Jubilee Farm

Garden & chicken coop

I am off to Florida tomorrow. My mom is getting married and baby girl and I are flying to see her for that. We will be gone from Tues through Sunday. DH is staying home with the 4 boys. And they are so thrilled. It is going to be a farm vacation for them.

Today we went to Sears and bought a rototiller. Just decided if we got that, we don't have to spray round up in the garden. I wasn't liking the idea of spraying anything. Anyone know how you can classify your produce as "organic"??  I am thinking of going this route for selling our extra's but want to make sure to be doing it right. Well I had posted earlier I think that we have a 1000 sq ft garden. Welllll... that is incorrect. We have a 1000 sq yard garden which makes 9000 sq ft!!!!!!!!!!!  Um, can we say GIGANTIC.

Dh and the boys are planning to get some things planted while I am gone. Corn, potatoes, my tomatoes I started. Maybe strawberry plants if they get to it. I am so excited to have such a huge garden. We have never done anything this huge!! 

Dh got all the materials for the chicken coop today too, including the cement mixture for the floor. We are going with a plywood chicken coop basically. An 8 by 7 size square box with a slanted roof. We are going to be able to have 50 chicks in there, and that will give us time to possible add a second square box room to the first chicken coop. Many of the chickens will end up in the freezer. We haven't decided how many layers yet, but were thinking about 15. This size coop can hold 19 from what we read. We will have a very large yard for them to be in so that will be nice for them to stretch their legs.  I am excited to get our chicks ordered when I get home from vacation.

Everything is just coming together for our new farm life, and it is so wonderful.

The only problem so far is Ticks!!!  I really hate them. And we have been finding them. I had to remove one from each of the small kids. We are spraying deet like crazy, but I hate it. I really want a natural remedy. Something they can ingest, or wear that isn't so harmful to their little bodies. We need to repel the ticks and mosquitos. I am checking  into the possiblity of learning to make some homemade repellent with citronella. If you have any good websites let me know. This is all so new to me. Just thought of another thing to add to the garden. Garlic, I hear that is a good repellent too.

Have a blessed week, and hopefully I will have some pictures to share when I return :)

Melanie

Ticks

{ 10:36, 2006-Apr-17 } { Posted by spinninggrandma }

As far as I know, there is not much you can do, organically for ticks - I did write an article on the front porch about guinea fowl ... they eat ticks (shamless ad, here, to read my article!!) ... other than that, just look and look and look. Good baths or showers every day and check everwhere for the little monsters.

As far as gardening organically, I THINK that you have to apply (where? I don't know), then grow organically for several years and prove it to the powers-that-be, then also be so many yards or acres away from any famer or other gardener or neighbor that sprays. But if you claim organic in your advertising, you have to proof it and be licensed. I have a neigbhor farmer that had organic small grains. I might ask him, then post ...

Good luck with ticks.. they are nasty. If you find out what to do, please post another post!

Ticks

{ 10:52, 2006-Apr-17 } { Posted by smmagers }

Have you tried tea tree oil? It works to keep them away from you. I mix some with water in a sray bottle and spray it on us. Good luck , mj

Untitled Comment

{ 09:47, 2006-Apr-18 } { Posted by homesteadinthemaking }

My goodness that is a big garden. Ours is about 200 sq. ft. and it is almost more than we can keep up with. Have a safe trip!!!!
Blessings,
Trixi

Organic Certification

{ 03:45, 2006-May-2 } { Posted by MrsBurns }

Hey, I'm enjoying reading about your new treasures. My husband and I have done some research into organic certification and while to some degree it varies state-to-state, the general rule is that the small grower who wants to sell locally can market his products as "organically grown" until he sells $5,000.00 worth. After reaching the $5K mark, he can't use the organic label any longer if he doesn't have the certificate issued by USDA to back up the claim.

We're selling at our first market this summer (starts in about 5 weeks) and this is our tactic. I will probably clarify to my customers that we aren't official, but that we use sustainable methods and I will probably have available the fertilizers we've used this season to feed the soil.

All the best and if you have any more questions, feel free to visit my blog or zip me a comment or an email. I'm not an expert, and we have not applied for a certificate. I might be able to direct you to a website or something similar.