Fresh organic food from our own backyard.
The Orchard
The first fruits of our labor! These two beauties are fresh organic lemons grown right here on our farm. They are the first fruits ever grown on A Proper Farm.
Although it's still a humble beginning, we’ve planted a small orchard near the front of our property. Most of our trees were purchased from a nearby organic farm in Central Florida, though some came from an organic nursery out west. Moving forward, we plan to focus on buying from our local nursery or starting our own plants.
We continue to add new trees every few months, striving to create a large variety of fruits to share with our neighbors and CSA members.
Currently, we have apples, a wide selection of citrus fruits, cherries, avocados, a fig tree, and a pear tree. Across from the orchard, in the field, we have a couple of varieties of banana trees, and in front of the pond stands a lovely almond tree.
Eventually, we plan to mulch the entire orchard. This will help retain moisture and keep weeds at bay. We also want to mulch so that the trees don’t have to compete with grass for water and nutrients.
James is never happier than when he's outside on his tractor working on the farm.
There is so much work to do to get our farm ready. For now, we have a small garden where we grow kale, mustard, pumpkins, and melons to feed the pigs to supplement their diet.
Organic livestock feed is very costly so we try to do whatever we can to save on the amount we have to feed them to keep them growing healthy and strong. This is where having a lot of land helps. Out in the field, the pigs can find lots of plants and roots to eat. Our small garden only provides them with a light snack once in a while. But they love it.
To keep them healthy without giving them any type of medication I sometimes feed them an aloe leaf. Porky just chews it right up. The Chickens like to eat the gel out of the leaf.
It is believed that aloe will prevent infections as well as accelerates cell renewal. We often use it ourselves to keep our stomachs healthy.
We have loads of aloe plants on the farm and once we begin what I'm calling, "The Farmacy Garden" I'll be growing lots more of it.
Our Coworkers on the Farm
Composting:
Nothing goes to waste on the farm and everyone has a job to do. Sure the rabbit is just the house pet but she too has to help out on the farm. She provides us with what is called cold manure. A rabbit's droppings can be used in the garden without having to first compost. So, every time her box is cleaned we empty it directly into one of the garden beds that aren't being used yet, to help fertilize the soil.
The chicken's coop is lined with a deep layer of organic hemp. The hemp keeps the coop nice and dry since it soaks up moister and keeps it from smelling.
When we scoop the coop out we put the hemp in the compost pile to add nitrogen to the soil. The hemp also breaks down in the compost offering magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium to the soil.
While we love our piggies we don't like a smelly pig pen, so we often rake up their manure. All of that nice rich "material" goes right into the compost pile to offer lots of nutrients. So, there is nothing wasted on our farm. Not even waste. And the great news is with all of this readily available rich material it means that we never have to use commercial fertilizers.
Fertilizing:
This is what it means to grow organically. We use organic material from nature to feed nature. We simply use what God provides just as it would have been done in the Garden of Eden.
Roast Beef is the newest addition to our farm. One of the best fertilizers on the market is what Roast Beef brings to the farm. He has one of the most important jobs. He makes sure that we have plenty of tomatoes in the garden. 🙂
Tilling:
Composting and fertilizer aren't the only things that the chickens and pigs help with. They also help with tilling the soil.
The pigs do most of the tilling with their snouts. When they've eaten the grass they like to dig up the roots and eat them too. After the pigs have had their way and have dug up the soil the chickens go in and get all the bugs that have been dug up with the roots.
In the chicken run the chickens dig and scratch in the grass eating grass seeds and then "depositing them" in a what I call a fertilizer bomb. This keeps the grass growing. After the pigs have dug up the roots we replace the grass with new organic seeds of grasses that the chickens like to eat.
Pest Control:
Speaking of bugs, another job that the chickens have is pest control. They go around the farm eating as many ticks, mosquitos, grubs, mole crickets, and fleas as they can. This is why we don't have to use chemicals on the farm.
Our animals make great coworkers. They are busy from sun up to sun down working in the fields helping to till, fertilize, and keep the farm bug free.
But, we can't forget about Bertha the watch cat! Bertha is the outdoor cat who helps to keep feral rabbits from eating up the garden as well as rodents from taking over the farm. Bertha is a premium rodent catcher.
She is the watcher of the night. Being the animal lovers that we are, I never like it when she actually catches a cute little bunny rabbit. I only like her to chase them off but she can't be faulted for being great at her job.