When January rolls around each year it’s time to think about goals for the coming year. This year is no different. While many of the goals continue year to year it’s a good idea to set a few new ones I order to keep moving forward.
Out in the garden, a few new varieites will be tried out to continually settle on a standard set of crops. Last year’s Pak Choi and Napa cabbage worked out well and they’ll get another try this year. There are still too many potato varieties being planted so this year will be the finally testing before settling on just a few to grow. Tomatoes are always hit and miss as the season really isn’t the best for them up here but the Hoop House planting help. The asparagus accidental seedlings will be ready to establish an additional bed this year once the location is determined.
The biggest food project will be the new orchards. The soft fruit orchard will get finalized and a few platings added there. Trees need to be cleared for the fruit trees and that will be quite the project. A major part of that will involve fencing the entire area to keep the wild critters out of the young trees. Once the whole area is ready, plans will be made in terms of what to plant and how to lay them out in the space available. Hopefully there will be room to run chickens and the like to keep the weeds and pests under control.
With any degree of luck and time, the “old” farm truck will get done to act as the sales stand as well as for the occasional drive. There’s enough work to do on it that it may not be finally ready until late in the year. Along those lines, the goal is to get the surpluses out in the community to begin building a base for the future. Between eggs and the crops a few sales will help the bottom line.
Both the egg hens and the bantams will be getting some needed attention. The egg flock still doesn’t have the right mix and that will mean raising some chicks for it. Local availability needs to match up with everything else going on around here. The bantams are in the final year of preparing for the breeding flocks in a couple of varieties and there are a few needed purchases if available.
All in all it looks like 2015 will be no different than most years with more ideas than time but hopefully success is in the making.