livesustainably Tag Posts Index

Getting the Soil Test - November 25, 2022 @goldenoakfarm

source In Western Massachusetts where I live, the soil has been continuously farmed since the 1670’s. In most places where soil has been farmed, it will have been

Update - October 13, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

The last fishing trip at end of September As of Monday night they had not decided on surgery and he’d had a full spine MRI to determine if surgery was even possible.

Update - October 11, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

We got the diagnosis for my husband today. His L2 vertebra has shattered and the pieces went into his spinal cord. The L3 and L4 vertebrae have cancer. That’s all

A Little More Done - October 10, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

On Saturday it was to be warm, so I got out there and started moving mulch. I needed to mulch around the garlic in the Small garden, but because I was working alone,

Cleaning Oil Lamps - October 9, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

Besides peeling shallots for a long time, I’d also decided to get the oil lamps we use ready. We’d had 2 power outages in the last week, and there were people in

Chicken, Thyme and Shallot Casserole - October 9, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

When my helper friend and I planted the shallots on Thursday, we took as many of the big ones as we needed. I had a lot of shallots left for cooking, properly cured

Garlic is Planted - October 8, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

Thursday morning my helper friend was here, and good thing too! I had a bad night with the power out as my sleep machine didn’t work. First thing we did was get

Around the Farm - October 7, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

My intern was here on Wednesday and the first thing we did was clean up the huge sheets of plastic and fold them up. Next we got them and a huge pallet over by the

More Garden Mulching - October 6, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

On Tuesday morning my helper friend was here and I wanted to get the inoculants moved out of the Big garden and spread as much as possible in the Small garden. So

Freezing Broccoli - October 5, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

I had planted 4 broccoli plants but it would not be enough for a year. So I ordered a 25# box from our farm store Market Share. It was beautiful broccoli, organic,

Never Straight Forward - October 4, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

You may recall back in 2019 we discovered the waterline from the road to the house had broken. We never knew because it was before the water meter. After replacing

Finding Mulch for the Gardens - October 3, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

I did something I’ve not done before: bought mulch hay. In the past I scavenged from area barns and farms. But with my husband’s back so bad, that wasn’t an option

Planting Garlic - October 1, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

I got out there at 7:15AM Thursday morning and started prepping for planting garlic. My helper friend was here to assist. I got him started in the north end of the

Planning Gardens - September 30, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

Drawing the New Herb garden for 2021 by oil lamp light I have to get the garlic planted before October 15th. Actually I like to have it in the ground as close to

Entry Way Gardens Finished - September 29, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

On Tuesday my helper friend was here and I wanted to tackle the other garden beside the steps so I could plant the other mum. I took the topsoil and compost off

A New Little Garden - September 28, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

When the front porch was done in August 2019, I was up in the barn prepping for Freezer Camp. I did not know they were doing it. They ended up putting 18” of packed

The Snapping Turtle in the Pen - September 27, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

On Sunday night when my husband went out to do chores in the pasture pen (which had not gotten moved) he found this. We couldn’t measure it but a guess is about

Saturday’s Finds - September 26, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

We’d missed our anniversary trip to the Fair this year. Last year I had gotten a Fair t-shirt, one of the older style ones. I was messing around on the internet

Friday’s Work - September 25, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

Friday morning my helper friend was here and he set about finishing the Anne raspberry bed. He put down some of the amendment for the Small garden, then mulched.

Hunting and Fishing - September 25, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

On Thursday he headed out fishing, to a place 30 miles offshore. He checks the forecast to make sure there aren’t going to be rough seas. Thursday looked like a