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Just a quick note to thank you for accepting me into your community. :)
I live out on ten acres near Placerville, California. Every year, I try to plant a few new fruit trees, so I have a couple of dozen now, of various varieties. I am currently enjoying the fruits of my pluot and plum trees, and anticipating having some fresh pears soon!
I have chickens, donkeys, and goats, as well as dogs, birds, bunnies, and a feral cat who adopted me some years ago.
I look forward to getting to know you all and to hopefully contribute to some conversations!
DH
aka Mad Hen
fidgiegirl
7-21-13, 9:55pm
Sounds perfectly lovely, Mad Hen! Welcome aboard!
What is an area of simplicity that is intriguing to you at this time, maybe it's still the farming type activities you've been doing or maybe it's something new? Tell us about it!
Welcome. I'd love to hear more about your farm. Did you always live more rurally or is this something you started later in life? I'm fascinated by self-sufficiency, whether slight or complete.
Thank you.
i grew up in a very rural area, and spent my childhood learning to appreciate the taste of food when it was in season. Even now, I tend to eat most fruits/veg when they are fresh, and don't much enjoy peaches in the middle of March! :)
I moved to the city in my 20's and became an urban dweller for about fifteen years. There are things I LOVE about living in a metropolitan area, but my roots are in the country, so when the time came to move, I went looking for land.
i am in the process of putting in more fruit and nut trees, with the idea that it would be fun to have SOMETHING in season most of the year. I have a number of citrus trees in already, but I want to add more summer producers. i also want to expand my garden, to allow me to put more produce up, either by canning or dehydrating it. (Got my certification as a Master Food Preserver some years back but it feels like cheating when I have to buy my produce at the grocery store!). When I retire, in about six years, I also really, really want to try an apiary!
Welcome, Mad_Hen! It sounds like you'll have lots to talk about here!
Gardenarian
7-22-13, 4:33pm
Hi Mad Hen, and welcome!
What's the story behind your name?
Gardenarian, for the answer to that, I will cut and paste the answer I gave in another forum when I was explaining the photo in my avatar:
Mine is of Greta, the original "mad hen." She is a black-tailed white Japanese bantam, and she was one of the first chickens I hatched here at the ranch. She was bold and brassy, and she ran the flock, even though she was about 1/3 the size of the rest of the chickens. She was the only chicken who refused to go in the coop at night. While the others complacently followed each other in, she would fly up into the pine trees and roost there, looking down at me defiantly if I tried to coax her to safety.
Greta was the inspiration for my on-line business. She was the inspiration for my avatar, because I like the idea of this single individual, eschewing what was safe and proper, and doing her own thing, despite the risks.
Greta was taken from me when a pair of nesting Cooper's Hawks started picking off all my bantams. The rest of the chickens stayed close to the coop, but Greta refused to follow the rules. She would stray out into the pasture, out in the open, and pick up all the good stuff everyone else was afraid to go for. She was the last bantam, and I saw her being killed as I drove in from work one evening. I got to her, but too late, and I buried her up on the hill near my house, so she can still oversee "her" flock.
The pic is of Greta guarding her clutch of eggs. She would fluff up to about four times her normal size and just eyeball me with a stare that said, "Just try it buddy, and we'll see how many fingers you draw back."
Greta holds a special place in my heart, and I try to live my life in a way that she would approve of.
Tussiemussies
7-22-13, 8:39pm
Hi Mad-Hen, your garden is inspiring. Always wanted to try to grow fruit trees but was intimidated! Look forward to chatting with you!
Thanks, Tussiemussies. :) Having a drip line on a timer makes all the difference. I just have to remember to prune them once in a while.
Tussiemussies
7-22-13, 8:43pm
Thanks, Tussiemussies. :) Having a drip line on a timer makes all the difference. I just have to remember to prune them once in a while.
We just moved and there is no room to try and grow them. It is a shame I never did get to try it. The fruit must taste so good!
Do you plant a vegetable garden also?
Yes, I do a seasonal vegetable garden and I also have a permanent asparagus bed in. I just harvested about five pounds of garlic and preserved it over the weekend. :)
Tussiemussies
7-22-13, 8:48pm
Yes, I do a seasonal vegetable garden and I also have a permanent asparagus bed in. I just harvested about five pounds of garlic and preserved it over the weekend. :)
Wow, that sounds great. Have never tasted home grown garlic. I like to do a seasonal vegetable garden too...
Welcome! I look forward to gardening discussions.
I live in MN and have a series of raised beds for veggies that are on drip, as well as various fruit trees and bushes that get enough water from rain alone, once established.
Garlic is fun because you just plant it and forget it. :) Then, when the stalks get all dry and brown, you give it a yank, and voila!! A whole new head of garlic where only a clove existed before! :) I love garlic because it is self-perpetuating. When I harvest a bulb, I just reserve a few of the cloves and plant them, and the yield continues.
Hi Rosemary, yes, I would go crazy without drip lines. :)
Gardenarian
7-23-13, 11:12am
Great story, Mad Hen! Inspiration is where we look for it!
Garlic is fun because you just plant it and forget it. :) Then, when the stalks get all dry and brown, you give it a yank, and voila!! A whole new head of garlic where only a clove existed before! :) I love garlic because it is self-perpetuating. When I harvest a bulb, I just reserve a few of the cloves and plant them, and the yield continues.
Hey there, Hen, I'm a garlic grower too. I'm watching my 50 heads and waiting for them to get brown enough to yank (well...in our soil you have to use a fork, but still...)
Welcome!
gimmethesimplelife
7-24-13, 8:24am
Welcome! I look forward to your posts.
I myself own a 1/3 of an acre lot in Douglas, Arizona, very close to the Mexican border.....not worth very much, the county assesses it at $600 but if you are familiar with the Sunset Western Garden Guide? This land lies in climate zone 10 - examples of this zone would be El Paso and Albuquerque. Wonderful climate to grow a wide variety of almost anything.....I have fantasies of moving down there sometime and growing all my own food. So I'm looking forward to hearing from someone growing some of their food! Rob
puglogic - Yes, that is the fun part! :) I don't have all mine in one place. I just pop in a clove wherever I can fit one, so occasionally I forget, and run across a nice surprise. :)
Rob, that sounds wonderful. I used to live in Sacramento, and the soil there is river-bottom soil, so you could stick a dead twig in it and get a tree. I moved up into the foothills, where the soil is more clay and rock, and needs a lot of amending, but with my livestock, I get plenty of manure, and I am an avid composter, so I don't spend TOO much money on soil amendments. I do have to garden in raised beds with screened floors, because we have ground squirrels and gophers out here. We also have deer and bunnies, but the presence of my dogs seems to discourage them from coming in to nibble.
Occasionally, I try something that isn't meant for my zone, with mixed results.
I am Zone 9 in the guide.
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