Remembering back 3 years –

YEAR ONE – Bent Pine Farm

Year 1 …and 1/2

So, how did it go?  Garden was good, except…

 

…we went to harvest our second batch of jerusalem artichokes and discovered that they had  started to grow again.  No JA to be had in those mounds, and in just 3 weeks from the first dig!  Florida heat…lesson learned.

 

…fed the Black Soldier Flies too much cracked corn at once and lost them all!   They came back strong about 3 weeks later, fed them a bread fruit and…Zap killed them all again!  The cracked corn must have cooked them and the bread fruit, well, who knew?  Lesson learned.

 

 

…tilapia pool needed a bigger filter  to keep the water clear.  Took the one out of the Duck pond and the waters seems to have cleared a bit.  Tilapia are getting so big now they  jump out when you go near the pool to feed them.  We’re going to put some in the Duck Pond and let the grandkids fish for them!

Need to clear up the water in the pond first…going to try  a spillway approach this time. The pond filter got hit by lightning and blew out the ultraviolet light for killing the algae…one lesson learned and another not yet.

Don’t let anyone tell you that “heat resistant” crops grow in Florida in the summer…it just ain’t so.  The only things we grew all summer were banana peppers and okra.  The sweet potatoes show promise, as well.

 

 

Oh, and cowpeas which we harvest every couple of weeks, dry the peas and use the plants for mulch.

…The Hibiscus bushes are also doing well…be making Sorrel soon from our own plants instead of having to buy the dried Hibiscus blooms.

 

So, year 1 …and 1/2.  Count your blessings and remember…it’s all good.

 

 

 

 

Happy Homesteading,

T.