Farmgirl

Blooming in the Appalachian mountains...

Creating a permaculture paradise living in tune with nature... one season, one little step at a time.  We started this journey in the city with fruit trees, vegetable seeds, and 3 chickens in the backyard!  Eventually, we sold our postage stamp lot and ranch style home in the city and bought the farm (a few acres in the country).  However, we had to start over with the permaculture crops because our new property had no fruit and nut trees and only a few wild blackberry canes.  The city home we sold had several producing fruit trees so now we wait longingly for the new trees on the farm to mature and bless us with their sweet bounty.  The prior owners were horse lovers, not gardeners!  Last year, we brought in a dump truck load of mushroom/horse manure compost and starting planting seeds.  :o)  We have planted apples, cherry, pear, peach, apricot, pecan, and walnut trees as well as blueberry and raspberry bushes.... though no harvest yet from any of those.  We did have a successful vegetable garden last summer and learned to preserve our harvest by making salsa, pickled peppers, pickled cucumbers, pickled eggs, tomato jam, blackberry jam, and frozen peppers.  We are learning all of this right along with our children!

Our latest project was my husband's home brew beer and it is very tasty.  Now it's time to plant more grapes (we lost the one we planted last year) in hopes of having grapejuice for the kids and homemade wine for the adults.
 
Inspiration and Resources:
A visit to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello last summer
The Survival Podcast (http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/)
Max-Flex Fence (http://maxflex.com/)
MaryJane's Farm (http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/)
Urban Homestead (http://urbanhomestead.org/)
Freedom Gardens (http://freedomgardens.org/)
Garden Girl (http://www.gardengirltv.com/)
Mother Earth News (http://www.motherearthnews.com/)
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (http://rareseeds.com/)
Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/)
Seeds of Change (http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.aspx)

Related Reading:
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway
Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier
The Man Who Created Paradise by Gene Logsdon
Barnyard in Your Backyard by Gail Damerow
Food not Lawns by H.C. Flores
You Can Farm by Joel Salatin
Family Friendly Farming by Joel Salatin
Continuing the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing
Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars by Sharon Lovejoy
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall