I have long been an believer in the manta “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. I drive myself and others crazy because I simply cannot throw things out. Not if they are still usable and I can find someone to take them. Everyone I work with has been “gifted” at least one item over last 20 years. Have gotten pretty good at conning them into taking this or that off my hands. And I feel the tiniest bit lighter each time they do so.
At Tiny House Farm we have lots of extra things; trees, bushes, flowers, birds, dirt and rocks. So many rocks. Rots-a-rocks. I am pretty sure the only thing we have more of rocks is our weeds.
For days, we picked and raked and hauled buckets and buckets out of our planned garlic patch.
Most of our rocks are fist sized, or smaller but we did hit on quite a few of their big brothers. Getting the big boys out was a challenge but helped break up the monotony. Have to say it again, before Ron does – this is better than having a gym membership. Got a great workout and had something to show for it. A pile of rocks. And good family time. FYI – Ron loves this trailer. A great purchase that does just what we need it to and more.
Ron had decided to use our rocks to fill in part of the culvert. That way the 4 wheeler would have an easier time getting across to our mushrooms. We lost track of the number of trips we made. One after another with two big bins and three smaller buckets full of rocks.
This is what parts of our path tends looks like after the rain. This makes for a major struggle getting our loaded wagon from one part of the farm to another. So Ron decided to repurpose more of our rocks in an effort to make our lives just a bit easier.
Each additional load fills in a bit more and helps reduce the amount of mud formed after the rain.
Every trip that Ron makes over these rocks with his 4 wheeler helps settle them more firmly into the dirt. The deer aren’t happy with this project though. They much prefer the mud to walk in.
Ron’s first road. I am pretty sure that the Roman Empire started this way.
Count down to spring 2016
Upstate NY has been dealing with an odd winter this year. Not that I am complaining. Snow has been scarce which has resulted in little shoveling, no use of our snow blower and only a few days of icky roads. The cold has been here along with the wind. That kept us inside most of the time, only going out to get the necessary done. I do feel sorry for those who depend on snow for their winter business, but the rest of us; we are liking this. Just hope that we don’t pay the price later on with lower ground water levels.
We started getting ready for 2016 a few months ago with purchases of supplies, seeds, equipment and plants. And getting ready for a bigger run of our mushroom bolts. Ron has major expansion plans for THF. Though we will take it one step at a time. Nothing more than the 3 of us, with help from family and friends can handle. He always has to remember that until he gets to retire from his day job, this project of his is a part time thing. But it does take up most of his thought process. Always has some plan brewing.
We have taken a further step toward official business status. THF now has its own bank accounts. Checkbook and all. Still more to do, but we are not in a huge rush. Ron doesn’t expect to start actually selling product until next year. But we need to be fully set up and ready before then. One of my biggest concerns is the pricing. How do you figure how what you should charge? Has to be enough to generate a profit, but not so high that no one will pay the price. That will be a bit of trial and error, I think. More learning to get done. It is a good thing that both Ron and I are people persons and more than willing to ask for and listen to advice. We are currently taking a web based business class through Cornell’s small farms program. Most of it is still over our heads and probably will remain so. Not planning to have employees to fret over so that will reduce some stress. We are learning one thing only to find out we then have to learn two more things.
I have taken over more of our home garden work. Deciding what we are going to grow and getting the seeds started. This year we skipped started the seeds in our mini greenhouse with warming pad. Ron already had trays of jack in the pulpit seeds growing down cellar. A few years ago he set up his very own growing center in our cellar.
And it does such a good job that we have used it every year since. The bottom shelf is where my actual food seeds are growing. I am trying yellow onions and celery this year. Along with my usual herbs. Will start the tomatoes and cucumbers in a few weeks. We are cutting back this year, but cannot stop altogether. I truly love have fresh veggies in our backyard.
Back to Ron’s project – he has five trays full of tiny plants. He went out to THF last fall with mesh bags I sewed together and cinched them around the seeds.
Once they were fully ripened, he collected them and put them into a bag of moss and our frig. This was part of the scarification process. So we all learn at least one new thing a day – that is a necessary process for some seeds that scratches them and makes them permeable to water.
Interesting to know, you should not handle jack in the pulpit seeds, but always wear gloves. Ron had great success with this project and we have lots of tiny plants doing well.
Luckily for me, while Ron is downstairs checking on his babies, he also checks on mine.
Playing catch up
I have discovered one of the pitfall of blogging. Unless something has happened or you have gone somewhere or have a plan in the works, it is simply too easy to not post. Do have the small excuse of the holidays that kept me busy, but they have been over for well over a month now. It is time to get my nose back to the grindstone.
Spring is just a few short months away and there will be lots of projects and work, which will mean lots of blog postings. Until then, I shall regale you with behind the scenes info. As of December 2015 we not only have an actual address,
but are officially DBA as Tiny House Farm Augusta NY. Getting the paperwork signed was an adventure in itself. Jo and I had errands to run in Syracuse that day but we planned to get back to Oneida by 3 pm to meet Ron at the bank to have the papers notarized. Jo and I had a good time shopping and having lunch out, but I totally misjudged how long it was going to take us to get home. Then I listened to the GPS and took the road to the right. The one the school bus was also on and that blasted thing stopped at least 10 times, delaying us just a little bit longer each time. Such a relief when we finally pulled into the bank parking lot and met Ron. The notary process was easy enough. Handed over our driver’s licenses and signed our lives away. And Ron got to tell his story to another person. A few days later Ron took the paperwork down to the county office building to file it and we are official.
Turns out that was the only easy part of getting a small business started. According to all the websites I looked at, Ron was supposed to start this whole process by writing up a business plan. Well, he has never been one to stick to the rules; being a fan of winging it. Now we have to open a business account, get a tax ID, set up social media, and basically figure out how and to whom we are going sell our farm products. Of course we are still working on exactly what we are going to grow. Every day we have another thought about what more we can add to the list of things we should grow. I get nervous when I see Ron looking through another one of his catalogs. After gardening for well over 6 years, he is on just about every gardening and farming mailing list there is. And that does not include the numerous sites he has bookmarked and visits on a regular basis.
I have convinced Ron that we don’t need a full blown irrigation system this year. Between the 3 of us we can get our newly planted pawpaw trees and elderberry bushes watered, bucket by bucket. Ron hauling the water with the 4 wheeler and Jo and I manning the buckets should do the job. Some serious work but with everything else we have to get this this spring, this project can wait. We only have to baby the plants during the first year. After that, we will just have to water when we don’t get enough rain. Have I mentioned that is this is cheaper than a gym membership?
We had the stream water tested, something else that had to be done. And thank goodness all is well. That means his plans to use it for irrigation will work out after all.
Always a reminder that there are jerks out there. Who thinks it is their right to toss garbage onto someone else’s property? That little yellow square in background on the right? That is our “posted” sign. Guess this guy could not read. Majorly annoyed about it for a few days, planning to pulled them out and get them to the dump and then Ron’s good karma kicked in. The county was working on the road and they stopped and picked up the tires for us. Restored my faith in the world.
We are edging ever closer
To having a real life business. Once again, Ron has been able to put his graphic arts degree from Cazenovia College and expertise to good use in creating our business card. He ordered one batch and was pleased with it, but typical for him, he has ready made a couple of changes. He never stops trying to find that one thing that he can tweak. Those little touches are what makes the difference. And makes it so his.
It is just over two weeks to the official start of winter and we are already planning for spring. That not only means getting all the equipment and tools off THF and stored, but making decisions about what comes next. Pawpaw trees and elderberry bushes are a given to be started in 2016. But it not as easy as just saying we want to grow them. We have to decide how many and what varieties. You have to have several different kinds growing together if you want to actually have fruit. In his search for pawpaws Ron discovered that Winston Salem NC had a festival this year. The things you can find on the internet. We missed it, but are already thinking we will get to the next one. Unfortunately there are no sources for pawpaws here in NY so Ron has reached out to a nursery in Missouri. He ended up calling the company to finalize the deal. He tends to do better that way. Besides he got to share the whole mushroom farm story with them. Something he loves to do. We have 38 pawpaw trees and 50 elderberry bushes on order. Now, do we plant this fall or next spring? Every person we talk to has a different opinion. We are thinking spring. That will give us more time to get the field ready. We still have lots and lots of rocks to dig up, dead trees to get cut down, and brush to clear and burn. Sadly there is still garbage about the place that needs to be picked up too.
So now we have to lay out the planting grid, dig up the rocks, till the ground, dig the holes and come up with a irrigation plan. Ron is trying to do this on the fly. Maybe I should be glad that he doesn’t know what he is doing. If he did, this might be even more complicated and costly. He likes to figure out how to get things done without relying too much on stock solutions. He loves his You Tube videos. On top of all this we still have to get the plans for our next installment of mushroom logs finalized. We are thinking 300 more come spring. This time we will have them delivered right out to THF and do the work out there. That will be much less messy. I am still sweeping up wood chips in the garage. Ron bought himself a Honda generator to run the grinder and heat the pot for the sealing wax. We have a large tent and a couple of pop up canopies. All we need now is a few more volunteers to come out and help and we will have the beginnings of a party. Maybe we will get the grill going, some tunes playing and warm beverages brewing. We are still waiting for chance to raffle off the first use of our official tiny house.
Getting THF ready for winter
No photos for this post, but Jo really wishes she had been able to get her camera out to catch me on video. Ron, Jo and I went out to THF yesterday to pull the equipment out and get it into our shed for the winter. We put it off as long as we could for the day. Cold and windy Saturday is not Ron’s idea of a perfect working day. By 11 am he decided we just had to get it done. Our goal was to get the tiller and brush hog off the farm and into our shed. Ron got them started to burn off the gas and asked me to run the tiller up to the road so we could get it on the trailer. Ron put the thing in it’s fastest gear and handed it over to me. The tiller, being heavier and stronger than it looked, took off and did its best to leave me behind. Picture me running in heavy rubber boots trying desperately to hang on. Thank goodness it stopped when I let go of the clutch. Once we all stopped laughing, Ron got it started again, lowered the speed and I headed out again. We had already tossed 10 bags of top soil into the wagon and Ron took them across the creek with the 4 wheeler. Jo and I got the tiller up to the road and then walked back to meet up with him. He had remembered that we needed to cover the Red Wine Cap Mushrooms with more woodchips and sent Jo back to get a rake. I got my weight training in by dragging the bags to the beds, lifting them up and dumping them in. Had the wrong gloves on as the bags were wet and very slippery. I struggled to get and keep a solid grip on them.
We finished up and headed back, stopping to check on the Shiitakes. And we have more. Will pick them today so we can bring them in to friends on Monday. Got the machines loaded on to the trailer. A task in and of itself. Those things are heavy; strapped them down and drove home. Unloaded, Ron got them started up again and we went in to grab a quick lunch. Back to THF to pick up the 4 wheeler and chop down one brush. Ron has a long list of things that he needs or wants to get done before spring comes around again. Such a feeling of satisfaction to be able to cross a few of them off.
Ron’s pawpaw patch
Not quite sure where Ron got his pawpaw obsession but he has been researching and talking about them for a year now. He wasn’t a Girl Scout, so he didn’t sing Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch around the campfire. But he knew that line. For those who don’t know they are the largest edible fruit that is native to the US. They look somewhat like a mango and have large black seeds. They don’t travel well as they bruise easily which is one of the reason that they are not as common now. Lewis and Clark ate them during their expedition and George Washington ate them chilled. They are used in baked desserts, in drinks, in ice cream and now some are making beer and wine out of pawpaws. Ron is also interesting in planting them as they are considered a threatened species in New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba
I had never tasted a pawpaw until we attended the 2015 Mother Earth News Pair in September. Andrew Moore who wrote the book – Pawpaw, in search of America’s forgotten fruit was one of the speakers. Not only did he give a great talk about the pawpaw but he had samples for us. I can confirm that they are custard like and have a tropical taste. I was most impressed and now on board with Ron’s plan. This one at least. One thing we did find out that that more research is needed. There are numerous varieties available and we have to have at least two different ones growing in our little patch. Surprisingly there are not a lot of nurseries here in NY that sell pawpaws. Right now he is trying to contact a company out in MO. We shall see.
Ron decided where he wanted to plant them and bought wooden stakes and marking paint. While he and Jo used the measuring tapes to lay out the grid, I kept busy digging up and moving rocks. Part of our gym membership plan.
Not as easy as it looks. They got 30 of the stakes pounded in and then discovered they were way off in their final measurements. Ron likes to have straight rows, cause we all know that nature grows in straight lines. Some serious double checking took place.
The end result looks pretty good. You can just make out our straw covered garlic patch in the background.
Not a bad effort for a few hours work by one person. If only I had a friend or two nearby who could come out and help me. Maybe next spring.
Any planned work out on THF now depends on the weather. Ron is so not a fan of getting work done on windy days. We had been talking about ordering some frozen pawpaw pulp from a company in Ohio and trying to make something with it. Ice cream was at the top of the list, if we could find someone to loan us their ice cream maker. Ron discovered Cornell University in Ithaca, NY’s Facebook page and learned that they actually grow and sell pawpaws in their store. We were too late to get any fresh ones but among their ice creams flavors is pawpaw. While it is a 2 hour drive from our house, we decided as rain was forecast and we really needed to know if pawpaw ice cream was any good, the trip was on for Saturday Nov. 7. We arrived at Cornell Orchards on Dyrden St in Ithaca at 8:25 am. Have I mentioned that we are early risers? There in the cooler was our target. Pints of ice cream.
As we looked around to see what else they had for sale, we were greeted by one of the staff. Sadly we did not get her name but she was a delight, giving us a tour of their apple cooler and offering samples. If not for the cold, I could live in their cooler. The smell of the apples was wonderful. Just made me happy. She was fascinated with Ron’s plans to grow pawpaws and she chatted with us in between helping other customers. We bought 6 pints, shook her hand and headed out to the Transit. We packed the pints in our cooler with ice and headed for our next stop. My efforts to make the long trip more worthwhile were probably not the best idea with ice cream in the back. By the time we got home, it was not quite as frozen as it should be. We got it into our freezer and planned to sample it the next day. It was obvious that the texture had suffered a bit from the re-freezing but the flavor had not. It was quite good. There were small chunks of pawpaw throughout and while Ron really enjoyed them, I would like to try another ice cream that just used creamy pulp. There is still so much we have to try and learn before Tiny House Farm can be a success. It is a good thing that both Ron and I are up to the challenge.