The summer of our dissapointment.

Well the end of July is here and we should be up to our ears in produce. We are not. A combination of the late frost, overestimation of the soil quality, and lack/ untimely application of weed barrier, coupled with alot of off the farm work has led to a garden where the weeds are the only thing flourishing. Most gardeners have commented on the rough year we ( all gardeners/farmers) have had but it is still disappointing.
We might have had unrealistic goals for our situation. Diversifying  the animal side of the enterprise, expanding the garden by a factor of 10 and moving into a new, smaller home was alot to bite off.
The meat chicken experiment ended up being an unexpected sucess, so we are planning to do more of those next year. Also, we have found the property would lend itself well to meat goats on the back 2 acres, so that is in the works. As far as the garden goes, we have staked and spot fertilized the plants that were doing the best and we are planning to let them go until about the middle of September. At that point we are going to till in  everything and as much organic matter and compost we can get our hands on. From Then until mid October the chickens will have free reign, eating bugs and weed seeds. Then, in goes the garlic, carrots , and onions for spring crops.  This way we can hit the ground running in the spring. 

All hope for local produce to see us through the winter is not lost. The folks down at Urbavore ( a local urban farm that puts ours to shame) have a glut of produce that we are working out a labor exchange for. We "can" it, then split the finished product. Hopefully this arrangement will fill up the pantry a little more. Mrs Phantom Chicken  and I have sat down, and learning from our mistakes have a plan of attack for next year that should allow us to really maximize our production and minimize our labor. Please stay tuned.

The first half of June

Having a hard time believing that it already well into the month of June. Things are going well here on the farm. The Cornish crosses are in the chicken tractor and are doing really well. We were able to harvest radishes Memorial Day weekend. It was a good harvest for our first attempt. We are also getting some good reviews from the occasional lettuce harvest. The cucumber seeds we planted are coming up beautifully. I am excited !
We lost alot of our tomato plants to a freak frost on May 1 and 2. But we have replanted and the plants have either little blooms or tiny tomaotes. It feels like something positive after the set back of the frost. We have carrots, beans and melons all planted and plants are sprouting. Accomplishments !!!
We got our first pair of meat rabbits in May, and Ben is now working on clearing the spot for the Rabitat. Its going to be on the edge of the chicken/goat yard. So we can see it from the house, but let them have some space. We are attending a ARBA picnic this month, hoping to meet some other rabbit people and learn more.
We are also going to be getting some Holland lop pet bunnies. =) I'm excited about that. The heat is getting to the hens, their laying numbers are a bit off so we are working on keeping the coop cool for their comfort and egg laying will continue. Goats are doing good - we're working on the numbers and looks like we will getting our dwarf doe, Persephone bred this fall. Ben is really excited about that. He has been waiting and waiting for the milking part of this adventure, and its finally going to be happening. There are so many other thoughts I'd love to try and get down to share - but I'm out of time. Please continue to follow us, and for more frequent updates please join us on Facebook.... just look for Phantom Chicken Farm.

Spring thus far.

Lots going on here.  Our first chicken tractor in up and running.  the 14 tractor store Cornish rocks are liking the new digs, unaware that 25 Cornish crosses will be joining them in a couple of weeks. the garden is doing ok. we have lost some tomato plants due to the cold, but we have lettuce and radishes ready for harvest. hopefully we can get some more plants in the ground this week. meat rabbits are settling in nicely. will be checking the doe tomorrow to see if she is indeed with child.  All in all a busy time on any farm, especially a urban one. Sorry for lack of pics, to tired to fight with computer. check out our Facebook page. Mrs Phantom Chicken farm has some good ones up.

Learning Curve

Both of us were so excited- seeing the tomato seeds we had waited on, planted and cheered for- were finally growing. Out of the 70 seeds we planted we had 2or 3 of each variety pop up, so roughly 23 seedlings.... then something happend. Not sure what but the  seedlings aren't doing so great. Utter disappointment.
We are trying to do a ( 8-10 customers small) CSA this year. We have the space and we love to be in the garden. We shared a load of produce last year with friends and neighbors and after doing re-search this winter, we decided to try our hands at this new  project. So we picked the seeds we wanted very carefully.
And now to have this tomato issue crop up has taught us - maybe we need to stick to buying tomato plants. We can grow everything else from seed- but we are not tomato growers. So now I'm online hunting, making phone calls trying to find heirloom variety tomato plants. I've found 5 of the 8 varieties we had picked. Praying we can get them all ordered and here soon. We have people counting on us this year for their tomato needs, plus our own. We shall see. Ben and I are not easy people to give up and give in. We take each challenge as it comes deal with it and move on. On a positive note - radishes, peas, carrots and lettuce are coming up. Chard, kale and other greens are planted. Herbs are in and we are still excited. Happy Gardening.

You say TaMayToe, I say TaMawToe

SanMarzano

 

We finally got the last batch of seeds that we had ordered and got them planted last night. It was all our tomato seeds. Ben was getting a little nervous, afraid that they would not get here in time, but they did. 7 different heirloom breeds. I can't wait for you to see how fabulous these fruits have the potential to be. First is the awesome Roma, San Marzano. It has a really unique history from Italy and then it made its way across oceans and ended up in Peru and now its here for all to enjoy.

Black from Tula

Next, we have the beautiful Black from Tula. It's supposed to be knock
your sandals off  tasty and it has the most unique coloring. I can not wait to try this one out. Its supposed to slice up great and I hope ours look as good as the ones here in the picture.



Now we move to the roma Amish Paste.

Amish Paste

 Sources say its one of the best sauce tomatoes out there. Ben is anxious to get these beauties off the vine and into the sauce pot. On to the Giant Belgium. Just look at the picture. Can you imagine - the info on this great tomato says to expect fruits upto 4 pounds, yes thats right 1 tomato can weigh 4 pounds. Can you say AWESOME ? !!!

Giant Belgium

Chocolate Cherry

Ben is totally indulging me with the Chocolate Cherry. I love little tomatoes, the ones you can just pop into your mouth and enjoy. Or maybe toss a handful into a salad for a quick supper. I hope mine look as good as the ones in the picture.



Next up is The Mortgage Lifter. Another tomato with a cool story behind it. The Mortgage Lifter tomato was developed in the early 1930's in Logan, West Virginia by a radiator repairman, M.C. "Radiator Charlie" Byles.

Mortgage Lifters

Without any experience in breeding, he made a successful cross of four of the largest tomatoes he could find - German Johnson, Beefsteak, an Italian variety, and an English variety. Radiator Charlie sold the first seedlings of his new tomato in the 1940's for one dollar each to customers who drove up to 200 miles for his famous plants that bore tasty tomatoes averaging two and a half pounds. With these sales, Charlie managed to pay off his $6,000 mortgage in only six years, and so the tomato was named Mortgage Lifter. See told you - cool story.  On to the Mule Team tomato- could not find any neat pics of this one but the info on it says a high yielding plant with near perfect blemish free skin. OK sounds good to me. Last one is Riesentraube, and again Ben is indulging me.



These little maters grow in clusters like grapes. A German variety of tomato that the Pennsylvania Dutch was growing in the 1850's. These little ones are also supposed to be phenomenal for tomato wine.... Hmmmm not sure if I want to try that, but I'm sure they will be fabulous for eating !!  So here's to hoping that the little seeds we planted last  night will give us some of this same beautiful fruit. Will keep you posted on how the seeds do.

Urbanite, and the Godess Refusa

One of the great things about living in America is the ability to buy new stuff whenever we desire it ( notice I didn't say need) One of the problems of living in America is that we often do. This means that the waste stream is MASSIVE. Most of it could easily find another use.
Things to do with waste.
Recycle, donate working things to charities, or re-purpose it.
That is where Refusa comes in.
Refusa is a relatively new deity. Gaea's third cousin, she is the Goddess of Trash.
Some would think this a lowly position.Not so, for she presents us with the most challenging of dilemmas.  What to do with the stuff we are done with without simply throwing it out.When she deems you worthy of dealing with your own trash she will often bless you with the most common element after carbon, and hydrogen. Urbanite.
Urbanite takes many forms. From wood, to metal , to glass, plastic, brick ,and rock.

notice the shape, like a bag of quickcrete

a sample of urbanite

our gifted clothesline

Just today after picking up yet another bag of trash out of the woods behind the house She blessed this house with a clothesline pole.
And you know what I am going to use for the new foundation for the post?
You guessed it.

Getting Settled

We have been at the new place about 3 weeks now. Flock and goats seem to be settling in nicely. The first few days with the goats were especially rough, we kept having great escapees - and we learned that there is no such thing as "goat proof". We planted strawberries, and the seeds Ben has started in the basement are coming up, slow and nice. We had hoped for nicer weather to get more accomplished as we prepare for our first year doing a CSA, but that is not to be I guess, and we will do our best with what we are dealt. Bees arrive next week.
Another new adventure to be trying.