Everything Loves Our Produce
If it’s turned a bit gnarly and not safe for us to eat, no worries….the chickens will take it. Tomorrow there won’t even be rind left in that coop. It’s better not to attract deer and vermin with aromatic goodies plowed back into the compost situation, so the birds usually get first crack at it.
Growing food here has surprisingly been easier and more productive. All of the work we put into creating and building up organic beds now keeps us well fed. The wild blueberries outdid the first-year cultivated blueberries by a factor of at least ten. Watermelon picked today were each 30 and 40 lbs, and it is out of this world tasty as is the cantaloupe also taking over the banana bed. Collards, kale, tatsoi and other greens thrive in the new garden enclosures. We’ll have to freeze a good amount of the yardlong beans with this kind of yield.
The cactus that I put into the pasture ground are making arms and flowers, so they must be happy in the more fertile areas as well. We very much like the way this thing is going and are looking forward to expanding with hanging bag cultivation of mushrooms, finally getting some hardy avocado trees and getting as close to food self-sufficient as possible. The two ‘flying saucer” beds on the East pasture are future assets being fueled by yard waste and began with the first year of pasture restoration started in May 2019.
jvfreeman
James V. Freeman is an established visual artist (oil painting) with a deep interest in natural history, plants and farming. He has had numerous solo shows, a solo museum show, an upcoming museum show and his work has been featured in many publications to date. He currently has a studio in Williston, Fl at the family farm and homestead, "Cactus Island", and as a farmer, specializes in growing columnar cacti of the Caribbean and Gulf countries as well as the aquatic Madegascar Lace Plant. James and his mom Sharon manage and develop the permaculture homestead.
6 Comments
Suzanne Lindsey
What bounty! And the girls look happy with that watermelon. What’s up with the last two photos?
James V Freeman
Those are the next stage of expanding food production, from where future harvest photos may come. They are piles of weeds, rotting tree limbs and clusters of vines that are composting, and the sandy soil around them is good enough to grow things already so we put curved sticks around as a border for lettuce and melon.
Linda Bergman
The chickens look happy and well fed! You do have quite a harvest! I can see changes in the elevated compost beds from our visit. Thanks for the update.
James V Freeman
Noisy little dinosaurs. They already want more. Yes, we did pile a lot more on and now it would be good to put some green stuff and tarp over that to rot it down more.
Catherine M Nagel
Wow, what a nice harvest so far -your hard work has paid off!
I love seeing the progress you’re making. My dad was into large veggie gardens back when suburbanites were just starting to understand sustainable growing, etc…I also think it was his therapy after a hard day at the office.
He was also an early composter.
Can’t wait to see more of Cactus Island!
James V Freeman
Farming and gardening run strong in our genes. Always on the prowl for compostables.