August 2007...This is a zucchini growing on the strawbales. Mostly a flop. Won't do that again.
August 2007. Wildflower field. Very pretty, but the grass is growing faster than the wildflowers. Gotta do something different next year. 1/2 acre is too much to have to weed!
This was the orchard area after I cleared the corn stubble. Before it was tilled....probably fall of 2005
This is March 2007. You can see the small fruit trees and clover ATTEMPTING to grow. There are currently 10 trees....apple, pear, peach, plum and cherry.
March 2007. Building a raised strawberry bed. To the left is a 50' row of thornless blackberries, to the right are 10 rhubarb, 2 elderberry, and 2 blueberry. Behind the "berry patch" you can see where the garden was last year.
These two pictures show me trying to fill the raised strawberry bed. I cleaned out the chicken coop. One 8X12 chicken-coop's-worth of "mulch" (to say it politely) will fill a 3x16 raised bed, top-dress 50' of blackberries, 10 rhubarb, 2 elderberry, and 2 blueberry plants, and still leave enough left over for a shovel-full for each fruit tree!
I should probably build a new raised bed every year when I clean out the coop!
The ground was too muddy to use a wheelbarrow, and the tractor is at home (good place for it!), so I literally "toted" all the mulch one tote at a time.
Picture taken late April. This will eventually be orchard, garden and grass! Pretty bleak right now. You can see the electric line and well casing in this picture.