Farm update

It's been a little over two years since I posted last and a lot has been happening! We have settled in and started building our farm business. The first step was to uncover the gardens and amend the soil. We have heavy clay here and it needed a lot of compost to make it workable. I don't like tilling unless it's absolutely necessary, so the first year I planted a cover crop of buckwheat and clover. 

The next year we planted a few crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, garlic and herbs. Things were growing pretty well until we had a drought mid summer. Between frosts in June and not getting rain for a few months, it was a year of learning.

In the fall, after planting garlic and shallots, I put down another cover crop of clover, wheat and perennial flowers seeds in most of the beds and covered the rest with crushed leaves. We left the dried stalks from the seasons crops, to help keep the soil from eroding and to naturally add organic matter.

The next spring the soil was loose and crumbly, there was also an abundance of worms. I was able to lightly turn the beds using a broad fork to prepare for the spring planting. I tilled up more rows to expand the growing area. We have been adding perennial crops like strawberries, lavender, flowers, horseradish, and Egyptian walking onions.

This year we had a very good crop of garlic and shallots. I harvested 30 lbs of garlic and 8 lbs of shallots. Some of that will be culled out to be planted in October for next year's crop.

In one of the newly tilled gardens I planted wheat as a winter cover crop to try to grow for flour. I did a 4' x 50' row. We harvested the wheat in July and still need to thresh and winnow it before grinding into flour. I'm looking forward to making homemade pizza and bread! It was a fairly easy crop to grow. Like garlic, you plant in the fall, cover with leaves and wait to harvest in the summer. We need to come up with an efficient system to harvest and clean the berries, but if it works well I might plant a larger area for next year. It would be nice to offer fresh ground four in the farm stand!

After observing what grows best here and getting accustomed to a shorter growing season than we're used to, we decided that herbs and flowers will be the most logical main crops. We will still do a kitchen garden to feed ourselves and to donate to the local food shelter, but the main garden will mostly consist of perennial flowers, annuals for cut flowers, medicinal and culinary herbs and perennial vegetables and fruit. 

We plan on opening the farm stand as soon as we can get the space cleared and set up. This fall, if all goes as planned, I will be putting up a 10' x 30' greenhouse for seedlings and building the kitchen garden. I will also be building a couple chicken/duck tractors so we can use them to till the gardens in fall and spring. 

This journey has been difficult at times, but I am grateful for this opportunity to be able to do something I've dreamed about for such a long time. 

~Rob~

This is a Clivia that was given to me by my cousin several years ago. 

It is an offspring from my grandfathers plant.

I've had it for many years and it has never flowered.

This year it finally flowered!

 Dreams really do come true!

We sold our home in CT last November and moved into a rental on 100 acres just north of Woodstock Vermont. We thought this would be a nice place and had high expectations of being able to farm and connect with nature.

Not too long after moving in we realized this wasn't the place for us. We were promised land to farm and thought we would be able to do all the things we've been dreaming of, but that quickly changed. The happiness of finally moving to Vermont was replaced with anxiety and depression because we felt like we were under a microscope with the land owner living right next door and constantly being in or around our apartment. She didn't respect boundaries or personal space and couldn't understand when we expressed our frustration. We weren't really "living" there, we were just existing and it was time to find a new place to live.

Luckily after 10 months there we found a place that is a much better fit for us. We are now living in Middlebury Vermont on a 4 acre farm. We are close to a thriving downtown with amenities and people who are happy, friendly and welcoming, what a refreshing change!

We moved in June 1st and have an awesome landlord who gave us his blessing to do whatever we want here without having to ask! It used to be a certified organic farm with an attached farm stand. There are so many possibilities here and we can't wait to uncover the gardens and put our hands in the dirt!

Stay tuned as we begin our farming venture! I will be documenting out progress as we put into practice all the things we've learned over the years. Now we need to come up with a farm name!

~Rob~

The Backyard Chicken Coop

 The Backyard Chicken Coop

Several years ago we decided to keep backyard chickens. I checked with the town to see if we needed a permit and to see if there were any requirements for housing. On our 1/4 acre lot, the town requires that the coop not exceed a footprint of 6' x 8'  and a height 5'-5". 

An overall height of 5'-5" isn't tall enough for a walk in coop, so I decided to design something that would work well for a small flock within those parameters.

I came up with the 4' x 6' Backyard Coop. This coop has an upper enclosed area that houses the chickens at night. The roof panels on one side are hinged so you can easily clean the coop. There is a hinged door on the floor that opens to a ramp which leads to an enclosed pen underneath. There is a roost bar inside, a loft area and nesting boxes that are accessible from outside the coop. 

View through outside egg door into the coop

Egg door on back of coop. The solar panel is for the coop lights.

The recommended space requirements for chickens is a minimum of 4 square feet of space per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet of space per chicken in the run.

This coop is 4' x 6', which equals 24 square feet inside. That is suitable for up to 6 chickens. We only have 3, so that is more than adequate. The run underneath is also 24 square feet, which would be a little small if we didn't let them free range in the yard during the day. 

I decided to also add an additional 6' x 6' run on the front of the coop so that could have an expanded protected enclosed area if we weren't able to let them out or if the weather was bad.

6' x 6' front run

The coop is located under the canopy of a very large maple tree so the chickens have plenty of shade in the summer. They seem to be very happy with their accommodations.

I've finally  the created plans for the Backyard Chicken Coop which are now available in my ETSY shop. The plans include a materials list, cut list and step by step assembly instructions.

There are also plans available for the 6' x 6' front run as well as a 4' x 6' side run.

I also have many popular sizes of greenhouse plans available in both Printed and digital PDF format.

I am working on new designs for larger chicken coops, sheds and other yard and garden items which will be available in my ETSY Shop soon!

~Rob~

Shared at:

The Cape Coop

Building a Greenhouse - 9 years later...

I built my first greenhouse 9 years ago as a way to grow more of our own food on our 1/4 acre lot, who would have thought that I would be depending on it so much today to provide fresh food for my family.

Here is the greenhouse today. Everything is original, including the 6 mil plastic ...

It's been though a couple hurricanes and a some heavy northeast snow, but it's still holding up well. Right now it's full of seedlings waiting to go into the garden.

Tomato Seedlings

Winter Squash, Cucumbers and Summer Squash

Growing Sweet Potato Slips

Organic Ginger 

Nasturtiums

With everything going on in the world today, there has been a rush of people wanting to grow their own food. It's no wonder as it's been harder and harder to find fresh produce at the grocery store and farmers markets have been cancelled or are opening but are limiting the number of people who can attend. 

There has also been a huge increase in the number of people purchasing seeds from seed companies since March. Most of the companies I usually order from have had long delays in filling orders or have stopped taking orders all-together until June or July. I am glad that I save seeds every year so I didn't have to purchase any for this season.

Seedlings in the kitchen on my seed starting rack.

After building my first greenhouse, I wanted to encourage others to build one for themselves and take a part in growing their own food so I listed my plans in my ETSY store and the response has been very surprising. I have sold thousands of plans to people all over the world. Since March I have had people contacting me daily inquiring about my plans who are excited to build their own greenhouse.

Since listing my original plans, I have come up with several new designs for different sizes of greenhouses after getting many requests from people wanting to build one to fit their particular needs.

The most popular sizes have been the original 6'-10" x 8'-0" and the 8' x 12'

6'-10" x 8'-0" Greenhouse

8' x 12' Greenhouse

I now have plans for several sizes ranging from 6' to 8' wide and lengths from 8' to 16' long. I am also working on plans for 10' wide greenhouses. I have designed many custom greenhouses, greenhouses with chicken coops attached and lean-to greenhouses.

8' x 8' Greenhouse

8' x 16' Greenhouse

If you're interested in building your own greenhouse, visit my ETSY store and use the the code SAVE10 to receive a 10% discount from 5/3/20 to 6/3/20.

Mini-Greenhouse with perennials

We have added backyard chickens to our gardens for the benefits of having natural pest management and fresh eggs! I am finishing up the plans for the backyard chicken coop and they will also be available soon in my ETSY store.

~Rob~

Growing Flint Red Corn

It's been quite some time since I've posted anything, but now that fall is ever so slowly approaching and the gardens are just about done for the season, I am finding the ambition to sit down and write again.

We are still searching for our farmhouse in Vermont with enough land to start a small organic farm. While we aren't quite ready to move just yet (we still need to finish renovations and repairs on our current home), we seem to be getting closer to finding that perfect house. In the meantime I am trying to work with the space I have with my current property, and at the school garden, to feed my desire to farm!

One of the many reasons I garden is to try to grow as much of our own food as possible. Knowing that our food is grown organically, comes from open-pollinated or organic seeds, and is picked fresh and is nutritious means a lot. Nothing compares to freshly harvested and prepared food! What we don't grow, which seemed to be quite a lot this year, we try and get from local farmers.

Building a seed inventory is another goal of mine. I've been selecting varieties to grow out and save based on several different criteria including, flavor, variety, and regional history.

This year I tried growing Roy's Calais Red Flint Corn.
Here is a little bit of history (from slowfoodsusa.org):

"Roy's Flint Red Corn is an open-pollinated heirloom variety which was originally cultivated by the western Abenaki people in Vermont, and grown and maintained by pioneer farmers, including Roy and Ruth Fair of North Calais, VT. In 1996, Tom Searns obtained the seed from local farmers like Mike and Doug Guy, who had received the corn and seed saving information from Roy Fair. Tom Searns crossed all of the inbred strains and grew out the variety introducing it through his company, High Mowing Seeds of Wolcott, VT."
If you are interested in reading more about the history, click here.

Roy's Flint Red Corn is an heirloom variety that is said to be ideal for cornmeal, flour and hominy. It is an eight row flint variety that has a short growing season which is ideal for northern climates. According to Fruition Seeds, "it has a significantly higher amount of protein than other varieties of corn. It requires long cooking to break down the hard starch, but you will never go back to off the shelf polenta after this."

We had planted quite a few seeds at the school garden in hopes of doing an activity of grinding the corn into meal and making corn bread, but we ended up with fewer ears of corn than we had hoped for. We did however grow enough seed to over plant next year to try again growing this variety!

As you can see in the photos below, the variety of colors are truly fall-like and amazing.

We now have several pounds of seed for next year, and are planning on building the soil over the winter with either cover crops or compost and leaves, and amending again in the spring so there are plenty of nutrients available for this heavy feeding variety.

We are hopeful that next year we will be able to grow enough to grind to try making flour or cornmeal!

This will be another variety that will be added to my seed bank and grown out each year. It's very rewarding growing your own food, but it makes it even more meaningful when you are preserving a part of history and your food has a story behind it, something I hope to pass along to my children!

~Rob~