I must say, I have been quite negligent of my blog, my site, my FB, even my instagram has not had much attention lately! I don’t really feel bad because everyday I am getting so much done and when the day is over – the work day, that is – at pretty much dark or even after some days, I am done myself.
I get up at the butt-crack of dawn, every day – Monday to Friday so I can get a few things done on the farm in the am and get to work as early as I can so I can get home to work some more – although I love this work, so it’s not bad – just tiring. On the weekends… well they are similar because those days are filled with work as well, we just don’t get up at actual butt-crack, its more like sunrise, and we even have a coffee before we jump in. Those weekend days fly by, but are so satisfying in all we accomplish and at the end of the day, we can sit back before dark and actually relax a bit and just enjoy.
The gardens that we created this year are amazing and huge! Some are not huge work – because they are mostly bee-food; wild flowers, perennials and sunflowers with a few edible veggies and fruits thrown into the mix, like pumpkins, squash, cucumbers and cantaloupe. This garden, at the front of our property is one of our newest additions and frankly, my favourite. I walk around it and through it daily, just to hear the sounds of bees and see the colourful flowers and the butterflies fluttering around. It is peaceful and brings me much joy every time I glance that way.
The other gardens in the middle part of our garden area, are the food gardens – growing mostly vegetables. These ones are the work! But work that definitely pays off and will for quite sometime. So far, we are laden in garlic, spinach, lettuce, peas and beans! The potatoes, onions, carrots and tomatoes will be next. My peppers are the only plants that are not going absolutely insane! We will get peppers, but not as much as everything else – I just started watering them using banana peels in the water overnight so potentially they will start growing like mad as well! We really aim to use natural methods only. Everything we grew this year in the gardens, was from seeds either planted directly in the ground or started early inside, with the exception of our cherry tomatoes (bought a 4 pack) and some of our perennials. The method we are using, I spoke about in a previous post – Gardening Adventures.
The Back to Eden method is not a new one, but it is fairly new to us. We started last year, with just a few rows, using the compost/mulch method. The premise of this method is that it keeps the weeds down, requires much less watering, if any and promotes growth using the nutrients in the compost and mulch. We liked it last year but knew that we had some work to do. So this year, we went all in with this method and did not till our veggie garden, used cardboard to smother any weeds or grasses growing on new beds and piled the planting beds with compost and a layer of mulch – which we added more to once the plants began to grow. I must say – we don’t have to water – even when it is super hot and hasn’t rained for a few days. Our plants are leafy and green, laden with flowers and fruit and not being eaten up by pests. We have multitudes of insects here – an extremely bio-diverse ecosystem that has pests but also has enough beneficial predator insects to keep the pests in check. Another method we used is companion planting – which also helps with pests. All in all – these methods are working and our gardens are proof of that! My counters, shelves, refrigerator and freezers can attest to it as well:)
The apple trees are almost ready to be picked and it is looking to be a very “fruitful” year! Thankfully our 2 big apple trees are different types and the fruit is ready at different times, so I will have time to can and press the first bunch before the second is ready for picking.
The bees help. They pollinate along with many other inspects. So a bountiful season is even more so when you also have beehives. We are feeding them and in turn, they are feeding us and not just in the honey I will harvest at the beginning of next month. The more they pollinate the plants , the more the plants produce. A happy plant – is one that is flowering. I visit the bee yard on a daily basis, even if to just stop and watch, say hello (yes – I do talk to them often and the flowers as well) I love watching the ins and outs and how busy each hive is – it is so interesting to me. I practice a very natural way of beekeeping and I rarely open the hives as I feel they do better without me messing with them. When I do open them up for necessary maintenance – they are calm and gentle and barely pay me any attention at all. Which to me – is a very good sign that all is well.
The chickens are another wonderful part of our farm – again, we feed them and they feed us plus they make awesome additions to our compost pile, which later will help us grow more food! Chicken poop makes great fertilizer! Next year, we will be adding ducks to our little farm – over by the gardens, as that way they can help manage pests (if needed) and duck pond water, makes for great all-natural ready made fertilizer. We will use their “used pond water/poop” and they get a nice fresh refill on a regular basis, plus duck eggs are awesome! It is another win-win.
I have not had much time over this growing season to attempt any new formulations, but I did receive some new eco-friendly packaging for my deodorant and hard lotion bars – which will soon be hard lotion sticks (much easier to apply). I finally made some more Goat’s Milk Charcoal Facial soap recently that is almost done curing as that has been a very hot commodity this year. I have enough plantain harvested and infused in oil to make a new batch of the much sought after “BooBoo Balm”. It will be in stock by the end of the month! And the Grapefruit and Geranium Body Butter will now be available in 120g re-sealable tins as well as the smaller travel size 60g as the requests for a bigger size kept coming in.
I get up at the butt-crack of dawn, every day – Monday to Friday so I can get a few things done on the farm in the am and get to work as early as I can so I can get home to work some more – although I love this work, so it’s not bad – just tiring. On the weekends… well they are similar because those days are filled with work as well, we just don’t get up at actual butt-crack, its more like sunrise, and we even have a coffee before we jump in. Those weekend days fly by, but are so satisfying in all we accomplish and at the end of the day, we can sit back before dark and actually relax a bit and just enjoy.
The gardens that we created this year are amazing and huge! Some are not huge work – because they are mostly bee-food; wild flowers, perennials and sunflowers with a few edible veggies and fruits thrown into the mix, like pumpkins, squash, cucumbers and cantaloupe. This garden, at the front of our property is one of our newest additions and frankly, my favourite. I walk around it and through it daily, just to hear the sounds of bees and see the colourful flowers and the butterflies fluttering around. It is peaceful and brings me much joy every time I glance that way.
The other gardens in the middle part of our garden area, are the food gardens – growing mostly vegetables. These ones are the work! But work that definitely pays off and will for quite sometime. So far, we are laden in garlic, spinach, lettuce, peas and beans! The potatoes, onions, carrots and tomatoes will be next. My peppers are the only plants that are not going absolutely insane! We will get peppers, but not as much as everything else – I just started watering them using banana peels in the water overnight so potentially they will start growing like mad as well! We really aim to use natural methods only. Everything we grew this year in the gardens, was from seeds either planted directly in the ground or started early inside, with the exception of our cherry tomatoes (bought a 4 pack) and some of our perennials. The method we are using, I spoke about in a previous post – Gardening Adventures.
The Back to Eden method is not a new one, but it is fairly new to us. We started last year, with just a few rows, using the compost/mulch method. The premise of this method is that it keeps the weeds down, requires much less watering, if any and promotes growth using the nutrients in the compost and mulch. We liked it last year but knew that we had some work to do. So this year, we went all in with this method and did not till our veggie garden, used cardboard to smother any weeds or grasses growing on new beds and piled the planting beds with compost and a layer of mulch – which we added more to once the plants began to grow. I must say – we don’t have to water – even when it is super hot and hasn’t rained for a few days. Our plants are leafy and green, laden with flowers and fruit and not being eaten up by pests. We have multitudes of insects here – an extremely bio-diverse ecosystem that has pests but also has enough beneficial predator insects to keep the pests in check. Another method we used is companion planting – which also helps with pests. All in all – these methods are working and our gardens are proof of that! My counters, shelves, refrigerator and freezers can attest to it as well:)
The apple trees are almost ready to be picked and it is looking to be a very “fruitful” year! Thankfully our 2 big apple trees are different types and the fruit is ready at different times, so I will have time to can and press the first bunch before the second is ready for picking.
The bees help. They pollinate along with many other inspects. So a bountiful season is even more so when you also have beehives. We are feeding them and in turn, they are feeding us and not just in the honey I will harvest at the beginning of next month. The more they pollinate the plants , the more the plants produce. A happy plant – is one that is flowering. I visit the bee yard on a daily basis, even if to just stop and watch, say hello (yes – I do talk to them often and the flowers as well) I love watching the ins and outs and how busy each hive is – it is so interesting to me. I practice a very natural way of beekeeping and I rarely open the hives as I feel they do better without me messing with them. When I do open them up for necessary maintenance – they are calm and gentle and barely pay me any attention at all. Which to me – is a very good sign that all is well.
The chickens are another wonderful part of our farm – again, we feed them and they feed us plus they make awesome additions to our compost pile, which later will help us grow more food! Chicken poop makes great fertilizer! Next year, we will be adding ducks to our little farm – over by the gardens, as that way they can help manage pests (if needed) and duck pond water, makes for great all-natural ready made fertilizer. We will use their “used pond water/poop” and they get a nice fresh refill on a regular basis, plus duck eggs are awesome! It is another win-win.
I have not had much time over this growing season to attempt any new formulations, but I did receive some new eco-friendly packaging for my deodorant and hard lotion bars – which will soon be hard lotion sticks (much easier to apply). I finally made some more Goat’s Milk Charcoal Facial soap recently that is almost done curing as that has been a very hot commodity this year. I have enough plantain harvested and infused in oil to make a new batch of the much sought after “BooBoo Balm”. It will be in stock by the end of the month! And the Grapefruit and Geranium Body Butter will now be available in 120g re-sealable tins as well as the smaller travel size 60g as the requests for a bigger size kept coming in.
Thats it for today – I will post some awesome pictures and videos to this blog as well as on my instagram and FB page – Healthy Living on Logan Farm soon!
Bye for now folks!
