What Do You Really Eat In A Year?

This has been a very confusing question for me-  I am doing a lot of guess work here.  We are trying to eat 90% of our meals at home, both for the health benefits and the tight budget .  I find it hard to feed a family of 5 on our current budget of $800 a month.  This includes everything, dry goods, toilet paper, etc....  With all of our kids in their teens now and two of the three being boys, the money never seems enough.  I am used to having our own eggs, meat, and vegies, but with our moving so late in the year we did not have a chance to grow our own anything.  We are waiting on our 20 hens to start laying eggs still.   I am motivated that in 2013 we will try and be more self sufficient with our food production.  In an effort to figure out how much seed to purchase and how many animals we need to have on hand I developed a list of what I THINK  we will need in 2013-2014.  Figuring that our growing season may not start until May 2013 our full year might be May 2013 to May 2014. 

So here is what I have come up with:

Meat-
100 chickens- with 1/2 being in parts and 1/2 in whole chickens
2 pigs- seems like we go through one every 6 months
1 cow- should last all year long
1 Lamb per year
15 turkeys- one for every month and a few extra to make into ground turkey

Herbs- Hannah will likely add to this list, but I want to have fresh or frozen herbs this coming year
Mint, Basil, Thyme, Lemon Balm, Rosemary, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Lavender, Oregeno,  Pyretheam
Sage, Stevia

Fruits- we will not have our own orchards yet- it will take them a few years to come into fruit so we will have to look around for orchards to pick from
Blueberries- 50-100 lbs frozen
Apples- 30+ lbs for applesauce, pies, butter and frozen  to add to dishes later
Peaches- 20+ lbs for jam making, and to freeze for later use
Plums- 15+ lbs for jam making and to freeze or dehydrate for later use.

Mushrooms-  I am hoping that Eric will take on the task of growing mushrooms for our family and maybe extra to take to markets in the summer
Button, oyster and shiitake

Vegies-  I plan on canning, freezing and storing most of the harvest while still eating what is in season
Beets-  50 jars with 10 beets per jar= 500 beets
Beans- 50lbs with 1/2 produced from bush beans and 1/2 produced from pole beans = 100 bean plants
Broccoli-  100 lbs with 2lbs per plant = 50 broccoli plants
Cabbage- eaten seasonally = 5-10 plants
Carrots- 100 lbs = 200-300 carrots
Cauliflower- 40 lbs = 20 cauliflower
Cucumbers- 25 jars of pickles= 10 plants
Eggplant- 20 lbs to freeze and eat at harvest time = 10 plants
Garlic- 100 bulbs a year- we use at least 2 a week
Kale- eaten seasonally = 5-10 plants
Lettuce- eaten seasonally I want to try and always have some planted
Melons- to eat seasonally and freeze for later use = 20 plants
Onions- 100 to 150 lbs = 200 to 300 planted
Peas-  100 lbs a year = 100 plants ??
Peppers- to eat seasonally = 5-10 plants
Potatoes-  200lbs  1/2 in sweet and 1/2 in regular
Pumpkins- 20-30 in several varieties- I bake and freeze most of my pumpkin
Spinach- 50-100 plants to eat seasonally and freeze for the rest
Summer Squash- 20 plants to freeze and eat seasonally
Swish Chard- One of my favorites- to eat seasonally 10 plants
Tomatoes-  This is a big one- We eat a lot of diced tomatoes.  500lbs of tomatoes = 100 plants  We need diced, stewed and sauce tomatoes
Watermelon- to eat seasonally 20-30 plants
Winter Squash-  Most of these hold well over winter in storage
Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti  10-20 plants each

Here is the real question- Can we really grow all of this food ourselves?  Of course there are things missing- I don't want to tackle grains yet, so you don't see corn, wheat, or oats YET.
It would be fun to have honey bees too, but that is in our future and only if one of the kiddos or husband wants to take that on.
I think we have maple trees on the property too, but that too is a few years out.  But a fun thought!!
So much to do before we can even contemplate getting our garden going or trees planted.  We keep pushing forward.
What do you think of our food plan?  Do you have one of your own? 

Homesteading for Reals

With our move to Kentucky, we have found that our regular supply of LOCAL food is non-existent.  No one grows through the winters here which makes me wonder why not?  Are folks really good at preserving their summer harvest, or are they so disconnected from their food that grocery store produce is "good enough"?  How can they not miss fresh broccoli, kale, beets, and carrots?  I long for Swiss Chard, in it's beautiful range of rainbow colors.  I can find it at my grocery, but it is wilted and from a far off place- Yuck! 
We have been considering how to plant our own garden this spring.  The only flat place to put our garden is in front of the house.  Where the trees are!  Most of them are in bad shape, from an ice storm several years ago that decimated many of the trees in the area.  So how do we get them out?

We could use a chainsaw and take them down to the stumps and garden around the stumps for now. This is the cheaper route and may work for a time.

Or

Picture Courtesy of Country Life Experiment

We could use a tractor and push them down. Probably the quickest way to go about it- but probably not cheap when you don't own a tractor (YET). 

I am thinking that we may have to cut trees down to a level to where, when we get a tractor, we can then push them over and get the roots out.
Or Maybe, I can use digging stumps out as a discipline for my kiddos when they get out of line.  Child Abuse??

There is a lot of work to be done before we can put in a garden.

*  Get the trees out- biggest step and the one I worry about most
*  Amend the soil with lots of compost, cow manure, chicken litter, and whatever else I can get my hands on to "bring on" the good soil.
*  Till in all the amendments
*  Plant cover crops to set and add more nutrients to the soil
*  Plan, Plan, Plan
*  Order Seeds
*  Make our rows
*  Plant
*  Water
*  Be Patient
*  Build a Root Cellar-  That is a whole other issue I have no idea how to do
I have already started thinking/planning out what we need to plant.  Thinking about how many vegetables we use in a year.  What are we going to can, freeze or store for use. 
We are faced with supplying our family with food for a whole year- there are no other options here in Kentucky for us. 
I will post our list tomorrow of what I think we will need to get through a full year of producing our own food. 
If we can produce that remains to be seen, but we are going to try.

The Things I Want to Remember

I want this blog to be about our family and our accomplishments.  My hope is that others can learn from our mistakes and successes, but even if no one reads this, I want to be able to look back and have a record/history of what our family has done. 
We are a family of 5, although most days it is just the kids and I that run the farm and household.  Hubby works for the Army and is often busy from sun up to sun down with those duties.  We get the most accomplished when he is home on the weekends and can lend his muscle to the jobs I cannot get done without him. 

We have been working on fencing our front two + or - acres, to afford our sheep and chickens with forages throughout the winter.  We had fenced before, but never with an eye on never having to do it again.  Making it last the next 50 years or so would be great.  We are stretching woven wire over t-posts with a new (not to us- we bought it at a garage sale) ratchet - pulley - come-along thingy.  I don't know what it's technical name is but it is wonderful.  We have been hooking it to the hitch of the truck, but it can also be hooked to posts. 
When we all five work on this it goes super fast.  We can fence about an acre a weekend- Is that fast?  I don't know, but it seems so for me.  An acre is 209 ft squared- I guess that is not bad.  Anyway- back to our jobs.  It is my job to decide where the fence is going to go, lay out the string for straight lines (which is a joke on hilly land), and give direction where to dig posts in.  Oldest son (18yo now) drives the t-posts and digs the corner posts in.  Hubby cements the posts in, carries and unrolls fencing.  I get the fun part of ratcheting the fencing tight- and straightening it - and ratcheting some more.  It is kind of exciting to see it all come together.  Meanwhile while I am tightening youngest son and daughter are working on getting fence ties in place.  Really a team work job ! 

So far all we have fenced is maybe 2 acres..... maybe!  We have a lot more to do!!  Ugh!

Attempting Again

So- It has been a long, long time since I posted.  I am going to attempt this again, even though I really question my grammar and writing skills.  I am going to try and not let those things get in my way.
Here we are at the end of 2012 and I have been a farmer for almost 3 years now.  I love it..... my heart craves it.... it is who I am.  Not sure how I would describe myself anymore without the word farmer in it.

 

We have moved to Kentucky now, after spending a few months in limbo between two homes. Husband had to leave Georgia and report to his new duty station in Kentucky at the beginning of July. The kids and I spent our summer in Minnesota at the family cabin and lake.

 

 

 

 

We are now at our home in Kentucky, and we have been busy working on pulling out carpets, replacing subfloors, painting and moving all our stuff into place.  Hard work, but we are hoping that this is our forever home now.  We have 50 acres here and it is almost completely land locked which we love.  Our animals will be behind the house, and nobody will hear or know that they are there.

  Our gardens and orchards will be in the front closer to the water supply.  It is such a difference for me to live on our farm- to be able to look out the window (albeit, dirty) and see our animals grazing.  To leave my window open at night to be able to hear the dogs barking and keeping predators at bay.

I will post more on specifics in the future- maybe not everyday, but more frequently than once every two years. 

Sorry I Have Been Away

I have been trying to decide what to do. I now have a website that I can blog on, and I have been trying to figure out whether to move the whole blog over to the website, or just start anew from here.
I think it is too confusing to have 2 blogs- Don't you?
So come on over to gingersnaphollowfarms.com to follow our farming journey.
I will start blogging their tomorrow! Tonight I am off to sleep!

My Antibiotic Soapbox

I just watched this CBS News report and thought you might be interested in seeing what big factory farms are doing...... and the risks involved in eating food that comes from these big corporations. You can see the video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/09/eveningnews/main6191530.shtml?tag=stack


One of my New Years Resolutions was to eat local meat- Meat that I knew the person growing and taking care of the animals. I want to know that what I am putting in my body is from antibiotic, steroid, and hormone free animals. We the consumer have been led to believe that the ONLY way to farm is to add to what nature provides. Big business has come in and convinced the farmers to add fertilizers, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals to our food system.
What did farmers do before the invention of these chemicals? They farmed in a way that was in harmony with nature. They planted in rotational beds. Perhaps one year in bed 1they grew corn but year 2 in bed 1 they would rotate and grow beans. This kept the pesky bugs confused as they had a hard time following where you moved their favorite vegetable. They rotational grazed their animals so that they had fresh grass to eat everyday. This cut down their need to feed them anything else but grass and hay. These animals were meant to eat grass- God didn't say Grass and Antibiotics, No he just gave them grass.
Our problem really lays in the fact that in order to make any money farming in this manner you have to produce large quantities of product. We as consumers want cheap food. Unfortunately cheap comes with a cost! The farmer cannot absorb the costs of losing half his crop to bugs and is forced to use a pesticide to keep them at bay. In order to make any money in raising hogs he needs to raise hundreds at a time in close quarters. Eventually one gets sick, and before you know it they all are sick and need medications. Because in most cases these animals are not out on fresh grasses all day, every day, but instead locked in small paddocks with way too many bodies to a stall. Not exposed to the freshest air and food. Why on earth would we think they would be healthy animals? Would we allow our children to be treated this way? Definitely not! Animals need the same things we do. Food, shelter, and to be treated with respect and love.
It is a shame that most conventional farmers are so far in debt trying to make a living and failing because they cannot compete with the big corporations that are now running a huge percentage of our countries farms today, that they are getting out of the business.
There is a better way! I am convinced of that! Eat locally- Eat food that you know where it comes from. Get to know your farmer and what he stands for. Visit the farm and see how he treats his animals. We must make time in our lives to do these things. It is for the welfare of our bodies and our children's bodies and the future of our planet.
Let me know what you think.

Things Are Coming Right Along

My dear husband finished putting up the shed last night. It is a cute 7x7 plastic model that we got on clearance from Home Depot. Now I need to build the brooder boxes and get them in there. Chicks will be arriving around the 17th of this month. I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

I am pasting a picture of what I think the boxes will look like- although this picture DOES NOT belong to me, I just wanted you to see what I am thinking about.

We will be making a shelving unit first and then making the boxes a separate piece so we can remove them and clean them out. I anticipate our boxes being 6.5ft x 4ft which will give us a little over 25 square feet. Supposedly you can fit 100 chicks in 25 square feet of space. Sounds small to me, but I am taking the experts opinions on this. So we will be building 2 units to begin with and then adding a third unit later on when we are ready to start turkeys. Gone are the days of the pool in the kitchen with little chicks in it.

I will miss having them so close by, but not the stink that they created. I am also moving to pine shavings, as I have read that these will decompose quicker and help with the smell issues.

I am having some issues finding farm insurance and it is starting to stress me out a bit. Part of my contract with Farmer D is that I have insurance on the property but also product liability too. I would have gotten both on my own, but now it is a necessity. Most companies say I do not have enough stuff for them to cover for what I want protection on. Let me clarify..... I do not want to insure a chicken house, a farm house, a tractor or any other big ticket item. I just want them to cover liability on 2 little acres and product liability. Big insurance companies want to cover the big things- but I don't have anything big. See my problem? I still have some companies looking into it for me- and I do have one bid, but it is high $$$.

I am off to plan my brooder boxes now- Hopefully I will have pictures of my boxes to you soon.