Our garden is filled with variety. We rarely only grow one variety of any crop and we usually allow the dandelions and clover to stay put so long as they're not overtaking our foods. The pollinators and rabbits love them and we do too.
We're living, learning, and loving right where we are.
Gardening
Here on the homeatead we practice no-till gardening and use a variety of styles when it comes to planting. We have some permaculture practices in place, have a few raised beds, a couple of containers, grow vertically, plant some things in rows and others a bit more haphazardly. The garden evolves each year and each interation brings a new revelation that we adopt as a standard practice. By refraining from tilling we allow the already established microbome to remain intact and when we layer on organic matter we're simply enriching an already diverse ecosystem.
We are primarily attempting to grow berries and fruits. Investing in plants that multiply and spread so we can propogate and increase our plants without any additonal purchases. It just so happens that our family absolutey loves berries so it's a win win.
Herbs make up another large portion of our garden efforts and you'll find them sprinkled throughout. Both medicinal and culinary uses are considered when choosing which herbs to grow. We also give them to our animals to help increase their health and give them more variety in their diets.
Materials and Practicals
This all sounds neat but what does it actually mean? First we start with a decomposable weed barrier. We ask around for large cardboard boxes and keep them dry until we're ready to layer on leaves, compost, and mulch. This newly layerd area can be used immedieatly however, we have found our first year plantings don't really turly thrive. This is our third year planting in our original two raised beds and we are really seeing the investemnt pay off. We cotinue to add leaves, compost, and mulch each year leading to a very rich, fertile planting medium. It's more resistant to drought, weeds easier, is trhiving with biodiversity.
Contact
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If you'd like to know more about what we're doing, what resources we use, want to support our work, or would like to schedule a class with us please, fill out this form and we'll be in touch!