Local Gems - Soil Born Farms

Soil Born Farms is a local farm nestled in the middle of the city of Rancho Cordova. Started in 2000 when two ambition but inexperienced organic farmers received permission from the landowner to farm her property in exchange for produce.

Currently they produce food for local purchase and to provide food for Loaves and Fishes, and other charities. They have apprenticeships which teach organic farming as well as numerous classes in various scales of farming, processing and utilizing the fruits of their labors and how to run your own small farm.

"The goal of the apprenticeship program at Soil Born Farms is to provide a training ground for aspiring farmers by teaching the basic concepts and practical applications of organic food production. It is also our goal to teach Apprentices to use agriculture as a platform to see how food systems tie into the larger social issues of food security, social justice, and public health."

Events and Class Schedule

I have personally taken several classes on the farm and have yet to be disappointed in the knowledge and friendliness of the staff and instructors there.

"This beginning farmer and gardener training program designed to provide knowledge and hands-on experience to the aspiring urban grower."

2140 Chase Dr, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
(916) 363-9685

The Garden Goes In - Part 2

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul." ~ Alfred Austin

There is an art to gardening that I feel surpasses my understanding... When I go to a museum, I don't sit and stare at any one thing for hours basking in the nuances of color, texture, medium, canvas, or stroke.... I look at something, determine almost immediately whether I like it or not, and unless there is something immensely interesting about it, I tend to move on in about 15 minutes or so.  I am not artistic or creative, and I rarely have the time or patience for detailed work.  When it comes to gardening, the plants either get tough or die...

That being said, I know the basics... plants like to be planted at certain times of the year, and "x" number of inches apart, etc. Armed with my handy dandy planting schedule specific for my area, because I am not clever enough or determined enough to pour through endless info about "zones" for each plant, etc. (just did an internet search and a few came up, so try that if you don't have one for your own area) I dug through the many different kinds of seeds I had purchased over the years, or received from my mother in law who had a seed of the month club.

Now remember when I said that while I am trying to get my life to as natural a state as possible, I don't always have the money or time to go around hunting for and purchasing organic everything... The same can be said for my seeds... these are things I already had and I don't waste much, however if you are just starting out I highly recommend looking for non-GMO seeds, and heirloom/organic seeds whenever possible. I do believe that these will yield higher quality and better for your foods, even though anything you grow at home yourself is already heaps better than anything you will buy in the supermarket, labeled organic or not.

According to my planting schedule, the only plants that should be planted in our area at this exact time of year (2nd half of July) is head lettuce... I have two varieties of old seeds which will probably not sprout, and one variety from my MIL that is new and should produce fine.  I have about 2 more weeks before the next seeds should go in the ground, and about 2 weeks (10-14 days) for the lettuce to spout, so whatever doesn't come up by then will get replaces with new crops... I figure that worked itself out nicely and I didn't even plan it that way! :)

 

Angel and I then planted several other plants using old seed start containers and egg cartons... We have carrots, beets, chard, kale, one butternut squash, and broccoli.

In a couple of weeks I will post about how the lettuce did, and how our transplants are coming along... I will also have other seeds to put in the ground... radishes, turnips, potatos, onions, and more...

Resources

https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/wellness/_docs/planting_guide.pdf
http://ucanr.edu/sites/sacmg/files/117117.pdf
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_gardening.html#t9XjQ4XF0kBe5odi.99

Finally... the Garden goes in - Post #1

"There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two. Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own." ~ Ezra Taft Benson

Finally started the garden this morning!! :)  Actually we built the boxes several months ago, but as with most of our projects life and distractions usually have us sidetracked. The boxes were built simply from scrap plywood and 2x4s in roughly 4x4 squars.  We wanted them tall to minimize bending over and crawling on hands and knees and also in an attempt to keep the crabgrass from completely taking over the soil.  

We have 4 of these larger squares and then set up one to be longer and lengthwise for the tomatoes so as to take full advantage of the full sun this area receives all day long.  In order to save money on soil, we had two strategies.  One was to fill the bottom of the planter boxes with straw bails.

Side note on straw bails... do NOT make the mistake of asking for hay bails.. they cost more than twice as much.  I found this out the hard way.  Our wedding was cowboy themed and our reception hall was to be decorated with straw bails. I had purchased them before to decorate for a Halloween party one time and they cost around $5 per bail, when I called for the wedding I accidentally asked for hay bails and they wanted $20+ per bail!!! I was in a panic because I didn't want to spend that much, even though I new I would be using it in the chicken coop later. I couldn't understand the huge difference, and it took a couple of phone calls before one of the vendors finally asked me what I wanted it for and kindly told me that I wanted STRAW bails not hay bails. :) It still makes Caveman laugh to this day because I didn't know there was a difference.

Another way we were going to save money and a reason why it took so long, was that Caveman had planned to buy the soil at a discount from a local company by a truckload full instead of spending more than double to buy bags from the store. While waiting on soil the sink in our kitchen began to leak something awful every time we ran the faucet and I got tired of treading on water puddles whenever the kids finished loading the dishwasher.  

Instead of putting a nice new sink in our crummy old counter, we began work on the kitchen remodel we had put off for 6 years.  Several weeks into that project and I really had no hand in it myself, so I told Caveman I was just going to buy enough dirt to fill one box so I could get SOMETHING of a garden started... Well as usually happens when I say I want to do something contrary to what Caveman had planned, things start moving forward! ha!

Here is our lovely pile of soil compost with two of our more lovely children industriously shoveling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow load of the stuff and we dumped it into the first box.

We made the mistake of filling the first box without wetting any of the layers of soil... so learn from that mistake, because once we got it full it took allot of effort and mixing to get the water to sink in and drain properly. Rather it floated on the top for a bit and my son had to stab and stir the soil with a rank handle.

After that first box, I decided to water each layer of soil as they went into the boxes and that worked out much better. Caveman and my son raked out the layers as they went in and mixed the soil to get it all nice and moist and ready to take seeds and plants.

Actually, my sons fancies himself more of a supervisor, but he still did an exceptional amount of work. :) Everyone did so much work this morning.  It was really gratifying working along side my children and husband getting something accomplished together as a family that will benefit us all.

So, there you have it!  Garden soil is in and ready to go.  Going to plant some seeds tonight and see what we can still get out of this summer and looking forward to trying some winter crops.  If you have a home garden or small farm plot, please post your comments, and ideas below! :) Part 2 - The Planting coming soon!

"If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If we chew every morsel of our food in that way we become grateful and when you are grateful, you are happy." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Resources

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/ezrataftbe556162.html#bh3V0qDZJ15qidJJ.99

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/soil.html#wTulscMQZEH8ckyw.99

The Hen House

This is our chicken tractor. Yes it is on wheels and when Caveman made it (5 years ago) we could pull it around the yard so the chickens could have access to newer weeds and bugs and the area where they messed could air and dry out and grow new weeds. :)

Having chickens was Caveman's idea... having lived his young life raising animals for food, it was an experience he was eager to share with our own kids before they became too old to appreciate it. We started off with 5 chickens, 2 Dutch Welsummers, 1 Buff Orpington, and 2 Cinnamon Queens.  We had a Silky but I can't remember if that was from the first batch or the second...

We have gone through several incarnations of chicken demographics and coop locations.  Shortly after we started this project we discovered that they could be set free in the yard and left to their own devices.  They roosted and laid eggs in the coop but for the day they wondered the yard and ate bugs and weeds.

When I got my Aussie Sheppard Fergie, we discovered that aside from being a herding animal, she had an affinity for catching and eating chickens!! So.. for 2 years we had built them a bigger fenced in area that they could call their own, and also trained Fergie to not eat chickens by hitting her unceremoniously about the head with her last feathered meal which we were lucky enough to catch her with.  She didn't much care for that admonishment, and so has not eating a chicken since... (still haven't figured out how to keep her from the rabbits, as we are not inclined to sacrifice one for training purposes, so we keep them fences off... more on that project at a later time.)

Currently we have 36+ chickens, 11 of which are meat chickens which will jump into jars as soon as they are full grown, and whatever roosters are in the bunch will also be culled and we will keep all the new young egg layers, both White Leghorns and Buff Orpingtons. Probably 10 all together...

We have found the buffs to be exceptional layers and Caveman really wants a bunch of leghorns, presumably because they are also good layers, but I think mostly because he wants to be a chicken hawk...

Meet Barnaby!

Caveman and I regularly talked about getting a larger animal.  Now in case you didn't know, we live in an old suburban house on a double lot.  Caveman says we don't even have a full acre of land, I am not sure, but our yard seems big enough to me. :)  We currently have a rabbit warren,

chicken pen, and a vegetable garden in the yard (more on all of those later) but there are enough weeds to keep a large animal happy for a while. At least until butchering time.

Enter Barnaby....

I asked my friend at work, she lives in Dixon, CA and has property and just so happened to know a family that raised a bunch of goats. Perfect! We need a goat to eat all our weeds so our dog, Fergie, doesn't get fox tails up her nose again (those hurt and they are expensive!).

Picking out Barnaby was allot of fun! Let me preface with the fact that my personality is such that when I get an idea I want to do it now! so Friday after work, my husband and I drive over to the gals farm.  She has pigs, 6 goats, 1 cow, and some chickens... I find myself envious of her large property and the fact that she gets to stay home and tend to the house and the animals.

So here I am in my skirt and heels walking through the dirt clods and going into the gate with these 6 goats (the cow stay off in the distance, apparently sensing we are looking for the meatiest morsel). The goats crowd around us, having been bottle fed, they are very tame and looking for food.  I tried hopelessly to fend of 3 of the goats trying to headbutt me and/or eat my skirt, while Caveman made up his mind which one will hop in the back of the pick-up.

Once we get one picked out, our gracious hostess offers us a dog carrier to take the goat home in. Caveman is dubious, "he grew up on a farm and they NEVER transported goats in dog crates, it couldn't possibly work", but we convince him to give it a shot and lo and behold.... he fit fine (wish now that I had got a picture of that!).

As soon as we got him home, my youngest immediately names him Barnaby. With only a little halfhearted protest from my 17 year old, Barnaby became the goats name.

A bit of history...

Let me start my blog with a little bit of history... I have always been interested in gardening, nature, herbalism, home remedies and the like, I had never really had the means to perhaps the focus to really do much about it.  All these ideas that run through my brain (did I mention I am a Gemini?) , and I would start up one thing, and then get distracted with another.. "squirrel!!".My husband, we will call him Caveman, not because he is paleo, but because he is old fashioned in allot of ways, and because I truly believe he would hit me over the head with a club and drag me off into a cave if he thought he could get away with it! haha! :) We moved in together in 2008, and shortly after that, he lost his job as a truck driver due to the downturn in construction. At that time, my husband decided to build a garden, to keep himself busy and to help supplement the family (we had 4 children still at home at the time) with fresh produce. We had more zucchini and swiss chard than we knew what to do with, our peppers were sad, and our tomatoes flourished.Much to our relief, Caveman found another job shortly after he got the garden in, but he had been out of work for 6 months. This was an eye opening time for us on many levels and we began to focus on gardening and food stores. This was at the beginning of the recession and jobs were tenuous.  We didn't think we could survive if either one of us lost our job again. Having a food storage supply made us feel more comfortable and it was nice to have things always on hand. Caveman built a FIFO from scratch in our office just outside the pantry which works wonderfully. I will post pictures and direction on later.

The following year we decide to get some chickens. I firmly believe that if your raise your own animals your guaranteed healthier food to eat, and I love home grown free range eggs. It is a great idea!

Youngest made us a scare crow!