Plans for the New Year

This new years period is even more contemplative than most.  We must decide what to plant and where.  We are pretty sure we will do a small plot of some type of hops....but where to locate it.  And what else to plant?   Jen will establish her vermicultural beginnings and grow some veggies.  Ada has plans to sell herbs at the coop and the farmers markets.  We worked out a deal where she can earn some starting capital by cleaning the inside of the cars each week.  She worked out the math and has big plans.

We have to figure where to put what as well.  A schematic of our property is shown above.  The Northwestern and southwestern areas have been mowed as lawn for the past 10+ years.  We let the southwest plot go wild for a couple of years and the central plots have not been touched by anything but the coyotes and deer for 10 years and fed a few cattle before that with previous owners.  George has taken the planning phase very seriously.

In the latter part of the 2009 we bought a 26 HP Kabota to begin taming the fields.  Aside from satisfying some deep-seated need/desire, it has been immensely useful, especially with the front end loader.

We also bought a bush hog and I have now cut all of the fields that hadn't been mowed in years.  Looks very nice now...almost agricultural!  More to come soon......

ps  I read in my hop book that an established plant in decent soil can grow 30' in one season!!!!  Talk about literally watching something grow.