Feeling Like a Farm

Rabbit pellets will be enjoyed by the red wigglers and the garden plants.

Red wigglers create nutrient-rich worm castings.

Kohlrabi to be enjoyed by humans and rabbits alike.

As time goes on our dreams of becoming more self-sufficient are slowly falling into place. Everyday it's feeling more and more like a farm. In addition to our dogs and cats we have now added a rabbit,  two goldfish and red wigglers to our collection. It is a life cycle. The rabbit waste and our vegetable scraps feed the red wigglers. The red wigglers create worm castings that will make a rich fertilizer for our garden. The rabbit pellets and the newspaper litter get soaked in water for a day and go into one of our three compost piles. Other rabbit pellets go into jugs of water to make a tea for watering potted plants. The water from the goldfish pond that we scoop out when cleaning it goes  into the compost pile. All of these fun fertilizers go into the garden, the potted  plants and our fruit trees.  We have a plum tree, two fig trees and a grape vine. We recently transplanted two blueberry plants and a peach tree so we are hoping they will eventually produce. On cold nights the garden and pots get covered with plastic weighed down by rocks and logs so we have managed to keep everything going this winter. The garden right now is two beds on thick plastic to keep the weeds out. It is made of a mixture of the heavy clay soil that was already there, compost and some soil dug out of the woods behind my house. One row is made up of individual mounds of kohlrabi plants. The other is half Italian lettuce mix and half Grand Rapids lettuce. Last year we had excellent luck with the Grand Rapids. It lasted for a long time in the hot summer before if finally started bolting. It was huge and we had fresh salad every night.  In pots we have kohlrabi plants, kale, Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce and a few straggly spinach and endive.  The vegetable and frutis  in turn feed the rabbit and us. The fish get all the food they need right in the pond. The worms will hopefully catch us some fish. Next on our list are chickens and we hope to follow with goats. The chicken area is already laid out and measured and all the pieces that we have gathered  so far are in place. Now we need to buy chicken wire and some tarps to complete it. In the meantime my friend and I are planning a dual family garden to do at her house. Both of are families will do the work and share the spoils.  Today we will start some tomato and pepper seeds so that they will be ready to plant in a few months. By then the garden area will be tilled up with some top soil and manure added to it. I also hope to be involved again this year with the Keep Decatur County Beautiful community garden. It will all be hard work but the fruits and veggies of our labor will be worth it.

Potted edibles.

Kohlrabi mounds and lettuce beds.

The future chicken pen.

The pond water makes adds moisture and nutrients to the compost pile.