Urban Farm Tour

Our property was invited to participate in the First Annual Urban Farm Tour, Saturday, May 7 hosted by the Greenville Organic Foods Organization: "Come see fantastic examples of how city residents are practicing sustainability by growing their own food and implementing energy efficiency. The self-guided tour will showcase urban farms, edible gardens and energy efficiency located within 10 miles from downtown Greenville."

We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of it! See below the blurb for our property:

"This urban homestead is where the action is! Urban Acre Farm is truly a site where you can get exposure to a little of everything. The family originally established the Urban Farm with the hope of moving eventually to the country and starting their own farm. At this site you’ll learn about making great compost through vermiculture practices. Three hives of bees along with a multitude of various fruit trees and bushes makes this site perfect for all those aspiring to “give it all up and move to the country,” but don’t want to do it just yet…If you have been looking for economical ways to insulate the roof and reduce summer cooling costs come see their Supertherm white roof. And to top it off on May 7 site owners will be cooking with a solar oven to show folks how easy it is."

The link can be found here: http://www.greenvilleuft.com/tour-sites?page=2

Wood shed

This past year I began collecting and saving wood. Originally, we were planning to have a few wood stoves. That plan has changed since we may purchase a small farm in Maine, but I'll write more about that later. The second pic is of Olivia and Liam carrying wood to the wood shed!

Stout 13 2010

My brother Neil has created a really hoppy stout that resembles a Cascadian Dark Ale more than a stout. He called it Stout 13 since it was his 13th batch. On my 13th I also brewed it and it turned out great. Absolutely wonderful stuff and it is only an extract recipe! Here are some pics of the process. I'm using a Bayou burner which really does get the wort to boil fast. It has a really healthy fermentation. The grain bill is pretty large. A batch of stout 13 costs about 60 dollars and it produced a little more than two cases of beer. Not bad!

Brewing Some Honey Wheat 2010

I've brewed 13 batches of beer since I taught myself to brew about two years ago. This was a honey wheat ale where I used some of my own backyard honey for conditioning. It was good, but I'm really looking forward to beginning all grain when I have the time and equipment together. Also shown is Liam cleaning out some bottles. My kids are incredibly helpful!

Collecting Honey 2010

We didn't use a fancy extractor when we collected the honey. Basically, we scraped the frames, wax and all, into a strainer and then we used a bottling bucket to get the honey into jars. I can't imagine the amount of honey produced from more than a few good colonies. The honey shown was really only from about 1.5 shallow supers. There were also four smaller jars not photographed. Afterwards, someone at Bee Well Honey Farm told me to leave the scraped supers out to let the bees come clean them off of any left over honey. It was really neat watching them swarm around the supers, taking the honey back to the hive. The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Painting Supers

Olivia and Liam helped paint the supers as I bought them. I purchased three extra supers per colony for a total of six. I'll start making them myself now (at least the super but not the frames). You are supposed to paint the supers to protect the wood.

The Bees 2010

I would say the first year was a semi-success although I think I might have had better luck brewing beer! We did order two nuc colonies each with a queen and 10,000 workers. I set them up in the back yard. The one on the right began looking more active pretty much from the first month or so, and it just went gang busters while the one on the left stayed fairly inactive. At some point the bees just disappeared. The bees on the right did great, though. They produced a decent amount of honey from just a few shallow supers. I think I might have stacked too many shallow supers, but I just didn't know how quickly to stack them and I didn't want the bees to get over crowded. As of right now, the bees are still alive through the winter, so I'm hoping they will hang in there until spring. I have also ordered two more colonies for a total of three.

Orchard Spring 2010

The trees didn't die this year; in fact, they started growing taller!

Harvesting Peas!

Here is a picture of the kids prepping peas. Yummy!

Strawberry Patch 2010

We planted a dozen or so strawberry bushes next to the 16 raised beds, but they ended up getting over run by weeds, and now I'm not quite sure what the status of them is!

The plot out back

Originally, we had planned on planting some barley or wheat, but after tilling a plot out back by the bees, we just didn't get around to it!

The Garden Grows 2010

Here are some pics of the garden as it developed during March and April. It turns out I don't have any pics from when the garden was in full swing, unfortunately! One thing I do remember is that we had a ton of greens which we couldn't give away quick enough. The squash had some issues with squash bugs. This was our first year of having so many beds, and I think it was a great success. We went from having three 8'x4' beds to having 16 beds!

Gardening Start 2010

Our garden this year began with Jen's starts under the light in the Winter of 2010. These racks were set up in our bedroom!

The pic to the right of the garden starts are our garden beds in March 2010. I used string to divide each 8'x4' bed into square foot sections per the book, Square Foot Garden. It was good for our first year, but it turns out we probably won't need to have that visual demarcation this coming year. The kids did a good job helping us. Olivia helped me move the fresh compost that we purchased from the local gardening center into the boxes. Liam also took a hand in in the process as well.

Composting

For the past several years we've been composting using two rubber maid bins with holes drilled in the sides and bottom. Jen bought some trout worms at the local bait shop and they've been living happily in the bins for several years. Here's a pic of the kids taking out the worms and larger pieces of food that haven't been composted yet.

Aerial View

Here is an aerial taken off Google maps of our property. The house is center. You can see the pool and to the northwest of the pool are two outbuildings: a prefabricated shed that is wired for electric and an old barn that I'm going to use for a wood shed. To the northeast of the pool is a "cottage" which has a kitchenette and a bathroom. I use it as my office since I do all my work teaching online from home.

Bees Ordered!

Yesterday I ordered not one but TWO bee colonies. Each package is $70 and includes a queen and 10,000 bees. Apparently, I will drive to the farm and pick up the bees and then drive home with about 20,000 bees in my car.

I bought the bees at the Honey Well Bee farm which is located here in the Upstate of South Carolina. Here is their website: http://www.beewellhoneyfarm.com/. I am a total beginner, so I'll also be purchasing the bee "buildings" as other sundry equipment with Honey Well. Total cost not including the $140 for the bees is approximately $300. The bees will be ready for pickup April 3. The question is will I be ready?

I need to find a south-east facing site on my 1 acre which is in full sun and which is relatively apart from the main play area of my kids. Apparently, I'll also want to include for the bees some water which is close by or else they will end up in my pool! A bird bath or metal bucket full of rocks and/or wood will do nicely and will be something the bees like.

I'm excited about doing this, but I'm teaching myself most of this!

New Pantry

Take a look at our pretty new pantry. This doorway used to go into what I think was an old dining room. Jen thought it would be better as a closed off pantry for food storage. It sits right off our kitchen and Jen is already filling it up with food stores!

The old dining room is now closed off and is considered a bedroom, making our homestead a six bedroom domicile with three up and three down. Good for extended families!

2 Cranberry Bushes

I forgot to write that Jen also planted 2 teeny little cranberry bushes by the front walkway. They are small little guys!

In utero is the project to close off the downstairs den, making a storage pantry on one side and a sixth bedroom on the other. The pantry will be used for the purpose of our goal for 1 year food storage.

Projects to Date

--2 raspberry bushes planted on south property line

--Planted four dwarf apple, 2 dwarf cherry trees

--Built sixteen 4' by 8' garden boxes along south property line. Jen filled the boxes with leaves, top soil, and compost.

--Built a six foot privacy fence along the front property line facing busy cut through street (where cars frequently speed past at about 60 mph. Fence runs along all of the front and part of the sides of the yard for about 240 feet. A gate was built across the drive way which locks from both the inside and outside.

--Purchased freezer which holds 250 lbs of meat. Filled it with 1/4 of a cow bought from local farmer.

--Set up three 55 gallon water barrels (linked). All filled up in one night of rain!

Projects to Date

A quick list of completed projects to date (after all of the moving in and unpacking, of course):

--One tree in the front yard was cut down (diseased). A useless plant/bush with a gigantic weed growing in the middle of it was also pulled.

--Bathroom and ceiling in the office/brewery has been painted.

--Clothes line in the backyard has been setup.

--House and office have been blessed!

--2 worm bins have been setup and the worms are doing well.

--1 pineapple sage, 1 Mexican sage, and 1 rosemary bush have been planted in the backyard.

--2 blueberry and 2 black berry bushes have been planted along drive way.

--1 4x4 raised bed box has been built.

--Some muscadines have been picked by friends.

--Someone from Lowe's is coming out to give us an estimate on the front/side gate.

We are excited and busy!