Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Garden part 2

As I was establishing the plot’s soil and borders, I was germinating seeds indoors from seed I purchased online from SeedsofChange.com. Certified organic seed was chosen for several reasons one of those being I wanted to someday sell organic eggs from organic day range chickens and I wanted to grow my own chicken feed. Have you ever tried to buy 100lbs. of certified organic chicken feed? It's almost impossible! I live in farm country dairy land Wisconsin. I went to several local feed mills and farm stores nobody carries organic anything here. "What is this Or-gan-ick you speak of" or "we don't get to much call for that round here.” More on that later… back to the garden seeds.
The seeds were doing well considering we were not very well prepared for germinating several hundred seeds in our new farm house, but we made do with what we had. When it was warm during the day we put our seedlings outside in the cold frame I made from wood from my friend and neighbor with the saw mill and window from the barn. The temperature was 52 degrees outside and 73 degrees inside my cold frame It worked incredible well. Day after day bring the seedlings in and out and it and out. It finally warmed up enough so it was 50 or higher at night so my seedlings were safe.
I prepared my gardens and chicken yard as if there were roaming hordes of wild beasts seeking to invade and destroy every night. Most of my fencing material came from the barn. I used several dozen old fence post that were still solid and I found 200ft of heavy gage wire that was all rolled up, used but still good. I fenced the chicken yard first. I mean maximum overkill, triple layer fencing in some spots where I perceived a weakness in my defenses. I would go out at night to patrol border in search of the nocturnal predator that might be out there.
After several weeks of this I relaxed a little, this place was not as wild as I once thought it was. Looking up at the stares at night was so clear I could see distant galaxies… it was so quiet. The only sound was the frogs croaking around the waters edge. Breathing in a breath of fresh spring air, exhaling a huge sigh of relief I knew I was where I should be. My goal had been realized my family was safe and sound inside; my chicks were safe and warm sleeping under their lamp. This was true husbandry.....I sat down and cried....

1 comment:

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

"I prepared my gardens and chicken yard as if there were roaming hordes of wild beasts seeking to invade and destroy"

ROFLOL!

You sat down and cried? Aw...this is a good thing.