Call it what you wish, it's still home...

Week 1 of the move is now complete and we have started work on the first planting bed for next season. An advantage of the fall move is plenty of prep time for the growing season. On the other hand its a full winter of busy work which may or may not become a Shining situation. We have no red rum in the house at the moment.

We have decided to name our planting locations based on different places we have been to, or would like to visit. So far we only have two,

1. Montego: Name significance: First place we ever met while on vacation. Farm Significance: the initial planting location for next years first crops. It's a 60 ft-ish by 80 ft-ish plot of land right on the front corner of our overall garden lot, closest to the house and the only spot without a forest of trees and stumps.  
2. Eden: Name significance: The place everyone would want to live. Farm Significance: the back 2.5ish or so acres of our property separated from the front section by a creek and some trees. Ultimately it will be where we plant an orchard of various fruit trees. Probably 2+ each of apples, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches etc etc. Anything we can get our hands on will be grown and tested there. Most likely also the beehive hangout...

 Why name them you may be wondering?

• A just for fun 
• B for easy reference when discussing any given location
• C in case one has to look for the other it would be an easy find 

After 1 hr with a shovel? really...?

Anyway, we will have a heck of a struggle trying to get Montego ready for food planting. As mentioned before we were happy that the previous owner ran a landscaping company. Now we're seeing a negative side effect of that, tons of debris and stones mixed into the soil. After an hour of plain shovel digging I found way too much garbage to be optimistic about the whole ordeal. So for the time being we are focusing on the garlic patch. We have about 180+ cloves consisting of 8 different strains and a handful of garlic bulbils as a test. The bulbils won't pay off for about 3 years but economically it much better than plain bulbs.

Semi Interesting Factoid: Bulbils are small garlic seeds that grow in the flower of a mature garlic scape. A scape can have 60 to 400 bulbils, the average garlic bulb has 6-8 cloves.    

 

Garlic slave at work

On to the planting. The old owners still have some items left here he has yet to clean up. We're being patient with them for various reasons. So after my hour long wrestling match with their garbage in Montego, I flagged down one of the workers he has cleaning up the mess. Following a quick chat, I picked a spot at the NW corner of the Montego plot and he drove his bobcat over and cleared me a 6 inch deep plot 5ft wide and about 15 ft long. Just enough space for the garlic patch. It's got full sun and it's enough out of the way I can prep the rest of the plot over the next couple weeks for next year. As you can see from the pic on the right, it's all a nightmare of weeds, but the potential is there. Main priority is getting the garlic in the ground and once I have the 3 yards of special soil dropped tomorrow, Sunday becomes planting day. And not a moment too soon. Good thing D got me the farmer overalls with leather knees...

Life Lesson # 104: Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Oh we get puppy tomorrow too... can't wait. Overheard a helpful clerk at the TSC Store saying for a puppy you need a ticking clock and hot water bottle in their bed to help with mommy separation. Got one for puppy and for myself. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Just a filler to try and do a blog per day...

It never ceases to amaze me the degree in which most people will go out of there way to help a virtual stranger when you are starting off in farming. It's like a brotherhood I never even knew existed but now that I do we are very appreciative. The value of books as a quick and in most ways substantiated form of information has it's value for sure, but the information super highway definitely lives up to its name. Any subject pertaining to a hobby farm has its own dedicated message board, and most likely one located either within Canada or even better Ontario. Even if it's just a general one it's still priceless in terms of information, its just a little less concrete.

Just within the last few weeks of researching a variety of Hobby Farm topics we have come across some valuable user generated information resources:

• www.backyardchickens.com  user generated information website/message board for raising chickens
• www.canadiangunnutz.com  user generated information website/message board for safe handling of firearms
• www.beesource.com  user generated information website/message board about beekeeping
• www.gardenweb.com user generated information website/message board about everything garden related. 

These are just some examples of useful sites of course. These sites in particular we have joined, tossed out a few questions here and there and the responses were quick, informative and first hand from someone we know was in our position not too long ago. Some have even gone out of there way to contact us outside the message board via email to offer advice for locations for good chicken/bee stocks or anything else we may be looking for. The time and money saved utilizing these type of sites are incalculable. Of course it has to be said to always use common sense before trusting anything anyone says right off the bat. We probably wouldn't meet someone in a dark alley while being lured with a candy or a baby chick, but in general everything has been nothing but positive.

Life Lesson #212: Success nowadays is 10% Inspiration, 50% Perspiration and 40% Nepotism.
  

Jack of all trades, master of some... (Pt.II)

The springtime will be 'off the hook' in terms of things going on, as it is for most who own a farm I'm sure. More so for us this year because it will be our first and we're setting up everything ASAP so we can hit the ground running. It may end up being too much and we'll implode buy at least it will be intriguing to watch. 

Another project I worked on in preparation for the Green Acres maneuver was to build a beehive. 

1. If we are growing fruits and veggies it would make sense for optimal pollination to have a few bees scurrying about. 
2. We want to do our part to help the ailing bee population thrive.
3. We love honey.  

After reading a few books on the subject it turns out trying the traditional 'Langstroth' hive may be the way to go when starting out. For those who are not sure, it's the stacked square box hives you usually see in pics and on the side of the road. Research points to them possibly being more susceptible to the C.C.D, Colony Collapse Disease we have been hearing so much about, but I guess for a beginner it's the way to go. 
Despite this information, my first attempt at building a beehive was the 'Top Bar' design, popular in some poorer countries around the world. There are pluses and minuses for both designs according to experts. If nothing else, the top bar designs look a lot better, however when we do start a hive in the spring, it will be in the 'Langstroth' for the first year. If the bees survive we may attempt to split the colony and use my 'Top Bar' as well. (I will post better pics in the future, it's in storage)

What's a farm without Liquid Gold?

2nd project was a Top Bar Beehive

A design made from:

Exterior of the Buzztropolis

•  Select Pine 1" x 10" x 8ft
•  Select Pine 2" x 4" x 8ft
•  Select Pine 1" x 3" x 8ft
•  3/4" good 1 side plywood
•  Metal Roofing
•  Plexiglass for a viewing window
•  Mesh for a open bottom (unseen)
  

We are planning to take a beginners course at a local Apiary (Bee  Place) in the springtime as well. That way we can get a little more hands on and perhaps even purchase some decent local bees. If you're planning to read any books on the subject of Bees, which I have done to more than a half dozen so far, a good starter,

Interior Shot to Show Frames

as cliche as it sounds, is Beekeeping for Dummies. http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/product/9780470430651-item.html?ref=google:sayt 
In fact, I have read a few of these 'Dummies' books pertaining to the Hobby Farm themes and as a solid starting overview, they are handy and easy to understand. In Ontario, you have to register your bees and open yourself up to inspection from Gov't officials. This is fine by us, why not have another person to pick their brain. Plus after a few emails the guy seemed nice enough. I'll let you know if they show up with a SWAT team...

Life Lesson #654: Anything you do in life should only benefit nature. There's another generation who needs to use it...

Now just have to make sure I don't buy any Africanized honey bees.
 

T-Minus 11 days until Shangri-La move in.