Grow-Along Week 14

Oh My Gosh!! Hi Everyone!!

So, if you follow us on Facebook, I'm sure you already know the news and the reason the blog update was postponed until today. The ducklings started hatching yesterday and our Nibble has turned out to be a great mama. We are so proud of our girl and she is taking great care of her little charges. We also have a few garden updates to share, but this post will be mostly about the ducklings because they are so cute and wonderful that we just can't help ourselves.

Nibble Duck's Nest Day 21

So, we are now on intense watch on Nibble's Nest as we've reached day 21 on her incubation and we only have between 4 and 7 days before we start to have little ducklings hatching. She lost another egg and is down to 9 now, but we candled all of them tonight and they all show nice big air-sacs and lots of activity from the little ducklings. We used a much stronger light this time since the ducklings are taking up most of the eggs now and it is hard to see with your average flashlight. Check out the 2 new videos of some of the egglets in action! :) Also, keep an eye on our Facebook page since we'll be posting a live duck-house hatch cam within the next day or two as well!

Grow-Along Week 13

Howdy Everyone!

So, I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance since this post is going to be short on descriptions and advice this week. Nate and I have both been fighting a  nasty cold this week on top of the bizarre training schedule we've been on for work. Thankfully though, things are back to normal with our work shifts now that training is done and so far, being Tech Support is pretty awesome. We've got a lot of plants coming up to first harvest as well as some wonderful things getting ready for harvest in the garden.

Grow-Along Week 12

Hello my Loves!

Wow! We made it to week 12!! What an amazing accomplishment for us all! So many plants have grown and flowered and are moving into a state of fruitful abundance. We are so proud of you for your choice to work towards a better, more sustainable lifestyle along with us. Whether you grow your own food on the scale we do, or you just dabble in flower gardens and houseplants, we want you to know that what you are doing is important and wonderful. Give yourself a pat on the back... for real... go ahead... do it! We'll wait... (no really, do it!). There! :) Doesn't that feel good? It is so easy to be so overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of new life in the spring and early summer that we overlook the critical role we play in the magic of nurturing new life of all kinds. Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers, watch the butterflies, and consider how important you actually are to the great web of life that we are all a part of.

Grow Along Week 11

Howdy everyone!

Things just keep on growing here! We hope the weather where you are has turned favorable and that your gardens are plumping up as nicely as ours are! Our weather has been so nice that we've been able to start on a few other homestead projects in addition to the ever important planting and nurturing of crops. With no further ado, check out what we've got going on this week!

Grow-Along Week 10

Howdy folks!

So, it has been a rainy week here which means lots of things are sprouting up and putting all kinds of energy into plumping up and producing. I've been enjoying a little guilty pleasure in the rain since not much can be done outdoors and I've been spending a good bit of time with some good books (seriously good books... hit me up if you want the titles). I did manage to snap some good pics yesterday between rainstorms, so this post might be a little light on pics compared to the last few since rain and cameras don't mix well. ;)

Grow-Along Week 9

Howdy friends!

My goodness! We're at week 9 already!! Can you believe it? We sure can't. So much has been going on that we got a day behind schedule this week and completely forgot to update you all yesterday! We are so sorry about that, but we are delighted to have ongoing great news to share with you all about the growth and progress of our little slice of life on the Micro-Farm. This week brings a lot of new growth on plants as well as some new faces and new projects on the farm.

Grow-Along Week 8

Happy Beltane / May Day everyone!

May is always a turning point for all of our preparations. In just another week, our little tomatoes and peppers will be moving to the raised beds outside and many of our other veggie and fruit varieties will be planted from seed. We are so thrilled to be able to plant all of our gardens with plants we grew from seeds ourselves this year! What are your biggest accomplishments in planning or planting so far?

Grow-Along Week 7

Howdy friends!

The grow-splosion is still going on strong at the Micro-Farm! Green things are popping up everywhere! It is tough to keep up with it all in pictures, but we are trying our best to keep you updated on all the excitement. Spring brings such amazing and busy energy and we just love it!

We have had some friends who are new to gardening ask us for help identifying the seedlings that are popping up in their gardens as weeds or plants that they intentionally planted. So, the biggest focus of today's Grow-Along update will be helping you all to identify your little plantlets by showing you pictures of ours. We hope that our pictures will give you a good representation of what seedlings for common garden varieties look like so that you don't accidentally weed out the good plants.

Grow-Along Week 6

Howdy everyone!

So sorry we are a day late on our update this week! We have had so much going on here at the Micro-Farm that we completely missed our normal Thursday deadline. Plants are sprouting, budding, and flowering everywhere here, our Mason Bees have hatched and emerged, and our Chicken-Brigade is at full egg-laying power. This post is going to be super picture heavy so sit back and enjoy the updates!

Grow Along Week 5

Howdy everyone!

It is finally starting to feel like Spring here in Pennsylvania! We've been busy as bees lately cleaning up beds, planting seeds, planning new gardens, and getting new plants planted and situated. The energy here is amazing! :) As a result of all this, we've got a HUGE update for you all this week and we hope you'll be delighted to see how much is growing here. We would love to see what you are growing as well, so please do send us an email or Facebook message to share your gardening progress. Our goal with this blog and our Facebook page is really to create a community where we can all share ideas, techniques, and hopefully produce (seeds, fruits, veggies, etc) in the future.

Grow-Along Week 4

Our daffodils are about to bloom!

 Howdy everyone!
We've got some super-exciting news today that we just can't wait to share with you all! We're so excited that we can't even wait till after we show you the new pictures from our grow-room! Sarah (that's me) signed up to captain a screening of the new movie, Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds at the Crown Center Stadium 14 Cinema on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 7:30 PM. One of our primary goals at The Dusty Rose Micro-Farm is to achieve as close to a self-sustaining farm as possible. That means that we intend to save our own seed, start our own plants for food, and be able to repeat the cycle indefinitely as many of our ancestors did before us. There are many companies out there in the world of big agribusiness that would prefer to see that seeds be regulated and controlled, patented, modified, and restricted in use. Join us in screening this wonderful documentary that discusses the importance of seed freedom and helps to show us all how we can be involved in making the choice as to what kind of food we grow and consume. The showing is a special one-night-only screening and you do need to reserve your tickets ahead of time. The movie will not be shown if we do not get enough seats reserved for the showing. Book your tickets now (don't worry, your credit card will not be charged until or if we reach the number needed to guarantee the showing) and join us for this special event!!
Reserve your tickets today at: http://gathr.us/screening/7731

Grow-Along Week 3

Hiya folks!

We've got a lot growing on this week that we are excited to show you! First off, we'll be potting up the little tomatoes and peppers from the grow room soon as they are fast outgrowing their seed-starter flat. Many growers agree that tomatoes and peppers should be potted up as soon as they have their second set of true-leaves. However, we are operating on a slightly different method that many growers also swear by. We pot up based on root development. When our little seedlings are showing signs of their roots outgrowing their starter tray, we pot them up to 3" peat pots. Peat pots are, perhaps, not the most sustainable of options as peat is a limited natural resource, but we find them to be perfect for indoor seed starting as they are very forgiving when it comes to watering. Plastic pots tend to take a long time to dry out of if you get heavy handed with the watering can and peat pots are breathable and will dry out much more quickly if you happen to over-water. Peat pots are also compostable, and relatively inexpensive to purchase. Operating on the root-development theory, we expect to pot up our little plants one more time before they go in the ground in May.

Grow-Along Week 2

Happy Spring!! It is finally here! We made it!

So, we're super excited this week to share our growing progress with you. This week confirms a lot of the earlier suspicions that we'd written about when we talked about past seed-starting failures. The combination of excellent soil and a much better growing light have definitely solved our problems!

Two weeks into our seed-starting adventure and we are proud to report that we have a total of 56 little plantlets in our grow-room. We have some that already have their second set of true leaves coming in and they all look so much stouter and heartier than any seedlings we've ever started before! We are simply jumping for joy!

Grow-Along Week 1

Spring daffodils are coming up!

Hi again, Micro-Farm Family!
Welcome to Week 1 of our Grow-Along! We're super excited to announce that we have seedlings to show you! It seems our peppers and tomatoes have sprouted right on schedule and are being rather cooperative for the timeline we set for the Grow-Along updates. Also, we thought it would be fun to have a little contest since we've got a rather unusual plant getting ready to put on a display in our grow-room.

Let's Get Growing!

Can you guess what time it is?

We are excited to announce a new feature on the blog today! But first, just a quick reminder to our friends and followers in Zone 6 - you need to start your seeds for peppers, tomatoes, onions, and other heat-loving plants this week if you haven't done so already! (Find your growing zone here!) This week puts those of us in Zone 6 at the critical seed-starting time for plants that need a long warm season in order to fruit. You'll want to get seeds started for those types of plants now to ensure that they have approximately 8 weeks of grow-up time to be ready to plant as soon as the first frost date has passed. If you start the seeds too late, your plants won't have enough time to set fruit and produce before the cool season starts again in the fall. Also, pea planting will be just around the corner! My Pap-Pap Jack always planted his peas on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) to ensure the best harvest as peas should be planted outdoors a few weeks before the last frost. 

Moving along, we'd like to give a warm shout-out to our good friend, Mary Jane Bigley who recently commented on our interest poll to let us know that she is very excited to have some land to garden but is looking for some beginner tips and hints. (Hi Mary Jane!!) Her comment gave us the idea to host a grow-along. So, here we go! We now declare an opening to the first annual Dusty Rose Micro-Farm Grow-Along! So, here's how it works. We'll be posting weekly updates on what plants we have started, what varieties we are growing, and share progress pictures of our plants as they grow and fruit. You share your planting/growing progress with us in the comments on our blog, via our Facebook page, or by email and we will feature your pictures and stories once a week in our weekly Grow-Along post! :) The Grow-Along post will be featured on our blog every Thursday. The exciting thing about this kind of community project is that even though some of us live in very different areas, we can all learn from each other and support one another along the way! So... Let's Get Growing!! :)

Preparing for Spring

So, I don't know about you, but I'm SO ready for spring to get here!

Here in Southwestern PA, the last couple of months have been a weather roller-coaster. We've had everything from 60° and sunny to -12° and icy. I don't know about you, but I sure am ready for sunshine, longer days, and warmer weather.

This time of year I always start to get anxious and tend to jump ahead of myself (and Mother Nature!) on my spring planting. The feed stores and hardware stores have started stocking seeds and growing supplies, and I find it so hard to avoid jumping in headlong and getting started right away. I just keep reminding myself that plants started indoors this time of year will outgrow their pots far too soon and it will still be too cold to move them outside by the time they do.

Ladies, meet your new best friend...

Ok, so this post is for the ladies. Seriously... guys, this is your fair warning. This post contains frank discussion about women's monthly cycle and an awesome product that I want to share with all my sustainability loving ladies. If you don't want to read about this kind of thing, I encourage you to stop reading now and perhaps check out one of our other blog posts... perhaps one of our Everyday Herbal posts. :)

You still reading?

Ok... last chance... the real post starts after the break...

Everyday Herbalist

Starting the first week in February, I will be doing a monthly post about herbs that can be grown or found in our gardens or yards (or neighbor’s yards) and that can be easily used in our everyday lives.This blog series will look at how to correctly identify the plant, how to collect it for use, how to grow it in your own garden, how to prepare it for use, and what it can be used for.

I will be introducing a new herb the first week of every month and will continue to post about it throughout the month. If you have questions about the herb we are talking about please feel free to post a comment and I will provide an answer and further discussion. If there are any herbs that you want to know more about please comment on those as well so that I can either provide what I know about it or find out that info for you.

As a little bonus, here is a sneak-peek about preparation and uses of some of the herbs we will be talking about! This past holiday season, we made an herbal salve that we put into lip balm tubes to give out with our Yule presents. The herbal salve was made from dried herbs that were heated in olive oil and then combined with melted beeswax. The herbs used in our salve were Chickweed, Plantain, and Comfrey root. Chickweed will help with cuts, burns (minor), rashes, and eczema. Plantain will help with sunburns, stings, insect bites, snakebites, poison ivy breakouts, rashes, burns, blisters, and cuts. Finally, Comfrey root, because of it's high allantoin content, makes cells grow faster and speeds the whole healing process along. The three plants individually would work well enough (especially the Comfrey) but together they make a well rounded salve for most cuts, burns, bug bites, and stings all in an easy to carry tube. I have already heard a few success stories from the friends that we have given them to who were quite surprised at how quickly their cuts have healed up after using our salve! (Most have reported a huge success using the salve for the dry winter cracks around fingernails and knuckles).

So, keep a lookout for the new blog series that will be coming out in the beginning of February! I hope that you will all find this information useful and engaging, and I hope that it will inspire you to get out in your yard and garden to see what you can do to help yourself in making a healthier you.