Bit late getting this figured out this year, but I guess it’s still January. Similar to last year, here’s a quick bullet point list of stuff we managed to accomplish this year.
- Poultry
- Built a “chicken tractor” big enough for about 10-15 broilers.
- Raised and slaughtered 15 Freedom Ranger broilers. Overall it went okay, but still debating if we want to do this every year. Not including labor and equipment (2 big expenses), our cost per pound was in the low $4 range.
- Lost two more of our original hens. We still have “Faith” the barred rock remaining from the original Bristol 4.
- Got 6 day old Ancona ducklings and successfully raised them to adults. Three were male and three were female, so two of the boys were redundant and went to the freezer.
- Put automatic doors on both the chicken and duck coops. This has simplified care significantly as well as made it easier for us to leave the property in someone else’s hands for a few days.
- Gardening
- This was the first full growing season with the greenhouse and it made a significant difference in the size and quality of my starts. We bought very few starts from outside the property this year.
- For the most part, an amazing gardening year. Super warm and sunny, which made for an abundance of tomatoes.
- We added more fruit trees, 6 more raspberry plants, 25 everbearing strawberry plants and another purple asparagus bed.
- The original raspberry plants from 2015 really came into their own this year for the most part. We got a great yield of berries.
- Had some luck for the first time with the following this year
- Bush Limas
- Sweet Potatoes
- Flint corn
- Sweet corn
- Standouts included
- the aforementioned tomatoes
- Peppers did fairly well, including sweet peppers
- Brussel sprouts finally worked. Turned out we had been planting too late for New England.
- Dynamite popcorn
- Bush beans of various types (green, yellow, dry)
- Still having trouble getting melons to work with any consistency
- Landscape and other property work
- Cleared an overgrown patch of original landscaping from the front yard and re-contoured the whole front yard, including the drainage ditch.
- Rebuilt the main culvert near our house, put in a small duck pond and widened the drive over the culvert.
- Expanded the beginnings of our windbreak
- Reshaped the driveway and added new stone/gravel.
- Put up a Gorilla playset for the kids.
- Goals for 2017 include
- Attempt to convert to a mostly no-till approach in our gardens
- Expand the existing rear garden footprint around the greenhouse
- More fruit trees
- Start working on the “drift” landscaping ideas in the front yard. These are wide swaths of perennial plants and grasses in mostly organic shapes following the contour of the land.
- Expand the windbreak and begin preparing for a more extensive hedgerow or permaculture mixed species planting on the north edge of the property. We are working with a permaculture specialist on a plan for this.
- At least begin the planning stages for fencing in the front pasture.
- Tear down our existing rear deck and rebuild a new one.
Soon it will be time to buy and start seeds. By the way, if you are thinking about seeds, don’t forget about my site PickAPacket.com and tell your friends. It allows you to compare prices and see varieties carried by my favorite non-GMO seed companies, including lots of heirloom, organic and open-pollinated varieties.