fall projects

Eric's Project: Poultry schooner
Here's the base for the first schooner. It's going together fairly quickly and should be sturdy enough to move using the BCS. At just 20' long, this prototype will work nicely to house the current meat birds: turkeys and chickens. Another at 50' long will be built for the laying flock.

Paula's Project: Greenhouse
If you've ever visited the farm, you may remember seeing a hay shelter surrounding the hydrant near the hen house. We had to figure out a way to keep the hydrant from freezing in the winter. Now, after four seasons of weather, it's falling down and needs replaced. Harbor Freight's 10' x 12' greenhouse will work beautifully! Here's a time-lapse video from You Tube showing someone else putting up the same greenhouse.

Could not resist capturing this morning's gorgeous sunrise!

(click on any photo to enlarge)

green tomatoes galore!

fried green tomatoes Green Tomato Pie sweet green tomato ketchup Green Tomato Pasta Toss green tomato raspberry jam Baked Green Tomatoes green tomato relish Green Tomato Pickles green tomato mincemeat Green Tomato Cake fried green tomato lasagna

You get the idea. There's 101 ways to prepare green tomatoes. And if you want 'em, we've got 'em! Too bad the intense summer heat prevented much of a ripe harvest, but there's plenty to go around now! Allrecipes.com is packed with ideas. (If anyone braves the cake, let us know!)

With this year's harvest coming to a close, seeds for next year's garden have already been ordered. An internet search led us to Amishland Heirloom Seeds. She's got some amazing tomatoes!! Pink, red, white, purple, yellow, green. We'll start them indoors under the shop lights and see how they do. Heirlooms are great in that you can save the seeds and grow the exact same plant the following year. The trick, however, is leaving plenty of space between varieties to eliminate cross-pollination.

Eric's Endeavors ~
Spent the weekend freezing onions, peppers, and green beans. The outdoor garden is just about done for the year so we're trying to preserve as much as we can. Also, caught some pretty large crappie yesterday. I'll be down at the pond again tonight trying to stock the freezer with fish.

MHf organics

From time to time MHf is asked, "Are you organic?"
The answer is no.
And yes.

No in the sense that MHf is not certified organic (and has no plans to become labeled as such). But yes in the sense that MHf strives for healthy growing conditions which eventually thwart the need for time-consuming human intervention. A more detailed explanation has been added to the Products page of the website: MHf Organics.

Below the explanation we've added a quote from Eliot Coleman. He has quickly become our go-to source for efficient, effective market gardening. In his books he offers lessons learned through trial & error, tool redesign and keen observation. We are so appreciative that he chose to become an author!

Eric's Endeavors ~
It's about time to make out the list of seeds for next year's garden, fruit stands and how much meat to produce.

beans, beans, and more beans

Fall green beans.
Doesn't the color combination look nice?
Makes you want to pull out your cookbooks.
Last week's harvest in one setting: 2 1/2 5-gallon buckets!
And the bushes were still loaded!!
If you're not in the mood for green beans, could you be? :)

Eric's Endeavors ~

The cooler weather has really slowed down farm activity. Had to repair and replace a few cutting blades on the BCS sickle bar mower. Even had to buy several tools for that job. We spent the weekend getting ready for the Master Gardener event tonight.