Corn is still out of the question for the moment. I love it too, but the ramifications and feeding needs it would have are too much for the land in 2010. I am hoping to expand the farm again over the winter with hopes of preparing land (1 acre) for heavy feeders in 2011. I missed the order date for sun chokes this year, but have plans of planting a small field of them for 2011 and beyond. Asparagus will be planted in early spring, but it is rare they produce fully for 3 years, so 2012 at the earliest. Strawberries will be planted in the spring as well. The future location of the strawberry patch is currently in spinach and will be followed up with clover in an effort to enrich the soil and minimize pests.
I have plans for a greater number of salad greens next season, as well as adding potatoes to the line up. There will be deer fencing going up over the winter, which should give us a better retention rate on the crops we grew this past year that ended up in bambi's belly. The deer fencing will also provide a few small pastures. It is very feasible to have a small herd of something next year. Any requests? The animals would be purchased at auction in the spring and raised through out the year on pasture and mineral supplements. I would not be administering any form of antibiotics or other drugs, simply rotating the herd often. There is a slaughter house in Fredricksburg that will kill and cut the animals for you. This would be a similar setup to the current CSA plans. You would need to come up with the initial purchase price as well as a small management fee and I would deliver the animal to the processor in the fall. There are multiple benefits to the farm to have pastured animals on it, such as land management, added nitrogen, and pest control. if anyone is interested feel free to start the discussion here. Goats, sheep, or pigs are the first three species that come to mind. The pastures will be too small for cattle.
I'm excited about next year already!!
ReplyDeleteHow about beans? Green beans, wax beans, beans that can be shelled (October beans, etc)...
You remember that Meg and I were talking about going in on a share of a cow this past year. We'd like to see about a pig.
If you do lamb, then you might have a real market with the Armenians. I'll ask tomorrow what the Bandazians would think about that.
Lamb is looking likely. I had a lot of exposure to sheep as a child and am familiar with hearding them on a small scale. Pig is a possibility
ReplyDeleteI was asking some folks at work about the lamb and goats, and there was some interest in the possibility of goats and using the milk to make cheese. The woman I was talking to said she could come out and show you how to do it, too.
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