Spring!

We bought some freshly dug up ramps today ! We'll most likely transplant some to the garden and cook up something delicious with the rest !

Lucille.

She refused to let anyone else in HER nest box.

Planning our garden 2012

  Spring is almost here and we are scrambling to plan our garden. 80% of our seed is in hand and we just have a few more things to order. We haven't decided what kinds of potatoes we are going to grow yet, but we are gonna grow a lot of them. This is our current list of vegetables that we are planting. All of our seed are open-pollinated varieties and a lot of them are really rare. We are excited to help preserve the genetics of these plants and to offer you a little different variety than what you will find around here.

Grains:

Golden Giant Amaranth

Barley (for brewing)

Flax

Proso Millet

Biobo Quinoa

Dale Sorghum (for brewing)

Teff

Pika Triticale

Herbs:

Sweet Basil

Thai Basil

Sacred Basil (tea)

Sage

Summer Savory

Stevia

Dill

Echinacea

Roman Chamomile (tea)

Vegetables:
Beans:
Covelo reservation Bean
Envy soy Bean
Rattlesnake Bean
Taylors Dwarf

Beets:
Barabiettola de Chiogga
Bulls Blood

Broccoli:
Di Cicco
Piricicaba

Cabbage:
All seasons
Red Drumhead
Vertus Savoy

Carrot:
Scarlet Nantes
Dragon Purple
Juwarot

Cauliflower:
All the year round
Violetta Italia

Chard:
Fordhook Giant
Ruby Red

Georgia Collards

Corn:
Anasazi
Golden Bantam
Isleta Blue

Cucumber:
Beit Alpha
Marketmore 76

Long Purple Eggplant

Kale

Garlic Chives

Heirloom Lettuce mix
Buttercrunch lettuce
Little Gem Romaine

Red Bunching onion

Parsley

Parsnips

Peas:
Alderman Pole
Cascadia
Dwarf grey sugar

Peppers:
Jimmy Nardellos sweet frying
Yolo
Joes long

Pumpkin:
Winter luxury

Radish:
Cherry Belle
Rats tail

Squash:
Zapallo del Tronco
Cocozelle
Golden Zucchini
Butternut

Tomato:
Black Krim
Brazilian Beauty
Italian Heirloom
Stupice
Various others

Turnips

Watermelon:
Moon and Stars
Cream of Saskatchewan

That's most of them I believe.

The Black Flag of Agriculture

Want to live a healthier lifestyle?
Want to build a better community?
Want to be a revolutionary?

Plant a garden.

  Depending on a government that instinctively puts profits before people to regulate and provide our food supply is irresponsible to our health and our future.  Most of the food we consume is refined and processed to give us, the consumer, a picture perfect product we feel comfortable eating.  The problem with that is our bodies don't hold value over the physical appearance of the food we eat, but rather the nutritional value it holds and I assure you the government isn't concerned with that.  The government is interested in money. That's it. Monsanto funds election .campaigns and slings non tested GMO vegetables down the throats of our children while politicians push bills through congress that enable global takeover of food production by chemical company's. This is why we have "factory farms" accumulating massive profits and small scale farmers are left with the choice of selling out or growing Monsanto's GE corn.

   Factory farming is successful because it is large scale and can produce food for millions of people with little effort and in poor conditions, but what they don't talk about is the impact it has on the environment or the problems it causes for your health. What about those of us who don't want to ingest chemicals or contribute to the destruction of our planet, what can we do? That's where small scale agriculture comes in.

  The problems with the food we eat can't only be attributed to how we grow our food though; there is something to be said about our dual planet lifestyle as well. The commercialization of agriculture also brings with it packaging. Packaging made mostly of plastics that end up being buried in our soil, creating thousands of  landfills. Then of course there is also the oil that is used to make and transport this plastic. Convenience comes at a cost.

  Eating a more localized, sustainable, and seasonal diet is better for you, better for the farmers in your community, and better for your children. There is an upsurge in urban gardening and young people starting to farm. These young idealist are the future of our food supply and can provide us with some much needed healthy produce, not to mention motivation. I encourage everyone to make this year a year to remember, make it the year that you started fighting for yourself and your future. The seeds of revolution are at your finger tips, all you need to do is plant them.

In the beginning....

  Jessica and I have decided to become farmers. We actually decided this a long time ago so this is probably old news to you..but I thought I would explain why we have chosen this path.

  Some people are born into farming. They spend their childhood farming and continue farming into their golden years. Some people have never been to a farm but often long for the day when they can spend their time in a garden or playing with chickens. Some people just want to support their family in a way that works for them and is a more acceptable lifestyle.

Our issues with modern society and government controlled food supply is what fuels our want to be farmers. We love the peacefulness of our secluded land and the opportunity to spend our time together as a family.

We have a small farm in West Virginia where we are currently building our house. We have chickens and goats and this year we will add pigs. We are planting a 3,200 square foot bio-intensive market garden and hope to successfully provide our friends and family with most of their vegetable needs.

This blog will expand as the season gets closer and we will add a lot of photos. In the meantime all are welcome to talk to us if you are interested in becoming more self sufficient or come up for a visit.

See you soon.

More goats!!

Our baby girl Leia.

Clarence!