently I stumbled…
How to turn Lawn into a Lush Garden:
Ingredients: -Newspapers -Manure -Grass clippings How to: This is only one of many ways to take sod and easily turn it into a lush garden. First you collect newspapers…lots and lots of newspapers. These are layered over grass that has just been cut short. Layer them 5-6 ply thick. The more the less likely weeds…
Clipping Tomatoes
We are trying a new method of trellising the tomatoes in the Greenhouse. It is a method by which one leader is trained to climb up a string from each plant. This allows for convenient harvesting, efficient use of space and good airflow. Fruit is starting to form and we are looking forward seeing how…
Abundance Acres 