Victory in the garden?

Recently I was questioned about the "return on investment" of our farm. "You are putting a good chunk of money into this garden and it is going to take a lot to get your money back on it and make a profit" was basically what this person was saying to me. That is not what this is about at all. We are putting money into this and doing it the way we want it so we can put good healthy, pesticide free food on our plates and into our bodies. This is about not getting into the car and driving (using fuel/polluting the air) to the store to buy some fruit/veggie that has already been on a truck or plane (using fuel/polluting the air.) This is about chickens that are loved and cared for and allowed to experience real sunlight and fresh air and to eat whatever they find in the yard and just be chickens.

Of course it would be great if this turned out to be a profit making farm but for right now it is about knowing exactly where your food came from and what went into to producing that food...LOVE! <3

Planting...

Farmer Jen and Farmer Nicole did a big chunk of the planting last night. Here on the left side the farthest bed is currently empty. The next bed has 2 varieties of tomatoes. The 3rd bed has watermelon, cantaloupe and 3 varieties of strawberries. And the closest bed is mainly herbs, thai basil, sweet basil, sage, thyme, orange mint and then a purple tomato.
On the right side the furthest bed is also empty. The 2nd bed has a bell pepper, pasilla pepper and a jalapeno. The 3rd bed is empty and the closest bed has our ultra dwarf apple and nectarine trees.
The empty beds and the one with the trees need to be topped off with soil and then some seed sowing needs to occur. Also, one of the beds will remain empty to make room for the chickens in their chicken tractor.

Holy $h!t....

So our load of soil arrived Saturday morning...I wish I would have taken more pictures but luckily Erin snapped a couple too.We were originally standing out in the driveway but once the soil started falling out of the truck and we pictured ourselves being buried alive, we went behind the fence :)
Here is what 11 cubic yards of soil looks like...
...and after many, MANY hot hours of HARD labor this is what 8 raised beds look like...
...we still need to top off a few of the beds but planting will commence tonight :D

Thank you Erin for your help in the AM and to Kim for donating her 13 hours!!!

It is April already?

Where has the time gone?

Things are picking up on the farm. Our delivery of dirt arrives tomorrow from one of our co-op members :) so we will be putting plants and seeds in the beds this weekend!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!