A few things done

We have had an out of town guest here this last week so my routine has been a bit different. So, for an update here are a few things I have marked off my to-do list:

I have found a guinea hog boar "husband" for my sow. I will be picking him up in Arkansas at the end of May or early June. You can see the farm that I am buying him from at the link Rudugast's ideal Livestock.
The boar we are purchasing is a boar out of Skyfire Oreo and by Skyfire Sargent Pepper. Both our boar and sow will be "shared" with our neighbors to do tilling, compost turning and in the fall cleaning up under the nut and fruit trees. Of course they will also "help" us by having piglets. Think Hawaii here (unless your a vegetarian then just think Cute).
By the way--- I may have some piglets for sale in the fall for anyone interested.

I have a platform set up to raise my 250 gallon water container up off the ground. It is a mini deck like structure and it is under the chicken roof and though I would like to use it for watering the garden, I have such a large garden that when a drought occurs 250 gallons is just a drop in the bucket. (It can be used for emergency water for us though--along with our Big Berkey if we really needed it.) Instead, I think we will set it up as an automatic gravity fed watering station for the chickens and any sheep that are penned in there---or who have access through the neighboring pasture. That way we can travel a bit more during this summer without worrying about who will water the sheep, chickens, etc. Always an issue in this day and age of small farming.

I have tomato plants ready to plant out. Some of the seed was sent to me from a fellow blogger and then I also have the tomato "accordion" that I really enjoyed last year and did well in the drought. I also have more asparagus seeds sprouted for me and some friends. I am working towards another 40 foot row of asparagus so we can have a large harvest each year. The plants that I grew from seed last year are very tall now and seem to be doing well. Last year they never got taller than a foot---this year they are all at least 5 feet tall.
In addition, basil will also go out soon---in about another week. Their still rather small.

A 40 foot row of sweet potatoes went in on two very rainy days---only to get sun burnt on the first sunny day. So they are now under some burlap shade and looking a bit better. Hopefully they will make it since they are the two purple varieties of sweet potato I purchased. The rest of my sweet potato slips (about another 40 foot row) come at the end of May from Sandhill Preservation.

I got a 40' bed of raspberries planted ---but not mulched yet. Hopefully I will finish that by tomorrow. I am using old bedding from the ram/chicken pen so it should be full of good stuff for the berry plants. All my berries came from Nourse farms and look really nice. I even got a few extra--which I shared with my neighbor.
I have the yellow "anne", black "bristol" and two reds: "carolyn" and "taylor". By next year we should be snacking on berries and in a few more making jams and jellies hopefully. We had raspberries at our previous residence--but of course we didn't bring them with us.

My perennial oxalis bulbs/corms (aka OKA or OCA) came today and I will take pics of them to show what they look like before I plant them tomorrow. They are part of my expanded perennial beds that I am adding and posting about last post. Of course I only was able to get a few corms of these--they are rather expensive. We will see how they grow and taste and maybe in the not to distant future I will have my own to sell or trade with others.

Lastly---my lambs are growing like weeds this year. The grass is green and growing---unlike last year when it stayed short and stumpy. I will have to put up some new pictures soon. This batch of lambs has been very fun as most all are about the same size. They are like one huge school of "fish" swimming around the pastures, ignoring their mothers and overall trying to get into trouble. Baaaaad lambs! ;-D

Have a great weekend everyone!

Asparagus Update

For the first time ever--I have raised asparagus from seeds. Here is a picture of them under the grow lights. I have long commercial fixtures with a cool bulb on one side and a warm bulb on the other---I rotate the plant boxes everyday so they get equal amounts of both sides. For these seeds I used the little pre done seed blocks. I do have a soil blocker for seeds and love it---well worth the money spent on it if you sprout a lot of seeds.
As you know from a previous post I ordered my seeds back on November 16th from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
If I remember correctly I had them within a week and planted them a week or so later. Here are a few things I learned along the way about asparagus seeds.
1. Soak them for up to two days to soften the seed coat. I didn't do this since I read it after I planted my seeds---but I will try it next time since I still have many left to plant.
2. Make sure you plant the seed about 1/2 inch deep. I know it seems too deep since the seeds aren't that big --but they will "pop" their selves right out of the soil if you don't. I had two I didn't get deep enough and had to gently replant them.
3. It takes from 5 to 14 days average for sprouting and don't forget to use some sort of bottom heat---which will make sprouting quicker. We set ours on the stone over one of the radiators in our living room and it worked well. I have used heating pads before and they work well too--just keep them on low.
4. I also draped a towel over the mini greenhouse to facilitate darkness.
Good luck if you try growing your own!

Asparagus Seeds

Today I bought the seeds to start my asparagus bed. I know most people buy crowns but I was determined to try a variety that is not so commonly grown anymore--something different. We have had asparagus beds at previous houses, but for some reason haven't started one since we lived here. Probably because of all the other things we have been doing but that is another post. Since I recently decided that next year I would like to try and produce all the vegetables and much of the fruit we eat, it was time to get serious about the asparagus. It takes 3 years to really be able to start harvesting asparagus spears from the crowns---though you can take a very light harvest in the second year depending on how well they have done. That basically means that I won't be harvesting this asparagus bed until the spring after there is a new President. Ack--so long.
I really like open pollinated and heirloom varieties of seeds so I set out on a search to see what types of heirloom asparagus I could find. Not many I found out. Most that are listed in old journals and plant lists seem to be long gone now, or else they are just very very hard to find. There were a number I would have liked to try but finally settled on the french heirloom variety --Precoce d'Argenteuil -- both because it interested me AND because it was one of the few I could find seeds of. I ordered the seeds from Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds (link in post) and now will wait impatiently for them to get here. I am excited to start them from seed since I have always purchased crowns previously. They say it is very easy to start asparagus from seed---no 6 month sprout rate or anything like that---which is nice to know since some things can be notoriously difficult to grow from seed. I am not the best seed sprouter so that is a factor I consider when deciding what new things to try. (I have never yet gotten any Agapanthus seeds to sprout for me)
Precoce d'Argenteuil is still widely grown in France as a variety suited for blanching before it is picked. The French supposedly favor a blanched (covered while it grows so that it stays white) asparagus. I personally have never had white asparagus which supposedly has a different/milder flavor than regular grown ie: green asparagus. Some like it and some don't--however it is obviously I will have to wait about....ummm... 3 years to find out.
The discussion of color leads me to the second variety I will purchase and grow---this time as two year old crowns--"Purple Passion". I love fruits/vegetables that are a different color than they are "suppose" to be. People now seem to be more aware of the fact that vegetables don't always come in standard colors-- but it is fun to surprise people periodically with a reddish purple broccoli or purple asparagus or even a red carrot. I really look forward to harvesting both varieties. At least this one will be ready sooner than the other :-) One last variety that I might try eventually---another heirloom variety--is Conover's Colossal Asparagus sold by Bountiful Gardens. Though I would imagine by the time my original two varieties get going-- I will have plenty of asparagus to eat fresh, can, give away and hopefully sell.
One other great thing about asparagus---it looks beautiful during the summer time. I love looking at it since it is so exotic---almost like some Caribbean plant came to vacation in my yard.

Rareseeds.com --- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Bountifulgardens.org -- Bountiful Gardens