Late Afternoon, Early Spring

Spring has sprung, and things are waking up. It is amazing to watch the emergence of last year's plants. It never ceases to amaze me when a plant goes dormant in the soil and sits all winter, only to grow tender green shoots again in the spring.

In the picture above, we have black currants, comfrey, strawberries, and valerian (freshly divided into 8 plants, and very wilty).

Things inside the hoophouse are holding up well. This is Melissa, watering some little seedlings with a misting wand. We made a shelf out of bamboo, and have flats of leeks, greens, wildflowers and medicinal herbs.

Here, we planted leeks directly in the ground. So we have leeks in the ground, and leeks in flats. We're trying a few different things as we develop a little production system for leeks. I envision a couple truck loads of leeks in the future!

Above is a work party in April of 2008. We laid out pathways on contour of a gentle slope, dug paths along the contour, and built garden beds right on top of grass.

By the end of the work day, in April '08, we had pathways mulched with wood chips and garden beds made of cardboard and manure. This whole area was grass just a few hours earlier!

The same area, in March '09. The small retaining walls be built at the work party are holding up wonderfully. After a year of adding grass clippings and cover cropping with cowpeas, sunflowers, and a crop of cabbage, we are ready for another summer.
Right now, we have some happy garlic, comfrey, black currants, paw paws, mustard greens, radishes, and peas...and this is only the beginning!

Closeup of the peas, with a trellis ready to support their climb. On the left, we have comfrey planted as a border between the garden area and the grassy hill. Comfrey is one of our most useful plants. We use it with oils and beeswax to make salves for sunburns, wounds, and dry skin. The leaves are dried and used for teas that we drink as well as teas that we spray on gardens. It grows so well, we scythe it 3-4 times in the summer, and use the leaves to mulch the garden below. We try to allow some plants to always be flowering, though, because bees love the purple/blue blossoms.

The Farm: Building a Deer Fence

Just down the road from our hilly homestead, we've rented one acre of nice Elkhorn Creek bottomland from a friend and neighbor. I feel blessed to have access to such a beautiful, flat, and fertile piece of land. This picture shows the beginnings of a deer fence. We're using bamboo instead of buying stakes. There is a large bamboo grove on this farm which the farm owner is coppicing (cutting at ground level) each year.
What will we plant? Lots of cabbage for sauerkraut ("Geier Krauts, LLC"), grains to feed our chickens in the winter, and all the veggies we can plant, weed, water, and harvest.
In this picture, I'm (Brian) talking with Sellus, our newest city commisioner. Sellus is heavily involved in creating community gardens all over downtown Frankfort, and we like to consider our acre a large, country community garden. You can check out the commissioner's website to learn about what's going on in Frankfort, and where Frankfort is headed.

...close-up of a corner post. The farm owner loaned us these great poles to put at the corners of our fence. We'll attach some gates to these as well, so we can open them and drive a truck by the garden to haul in compost or haul out produce. Sellus is keeping his cool with the sunglasses, but he was really bummed that he forgot it was Sunday, and couldn't get beer for us on his way out. As long as we learn from our mistakes...

John and Nathan worked on tying 8 ft. poles to small, stout bamboo poles which we had pounded into the ground with a post driver. Later we'll attach a 7 ft. mesh deer fence.
John is nursing 70 or so strawberry plants at his house that he is going to transplant into this garden. With a small loan from his brother, he will get a taste of what its like to invest, plant, and produce. I hope this garden can be a way for a few of us to get our feet wet with farming that's a lifestyle AND a paying job.

I cannot promise that I will not eat ripe strawberries before John can pick, pack, and sell them. Who could resist?


Kierston and Mike's family came over to help for the day, and Liam had to test the water at the creek. Still a bit too cold for swimming, but it won't be long!