Homesteading Challenge #7: I resolve to get bramble berries established!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who, having the option to embark on the homesteading life, immediately thinks of one million and one things to do, right?
Like....
I want a big vegetable garden (kind of a no-brainer!)
I want to have bees
I want to plant fruit trees
I want to grow a huge herb garden
I want to make all kinds of natural remedies and products with said herbs
I want to compost
I want to grow sunflowers and harvest my own bird seed
I want to have chickens
I want to homeschool our kids
I want to dig a root cellar
I want to can/preserve all our own produce
I want a horse
....and the one I’m tackling for sure this year: I want to plant berry bushes, so I can make my own jam and preserves.
When we had the incredible blessing of being able to buy this place, one of the first things I had to realize was that in order to make our lofty dreams a reality—and still have time to, you know, pay attention to my children and clean my house and such—I had to embrace the saying “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” 2017 was riding the learning curves of vegetable gardening, home canning, and chicken ownership. So my 2018 bite will be the berries. (And the sunflowers...and some more chickens...and...)
Why bramble berries? For starters, I have eaten a positively shameful quantity of Smuckers raspberry preserves in my lifetime, and it’s getting harder to find jam WITH the seeds (doesn’t anyone else prefer it that way?!), so I want to make it myself. Blackberries....mmm. Love them in smoothies, and our local coffee shop makes a killer fresh blackberry muffin that got me hooked on blackberries in baked goods. Second, I’ve poked around, and there doesn’t seem to be anybody around here growing a significant amount of them, but there also appears to be a decent market for them. I don’t intend to grow them on a large scale, but it would be nice to get extra cash from surplus. Third, there is already a major strawberry farm, two blueberry farms—and a third blueberry farm in startup phase literally on the property next to ours.
Hoping to turn this into a berry patch!
Last year we plowed this strip and planted corn in it. This is where I intend to plant my berries this year. Now I just need to
—review the how-to books my neighbor loaned to me
—determine which varieties to grow
—find a reputable source of bushes
—put down a weed barrier!
—figure out what sort of supports to build...and then build them
—and finally, get berries planted.
Basically, everything ;) The weed barrier is the only one semi-figured out at this point. Our blueberry farming neighbor is ordering a biodegradable kind, and offered to tack extra for us onto his order.
It’s kind of a small project, really, but it’s going to be a plenty big bite for me, when added to everything else that keeps me busy!
Awesome! I want to get some berry bushes on my homestead as well. You've been entered into the challenge, thank you!
Thank you so much!!
Thank you for participating in the most recent #homesteadingchallenge! This comment is to inform you that the winner and a few honorable mentions have just been announced! I hope to see you in future contests!
Great goal! We have yet to plant a good patch of blackberries and hope to soon... I like the thornless kind and so do my little ones! There is a great technique that we use for seriously keeping weeds down and starting a new growing area. I talk about it here if you're interested!
https://steemit.com/gardening/@schoonercreek/winter-garden-planning-for-success-the-time-is-now-how-to-gain-yields-with-this-easy-and-superior-method
Thank you for sharing this! It’s spot on! I’ve got a good start with all the dirty straw from the chicken coop, but obviously that’s not enough.
LOVE your list!
And I agree... blackberry preserves are my ALL-TIME favorite and it is harder and harder to find.
Good luck with your project!!
Thank you so much!