I just thought I would share a few shots of some of the things we are doing around here. Its all really low key and a lot of planning and dreaming – not too scintillating 
I bought a soil blocker doodad from Johnny’s seeds and have been using it to make seed starts indoors.
You pack the form with starting soil and then plop it down in trays like below. I will be the first to say these are the not the most beautiful soil blocks!
(Italian porchetta with fennel pollen, on creamy polenta)
Last weekend, while at the Les Dames d’Escoffier – Boston “Feast in the Field” event, I had the opportunity to eat something I have NEVER eaten before – Fennel Pollen. It was encased in a heavenly roll of roasted sustainably grown pork belly. I didn’t realize it was there (wasn’t expecting it) but when I took a bite it blossomed in my mouth – bang!
I need to taste it again before I can really describe it in detail. I can say that it was fennel amplified.
Oh my goodness! Ed and crew are FINALLY done with the seven raised beds (with internal radiant heating system). You can see them in the photo above.
Now we turn to the chicken house. I will share that process as it comes along.
I am also now going to start seeding the three brand new beds.
I have brainstormed on the placement of the first aquaculture tank and I will share some of that planning as soon as I have it mocked up in a document.
Our raised beds must be getting rave reviews in the “Riparian Times” because a whole host of toads have been moving into the neighborhood. Ours look to be of the Eastern American toad (Bufo a. americanus) flavor. We all know that these guys eat insects so we are mighty happy to host them.
We finally got our asparagus bed built.
I am using a modified “Square Foot Gardening” planting plan where, instead of the 4/square foot they do, I am doing one crown per square foot on top of compost and topsoil (with some organic bone meal to modify the phosphate levels).
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am mapping out where and how each seed is planted in the beds. This may seem to be overwrought but I do not think so. The reason I am doing this is so that I can know what each seedling is as it grows so that I can watch it’s morphology change, be alert to the different types of insect predators, see which seeds do not like this soil, see which are thriving, which like being next to the other, etc. I think it is worth the time to know what I have planted, where and when so that this sort of analysis is easier.
See that little black speck to the right of center? That little guy is eating little holes in some of my tomatoes and also in some of the other seedlings.
I looked on the internet and have found that it is called a Flea Beetle. When you go to pick them off the leaf you have to be careful because they will jump away like a flea. They are very easy to kill tho, very unlike a flea.
Since this is an organic garden, I want to deal with this problem with no chemicals.
Here is the latest panorama. You can see that Ed has finished the 4th bed on the right! I need to plant that one and the ends of the bed furthest to the left.
I have put a small preview of the map template for each bed (below). I measured the pH of various parts of each bed (as well as nutrient content) so I will be adding that to the maps as well. I will share those when I finish them.
Every day I spend time picking weedlets. I use it as a growing zazen practice. Its precious quiet time.
Thankfully, rain and mist has been our weather so our plants are germinating and growing nicely.
Dragon carrots, horizontally.
Seeds of Change basil diversity pack of 6 types of basils.
View from the end of one of the beds.
Planted the second bed yesterday. Here are a few photos of how I set up the bed and the map I make up for myself to set out the plants. These may be seeded a bit tight but we will see. I will be needing to cull some by design.
I hate forgetting what I planted so this year I am mapping it out. Will transfer this to an electronic copy so that, when the paper is lost as it is bound to be, I have a permanent record. I marked off rough 1 foot sections to help me with the planting. I used a 2×4 to make the marks after using a ruler to mark off feet.
Activate the Wp-cumulus plugin to see the flash tag clouds!
We are a family of 5, including Nika, Ed, Q (14), KD (7), and Baby Oh (4). We garden 1024 square feet of raised beds plus assorted permacultural plantings. We also have 13 LaMancha dairy goats, 40 chickens, and one guard llama.