Keeping a Gardening Journal

I have kept a gardening journal for about 19 years and I believe it is an indispensable tool for the home gardener as much as for the market gardener. I started keeping a journal for my garden the first year I set my foot on a spade in my tiny flower garden on Shelby street in East Nashville. I grew pink primrose, iris, lavender and hostas. I started from seed pink caterberry bells and bells of Ireland. My roses included Charles De Mills, Sarah Van Fleet and plenty of Fairy roses. Once I started to add fruit, in the form of Alpine strawberries I added square foot maps of the garden to remember what was planted where especially when it came to planting over the hundreds of bulbs planted in the fall. When we moved to the farm and began homesteading, gardening became more of a necessity and less of a hobby and my journal never left my gardening bag as I jotted varieties, location, problems, notes and yields. Some suggestions for the kinds of information you may want to include are:

• planting dates for seeds and plants
• transplanting dates
• source and cost for plants and seeds
• any guarantees and location of bills (if needed)
• weather particulars such as rainfall, frost dates and results
• plant characteristics, date of germination, date they emerge in spring, appearance of blooms
• date of harvest (for vegetables) or cut flowers taken
• date and type of fertilizer or other chemicals applied, and to which plants
• observations
• schematics for garden rotation
• great color combinations for both veggies and flowers
  

My journals have been everything from 3 ring binders to beautiful, preprinted garden journals. They don't have to be expensive, just lovely. Try to find something that makes you feel good, something beautiful to keep track of all the beauty that happens by your hand. Be inspired.

Do you keep a garden journal?

Sustainable Farming: Wheat Harvest has begun

The 2009 wheat harvest has begun. After plenty of waiting, watching and measuring moisture content we are ready to reap the fruits of our labors.  One of the joys of our homesteading journey is seeing the crops come in!

If you would like to learn more about homesteading and sustainable farming and get a glimpse of the harvesting of the wheat this year, please feel free to come by the shop and we will take you out to the field. The harvest will only last a week so make your way to the farm this week and catch a glimpse of Sam and Alfred harvesting and Ron discing in the residue from the wheat. We can't forget to feed the wonderful microbes who have been busy converting nutrients for our wheat to take in. The process is wonderful and well worth the trip out. The Shop is closed every Monday but we will be back Tuesday morning at 9:00am.

Lambs in March

This weekend was unusually crazy at our peaceful little farm. With 250 pastured hens, around 60 head of cattle and 100 Katahdin sheep you would think that peace was something we experience about as much as flying saucers and blue moons. Normally though, with all the hardworking hands around the farm things are fairly calm and peaceful. The culprits this weekend though all were under 10lbs and can run like the dickens!

Lambs!! Lambs!! And more lambs!! They are everywhere! In one weekend we had over eighteen babies born and most of those were triplets. 

Our theory is that since the drought hit things have been slightly askew. Last year the lambs came in singles, for the most part, but nature must be making up for lost time.  Over the years we've been homesteading, we've come to see how often nature runs in cycles like this.

One interesting fact about nature is that when there is some environmental deviation from the norm such as drought or famine, the reproductive systems of animal begin to shut down but just until things return to normal. Even in humans, when the body is deprived of proper nutrients the first system to be shut down is the reproductive system.

We saw the same effect on our fruit trees. Last year we had more pears than we have ever had in one season. I guess it's just Nature looking out for our well being.

Well, with this many lambs on the ground we will have plenty of grass fed lamb for sale in the store and at the farmer's markets we attend so I thought I would get your creative juices flowing with my favorite grass fed lamb chop recipes.

The most used lamb chop recipe in our home is very simple but oh, so good. Celtic or Hawaii salt and fresh ground pepper cooked on the grill topped with a good pat of butter. To spice things up a little I will bring out the wine, Turkish oregano and garlic and make up a dish that I always give to those new to eating lamb.

Grilled Lamb with Wine, Garlic and Honey

The honey does not sweeten the chops-it just helps them brown. For an authentic accompaniment, uncork a bottle of the pungent resin-flavored Greek wine called retsina, or simply opt for a favorite Sauvignon Blanc. Serve coffee ice cream and purchased baklava to complete the menu.

3/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs chopped fresh oregano
2 tb minced garlic
2 ts red wine vinegar
1/2 ts sea salt
1/2 ts ground black pepper
8 1- to 1 1/4-inch-thick grass fed loin lamb chops (about 2 1/2 pounds total), fat well trimmed
2 tablespoons honey

Mix first 7 ingredients in large glass baking dish. Arrange lamb chops in single layer in dish; turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, turning and basting often. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.) Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Transfer lamb to plate. Mix honey into marinade. Grill lamb to desired doneness, turning and basting with marinade often, about 10 minutes for medium-rare.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Transfer lamb to plate.