Bonafide Farm

Quietlight

July 8th, 2011 § 1

A massive storm rolled just south of the farm last Sunday. Though I didn’t get any rain, I was treated to a lighting and thunder show that seemed to go on for hours. It was the slowest-moving storm in memory. It gave me ample time to sit on the front porch and practice my lighting photography.

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Around 8:30 p.m. the power went out, and I experienced my first extended outage since moving into my house. I lit a few candles and enjoyed the silent sound of my house, which I hadn’t heard since it was under construction and premechanized.

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It wasn’t until the next day that I heard of the extensive damage just south of the farm. I consider myself fortunate to have dodged the storm—this time—and come through no worse for wear. My freezer didn’t even defrost a bit, and the power was out for 15 hours!

Happy July 4 from Bonafide Farm

July 4th, 2011 § 0

Where you can sit on the back porch and watch fireworks over the field.

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Redneck neighbors are the best.

View out my kitchen window last night

July 3rd, 2011 § 0

First bouquet harvested from my cutting garden this year, and some of the cukes and squash that are coming on strong. I love seeing the tractor out the window. It’s the best kind of horse. Beautiful and useful and I don’t have to feed it or take it to the vet!

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Success!

July 2nd, 2011 § 0

Caught this guy yesterday in the unfinished cubbyhole under the eaves in my bedroom, and I got two more in the garage!

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About as close as we ever come

July 1st, 2011 § 0

To the Southwestern sunsets I miss.

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Game on

June 30th, 2011 § 0

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I cleaned out my garage “barn” this past weekend and discovered an unsettling amount of mouse droppings. With a puppy and poultry, poison’s not an option. So tonight I set four traps. Nailed them in too, after reading online horror stories of captured mice dragging the lightweight traps into hidden spaces, only to die and stink to high hell. Wish me luck.

Organic gardening

June 29th, 2011 § 0

Is not for the faint of heart.

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It means I spend a half an hour each evening hunting under and over each leaf, smushing my prey with my bare hands.

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There’s a perverse satisfaction to it. The most fun are the fat green tomato hornworms, stupid big bullies that quickly strip leaves but deposit a pelleted trail that makes them very easy to find. With every green gut squish I am fighting the good fight as I try to stay ahead of the bugs without pesticides. However, I know things could turn bad in a day, when the tipping point between manual control and inevitable reproduction is reached.

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But for right now, things are looking pretty good. I had my first harvest this week: cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, red Russian kale, and great boughs of basil that went straight into pesto. It’s officially summer in the kitchen.

For the bear*

June 21st, 2011 § 1

I recently discovered quite the blackberry thicket growing at the wood line. It’s funny—all last summer I searched the property for the berries I was sure had to be around and never found any. So I planted a bunch of berry bushes in the field and started my own patch. And then this year I stumble on the wild berries, which judging by the size of the patch must have been there all along. Joke’s on me.

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In truth, though, they could have been easy to miss. They’re well-hidden in a mass of poison ivy, honeysuckle, and all matter of creeping, twining summer foliage. Wading in to collect the fruit feels like entering a murky pond. I gingerly place my feet, cringing when anything brushes my skin, anticipating the strike of a disturbed snake or a swarm of seed ticks.

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The berries aren’t huge, and they’re seedy. But they’re tart/sweet and taste of wild vitamin C. I’ll be back every day while they last.

*This post is dedicated to the bear, with memories of a hot and dusty hedgerow and other small, red fruit.

This makes it look so easy, or how to make a garden from scratch: Part Two

June 20th, 2011 § 0

With the deer fencing hung, dig out perimeter of garden in preparation for small-critter protection:

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Secure chicken wire to bottom of fencing, flaring it down into the trench about 10 inches to thwart digging pests. Secure bottom of deer fencing and chicken wire with landscape staples. I went through at least five, 75-count bags of staples on this project!

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Next, line inside of garden with landscaping fabric to prevent hard-to-remove weeds from growing around fencing. Refill chicken-wire trench with dirt and secure landscaping fabric on the outside of garden to similarly thwart weeds:

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Finally time for layout on May 15. Define walkways with landscaping fabric and stick in a few plants and seeds…

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…before a hailstorm hits:

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After the storm, keep planting…in the mud:

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Tucker, go get the tractor…

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…and help me mulch around the garden to make it look pretty!

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And finally, kick back and wait for the plants to grow while enjoying a break from nearly three months of hard work!

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This makes it look so easy, or how to make a garden from scratch: Part One

June 19th, 2011 § 1

Let’s take a trip back in time, way back to winter—March 25! That’s when I started the project that was to consume much of the next three months. Without further ado, a high-speed photo tutorial on How to Make a (Critterproof) Garden from Scratch:

Find a nice piece of land, preferably fairly level, and stake out your corners. If you’re a redneck like me you’ll already have big dead patches of pasture from where your junk trailers had been parked for the past year:

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Next, borrow the services of a family member with a pretty sweet new ride-on tiller!

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Once the ground is broken up, add peat moss, sand, compost. Till that in.

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Decide the garden looks too small. Repeat above process to increase area by a third:IMG_1908Web

Final garden: 20′ x 36′. Looking good!

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Work stops to wait out the final snow of the year on March 27.

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When not working on the garden, get acquainted with brand-new, eight-week old Bonafide Farmdog:

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Next up: Deeproofing! Set posts and string tensioned wires to support 7′ deer fencing:

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Puppy raising takes time away from the garden and in the meantime, spring has sprung! On April 23, begin hanging deer fencing, a slow process when done alone. This is heavy-duty polypropylene that should last a good number of years:

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Stay tuned for the rest of the garden build, including all the essential critter-thwarting tricks!

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