Our garden has been the biggest project this year by far. Even as we work into October we have been enjoying a few strawberries while harvesting herbs and veggies from the garden. The rabbits continue to eat plenty of kale but as the moisture levels increase we have been harvesting, dehydrating and storing herbs by the arm loads to beat the mold. (Thank you, Lord for the abundance!)
We have been using the herbs in a number of oils, enjoyed plenty of tea, made some supplement capsules, Lil Miss made herself some special hair oil, and we are planning more tincture combinations. Additionally, we are harvesting enough to add to animal feeds throughout the winter months.
We have also taken down our hoop house (mold city-my poor tomatoes!) and will be relegating it's use (in a dryer area of the property) to hay storage, while it's former home becomes the new berry patch. Raspberries and Marion berries will be filling in a substantial area, creating an edible garden hedge, while our expanding strawberry bed will be moving to their past location. We are so pleased that the strawberries have produced many runners for our expansion and Miss Judy, also needing to thin her plot, is generously passing more our way. What a blessing!
Additionally, we have been extending our hugelkultur to completely run the dry paddock and nearly connect with our first h.k. This will be the new home for our fruit trees and squash for next year - a beginning food forest! It will hopefully be a far better area for the trees to actually get enough sun to fruit! Certainly the abundance of mineral rich compost and continual moisture from rotten logs will add to the growth potential. We sincerely hope next year will be our best harvest yet!
We have been using the herbs in a number of oils, enjoyed plenty of tea, made some supplement capsules, Lil Miss made herself some special hair oil, and we are planning more tincture combinations. Additionally, we are harvesting enough to add to animal feeds throughout the winter months.
We have also taken down our hoop house (mold city-my poor tomatoes!) and will be relegating it's use (in a dryer area of the property) to hay storage, while it's former home becomes the new berry patch. Raspberries and Marion berries will be filling in a substantial area, creating an edible garden hedge, while our expanding strawberry bed will be moving to their past location. We are so pleased that the strawberries have produced many runners for our expansion and Miss Judy, also needing to thin her plot, is generously passing more our way. What a blessing!
Additionally, we have been extending our hugelkultur to completely run the dry paddock and nearly connect with our first h.k. This will be the new home for our fruit trees and squash for next year - a beginning food forest! It will hopefully be a far better area for the trees to actually get enough sun to fruit! Certainly the abundance of mineral rich compost and continual moisture from rotten logs will add to the growth potential. We sincerely hope next year will be our best harvest yet!
Hopefully this will give you a general idea for making your own hugelkultur beds! They are a superior sustainable approach and with the wacky weather, will make it much easier to ensure our berries have plenty of moisture during the trying months of summer. Those dead wood chunks act as sponges, slowly releasing minerals and water into the soil only the searching roots will find tucked underneath the soil.
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:11