Homestead Update 8-31-2017
As the outer bands of what is left of Hurricane Harvey reach southern Kentucky our thoughts and prayers turn towards those who have been devastated by flooding to the south of us. It was incredible to see how people came and still are coming together. No race, no social status, no rich, no poor, just Americans helping Americans! It returns my belief that the average every day American who is a good and decent person will give all to their neighbors when it is needed.
With that said I would encourage everyone to give something to those who have lost everything, even if it is just a dollar, give something.
Now we are expecting three days of rain and so far, it has been nothing but a heavy rain shower that lasted for about 6 hours, more coming later. Depending on who you listen to, we are expecting anywhere from 2” to 10” which is pretty much a non-event for us, folks who live in lower area may see some flooding, we shall see.
On the homestead we are pretty much done with summer gardening, the squash and zucchini have died out, the tomatoes are hanging on, but all the rain we have gotten will be tough on them, we are not expecting much.Basil is growing like there is no tomorrow, it’s time to put up some pesto!
We have started out planting our fall / winter garden. Radish, Carrots, Broccoli, brussel sprouts, Winter Squash and cabbage are all started in the green house. We will also plant one more round of lettuce and kale.
Speaking of the green house we had a big cold front come through last week which sparked some strong storms with high winds, unfortunately we sustained some damage to the green house, not too bad and is certainly reparable.
Just something to add to the list, the list that keeps growing!
Our chickens had an exciting week, we merged our flocks. The 16-week old’s finally made it outside to the pasture. I have a post on that if you want to learn more about the excitement! Check it out here:https://steemit.com/homestead/@svfarms/merging-our-chicken-flockWe now have 53 chickens in one flock our on pasture, they are loving it and actually getting along pretty good, much better than I thought they would. Here is an updated video:
In the coming weeks, we will be getting some meat birds in and getting a new chicken tractor built for them. I think we will be going with a Cornish Cross, raised on pasture they should be full grown in about 60 to 70 days and ready for butchering just before the cold weather kicks in. We need to get the freezer full of chicken for the winter!With all this rainy weather, I thought I would end with some photos of some the flowers that are showing off their colors right now!
And last but not least we go some food preservation done! We made probably 3 years worth of ketchup and some hot pepper mix.
And Beans, Beans, Beans....
Well folks that’s all for now, we will keep you updated and please leave us a comment and let us know how we are doing, always love the feedback and hearing about your experiences!
Will see y’all, have a great day!
Bob & Colleen Browning
Serenity Valley Farms
Monticello, KY
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Hello svfarms, nice post thank you for shearing ;)
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Agree, that sounds great, thanks for the help!
Hi again, @svfarms You are very welcome. And we thank you very much.
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PostHuntress, @the-curator
Great photos, wish I lived close to you as I would be happy to take some of those beans & tomatoes off your hands...
Next time you are in Southern KY stop on in!
Than you! Nice post. My sympathy and moral support to those in distress under Harvey. I followed the map from my country, that looked frightened to me, we don't have hurricanes here. I pray that they will get all the help they need!
By the way, I love to have your recipes for all the preserves, hot peppers, chutney etc. I am an amateur cook!
Amazing progress on your farm. Would love to buy some of your green beans and other things too.
Cheers.
Thanks for the kind words. The folls down south need all the help they can get! I have posted a few recipes more to come!
Interesting post. Beautiful flowers.
Thanks!
Beautiful post, and homestead!
We are hoping to errect a greenhouse next year, and are trying to figure out whether or not to have a glass one. Would you reccomend plastic or glass?
Our is currently a wood frame with a plastic sheeting cover. I went cheap and now not even one year later I need to replace some of the plastic after a windy thunderstorm. We will eventually upgrade to a glass type greenhouse. Northern tool has some pretty good ones at a reasonable price. I have talked with folks that have one and they like it, well built. The only complaint I have heard is that they are hard to keep cool in the summer, but I think that is easily fixable. Let us know what you decide to do I would be very interested in how it turns out. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the info! Its hard when you just go online. There are people who swear by both of them! i.e: "The plastic doesn't break. Its much more durable than glass." and vice versa.
Thanks for your honest answer, and I will for sure let you know how it goes!
Oh, one more question:
We are thinking about raising some heritage birds for meat. I noticed in your pics, that they are in an uncovered fence, temporary fence. We've had problems trying to keep our layers contained in one area without flying over/crawling under the fence. How do you keep them there? Just clip their wings?
We use a mobile coop with a "Premier One" Fence system. We also clip on of the wing on each bird so they cannot fly away. Our fenced in area is 80' X 80' and we move the flock weekly behind our cattle to help with fly control and to get them into new bugs. Having them on pasture reduces the amount of feed we need to give and makes for healthier birds. I am assuming you have hawks like we do and they can be a problem. To curb that we try to attract crows to live in our woods, hawks and crows don't get along, the crows keep the hawks out. We had a guy bring an electronic caller over and they have not left, not sure of any other way to attract them, but we are sure happy to have them.
Get your self a big rooster and one that is semi aggressive, he will keep the hens from picking on each other and he will protect them from predators. ( I have a short post coming out soon on a hawk attack and how it turned out). The last thing I would say is don't put you hens out to pasture until they are 14 to 16 weeks old. Before that they are just to small and are easy prey for all sorts of animals. Good Luck! Let us know if we can be of any more help....
Thank you so much! We will definitely be using this info. It's been ridiculously hard to find out what to do with them! We have quite a few crows around our property already, not sure why, but I didn't know that crows and hawks don't get along! I will tell my siblings about this, and hopefully we can put it into practice!