We have ten acres but most of it is in hardwood timber and ridges and gullies....Only a couple of acres worth “farming”. I buy wheat out of the field (and also the bails of straw) We have some of the best truck farmers in the country within mile or two of house.
Have a small orchard and raised bed for gardens. Have been trying out lasagna gardening and gardening by the square foot. We buy chicken,pork and beef when it’s on sale or from local farmers (can’t eat what we name and we name anything we grow). Would love to have fowl, but too many cyotees and other vermits.
If you are interested in growing you own peas have a method passed to my sis by an amish lady...... Keep a large wash pan or water trough filled with dirt and compost in a building so it doesn’t freeze/warmed. On first of Feb. sprinkle pea seed in a long, 12+inch wide 1” deep area of garden. (Even on top of the snow) Cover with warmed dirt in building.....Mine are a couple of feet tall with peas forming now.
Am trying my luck at kidney beans this year. letting them dry on the bush ala grandma. (Dad is 89 hope he remembers correctly)
Have you ever grown sweet potatoes in a barrel?
When a child mom and dad fed us off of their five acres....Cows, pigs, sheep, goats, duck, geese, chickens, horses and lots of work to keep us out of trouble. That’s when I learned not to name something I was planning on eating.
Now raising just for dad, son and self.
>>>If you are interested in growing you own peas have a method passed to my sis by an amish lady<<<
I do grow some, but only for the pods... I get about 150 pounds of shelled peas from neighbor - besides, he likes me to ride on the side of the viner for an hour or so while we chat while he keeps picking... We both look forward to the time to cuss and discuss world affairs, and to reminisce. Besides, shelling that many peas with my arthritis - not likely. For about $35 - it is worth it. He always tries to give them to me, and I always refuse - sort of a ritual.
I divvy them up with my two daughters and families and wife’s aunt and uncle who are in their 90’s - can about 6 cases for us. Same with the lima beans too.
>>>Have you ever grown sweet potatoes in a barrel?<<<
Now that’s a new one on me... Have not tried it. Any special instructions? I am having a hard time finding sweet potato slips this year.
>>>Am trying my luck at kidney beans this year. letting them dry on the bush <<<
Every time I try that, it turns really wet in the fall and I lose them. Only way I have been able to raise them is to pull them roots and all, tie and hang them in the shed or barn, then shell them when they are dry.
“That’s when I learned not to name something I was planning on eating.”
LOL! That reminds me of one of our favorite “family stories”: My two young (then) sons, sitting at the dinner table with *city* company, calmly discussing whether they were eating “Red” or “Spotty”. ;)
Since it was instilled in them that “dogs and cats are pets (albiet “working pets”); everything else ends up on the table”, they thought nothing of it. The looks on our guests faces? “Priceless”. ;)