Ferrier Today! with update.

no pictures ... early appointment with my Farrier!  It will be quick, painless, and much cheaper as I do not have shoes on my horses during winter.  Better for ME!!!! $$$$$

Gives me a chance to concentrate on other things financially! ha ha ha...  What is the difference... well $40.00 a horse as apposed to over $100.00 each!   BIG DIFFERENCE. I never make it out under $200.00 with old shoes, more if we have to make a new pair, or FULL set of four, and I pay only $80.00 for both with only trims... What does that add up to...   Savings for hay, feed, or medical bills... what ever comes first! ha ha ha...

Better for my horses as the snow doesn't collect on their feet without shoes, they are easily keep their feet warm? (this is still debatable on a professional level! after all the hoof is like a fingernail! only felt if you cut it too deep!)  But in my mind no shoes helps me keep ice and snow from packing around the frog, this is my reason for no shoes in winter. What's a frog?  it is like the callused part of your heal... On a horse it absorbs pressures as does your heal with fat and harder skin than your arch.  A horse gets so much of a callus a frog is  trimmed.  No different than a person getting a pedicure for summer sandals etc...

Besides you can't ride a horse in snow with shoes... an my kids love a good snow ride in fresh snow!

Just got back... as I was worried.. Navarre has serous thrush in ONE foot, while I worried it was two only one is clinically at risk.  his off hind  or rear right foot.  What's the big deal?  Well how big of a deal would it be for you to have an infection on your heal? An infection that POTENTIALLY could eat to the bone.  Not any different for a horse.  Thrush can be in the hoof, Navarre's is above his frog, to the point the Farrier cut off most of his frog to expose the issue, also makes it easier for me to clean, treat and keep an eye on it.

Wind? or Spring?

As I tried to sleep last night the wind blew so hard it woke me from a sound sleep several times.  My dear old house is solid stone but the tiny bit of over hang or aluminum / double paned windows howelled, creaked, and created drafts through the house last night.  Only the birds room is less seseptiable to such strong winds.

What normally wakes me is the slamming of the one window in my potting shed, below the back porch.  Not much I can do to secure the poor thing, so we deal with it.

While all this wakes me through the night I dream of flowers in my woods... I can not wait for the beautiful show of blood root all over the west area, leading down to what is soon to be a veggie garden.  What started my mind on such beautiful things? 

It was the discovery of the butter cups that have emerged from the floor of our woods.  While they are not much to look at, they are a warmth in my heart... As one friend said   they are doves with an olive branch... 

While they are nothing much to look at they make me dream of better days... 

Thus pictures of the past, and what is to come... are in my mind... 

Days of the bloodroot are soon to come... 

I can not wait for spring, but we must make it through today to enjoy the small promises of tomorrow.

Monday Visual

It eventually got so bad this week I could not even take the camera out! 

Gardens that inspire me.

While I have written about only concentrating on the rows of the garden this year I have serious dreams about the years to come.

First... resources ...
Mother earth News  August/Sept 2007 , then April /May of 2008  just for starters.

While this magazine is old, it is a wonderful resource, I have all too many of them but I still use them all on a regular basis.
The lay out of this company has changed over the years so do not be looking on the shelf for the style of cover only the name.

This is ONE of my FAVORITE articles  over three years ago it inspired me to re think all I knew about trees, bushes, and perennials.  It made me start doing real research about my foods.

This layout is the basic form of what I want to do with my garden.

Nuts on the back row, and fruit trees along the side... with berry bushes etc under and around them with my seasonal garden in the open space of this ?  depiction.

I generally have the perfect site for such a large endeavor, but yet to invest the time and money to ALL the contents.

I will need a shed house first for tools etc... it is too far from the barn to haul tools everyday.

I also need the shed house for another water source, while I want the shed house as water I will also be using the over flow of the 3000 gallon tank at the barn.  So I hope to have plenty of water.

While I will not be creating my dream garden this year I am getting it ready for the years to come, at some point, in the next five years I should say I hope to have my basics done, the nuts, fruit, berries all in the ground!   I still have some trees that need to come down as they are too tall, lanky and will eventually cause us problems in the years to come.  It is better to do a selection of healthy trees and keep what we can and what will serve the land well.

The new trees will bring texture, new woods, variety, and a healthier environment for both humans, birds, bees, and animals.  This is going to be very important for a 100 year plan.

There are many small kitchen gardens that inspire me... these are only a few

I would love to know what you dream of when it comes to your edible garden.

send me a picture, or an article I can look up.

My garden can always use more!

When Foods HATE other foods.

clean and simple... some foods are not companions... they are as different as the Eastern World, and our Western Ways In other words.. BE Careful , VERY careful...

You may want to print this for your records.

Beans can not stand Onions... ANY ONION FAMILY
Cabbage can not stand Strawberries, Tomatoes, or Dill
Carrots can not stand Dill
Cucumbers do NOT like Aromatic Herbs or Potatoes
Onions are as above horrible for any beans, peas etc.. (legumes)
Peas are also bad for Potatoes

Potatoes do not like peas, beans, sunflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes, turnips
Radishes do not like Hyssop
Tomatoes do not like Cabbage, fennel, or again potato
Turnips do not like potato

Why does any of this matter, it actually helps in your rotation!
Because the beetles that eat your potatoes are not as likely to eat your tomatoes the next year etc... This is one of the reasons you should look into crop rotations, three or five year but any rotation is better than using the same place for the same plants, pets, and issues year after year.

Foods that love other foods.

Ok... While I'm NOT a professional I have taken several sources and made a list of companion plantings...

Try these...
Asparagus... ( LOVES )... Tomatoes, Parsley, and Basil
       ISSUES... Asparagus is a perennial and thus can NOT be moved with any rotation plan, the male are eaten, while the females go to seed as seen in this picture.


Beans.... (LOVE)... Most herbs... most veggies (especially those who NEED lots of nitrogen)

     Potatoes, and Egg Plant are two favorites.

Cabbage... (LOVES)... Aromatic Herbs, Celery, Beets, Onion (entire family) Chamomile, Spinach, Chard's

Carrots ...( LOVE) ... Peas, Lettuce, Onions, Sage, Tomatoes, Peppers!
     ISSUES... remember Carrots take very loose soil, can not be disturbed for a hundred days or more! Therefore I do NOT suggest Onions! if you disturb the soil you will loose your carrots.

Celery... (LOVES)... Nasturtiums, Onions, Cabbage and Tomatoes

Cucumbers... (LOVE)... Beans, PEAS, Sunflowers, and the radish

Lettuce...(LOVES)... Carrots, Radish, STRAWBERRIES, Cucumber
     ISSUES... Remember Lettuces wilt or will go to seed in the heat of season, Strawberries and Cucumbers will SHADE the lettuce in the heat of the season lengthening the life of your lettuce.

Corn... (LOVES) Squash, Peas, Pumpkins

Onions ...(LOVE)...  Beets, Carrots, Lettuce, Cabbage

Parsley... (LOVES)... Tomatoes, Asparagus

Peas ... (LOVE) Carrots, Radish, Turnips, Cucumber, Beans

Potatoes... (LOVE)... Beans Cabbage, HORSERADISH, and Marigolds
     ISSUES... Potatoes are famous for beetles in order not to hurt your worms, one can only hand pick the beetles or have bags... BUT ... Marigolds help as do horseradish plants.  BUT remember Horseradish is another perennial that will not want to be moved in your rotation... ANY rotation!

Radish... (LOVES)... Peas, Nasturtiums, Lettuce, Cucumbers

Spinach... (LOVES)... Strawberries, and Fava Beans (not that common in U.S. but delectable!)  you have to shell them twice!

Tomatoes... (LOVE)... Onions, Asparagus (see asparagus above) Parsley, Cucumber, Marigolds, Carrots, Basil

     ISSUES... when you get your new plant (providing you don't use your own seed) when you do plant it... Plant it as DEEP as possible.  it will grow new roots closer to the soil surface as it grows and allow the main roots to pull in DEEP moisture from the soil instead of drying, being wet, drying, being wet.  It will help the life of your plant.

          ISSUES... While most places will tell you to make tomatoes grow UP, this is fine... but look at your tag is it determinate or indeterminate?   IF it is an indeterminate tomato allow it to grow along the ground... at each branch of your stem, cover it with new soil, or compost, it will grow new roots allowing the "suckers" to die back and feed the top limbs, buds and tomatoes until FROST kills the plant.

Turnips (LOVE)... Peas?

planning a new garden

This task is HUGE!
I have a section of the estate I am devoting to food.  The issue is how to do it where it will not overwhelm me with up keep.  This is my list of SEEDS I have saved from last year!

This is a list of things I need for food this year...  ( on the right page)

My lot is 70 by 70 at least... although there are other trees around this that will effect sun, drainage etc... I believe to save myself issues I will plan the garden at 65x65 feet square.  4225 square feet to deal with!   That is a lot for food IF I do it correctly.

Other issues.   Hill to the north, Hill to the East, Woods on North, West and East Road to the south!
I have no structures, but I do have some tree roots to work around.  Why are these issues? because...this effects wind, rain and creates a micro climate a little different from the area...

My goal for this year is to create some raised planting beds, some I will use... some I will use as compost for next year and years to come.  This is the idea so far.

OK... if you enlarge the picture above you will see I only have 22x30 planned plot!   Why so little?

1.  Well in truth the smaller the garden the more likely you are to keep it up!
2. Not all of this is plants... so in reality I am planning an even smaller garden than this!
          the 16 foot solid lines are all going to be compost heaps for NEXT years raised beds.  I may throw some easy to manage plants in the heaps OR plant them with oats, rye, or clover all item that are good to turn into the soil to add nitrogen, and other benefits.
3.  If I can companion plant...
 First back two rows... Corn on the two back rows I can get... 14 stalks of corn in each row MINIMAL  plant one group with beans growing UP the corn, and plant pumpkins to cover the soil to keep down weeds.
Corn also on the back row to the right but this one with green peas growing UP the corn stalks, and different squashes to keep the soil weeds down.  This takes care of 5 different plants in a small area and gives me less work for weeding 5 different rows....

Then another row of composting...
Second set of rows... Then two more divided rows of food, These I have noted as Tomatoes and Basil knowing in order to get my garden more proficient I will need MORE food in these rows.  So I may add ONIONS in the spring and Garlic in the fall on ONE row then... Carrots  and cucumbers along the other row.  I am also likely to use a BED FRAME to have some tomatoes grow up while allowing others to spread over the ground.

then another row of composting... after all I have plenty!
Third set of rows.... then I have noted Lettuce and kale!   This is where it gets harder.  Lettuce and kale need to be sown every two weeks, BUT they also need to be covered by something during the horribly hot months of summer.  I may use this row for Flowers, and Brusselsprouts  for height, lettuce, cabbage, kale, Broccoli, and Cauliflower.  this is hard mixture but I call it my salad row...

yet another row of composting...
Then my last row... maybe? ... which will be potatoes of ALL kinds... I want this close to the front so I am reminded to heal them up every week!   Also in my rotation they will be moved farther to the back next year but will never make it all the way to the back as this will be the most moist place in the garden...

It is all just a start!
What are your plans for your garden this year.

Rare 2nd post let the horses out.

I knew with the sun as bright as it is, the wind blowing hard... 30-40mph !  The horses would want to RUN, so I let them out on the pasture

Sure enough... Snap shots of what I saw  Remember none of them are good, but snap shots are never planned, and they were moving SOooooo fast the camera on MOVEMENT could not catch up.

Running with her eyes closed... I call it her BLISS shot!

Navarre LOVES rearing, bucking and changing directions... I call this his Lean Angle

AIR TIME! 

And finally Navarre looked at me as if to say   WHAT? 

Groundhogs Day...

While the Groundhog of knowledge says spring will come early this year, my groundhog (Wally) has yet to make his appearance this morning!  If he came out in the fog of the morning, when I could not see that far, I am sure he will agree with Punxsutawney Phil.  If he has come out, after the fog and sun... while I was gone I am sure with the brightly colored day he ran to hide.    We shall see who wins this debate as the season progresses!

Happy Groundhogs day!

February

February: named after Februa, A time period when sacrifices were made to atone for sins.


February will never have a blue moon... because the shortest time between full moons is  29.27 days... thus more days than the month of February has.