No I'm really back this time!!!
   So I guess I've been on walkabout for the last 6 years . Even though i wasn't directly working on Suburban Artisan farm I was tied up in a few ventures that have taught me valuable lessons to hone my skills on our little piece of heaven . Just as I was about to venture into my micro-farm full time a chance of a lifetime was dropped in front of me .I was offered a job at Farmtek (very large hydro and greenhouse company) as their grow room assistant.I wanted this job so bad that I spent Christmas morning writing my resume. I'm not very good at formal writing but both my wife and the Farmtek head hunter said it was one of the best resumes they had ever seen. (the head hunter had hired me at Yankee candle left after a bit and went to Farmtek)   Funny thing is I would have taken the job for a lot less than they offered just for the experience.That turned into grow room manager overseeing almost 5000 ftsq. of indoor hydroponic systems as well as teaching numerous classes in their CEA (controlled environment agriculture)school . As well as a sweet employee discount.
    After three years they figured out what I had been thinking (and saying to a few people ) this was too good to be true .They were paying me WELL to learn about hydroponics and meet many new people in the business . So when things slowed down a little the grow room was phased out. More funny things ! One of the CEA students had a micro business incubator on Gasoline alley in Springfield  So Urban artisan farm was born .  We grew mushrooms ,microgreens and numerous hydroponic veggies in the middle of 4 million gallons of gasoline.we even had a few articles written about us and made local TV it was doing ok but needed to expand .Just as we wanted to discuss expansion we were informed we would be losing our building to a parking lot for a dispensary .Oh well! So here I am  ready to jump start the farm again. A little bit older and hopefully a little wiser.

I'm BACKKKKK

I'm BACK!
    That's right after another year or so off I figured that I 'd start posting again as I am now getting more folks to the site due to the interest of my wonderful hydroponic produce. Things have been really crazy around here the last few months .In taking on the Forst Park winter farmers market a whole new direction has come into focus. The response has been outstanding to the point that we now offer pick-up of orders on weeks there is no market(Thank You, Liz). We had eleven people pick up orders on the 20th at the old Spoletto in East Longmeadow, as interest continues to grow I'm thinking of adding a drop off in the area of Parker st and Wilbraham rd . If you're interested let me know . If I get started with 3 people I'll make it happen. One of the really interesting things that has come about is the inter- connection that I've found through all of this . It turns out that one of my customers at the market likes our produce so much that he talked it up with a restaurantuer  in Easthampton . She was intrigued and contacted me about produce for her bistro. The wheel turns further as she's from Wilbraham and is good friends with my neighbor from two doors down (they didn't even know what I was up to). It cerainly is a small world after all. Yesterday in talking with a customer we  found out that we too are neighbors and that her family has taken many walks past our little slice of heaven in the burbs.
  All of this interest has me scurrying to build more systems to be able to offer more and different selections to my new found clientele. A newly constructed vertical system is in place with 40 tomato plants in an area about the size of the kitchen table . Strawberries are next and wheatgrass is on deck .  I'll try to drag you along on this merry ride as I go.

   

hydroponic potatoes in a barrel WOW!!

In an effort to cheat mother nature and get as much of a head start as possible on this growing season I decided to try growing hydroponic potatoes. I'd read that they are doing it in Vietnam with good success. The thing is they are doing it more traditionally in rows similar to raised beds but soilless w/ coir and nutrient solution ie. hydroponically. I've grown potatoes in a barrel with mixed results but I had an idea. The lighter the media I grew in the larger and more prolific the yield ,SO coir should be AMAZING (I Hope). So far the results are quite promising as the plants have grown 30 inches Since 03/09 and are already starting to throw some flowers. .The procedure is as follows:
One 55 gal food grade barrel w/  16 -5/16 holes in the bottom and 6 around the edge (about ¾ “ up on the side) sitting in a  Barrel cover w/ 2 inch lip (think of it as a coaster or plant dish) .Six inches of coconut coir in the bottom. Start 8 seed potato pieces . when they are about 8 inches high place them on the six inches of coir already in the barrel . Pile moist coir around them until only about 2 inches sticks out .As the plants grow continue to add coir until the barrel is full of coir. The plants will grow up and eventually stick out of the barrel by up to 2 feet . If you add nutrient solution (ph 5.9 EC 2) to the bottom in the plant dish it will wick up . It’s a good idea to top water when you add more coir so that the coir will settle a bit . The potatoes will flower (either white or purple flowers) These will contain potato seeds (not to be confused with seed potatoes). When the plants die back it’s time to knock over the barrel and harvest up to 100 pounds of potatoes . Not bad for four square feet.
  I plan on doing this with numerous barrels using 4 different varieties of fingerling potatoes as well as Yukon Golds and more Kennebec and Katadin Maine potatoes . If this process works one could potentially grow a ton of potatoes in less than 100 square feet. That's pretty amazing! I've heard of people stacking tires to do the same thing WARNING!!!!tires leach toxic chemicals. Isn't the idea to clean up our food sources ? I'll add more pix and updateas they grow. Any questions or comments would be welcomed .Thanks for stopping by.

The Incredible Perpetual Corn Machine

Let me first qualify this by saying there are no magical powers to this system .I also REALLY hate buying produce that has been picked unripe and shipped thousands of miles for me to pay top dollar for inferior nutrition and flavor. So I'm always looking to  try new ideas (it's also part of my job). I just had an idea to match together a early dwarf bicolor corn (63 days /9weeks) with our Farmtek microdutch  hydroponic systems (with some modifications) . This same idea could be probably also be accomplished w/ soil grown 5 gallon pails or grow bags. I'm trying that also as a way to have corn for my farmers market before Memorial day. This is my first run at this idea and I will keep you all abreast of it's weekly progress. Conceptually it seems sound ,we'll see if it plays out in reality. So here goes .
The seeds:
I'm starting out with two different varieties .
    Thumbing through the large pile of seed catalogs I got this  year I found a variety from Burpee called On Deck. It's an early 63 day bicolor sweet corn that has been bred for growing "on your Deck". It's only supposed to get 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall  and produce 2-3 ears per stalk. The biggest drawback are that it is a hybrid (no seed saving) and the cost $6.95 per packet of about 60 seeds.
My other candidate is another early dwarf bicolor hybrid from Territorial seed company called Quicky . The main difference here being I got 1/2 pound of seed for $10.25. The other difference is germination. Quicky has nearly 100% germination vs. the "on deck " has only about 80%. plan on writing burpee about this. I tried soaking and not soaking , soaking was worse got about 20%.
The Equipment:
   I'm using a Farmtek microdutch  dutch bucket system . For the hobbyist I think it's a great little system that produces a good amount of High quality vegetables in an extremely small footprint.So far I 've grown cherry tomatoes ,Slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini squash and cabbage we have trials in line for bush beans and Broccoli. The only modification is  that I went with six buckets vs. the four it normally comes with. This Mod is what should give us the ability to  harvest 1 bucket per week forever (alright maybe not forever but you know what I mean). we are testing a plant based organic OMRI listed fertilizer designed for hydroponics  that has performed well in our initial trials w/ peppers and cukes  If it works then I will release the name .  Now I know some of you are saying OMG you're using plastic to grow food ,the petroleum The chemicals . I understand your point but also look at how much petroleum would be used to transport my corn across country EVERY week and How much water is needed to get it to grow as well as the equipment to harvest it. This system uses about 15% of the water that soil growing would and also doesn't deplete the soil.
The process:
  when you think of the perpetual corn machine think of a gattling gun.
 it takes 9 weeks for this corn to mature.
Week 1 plant the seed into a rock wool cube
Week 2 check progress as seed should germinate then repeat week 1
week 3 check progress and repeat week 1
Week 4 plant the first plants into the system then repeat week 1
Week 5 Plant the second plants into the system then repeat wk1
Week6 Plant the third plants in to system and repeat wk1
Week 7 plant the fourth plants into the system and repeat wk 1
Week 8plant the fifth plants into the system and repeat wk 1
Week 9 plant the sixth plants into the system and repeat wk 1
Week 10 Harvest the first bucket ,clean, replace  and  plant the seventh  plants into the system and repeat wk 1
and so on and so on and so on.
 I've noticed that in growing small corn patches pollination can be a real challenge .it seems that the tassels are dried and empty by the time the silk comes out resulting in partial or incomplete ears . My theory is that since these plants are only 1 week apart that there should never be a shortage of fresh pollen . And yes I am talking about almost 50 plants in a 30x36 space while that can't work with soil it can with hydroponics because there is always plenty of nutrients for every plant as the system pumps fresh nutrients for 2 minutes every two hours.
 So we'll see. I think it looks very promising. Please let me know what you think.

TENTATIVE WORKSHOP LAYOUT W/HEATHER JO FLORES JULY 17/18

Well now that's it's official that Heather Jo Flores will be joining us for Friday and Saturday July 17&18 , it's time to start laying out the program and get some details. At this time these are tentative ideas .Feel free to comment with your thoughts.
 Friday 07/17 6pm-9pm seed swap at the Wilbraham Public Library followed by Intro to Food Not Lawns Featuring Heather Jo Flores
Saturday 07/18
  9-1 Intro to Suburban Permaculture /guerilla Food not lawns (hiding crops in plain sight so your neighbors don't even know you're doing it.)
1-2 Light lunch will be served (fresh Suburban Artisan  salad w/ Organic bread and Local Organic grass fed Raw milk Cheese ,Quinoa salad  and fruit  and we'll be doing another seed swap .
  2-5 pm I'll be leading the group in a discussion about "Second Spring " getting ready for fall and winter crops. Participants will take home over 100 seedlings to get a head start on their own Second Spring plantings.
      The Friday session will be free of charge but a donation of nonperishable food items for the Edge food pantry to help those who are hungry  will be accepted .
      Both sessions on Saturday will  total $99.00. Work study will be available. Come and work on the farm for 6 hours (Doesn't have to be all at once we'll have at least 4 work days)  learn some things (probably take home some fresh veggies ) make new friends and save the $99.00. Bit coin will be accepted and barter considered.

It's Official I'm very excited to announce that Suburban Artisan Farm will be welcoming Heather Jo Flores for a 2 day (OK 1.5 day) workshop on july 17 &18 in Wilbraham, MA . More details soon @ www.suburbanartisan.farm

Let's try this one more time.

 Spring is here (at least that's what the calendar says) the crocuses are still gonna need a snowblower at my house this year. But they will arrive eventually and with it another season of Woodchuck and chipmunk feeding AKA suburban gardening so let's try this one more time. Over the last year I have gotten a taste of what many people call  a normal job . I work in an office type setting (50 + hours a week with at least some time behind a desk )even though I run 2 30x72 foot grow rooms I feel it's kind of like an office job. This is my first foray into this world and I am grateful to have a pretty good paying job doing something I consider to be my life's work . That being said I still crave soil under my nails , the aroma of freshly dug soil and real sunshine on my face. As more outside activity that will bring some sweat along with it  (hopefully) begins to melt  away some of the fifteen pounds I put on this winter I will truly be back in my element amongst the rows and beds of my farmden (to big to be a garden too small to be a farm).As the cellar grow room begins to fill with more flats of hopeful candidates for this years plots and plant sale my mind races to think of what I wanted to grow last year and the new crops and methods I wanted to try this year and of course more seeds. Funny  how each year when I get the new catalogs I get a little giddy flipping through the pages mentally plotting where this new variety would fit perfectly between the beans and the tomatoes. My wife tells me it's my new addiction just because I went to Baker creek on new years eve and bought 200 packets of seed and still drool over the pretty pictures from territorial or johnnys. So what if I still have all those left from last year. Fortunately none of you feels any of this so it probably sounds crazy but I warned you I'm a little nuts.

Second Spring is Coming

  Yes folks that's right second spring will soon be upon us .No it's not a cousin to silent spring or a pagan holiday (that I know of ,I' m not a pagan).It doesn't even have it's own fat and fuzzy mascot to tell if it will be early or late . It's a term I read from Eloit Coleman referring to August first as his second spring because it's a whole new planting season. Most folks are just beginning to reap the benefits of all of their hard work in putting down all of that compost and carefully nurturing those seedlings and seeds .Anticipating  each day how far the plants have come (is that a bud on my peppers?) Battling both the weeds and vermin (we gotta eat more weeds) .
  Second spring is when we start planting the crops that we'll harvest late into the fall and even into and through the winter . That's right through the winter. Eliot and others have put out some great  books on how to grow food year round (even without a heated greenhouse). I gotta tell you it was pretty cool last year when I asked Tyler our 7 year old grandson if he wanted to help me pick some veggies for Christmas dinner. He looked at me like I had 4 heads and exclaimed Grandpa it's winter there's no veggies to pick . The look on his face when we went out to one of the low tunnels and chipped away some of the frozen ground and voila! ! Tyler was picking carrots at the end of December .They were awesome !!. The cold temps bring out the antifreeze in the plants (no not prestone but sugar) that sweetens them up almost like a carrot candy. That's one way to get a kid to eat his veggies. So get ready for the second spring !

Time keeps slipping away

    OK so I was supposed to do the post about tomatoes or leaves 3 weeks ago .I guess I need about 3 more hours in the day to get most of the things done I want to. Jackie keeps telling ,me that I bite off more than I can chew. I just want to do some things and they seem to take more time than I have available. Kind of like juggling plates with greasy hands sometimes you drop some but it's really cool when you pull it off.
     Anyways here goes .SO are you growing tomatoes or leaves on your tomato plants? This may seem like an obvious answer but most people grow leaves and are lucky enough to get some tomatoes. This was really quite a revelation for me when it was explained . Most everyone already knows about suckering your tomatoes (if not it's removing the branches that start to form at most leave nodes) but how about removing the leaves when the tomatoes are done with them .HUH? The plant needs the leaves!!!!! You can't cut off perfectly good looking leaves it will hurt the plant!!!!!! WRONG!!!!!. As your tomato plant grows it will develop flower buds on the internode (space between two leaves (nodes) the leave nodes above and below are the source of energy /food for the tomato flowers between them . Once the tomatoes have formed and reached full size the leaves above and below it are now no more than suckers themselves and they gotta go . By doing this you are removing the oldest most tired leaves and sending more nutrients to the top of the plant which will grow more and produce more flowers (more fruit). It looks a little different but works really well . (I wouldn't suggest it if I hadn't had the results myself)

It really works!!!  COMING SOON WHAT DO I DO WITH MY FOURTEEN FOOT TALL TOMATO PLANTS ? YOU RACE TRACK THEM OF COURSE!!!!   

Coming next Are you growing leaves or tomatoes?

First Crop Available ,sweet potato slips and more.

         First as I sit at the keyboard looking at the 42.6 degree reading coming from my greenhouse on JUNE1 I have to wonder what the temperature would be if we didn't have global warming BRRRRRR........ Thank God for global warming! Things are really moving along here at SAF. We have our first crop available for sale Beautiful Cherokee red leaf (and I mean RED leaf) and Tropicana Greenleaf lettuces .They are beautiful looking stuff. We grow these varieties at work but the lights don't bring out the deep  rich almost burgundy red In the Cherokee. More Color means more nutrients yeah!
     UPS had some "truck problems " so the sweet potato slips that were due in on Friday (so I could plant them this weekend) won't be here until Monday. Guess what I get to do after working 11 hours Tuesday /Wednesday and Thursday. We've got 10 varieties coming in so I will have some available for sale .
     We have a remote location at the Wilbraham community gardens (a nice 50x50 spot) that I hope will be a good addition to our growing adventure. If all works out I want to try adding another 100 x 200 for next year giving us almost an acre between both places. Being a Farmtek employee has given me access to lots and lots of goodies for the farm. I've been told by some of the folks at the community garden that I'm giving some folks "Fence Envy" because I was able to put up an eight foot deer fence around the plot up there . Losing all of our work to a few vandalous deer is not an option. Watering by hand is a very tedious process and because I'm the newest member at the community garden I'm literally the farthest from the well . Farmtek to the rescue! I've installed a 150 foot hose and drip tape irrigation system that makes things much easier (as long as I don't drill anymore holes through both sides of the pipe) Once it starts to grow out I 'll add some pix. Well off to home depot for some hose repair fittings and back to work.

Mason Bees are out!

Well after a six month long nap in the back of our fridge I took my mason bee cocoons out of cold storage and placed them in their new digs . The results were amazing . Last year I started off with 20 cocoons and ended up harvesting about 125. I thought that was pretty good Although I thought "just put these in the fridge  still spring ,really?" but what the heck that's what they told me to do. Well yesterday morning while digging for some peanut butter (yes I keep my peanut butter in the fridge ,I like to break butter knives) I saw movement in the clear box the bees were sleeping in. A couple of bees were very slowly stumbling around .I guess they didn't want to oversleep. So out they came and before I could even get all of them into their mason bee house about 50 had hatched and were in various states of trying to wake up . Within 30 mins about 100 cocoons were empty and many new mason bees were out and about .Not bad for the first year . Throughout the day and at Dusk I saw quite a bit of activity so I guess some of the new generation will call this bee box home .And so the circle of life continues.

WOw it's dusty around here!

 After almost 2 and a half years we're going to give  this thing another try. SO much going on that hopefully something will interest you and get you to come back for more. It's official, Suburban Artisan farm has it's own website www.suburbanartisan.farm (of course it's under construction  and not ready for you to see just yet.) but it will be soon. Stay tuned as we show you some of the many new things going on around here.  It's kind of funny to think of how one statement can change someones life . GROW FOOD NOT LAWNS. Seems simple enough right ? Got the bumper sticker, put it on the truck and there you go . I started to think about it and it made total sense to me (maybe it had something to do with the fact that I never could grow a really " Nice " lawn anyways) .Here are 5 very good reasons why it should make sense to you also.
1. Water usage. Maintaining a lawn in dry, arid regions requires regular watering to keep it green and lush. Really the only way to irrigate a lawn is with overhead sprinkler systems that generate a fair amount of water waste via over spray and wind. But even if 100% of the water intended for the lawn actually benefited the lawn, does it make sense to use precious water to grow lush grass that provides essentially no value. I understand that this is the norm – and mind you, I’ve lived in houses with grassy front lawns – but knowing what we know now, isn’t it time to reconsider whether this is a smart use of our water?
An edible garden in the front yard can be watered with a drip irrigation system or by hand, putting the water right where it needs to go, eliminating water waste.
2. Poisons. Because a lush green lawn is a sort of status symbol in many American neighborhoods (what is up with that?), people will go to great lengths to keep their grass glowing. Nurseries sell products that promise nutrition, boosting, and building. That sure sounds good, but what they don’t say is that many (if not most) of these products boost and build with chemical fertilizers. Products like “weed and feed” take it a step further as they build up the grass and kill the broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Double the chemicals, double the fun? People, these are poisons, plain and simple. If you’re growing a lawn in order for your kids to have a play space, please consider that those bare little feet are coming in direct contact with anything you put on the lawn. (If you must have a lawn, either for the kids’ use or due to residential requirements, please, please consider skipping the poisons!)
Of course, people can and do grow vegetable gardens with chemical fertilizers, too. But since the end product will end up in our bodies, I think people are a little more wary of dousing edible plants with poisons.
3. Emissions. If you succeed in growing a lush lawn, the next step is to chop it off. Silly, yes? Every time the grass grows a few inches, homeowners fire up the gas mower, chop off all of that lush growth, and emit noxious fumes that contribute to global climate change.
A vegetable garden does not need to be mowed.
4. GMO. Because it’s not hard enough already to eliminate genetically engineered crops from our lives, a “Roundup ready” bluegrass seed has recently been exempted from federal regulation. So guess what? If you’re installing a new lawn from seed or sod and it has bluegrass in the mix, there’s potential for genetically modified grass in your lawn.  Because grass seed is typically sold as a blend with bluegrass as part of the mix, it will be very hard for consumers to avoid this genetically engineered plant. The only way to be sure that you’re getting GMO-free grass is to buy organic seed or sod, something that’s certainly not common in retail outlets at this stage of the game.
Organic vegetable seeds, on the other hand, are readily available, so consumers can be assured that their plants are not genetically engineered.
5. Economy. These days, it seems like everyone has a tight budget and a tight schedule. Why spend time and money maintaining a lawn when with the same effort, you could be generating food for your table?
     The whole idea of a lawn comes from the middle ages , it was a status symbol for the kings "We've got so big of a kingdom that we don't even have to farm it all, we can just waste this perfectly good farmland ". Look down your street , think of how much food could be grown in the place of grass. Now think of how many fewer people would be hungry, how many fewer people would be sick (you know eating fresh veggies is much healthier for you). How much less oil would be used to get you your food (the average carrot travels 1500 miles to get to your table).How much money you could save . How much fun you could have . And if you really have to compete with the Joneses ,my tomatoes are bigger and tastier and look how long my cucumbers are!!!!!!!!!
So as I was saying GROW FOOD NOT LAWNS!!!!!
 

if at first you don't succeed

More volunteers than peace corps

One of the more interesting developments in this years garden has been the arrival of the volunteers. There have been at least one hundred of these popping up in some of the most unusual places . Most farms are very happy to have volunteers show up as this makes their job easier . Unfortunately not the case here .You see the type of volunteers I'm referring to are not people but unplanted vegetable plants. I must have had a lot of squash and tomatoes last summer because everywhere i put compost this year we are overrun with (you guessed it) squash and tomatoes. I guess I could have pulled them up when they started but with the tornado and all we didn't have much else growing so i figured they were better than nothing. they are going to reward our leniency with a few bushels of beautiful winter squash and some assorted tomato varieties. it will be interesting to see if we get any more lingerers next year.
We're in process of planting the winter crops and hopefully will have the new greenhouse up before it gets really cold. Hopefully the rabbits and chipmunks won't get to them first. Did I mention how big that squash was?

I' m BACK !!!!! V 2.0

Well,
Here I am again, figuring I'd like to start posting again since there are so many new and exciting things going on here on the farm that I just have to share them with all of you millions of readers out there . Ok all 383 of you . Had a great maple season this year. Unfortunately didn't get a shack built this year so the rains we had really cut into my production .Already setting myself up for this upcoming season. We sent 50 chickens to freezer camp in July ,it's been really nice to enjoy all organic chicken that we raised ourselves .One exciting development actually came about completely by accident . I raised the chickens at a somewhat local farm. Started off with 51 birds I was told one had died so that left me with 50 (seems pretty simple 51-1=50) so when the day came for us to bring the birds for "the long trip " to freezer camp we counted fifty birds ,looked around ,the pen was empty ."we've got 'em all and away we go. Three days later we are breaking down the pen I had made for them and to our surprise out pops a chicken . First of all see the math above and there are fifty birds in the freezer . There were no birds left in the pen when we went to freezer camp . Things that make you go hmmm! after three days of no food or water she seemed quite healthy. Anyways we now had a new pet chicken that we aptly named Lucky. Lucky happily joined us in the burbs (only about fifty feet from her brothers and sisters in the freezer). Well I didn't want her to be lonely so now she has four sisters . My little flock has just started laying eggs . We got six last week and two so far this week . They really are very interesting animals ,more to follow soon I promise. Did I mention that chickens can move pretty quick if they want to?

false alarm

Arghhhh!!. Last week I checked the weather and it looked pretty good for the next few weeks so I started tapping trees. Things started like gangbusters eight taps and almost twenty gallons of sap in about thirty six hours. My mind started to calculate an ocean of syrup that would gently bathe my sweet tooth for the entire year and then some( smack!!!, reality check)the temp dropped and haven't seen another drop of sap in two days and now we're looking at snow and cold most of next week .Oh well if it was easy everyone would do it. Luckily I got most of the parts for my first aquaponics system so we'll be working on that till the temps go up. Did I mention it's cold outside?

And they're off

What a difference a week makes .The Arctic weather we've been dealing with has finally loosened it icy grip and it's almost fifty today. After this post I am actually going out to tap the first trees of the season as it looks like warmer weather will be here for a bit. It's one of the advantages of being new to all of this I don't know any better (ignorance is bliss). We'll see ,as we can't do worse than last year (FINGERS CROSSED).The sun is reflecting so brightly I might even get some color and a good dose of vitamin D.
Another endeavor is starting to come together as my inside aquaponics system should be up in the next week or so. It would have been nice to have started it last fall so we'd have veggies all winter but such is life.At last we'll have them really early if all goes well. it should be interesting to see if I can juggle all of this and still keep what little of my sanity I cling to. Stay tuned for more riveting commentary .Did I mention it's really sunny?

here we go again

Well it's that time again.Looks like we're getting close to sugarin' time. Things look a little different this year(what's up with all of this white stuff)I'll have to be careful placing taps or I'm going to need a step ladder to be able to pull sap come March. There is one advantage I have new places to tap the trees that I couldn't reach last year.
It truly has been a life changing year. In a little less than a year I've gone from a part time chef to a full Time farmer to a part time farmer and a candlemaker. I don't think that I had seen the word sustainable (except maybe in a Viagra ad) and the idea of raising (and killing )my own food was about as exciting as getting my nipples pierced(I don't want to get them done ,just in case you weren't sure how I felt about it).I have recently placed my order for this springs day old chicks that i will feed organically ,raise humanely and then proceed to send them to freezer camp where they will feed us for the next winter. Two heritage piglets will also join us in the spring so that the chickens won't be lonely in the freezer next fall as well as a grass fed Devonshire steer to complete my version of Kenmore's ark.
In looking back I'm not even sure where these changes even came from .The chain of events that have transformed us from suburbanites to homesteaders has been really quite remarkable.If you believe in coincidence this is another of those times in my life that it took fifteen or so of these coincidences to put me where I am now. I just wonder what God has in store for me now. It has been a very interesting journey. I've come to respect the "circle of Life " and to understand that in order for me to eat something must die. More importantly I've also realized that I can treat these things that I eat in a respectful and humane way and that the steak or chop that's on my plate didn't just come out of a package ,it was part of a living thing that sacrificed it's life for mine to carry on. (whoa ,getting too deep here). Anyways things are a bit different around here this year.
We have cleared out a pretty good piece of our land (much to my neighbors chagrin) and plan to have a fairly large market garden this year ,along with greenhouses and a chicken coop and I WILL get that mud oven built this year. We've started making our own soap, bread and crackers, sprouting and lacto fermenting anything we can get our hands on and in some ways becoming one of those earthy crunchy people we used to frown upon (don't worry we're still conservative Christians).
Anyways the taps have come in and the lines are ready ,I've got to dig out my buckets and start a tappin .My sugar shack from last year had to come down so i had to dig out my evaporator and i 'll be putting some sort of a wind break up so i 'll keep you posted as we attempt to beat last years total of two and a half gallons .Wish me luck. Did I mention that snow sure is deep?

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE

I know it seems like forever since my last post (primarily because it has been forever) but I'm going to try to be more regular in my postings again. Why is it so hard to keep up a good habit and so easy to start a bad one ( actually which category does this one fall under?)? This summer has been quite an adventure . The garden is still producing quite well (of course now it's under a greenhouse), Jackie actually got into a plane after twenty two years, Suburban Artisan maple syrup is now Suburban Artisan farm and so much more.
We've taken quite a few baby steps on our path to sustainability this year from growing our own produce to baking our own bread (with local organic flour, milk ,and honey) and today I will be making our first batch of homemade soap. Early this fall I built a greenhouse around the summers garden in an effort to get closer to year round production of organic nutrient dense food . Since I have a few irons in the fire (OK quite a few irons in the fire ) it has been a slow pace but it's withstood four inches of rain in five hours and forty five mile an hour winds (now let's see how it will handle snow and sleet).
My journey with time banking has connected me with Pam and Dave at Golden Oak farm. They are really nice folks that have shared with me the joys of organic practices as well as sending chickens and a pig to freezer camp ( a cow will join them in a month or so).Because of them I now have a freezer full of organically raised veal (it wasn't intended that way but the calf had an injury that was life threatening so he had to go to freezer camp way before his time ).He was a really beautiful calf and now he's really tender roast. I hope to be raising turkey chickens ,pigs and maybe a cow or two in the spring.
The decision to become Suburban Artisan seemed like a natural progression as we (OK , I) dabble in new directions of sustainability .Did I mention it's getting kind of chilly around here lately?