Trying to keep on top of things!

Apologies for my long absence. I have been spending so much of my time juggling the duties of being a PhD student, father, and now farmer.

Nevertheless, it is time to take a break and reflect. For one, I know the gardens need to be finished. I need to plant my beets and greens! I have already started celery, three different varieties of tomatoes, kale, broccoli, rosemary, strawberries, walla walla sweet onions, and the peppers are now germinating in their little starter flats.

The chicken coop is nearly completed. Just need to finish the roof to their run (gotta keep the eagles out!), and bolt their nesting boxes to the coop. So things are coming along nicely, just haven't had much time to sit back and write about all the things going on up here.

I will say this, the biggest stress is less about planting and upkeep, but ensuring that I have enough operating capital to last till we begin harvest. There is so much one needs to accumulate in tools and equipment just to complete your tasks. Plus, there are the legal and certification hoops one has to jump through before you can even begin selling your produce at the local markets.

But we are plugging away, refusing to be deterred. And overall, this adventure has been fun and continues to be fun, even if it still just the beginning.

Here chicky, chicky - Urban Ag and Chickens

So we are pushing forward and expanding beyond the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. We recently added some feathered friends to the mix out here on our small farm, six Rhode Island Reds. We are starting off small and looking to eventually expand and perhaps add a rooster to the mix. But even a small addition of meat and eggs is a big aspect of the whole self-sufficiency initiative here.





In addition to these cute little chicks, I'm still interested in pushing things to the next level, to include milk and cheese. Cows or goats would be a nice, but as we have found out, even raising chickens requires a lot of attention, patience and persistence. So for now, our hands are full, but I suspect we'll get the hang of it, and do more.