Lmst

Apparently chaotic gardening that is actually quite intentional:

We are digging the greywater channel deeper after adding a charcoal & rock base biofilter. This aims to reduce soil salting by minimizing water evaporation directly from the channel and forcing the water to be pulled *up* through the soil via the plant roots. Current seedlings in this basin are getting top water but when their roots can be expected to be slightly deeper they'll be left to only seek water from the saturated soil below. Initially I wanted to optimize for a proper floodplain but now I think intentionally incising the channel may be a strategy so long as matting roots can hold the bank against rains - we'll just have to see!

The squash mostly killed off by frost was pruned back, and the volunteer plants are frequently cut back and their stems used for mulch - you can see the slight mulch layer being built from vegetation in this site. The squash is trying to put on baby leaves again but the weather has been erratic so I'm fine if it just decomposes in place and doesn't come back, another round of beans, squash, and corn has been planted nearby and if the weather is conducive to getting a head start on the season we will have much more to harvest this fall.

The other side of the basin was seed blasted and is being mulched over with animal bedding and manure.

For this season this basin holds mostly cover crops sown for animal feed or milling, but when we can afford to we will be starting a series of trees in this basin to establish more permanent cover. Ultimately this will do more to avoid soil salting and nutrient loss, but for now simply establishing roots and working on soil restoration is a good start, especially where we can get a useful yield and bring down the cost to raise our animals.

#permaculture #earthworks #greywater #RanchoDeLaLibertad #Farming #SmallFarm #FoodSovereignty #NativeOwned #Indigenous #RegenerativeAg #Gardening

Within earthworks in-progress (in sandy soil featuring a large dirt pile in the background) is a seemingly chaotic young garden with various field pea and oat sprouts, volunteer plants with blue-green and hairy stems, and pruned back squash vines covered with the beginnings of a mulch layer made from prunings and cuttings.

A passionate, provocative, and very nuanced take on whether or not it is ethical to keep livestock just sent out to subscribers. I've thought about this for years, and hope that my thoughts spur your own pontification on your relationships with all animals - pets included - and the broader context you live in.

Please consider subscribing and sharing if this is valuable, to help support our mission.

Thank you as always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

https://rancholibertad.com/on-the-ethics-of-livestock/

#Livestock #Animals #AnimalRights #Regeneration #RegenerativeAg #Agriculture #Farming #Homesteading #SmallFarm #RanchoDeLaLibertad #CommunitySovereignty #Environment

Busy, productive weekend 👩‍🌾 Many food crops were transplanted. An acre of beds were prepped for more crops to be transplanted.

#FoodSecurity #SmallFarm #FoodCrops #GrowFood #FarmWork #WorkParty #Food #Wsanec #Saanich #VictoriaBC #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #Farming #Volunteering

A collage showcases agricultural scenes. The top left panel features rows of diverse leafy greens, including burgundy and vibrant green varieties, separated by walking rows with tan fabric. The top right shows parallel rows of dark, recently tilled soil. The bottom left displays rows of bright green garlic stalks against a backdrop of a blue sky and distant trees. The bottom right shows a close-up of textured, green and red mustard leaves mixed with small green leaves and weeds. The middle right features cucumbers growing on a vine, inside of a greenhouse.

Climate change is here now and it is hot, thirsty, windy and dangerous. And how it affects growing food is significant. Over the years, I've seen a lot of comments like “I know HOW to grow food, I just don't need to right now” or “yeah, when SHTF I'll be out there putting in a garden and hunting”.

Listen. If you aren't gardening right now, you don't know how to garden. I've been gardening my whole life and every year it changes, the climate changes, the zones change, the air moisture, humidity, wind, plants and soil water needs, changes in what varieties will do well in more heat, less water and humidity, length of growing season, - every aspect of growing food is rapidly changing and you need to adapt.

You will be lost in the weeds – no pun intended – if you don't start right now (better yet years ago unfortunately) to learn the basics and understand how climate change as well as other factors such as animal movement and migration, insects and pollinators, birds, rodents, and troublesome bugs affect your ability to make the most of your available growing space. Plant diseases are more troublesome as the planet warms up and the zones move north, along with fungal diseases, harmful insect migration, invasives, predators and prey.

Seed germination and viability seems to be becoming an issue the last few years. I'm not sure if it's supply chain, dishonest corporation practices, lack of expertise or what, but it is getting weirder. A couple of years ago we had pepper-gate (massive numbers of mis-labeled seed packages mainly with pepper varieties but also squash and other vegetables). This year has been a challenge to get kale and some lettuces to germinate for no apparent reason.

Last year we had a very late spring deep freeze which took out many kinds of fruit trees in BC. There were few locally grown soft fruits such as peaches to be had. So far this year, the blossoms are showing promise, so here's hoping.

The point is, grow food RIGHT now while you can learn and also have a monetary buffer while learning, during failures and while grocery stores have fully stocked shelves. During a societal collapse is not the time to find out that your soil is severely lacking in a necessary nutrient or that your growing zone won't support your stable foods or that the rats will eat you out of house and home. Learning how to deal with all of these issues now and sourcing out possible solutions in your local area while becoming familiar with typical ups and downs builds resiliency in your future security.

#prepping #GetPrepared #homesteading #smallfarm #backyardgardens #victorygardens

Ok but no, seriously, what does one do with roughly 2-dozen fresh goose eggs when one does not yet have a license to sell said goose eggs? #goose #farm #smallfarm

Trotz viel Regens gehen die Pflanzen im Glashaus ganz gut. #smallfarm #hofkollektiv #vegetables #video #farming

The first trees to bloom in our orchard are ume, prunus mume. This is the fruit used to make umeboshi and japanese plum wine. The bees love thse early blooms too.

#farm #smallfarm #orchard #ume #santacruz #california

I am a small regenerative farmer on the California central coast and a high tech refugee. Our farm Birdsong Orchards grows fruit trees and flowers. We focus on heirloom fruits, fragrant roses, community, education and the joy of growing good things.

If you have any questions about growing fruit trees or roses, ask me anytime.

#farm #farms #smallfarm #orchard #permaculture #roses #santacruz #califormia

Pipoca, another sibling of #MemeTheCat, on the shade cloth over a small lettuce garden bed as if it were a hammock. Meme also likes it (3rd photo). All of them, actually! 🥬🐾

🇧🇷🇵🇹 Pipoca, o Gato (outro irmão do Meme), usando o sombrite da mini hortinha de alface como se fosse rede de dormir. Meme também adora isso (3ª foto). Todos, na verdade!

#lettuce #farming #catFamily #catBehavior #cats #catSiblings #catsOfPixelfed #catsOfMastodon #gatos #katze #neko #farmCats #smallFarm #animalFarm #soybean #caturday

Daytime photo of a striped tabby cat with beige, black, and white fur, lying comfortably on a net stretched over a small lettuce garden bed. The garden has young lettuce plants, and the net serves as a sunshade. In the background, there is a scenic farm view with trees, a pond, and green soybean fields under a clear blue sky. Pipoca, Meme's sibling, looks completely relaxed.

A closer look at Pipoca, the Cat, whose Brazilian Portuguese name means Popcorn, on the same scene described in the previous image.

Meme, the black and white tuxedo cat, walks on the shade cloth over the small lettuce garden.

Je bénéficie de la Dotation Jeune Agriculteur : une aide de l'Union Européenne et de la région Nouvelle-Aquitaine pour mon installation en maraichage 😃
Ça va me permettre de payer une bonne partie du bâtiment à venir ! Merci !

Thanks @EUCommission

#maraichage #bio #AB #agriculture #paysan #Europe #UnionEuropéenne #UE #EU #EuropeanUnion #smallFarm #NouvelleAquitaine #régionNA #PyrénéesAtlantiques #Béarn #FEADER #DJA #DNJA

Le Jardin des Faunes reçoit le soutien financier de l'Europe et de la région pour le démarrage de l'activité maraîchage.
Logos de l'Union Européenne et de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, avec la mention "cofinancé par l'Union Européenne".

Meme enters the house and one of his younger brothers, Plushy Jr., is seen outside, a country landscape in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

#Caturday #catsOfFediverse #catsOfPixelfed #catsOfMastodon #smallFarm #countryside #Brazil #tuxedoCats #gatos #neko

In what looks like a porch, a black and white cat sitting before a sliding glass door with wooden frame. His tail rests on a gray mat with black capital letters meaning "Welcome" in Portuguese.

The same black and white cat opening the sliding door with his left paw.

A mini garden covered in shade and delimited by concrete blocks, where several very green lettuce plants can be seen. To theleft there it is short grass and a young, furry black and white cat. To the right and back there is a descent where pineapple plants can be seen and there is a pond at the bottom.

[Portuguese] Uma mini horta coberta por sombrite e delimitada por blocos de concreto, onde vários pés de alface bem verdes podem ser vistos. À sua esquerda, há grama curta e um gato preto e branco, jovem e peludo. À direita e atrás há uma descida onde são vistos pezinhos de abacaxi e há no fundo um açude.

An young black and white cat walking on green grass, seen at some istance. There is a pond with some trees and a wheat field next.

The new hens have graduated from the tiny pullet eggs to these magic eggs. I only cracked open 2 eggs to make oatmeal bars this morning. It's kind of luxurious.

#Homesteading #chickens #baking #SmallFarm

A beat up stainless steel mixing bowl holds 2 double yolk eggs. The eggs are very fresh with firm whites.

So, my one hive (Persephone) that I thought was lost then when I realized they were alive, so small I didn't think they would survive and had seen a mouse go in there in the winter.... IS BOOMING. I put a medium on top of the 2 deeps last spring to ward off a swarm before I could split and tried to move it today but honestly, all 3 boxes are full of bees. No mice in sight. Did not see drones yet but there was drone larva. They will have to hang in there a bit longer. Waiting for Queen cells, drones and good weather, then will probably get another double split this year. Phew.

The other 3 hives are doing well, I mean, like how hives should. Tidy, happy, lots of bees but not a tidal wave of bees when I take the lid off! Sheesh. They all have nice yellow saddle bags flying in, and one girl had something pinkish-red in her saddle bags so the pollen is coming in but I gave them good quality patties anyway. Four hives is my limit so I'll be selling the splits late this spring. 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝

#BeeKeeping #homesteading #SmallFarm #Sacred

Meme neste domingo descansando sobre a lenha a ser usada para churrasco enquanto seu vovó humano lidava com trator.

https://fediverse.tv/videos/watch/c8bdd0ac-6e66-4a65-a7e4-3c34630db2c6

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#foodporn #mushroom #mycology #smallbusiness #farm#homestead #londonontario #stthomasontario #vegtablegarden #greenhouse #greenhouse #smallfarm #chathamontario #smallbusinessowner #agriculture #fungi #selfsufficiency #selfsufficientliving #selfsufficient #strathroyontario #ingersolontario #woodstockontario

Get yourself some Sweet Sleep (and anything else you'd like) for 20% off. Use code "sweetsleep" or just go here: https://milkbarn.farm/discount/sweetsleep
#smallfarm

I FINALLY got my electric fence repaired after a big storm in January that brought down a tree, caused power outages with brown outs and surges. I've been waiting for a new fencer controller to come in. Got it today, hooked up and running at 13,000 volts. My bees and chickens are safe again. It's the only truly functional way to keep beehives safe from bears and keep bears safe from people. It's a commitment for sure to keep it maintained.

#homesteading #beekeeping #SmallFarm #CountryLiving

🥜😻 Not sure if he really could eat it, but Meme loves #peanuts.

These are home-grown, roasted, peeled (what the humans did tonight), and, after crushed, tomorrow they are going to be an ingredient of a regional dessert... 🤤

🇧🇷🇵🇹 Não temos certeza de que ele realmente poderia comer isto, mas Meme ama amendoim. Estes foram colhidos a menos de 50m da casa do Meme, torrados e descascados (o que os humanos fizeram hoje) e, após triturados, amanhã serão usados para fazer um tipo de paçoca, aqui chamada de "rapadura", mas que está muito longe de ser dura como a rapadura propriamente dita ou mesmo como pé-de-moleque. #OesteCatarinense #SantaCatarina #cozinha amendoim #AgriculturaFamiliar

#smallFarm #Brazilian #food #catsOfPixelfed #catsOfMastodon #tuxedoCats

An aluminum tray full of peeled roasted peanuts.

Uma forma de alumínio cheia de amendoim torrado sem pele.

A black and white cat closely seen from his side.

Um gato preto e branco visto bem de perto por um lado.

The black and white cat sitting on a human lap and looking to one side, to a table top where there are peanuts.

O gato preto e branco sentado em um colo humano e olhando para uma mesa ao lad

The arctic outflow is hitting hard tonight in my area. My hens have a small-ish safe-pen attached to their hen house that I built after the bob cat attack. It is completely enclosed with a roof. Yesterday we attached greenhouse plastic around the pen to stop the wind from blowing in through the cracks of the hen house and give them a safe place to peck around out of the wind during the day.
I'm so glad we did that as the winds are brutal tonight. The wind chill factor is almost 10 degrees colder than the actual temp. I don't know if the bees will survive but I've done what I can for them. As for the hens, I put extra straw in their house, and gave them some wheat this afternoon to peck in addition to their layer pellets.

They also have a heated water thing inside that gives off a tiny amount of heat. The hen house is big enough with ventilation along the eves so humidity is not a problem. But even with their fluffy coats, I would not want to be a chicken tonight.
❄️ ☃️ 🌨️ 🌬️
#Homesteading #SmallFarm #Prepping #ArcticOutflow #DamnItsCold

Climate crisis is a food crisis. As the local food growing weather shifts with climate change we are going to have to adapt along with it. That can mean finding new varieties to grow, new ways of keeping crops cooler, wetter, warmer or drier. We have to plan ahead for events that we are not sure about. We have to try to follow a path of logic without definites. We are being challenged to use our resources and tools in ways we never have before. Some ways that some of us might change what we are doing could be using greenhouses more and expanding them to all seasons which means finding ways to keep them cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Of course 4 season greenhouses already exist but they are prohibitively expensive for the backyard gardener. As of now, my greenhouse lengthens the seasons by one month in spring and one month in fall. Last year I successfully overwintered brassicas, spinach and a couple other things under the second tunnel. They didn't grow in the cold but they stayed alive and grew fast and early in the spring. This year, the rats got in there and ate everything. So I don't know. Constantly looking for ways to adapt.

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #FoodSecurity #Homesteading #gardening #SmallFarm

#SmallFarm

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