Mud has been relentless on my pigs and chickens. Couldn't take it anymore so I put 2 bales of straw down in chicken pen.
Don't plan on moving them again as they are just a little over a week away from the freezer.
Garden is doing fantastic and we been harvesting lettuce, kale, radishes, spinach and herbs daily as needed.
By time I get back from vacation I'm expecting peppers , cabbage and some garlic.
Time is getting busy again.

Thought a home made Local grown strawberry pie would be great right about now,BUT the relenless rain destroyed the local crop,called two local growers and same answer...NO STRAWBERRIES!!!!
The super market berries just don't turn me on.

Strawberry or vine berries ? My vine black and re haven't started yet. Strawberry bout done.
Garlic getting harvested this week.
Here is a test one last week. Its pretty stout

That is incredible HT... your labor is finally yielding its just returns! Enjoy!!!

Happy independence day folks. It was a great day to complete projects and play in the pool in between.
All my chickens are in the freezer. Went very well. Getting a bit concerned about space with lots more meat to come starting September
All my garlic is laid out to dry, also went well.
Much sage is dehydrating now.
Probably pick peppers tomorrow.
Life is good and only getting better.
Lukas Nelson and POTR on 24 in middletown ny.
Pretty sure the daisy will be trolling the great lakes adventure soon

Happy independence day folks.

Pigs are happy now after the deluge of rain.
Going to pick blueberries to fill freezer tomorrow

Blueberries and cherries picking was awesome. I shouldn't have stopped and will probably hit them up again tomorrow .
We will make jam , breads and vacuum seal freeze in packets for future.

No natural gas access. Permanent propane/ total generator system to expensive for myself . Summers are my only worries and portables will keep the freezers running.
Winter's we lose power more frequently but wood heats my house and freezing temperatures will sustain coolers

All my garlic has been cured , processed and put in mesh bags for storage. Should last near 8 months.
The 5 most bulbs from each variety is set aside for replant. The rest is going quickly to family and friends.
This fall I'm definitely doing 3 times amount with 150 for sale.
We are also going to sell off 1 processed pig and about 30 chickens. We will have egg chickens as well. I have prospects on homemade canned goods.
Will have no problems with recouping my investments and the way I look at things is that we will be feeding our families for no cost.
Labor is just a thing of love.
Farming and gardening soothe my soul.
Life is good

Thanks. It's not so much how much space but maximizing what you have. There are all kinds of things you can build and or get for free .I get free wooden crates from work and build boxes from rough cut lumber for cheap. Lowe's is giving away flats and containers daily for free.
The downside is watering. Now I need to water daily from rain barrels ( which are pretty dry ) with a water can. I have a dozen so far and they were free.
Mulch and straw help a LOT in retaining the water.
Really need to get the barrels set up on an auto soaked system. My livestock is and it's the best time spent with little cost.

Well the water is boiling so it's time to start canning more peaches

Something is going on with this batch of chicks we just got. My son had 9 die and I had 2 so far . All since Thursday.
We got a batch of 60.

We contacted the hatchery. It was a mistake by me. My son texted me about his loss and instead of hitting zero, he fat fingered 9 instead. So actually we only lost my 2. The hatchery credited us for 2.
Sorry for the confusion.
Chicks seem pretty happy right now

A few things to comment about my garden and farm.
Kinda proud to say that every plant has been start from seed. No buying anything but seeds on vegetables. Only exception was using garlic bulbs or purchased trees and berry vines.I've started my garden as far back as last October with garlic, vegetable plants indoors in February. It has been very time consuming. Without the use of a greenhouse, I'm not so sure its conducive vs buying plant flats in May. Now there is no way I'd buy a box store plant but our local farms produce some very good plants at a reasonable price of less than $5.00 for a flat of 6 plants. They grow things on a much larger scale than I could in my limited space from seed. It's got me scratching my head.

Secondly. My livestock.
Learning a lesson about chickens. Not liking having chicks right now. As fisherlady eluded to, heat and humidity. Flies suck and chickens don't seem do be liking the humidity. They are 6 days old now and I can't wait to get them out of the brooding pen.
Pigs:
This year's batch of 3 are far more advanced than last year. Right now they are pretty much on a straight corn and vegetable diet.
I've contacted the butcher and the D- day is set for the last 2 weeks of August. They are in the 230 lb range right now.
I'm about as ready to see them in my freezer.

Given all that said. We ate the last of pork ribs last night and a sausage, cabbage, carrot, zucchini, cauliflower stir fry tonight. There is no more pork left here.
Its getting dark out sooner than my time is allowing now .
Tonight I canned bread and butter pickle, tomorrow zucchini, next beans , cauliflower and peppers. Next week starts the great tomato sauce project.

You guys make me tired just reading about your efforts. But I’m also jealous.

On my only farming front is fruit trees I planted a year after we built the house. I’ve lost a few apple trees (some my fault, some got drowned last year in all that rain, and some who the heck knows) and a peach tree.

The others are now 2 and 3 years old. We got a few apples last year, like a dozen, and a redhaven peach gave us enough fruit for a cobbler.

This year, each of the remaining 7 apple trees has about a dozen apples. Two of the peach trees have 12-20 peaches each on them. But the redhaven is loaded. My wife picked 45 peaches yesterday and there are 2X more still on the tree.

All the fruit is small, probably due to the 3 year old age of the trees, and a lot of the peaches have holes where sugar is leaking out (bugs?).

But it is a start.

Its harvest time. A good 10 lbs of tomatoes ready for sauce. Now the work begins.