As we continue to try to build up the fertility of the soil at Quail Run Farm, we are trying to find creative ways to find mulch. Utah is not know for it trees, and that is even more true in the valley that Quail Run Farm is located in. The one thing we have plenty of is sage brush. And we try to use that as much as possible and not let it go to waste.
As we clear our land and bring in new uses for it, we end up cleaning up areas that are covered in sage brush. We do plan on leaving some of the areas on the farm as native plants, and leave the sage brush. But some areas we have to remove it.
As we do so, we find ourselves making large piles of sage brush. Sage brush has a bad reputation, and is removed as soon as people move into an area.
One of the many heavy lifters we have on the farm is this chipper/shredder. I purchased this one because I felt it was the best for the amount of money that I had. I would of liked to of purchased a larger one, but the funding was not there.
Sage brush can be turned into some pretty nice mulch, if you are willing to get dirty and dusty in the process. Sage Brush tends to collect dirt and dust as it grows, making it hard on cutting tools, but this chipper/shredder makes pretty quick work of it.
This pictures shows some of the mulch that was made from the pile of sage brush in the first post. We are constantly finding ways to turn discarded green waste into mulch to help us retain water, and increase the fertility of the soil.
much time and effort into crops that either didn’t produce or were over run by bugs and field bind weed. Organic farming is hard, so very hard.
We then started looking around, and found several gopher mounds that had been dug out by the badger.
Here is one where you can see the gopher has refilled its hole.
The battle was pretty massive, there are a lot of mounds that were dug up by the badger.
We have found that at times, the best approach is to wait and see what happens. We try to keep a balance between nature and farming. Unless the wildlife interferes with our farming, or causes a danger to our family or livestock, we will try to leave it where it is, and let nature take its course.
This is one of the views you get when you travel the roads that lead to our little piece of heaven. To get to our farm, you have to drive on a gravel road. Being isolated like that gives has advantages and disadvantages. This year has been the year of replacements. We have replaced our water heaters, air conditioner, furnace and who knows what will happen next.
Yup, we found that the water leak was coming from under the driveway, so we then went to work on the side closest to the house.
In a few hours, we had both ends of the driveway excavated down to the pipe and knew what needed to be done the next morning.
Jeramiah showed up early in the morning and the work really started. We wanted to avoid digging up the driveway, so Jeramiah came up with the idea of using a connector and hooking the old water line to the new water line, and then pulling the old water line from under the driveway and keep pulling so that the new water line replaced it. It worked well, we were able to pull the new line under the driveway without having to cut any concrete.
After everything was said and done, we had 80 feet of new water line ran, and the driveway was now usable again.
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The green beans were planted in one of the two beds that we didn’t sheet mulch. We didn’t have time to get it done before planting season and I figured that since they were such a hardy and easy-going plant that they’d do just fine with a little manure raked in. I was wrong. I think they might be jealous of their neighbors, who are planted in several inches of good compost and mulched heavily with bark and leaves. Who knew green beans could be such divas?
When the clover gets tall and starts to blossom its time to harvest! Cover is a fun herb to harvest, especially for the little kids, its very simple, just pop the flower off. My little ones like to recite the line “Mama had a baby and her head popped off!” while picking clover, they also like to snack on the blossoms as we gather. We get a big paper grocery sack and fill it up about half way full. you have to be careful drying clover blossoms, they need a lot of air flow to dry without molding. Some people suggest laying the blossoms in a basket in a single layer not touching. I don’t have the room to dry herbs that way, so I put them the paper grocery sack and leave it on the kitchen counter where I see it often, and several times a day I give it a shake or stir. The paper helps wick away the moisture and stirring it often keeps the blossoms separate and allows for air flow. It takes about two weeks to dry in my neck of the woods, but we are dry, it will take longer in more humid climates.
Red Clover is an infusion that I use in my regular rotation, I plan on making it my ally when I move from child bearing years to my menopausal years and beyond.
I. Have. No. Idea. None, nada, ziltch.
I was quite cross when I first realized what had happened and I almost pulled out every single one of them. Then I got curious and decided to wait and see. I’m glad I did. They are a delightfully un-expected addition to my boring vegetable garden, waving their pretty little colors in the breeze.
I’ve fallen in love, and I believe that these little flowers are going to make a seed collector out of me after all, I want to duplicate them next year all over the garden.
Carrots washed and peeled, I love the soft, translucent orange and light yellow of the roots when I peel them. I had planned on having dark purple carrots as well, but they had a different surprise in mind for me, something I will write about later.
