Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How will my garden grow? I don't know!

Right now we are reading a book called "All new Square Foot Gardening"

I purchased this book here

and we're liking the idea of growing more in less space and planting in a way that everything doesn't come up at the same time (stuff that you can't really freeze or can like lettuce and radishes). Think of it, if you plant a whole row of salad...they will all be ready to harvest at around the same time. Why not plant in intervals so you can have them be ready for harvest week after week, not all at once. This way you won't be wasting your time or resources. Mel also talks about just putting in raised beds with a good mixture of top soil and compost. Guarantees good soil right away. What a concept, right?

So now that we kinda know how we want to plant, the next question would be where? Between the house and the driveway, on the West side. so it gets good sun all day? There is a water spout right there and it would be close. But would the fumes from the driveway be damaging?

OR should we put it in the back? There are two concrete pads on the other side of the ditch (which is no longer there) and we're thinking, somewhere down the line, that we could build a green house on the pad closest to the house.There is a water spout there too and there might even be electricity there from the building that burned down last February (2011) But would the trees give too much shade to that area?

The next question would be: Is that a better space to plant some fruit trees? There are a couple of apricot trees on the property, but I would like to have a couple of apple, cherry, pear and plum trees too.

Where should we plant the raspberry bushes?
Where should we put the Chickens?
Am I getting ahead of myself?

Aloha Hui Hou!

How now brown cow

Roger is always teasing me, that considering how much milk I drink it might be worth while to get a cow. I tell him that as long as he takes care of it, he's welcome to it.

Now that we have the Ranch and I've had some time to think about it, it might not be a bad idea after all. Not only would we have a steady supply of milk, I could make my own cottage cheese, regular cheese, butter, sour cream....so many things I could make and bake and reach our goal of being somewhat self sufficient.

I've ordered a few books on making cheese and it's really interesting. Theses are the books I've chosen to start with:

Idiot's Guide - You knew that was coming, didn't you?

 

Now I can hardly wait!

On a side note, I LOVE stinky cheese. Naturally I didn't find a recipe in my books so I went hunting online. Poor, Poor Roger, not only will he have to care for the cow, he is going to have to put up with the stench of an endless supply of stinky cheese.

Aloha Hui Hou!