just want to say hi

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Country Style Homesteading : One Thread

ive lurked around both Country Side and Backwoods home for a few years now, but dont post much. I most likely wont post to much here either but im around. Just wondering about your gardens? what you all have planned i am going to try "square foot Gardening" this year. granted every year i start a garden i get envolved in to many other things and the garden suffers. i'm hoping this method will help me out a little. What other things do you have planned? I had enough money to order me a hobby flux mig wielder this year( always wanted one and it was on sell) and my plan is to try to build me a recumbent bike for my own use as well as one for my wife. Also i want to say that so far i have enjoyed this site

P.S. and i was just wondering where you are all from? As i have noticed that there are a few of us Kansans here. Im in Manhattan KS trapped in a trailer court wishing for more then 10 ft to my next door neighbor. :>(

-- Mike in KS (mhonk@kscable.com), February 27, 2002

Answers

Phil and I are just south of Osawatomie, which is south of Paola, which is south of Olathe, which is south of KC..... We're on 40 acres, and are loving it! :-) Mike - looks like you need to move south! Come on down, dude!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), February 27, 2002.

Hello Mike,

I used the "Square foot" gardening method when I did not have very much space to garden, It works well! If you have space though, I would recommend wide row...as the yeilds are much better.

I am from the Missouri Ozarks!

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.


Hi Mike!! Always nice to meet a man with a welder! Poor Hubs wishes he'd never bought his, I'm sure; with all the ways I come up for him to use it! Silly man thought he was just going to be welding "guy stuff"!

I live in E. Central Illinois on a small (30 acre) farm. I started square foot gardening back in the 80's (wide rows before that) but had about a 6 year hiatus of regular row gardening before I got back into it in 2000. Pop (my father, who lives with us) doesn't understand why I want to grow grub in little bitty boxes when I've got 30 acres; but he's getting used to it now! I have 657 sq feet more or less in productive area right now; adding another 256 sq ft (16 4'X 4' beds) this year. You'll be amazed at what all you can grow in a tiny area! I'm helping a friend at work design a square foot garden to go against the wall of her garage - an area 32" wide by 18' long - she can't believe what all she can fit in! Do you plan to use raised beds? She plans to outline her bed with concrete blocks, and plant strawberries and petunias in the holes in the blocks - pretty and productive. What all do you hope to grow?

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), February 27, 2002.


Id love to have a few acres to have a bigger garden a few critters a small shop ect. We just dont have the means and it might be a while before we do. untill then i can just dream and do the things that i can. after reading muy post i dont think i gave you that much about me. so here is a few more things. I have at this point two hives im hoping to split to two more here soon. Ive been playing with bees for a couple years now but this is the first year ive had both hives survive the winter so im happy. I love old International Harvesters mainly scouts, hopfully soon we will be the proud owners of a 69 ish travelall. but only time will tell. and id love to have enough land that i can run around buck butt naked and not worry about what the neighbors have to say. lol there is more but i got to go do the dishs Mike

-- Mike in KS (mhonk@kscable.com), February 27, 2002.

LOL - Dude, you'll scare the chickens! :-)

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), February 27, 2002.


Know the "trapped in a trailer court" feeling! 3yrs ago hubby & I move out of a trailer court and on to 2.5 acres. Beening new to my life long dream of country living and finances being the way they are small acreage was better than nothing. I have a 24 X 24 area for a garden. I've always have had a garden (mostly small) where ever I've lived. But last year was the first time for that size as will as for using raised garden boxes. Loved the garden boxes!! Most of the veggies I planted did well (tomatoes, cumumbers, sweet peas, okra, corn, onion, hot peppers), except the gardener (me), wasn't mentally prepaired for the abundance of what I had planted. Thank goodness the green beans, 3 varieties of squash, 2 varieties of beets, lettuce didn't do so good. LOL. Looking back, I just wanted to plant more than a salas garden. This year, LOL, I know some do's and don'ts. Wishing you the best! Oh, We're down in the SE corner of KS, just out side of the City of Coffeyville.

-- Pam in SE KS (psanford@terraworld.net), February 28, 2002.

Mike, with bees, a welder and wanting to have a garden; you're already way ahead of my neighbors across the road - 10 acres and all they do is walk from the house to the car and back again!

I had a discussion about this a while back on another forum about not feeling like I was using my land to it's potential - mostly time related. I've got lots of ideas..... Keep telling Hubs that once we get the kid through college (5 years, MOL)he can quit work and start "farming". He likes the idea - probably because he doesn't know what he's in for!! I'm thinking bottle calves, feeding out a hog each year, truck patch, resurrecting the old bee hives....

Right now, our livestock consists of 11 hens, a pet bunny, 2 dogs and a kazillion cats - and our lifestyle is two full time (more than full time, in my case) jobs in a town 27 miles away, and a kid in every activity known to man! I feel like I've accomplished quite a lot since I moved back to the homeplace here in winter of '94; but not all of it has been farm related. I'll just be happy to get my gardens finished up so that I can progress on to other things - like fruit trees and raspberries.

It's always the old time vs money thing, isn't it? Not to worry; if you want to get there, you will; and in the meantime, it sounds like you're on the right track!

-- Polly >^..^< (tigger@moultrie.com), February 28, 2002.


Hi, Mike. We are in southern Ohio. I'm not a real active poster, and not really a homesteader - maybe someday. We live in an old house on a half acre in a small town (Georgetown). My main garden last year was 16 by 21 - expanding a bit to 20 by 25 this year. I don't have a lot of experience in gardening but got "Joy of Gardening" a few years ago and have had some luck with wide row planting. Good crop of pole beans last year, too. My wife Lee Ann has a salad garden in two raised beds, and strawberries in another. We planted four apple trees last year (Johnathans) and are patiently waiting for them to get big enough to fruit. I have a sunny lawn space that I'm going to till up when the weather breaks and plant a wildflower patch - that should reduce my lawn mowing time this year.

-- Scott McAlpine (scottmcalpine@juno.com), February 28, 2002.

I am new here also and not really a homesteader. We live on 2 acres in SE PA, a place that once was farm country, but now seems to be growing developments. I have gardened for years,but plan to actually get something out of them this year!! Seems like for the last 10 years kids and their activities has caused my gardening to go downhill. I would really love to move to 11 1/2 acres we purchased last year in NC PA, but since this is not reality, I have vowed to really garden intensively and use it all this year. We had chickens for 8 years, but did not replace them last year. Hope to have chickens and goats in a year or so. My mentality for the last year has been "I can't live here anymore", but now I have decided I am lucky because I can garden and have animals in the midst of this suburban nightmare, so I'd better take advantage of it. We are surronded by 40 acres of woods and farm fields owned by my Father-in- Law, just can't look at the road or the development behind us. Sorry to be windy. I like this forum. Cindy

-- Cindy (CBirder@aol.com), March 03, 2002.

-P.S. and i was just wondering where you are all from? As i have noticed that there are a few of us Kansans here. Im in Manhattan KS trapped in a trailer court wishing for more then 10 ft to my next door neighbor. :>(

I know that trapped feeling myself. I,m originally from Colby, Ks, and now live with my wife and daughter in an apartment in Fife, Washington. Have a busy Interstate on one side, a very busy arterial on the other and we basically live on the edge of a strip mall. Its very discouraging seeing land prices as they are in Pierce and King counties. But I am still looking and hoping for a spread of my own joseph wessel

-- joseph wessel (wes(o)112@hotmail.com), October 14, 2003.



-P.S. and i was just wondering where you are all from? As i have noticed that there are a few of us Kansans here. Im in Manhattan KS trapped in a trailer court wishing for more then 10 ft to my next door neighbor. :>(

I know that trapped feeling myself. I,m originally from Colby, Ks, and now live with my wife and daughter in an apartment in Fife, Washington. Have a busy Interstate on one side, a very busy arterial on the other and we basically live on the edge of a strip mall. Its very discouraging seeing land prices as they are in Pierce and King counties. But I am still looking and hoping for a spread of my own joseph wessel

BTW--If you want to reply, take out the (o)in my e-mail name. I,m just useing that hoping the spammers dont get a clue

-- joseph wessel (wes(o)112@hotmail.com), October 14, 2003.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ