Got a Happy Story is a community gathering every Monday night where we share stories large and small that have put a smile on our face. The Happy Story diary exists as a way to anchor the community in hope and comfort while we do the hard work of maintaining a permanent Democratic majority. Everyone and all sorts of stories and pictures are welcome. Consider this an open thread.
Recently Eddie C contacted me and suggested I write a Happy Story diary. "Any subject", he said,"but perhaps people would like to read about your homestead". He knew I had an extensive garden because I discussed it at a S.F. Kossack meet-up dinner,where I presented everyone with fresh tomatoes. And because I am so invested with the wonderful DKos community I am more than happy to share.
There are variations on this aphorism, but the thought is..given a choice between smart and lucky, choose lucky. We were lucky to find a rural property in Sonoma County 30 years ago when prices were still reasonable; this area was one of the last Bay area counties to become unaffordable, as it is now. What we found is a home and barns, built sometime before 1877. Originally a dairy, the property was carved up through the years and given to the children until what was left was 18 acres and all the buildings.
We had gardened prior to moving here, and we saw this as an opportunity to expand our food-raising (as well as providing a great environment for raising our two kids). We raised pigs, chickens, and beef cows, and for the latter grew and baled oats, such that the beef was raised without off-farm inputs. After these projects Mrs. side pocket turned the place into a successful flower farm, while I had a full time off farm job. Without declaring it exactly, we could see a path to self-sufficiency, as much as possible.
Now we are both retired, and can devote more time to living in a self-sufficient manner, while enjoying life and not having our goals be a burden. Our mild climate allows for gardening year-round. We have a well and spring so that our water is secure. A 3KW solar system on the roof provides all our electricity and more. The car is a Prius. And we heat with wood from the property.
Wood heat, in my opinion, is the most pleasant and comfortable, but it takes a lot of time and energy. It is essential to have a minimal polluting EPA-approved woodstove. It is a completely renewable heat source; we use no oil for heat. For 30 years I cut trees, nearly all of which had fallen on their own (did they make a sound?) and split them by hand. I continually plant more trees, hundreds of redwoods. There are many more trees here than there were 30 years ago. I finally bought a splitter this year; great fun and a good investment. But with stoking the stove, carrying wood, finding kindling, cleaning out ashes, etc., it's difficult to keep a house warm unless one is retired.
The most important element of growing food is good soil and that means good compost. We make all we need by saving every bit of food waste and green plant material and making a huge pile, rain in the winter and watering in the summer gives us great compost after one year. The ashes from the woodstove are added to the pile. To be sure, off-farm material gets added such as banana skins and coffee grounds, so I'm not pure LOL. And speaking of purity, the whole lifesyle would be impossible without fossil fuel, diesel for the tractor and gasoline for all the other farm equipment.
We grow more than 60 kinds of veggies, fruits, and herbs. I won't bore you with the list, but it goes from apples to zuccini. Our main pests are gophers, such that we must plant in lined beds, and deer, scads of the pests creatures, so our garden area is surrounded by an 8 foot fence. We can start the plants in the greenhouse, which we created out of the old milking barn. As much as possible we save seeds from our plants but often what is available is hybrid seed which we use, we are practical, after all.
And what do we do with all this bounty? We eat well; often everything on our plate is from the garden. We give to friends and our grown kids. We freeze a lot. But one of the best storage methods is dehydration Dried apples and pears are like candy. Since I grow literally thousands of tomatoes, my favorite, we make "sun-dried" tomatoes better than any you'll find in a high-end grocery. A good dehydrator is around $100 but you can often find them cheap at yard sales.
Great fun sharing this, now for the pictures:
Navajo diaried my Oct 08 Meet-up
here
Driveway with "Naked Lady" Amaryllis
Mass of snow peas with eggplants, lettuce, and arugula
Potatoes, peppers, and beans. We grew 3 crops of beans.
Yukon Gold potatoes and yellow onion grew huge (that's a quarter at the bottom)
One pole bean in a packet of bush beans. Quality control?
My pumpkin from last year provided seeds...
for this year's giants to come.
Three types of onion, and garlics. The garlic is called Silver Chime
and consists of four huge cloves. Easy to peel.
Tomatoes ready for dehydration.
Done after running all night. Note that my electricity is "free"
Peaches ready to pick. Best to eat them warmed by the sun.
Farm boss Louie checks the Prius.
Heirloom tomato. The Yin and Yang of ripening.
Row of 100 Redwoods I planted 10 years ago.
Deer eating our landscaping (Lilac bushes).
And finally, in honor of Eddie C...
A Pacific ocean sunset