Pampered Pups

My mom decided she wanted to try her hand at sewing dog coats, and they turned out amazing! Personally tailored and reversible. My favorite is Farley’s green plaid one (he looks like Sherlock). All my roomies have styling pups now.

And Greta was very thankful to have a coat when she has to go out to work on the farm.

We also put together a hoop covering for the garden so we can start onions and put the seedlings out when they are strong enough. It’s surprisingly toasty inside.

 

-M

Southern Hockey Championship

We’ve had some amazing ice in Southtown, enough that we had a solid layer on the streets and were able to play some street hockey. I don’t think any of us southerners have ever played or would ever had hockey sticks laying around our house, but luckily we have some neighbors from West Virginia who are familiar with such things. It’s melting pretty quickly, but it was fun while it lasted!

-M

Signed, sealed, delivered

Seeds are here! I got my packages in the mail today full of little pumpkin seeds! Can’t wait for May to start planting them.

But we’ve already got a head start with some tomatoes, peas, collards, and peppers. Don’t they look cheery!

 

 

-M

Hugelkultur

I’ve stumbled upon this gardening idea called “Hugelkultur”. Translated it mean “mound culture” and the idea is basically to use logs/sticks piled or buried that are then covered in compostable materials and planted over. The mounds slowly decomposed, nourishing the plants growing on them while the wood retains moisture and decomposes more slowly. Brilliant! As it turns out we have inadvertently done this with our brush piles that have made the biggest and healthiest blackberry patches. Here's a google image that sums up the idea:

 

Typically the piles are large, with pieces of logs or limbs with smaller branches stacked and then covered with mulch. But why not make mini hugelkulturs for pumpkin hills? Like, say with the brush that I am slowly hacking off of the fence line? Basically I am telling you all I am lazy and tired of having to haul all this brush off one truck load at a time. But I also really like the idea of putting it to use. The goats can only consume so much of the plant, leaving a lot of branches and thicker parts to sit there until I can chop it up, so why not pile it up instead?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First I layered cardboard down to mark the spot and hopefully choke out some of the grasses. Then I started making small piles throughout the field where the pumpkin hills will be going and will come back later with hay from the barn and compost to layer over top. Supposedly the hugelkulturs require less watering since the wood traps moisture. I’m not sure how well these small branches will trap it but we shall see!

 

Oh, and the goats have apparently come to associate the sound of my chopping limbs with snack time since I often trim the hedges to make things more attainable for them.

The fence is certainly looking better!

 

 

-M