more pics

bunch o pics of the farm

and here is where it all began:

pina

well i am attempting the pineapple now...here are some recent pics...

but aside that, havent been up to the farm for a bit due to the much needed and super grand rain...although my daughter did not think so...

as far as my mission with farm4kids in the pepsi refresh i have contacted both principals of the schools i am trying to deal with...

i dont know what i am doing wrong with that? does it not sound appealing? i think so...if not ill go community gardening...

so here are the pics...my taragon that i planted thursday are already coming up and so is one cilantro...

7th may 2010

i went up to rural hall with the family, not only to visit the inlaws, but to tend to the farm..i dont know if i could call it a farm...well its a vegetable farm i guess...i just thought farms had to have cows and chickens and stuff...hey, dont laugh...this is my first time...

so i continued to weed, realizing that it was really too hot--which chuck had been telling me all...i got a smidge upset cos everyone is always stopping me from doing too much...i dig it...literally...so evening time we went back to weeding...well i did, and i talked to the ladies and gents...my mother in law said we should play music while out there...no need, cos i do enough, with my mp3 on...

the bean poles are upsetting me, well the bug or pest that is making holes all over the leaves...settled for soapy water...chuck transplanted the last of the corn seedlings we had in the mud room..

i killed my basil and cilantro...at least i think so, but that is completely my fault...they were also in the mud room, they were way past the germination time...thought it would be good with some sun...i kept the soil moist but i guess it was just way too hot...so i will just container garden them here...they need extra tlc...

so after that we basically finished up for the day...we now have 3 barrels to make irrigation with rain water...we have a rain barrel for my rose and the seedlings here...

oh i forgot to mention rosa...i have had her for over 2 years now, and i thought she was dead like twice...but she budded and continues to...used soapy water cos something was eating her..now she is happy, the most beautiful roses, light pinkish lavender...i sheared the bigger ones off and put them in a vase inside...

i just realized that in the 2 years i have had rosa i had never done that...might as well brighten up the room...

i also have two plants in my mud room...one is clarabelle...she was bought for my daughters science project but only a few leaves were used...so she thrives next to ferngully...i am not sure what either plant is, but i am super surprised that ferngully made it so long...to be honest i was not into the whole watering and taking care of, but did it...lets just say not daily...

but now i care...i lost too many years not doing this...i can not wait for the crops to come up...even if i loathed the veggie, i will love it now...its mine...raised by us...

oh, mai's future middle school returned my call after a week about a farm on the land...it used to be a farm...it sure does smell like one...so i call her back and leave a detailed message but no response...i have been at mai's school for lunch...they have "healthy" choices..which is usually mixed salad...but the veggies usually remain on all lunch trays...snack chips with no choice of any healthy things...i want to do a private little survey on how many kids get what...to have some numbers...and her elementary school is much more into it than the middle school...well they will be jealous when i do it for the elementary school, then they would want it...(they are right next door)

alright that is enough...good day!

7th may 2010

7th may 2010

7th may 2010

7th may 2010

wednesday

ok lost was amazing last night but i cant write about it here so check out www.helsmusic.blogspot.com for that...

as for today went out to weed the land...i got 5 rows done and my mom made me stop...seriously she said it was too much for one person to do...so that babysitter is out...mai was the same way...its kinda hard keeping an eye on a baby while plowing and weeding and stuff...

i will figure it out...tomatoes look good...so do some squash and kentucky pole beans...but to my surprise some bug or something is messin with my squash and pole beans...its detergent water time...no lie...dont be messing with babies i have grown since seeds...i will take them down but as natural as possible..my farmers tan is becoming more even...although my face is a big giant flame...

well i am set to go back out on friday to finish what i started...with chucks help this time...plus we can get there super earlier than i did with mom and peanut...

also, i have put out my seedlings of basil and cilantro outside cos they are not thriving in the mud room...now my basil is standing up happy...

thank goodness for my rain barrel or we'd be spending tons of water...we need that set up on the farm cos we tend to run the well dry and that is not cool either...

bye bye for now

well thus far, these are my babies growing...the first pic is corn babies...they just came up this weekend...well all three did...the second is garden pole beans...and the last is pumpkins...i also have cilantro, basil, and peppers still growing...little by little...i am kinda digging this...ha..digging..

well chuck has been taking care of the tilling and putting the transplants in...he has created his own rows, but thank goodness its only 4 out of 23...so i still have plenty of room...that makes me content...i just have to go up to the area when chuck is working, so i can go crazy...well no i dont want to do that either...

i am just content that they are growing..i will continue notebook farming with my seedlings...goodness...just cos i had a kidney procedure 1 week ago, chuck thinks i may need more time to recoop...but i am better than i have been in months..

he's just looking out...so i dont know if people from facebook may think this a farmville blog or something...but this is real!!!

well i am going to end it here for today, just wanted to post some pics!!!

23rd of april

this morning i went up to my ma's house cos chuck was up there tilling, and i at least wanted to get the herbs in...so i went there with intentions that ma could watch peanut and spend a good amount of time with him...

but, alas, it did not work out that way...chuck decided not to teach me to till today...some excuse but i think he believes i will cut off a foot or toe or something...although he wont admit it...so i didnt plant today...just being the regular notebook farmer with my seeds/seedlings in the mud room...the garden pole beans are starting to make way..which is freaky cos it wasnt even a week...maybe i should really start paying more attention to the packets...after all, apparently i do the reading, research, and babies before transplants...

i have sad news...the squash that was happy and all straight lost today...a couple did...number one cos we waited too long and they got too long, so it wasnt working out...but i have faith...i talk to them quite a bit...they need that love too...or my carbon dioxide...whatever, i just have something to talk to...lol...

now i must speak of the genius of jamie oliver and his food revolution...can he come to every town? no he cant so others like him must step in...i adore his mission...though HOMEGROWN didnt come from him...im gonna let you in on it...

well we dont have cable so we are stuck with converter box channels...not bad, but i wish i had more...but such is life..anyhow, while pregnant and then after i watched a bunch of unc-tv which had many shows about mountain life and people thriving on their own...it fascinated me, but i cant see myself living without common necessities like a toilet...well inside the house...

so when ma said we could grow there, i was elated cos chuck and i watched all the unc shows, no lie...its pbs brought to me by unc-tv...

speaking of them, their other channel, unc-ex(i think) is cool..i feel like i can travel anywhere and be like-whats up...i know how it is here cos i watched several shows...if only that were true...

well it is hard keeping up two blogs but i thought it necessary to split my work from me...cos its like two different hel's...

what i have done

hello all, happy earth day!

i am going to break down what i have done thus far...

the first batch of seeds were grown&continue to grow in my back room. i planted them on mar.30th. the seeds were-dixie hybrid squash, cocozelle squash, basil, carnival mix peppers, and cali red & green peppers.

my hybrid squash grew up really big and tall, so they were the first to be planted in the tilled rows(courtesy of my beloved)...there are also tomato transplants out there too.

all the others are still too little, all the others but basil are still kinda small, little plants. although, the basil is doing quite well.

the second batch of seeds include one batch of corn, garden pole beans, & cilantro. oh, how i could i forget pumpkins?

i have to return to the 30by30 yards to straight plant some cool season plants that should be in the ground already. i am glad we did not do this last week, due to a night of frost.

well that is about it for right now. i am taking notes to see what would be best and easiest for young kids and older kids to grow. use of rain barrels is working well, and will continue through the growing season. no need for water waste.

so that is that for now,i have to work a bit on the website, which is located on this page. if you would like to nominate a school in the triad area, there is a link on the webpage for it.

thanks and welcome.

happy earth day!

what a great day to start a blog about my gardening/farming. the main objective here is to recruit farmers with tips, how to's, what not to do, etc. this will also follow me along the way while submitting grants. right now, HOMEGROWN FARMS, is still super new. though i want to take what i have learned and bring it to schools in the area. how many of you grew up learning how to fertilize, and grow veggies or flowers?

when i was growing up in miami, gardening was my mom going to home depot, picking out flowers, putting them where she wanted them to be planted, and left it to me. well to me and my brother but he never helped. so that was about it. there were no seeds, just transplanting already fully grown flowers. i want it to be different for my kids. i hope that this is something we can leave to our kids. how many of you were left something substantial by their parents? i am not sure. i know i didnt. i mean a piece of jewelery or letters is beautiful to have, but land? something that can produce,not only food, but can be the means of their sustinence.

the next post will go more into what i have done thus far, but i wanted a lil background so you know where i am coming from. all tips or tricks will be taken into consideration. the notebook farmer needs all the help i can get.

oh, notebook farmer is a name my husband came up with. basically because everything i am using now, is from books, internet, and plain ol' people buying seed packets. I have to say that my best friend k, has helped me a great deal. eventhough she is a couple states away, her knowledge of ph and where to plant(basic things i should have known)she opened my eyes and helped my green thumb.

thanks for coming along for the ride!