Gooseberry Creek Farm

The Perfect Wedding

May 17, 2018May 17, 2018 gooseberrycreekfarms

I always wanted a simple, outdoor, country wedding. I’d dreamed of it, the colors, the dress and, of course, the man standing at the end of the aisle for years. However, after my husband and I had been dating a while, I quickly realized that he had always dreamed of a church wedding. At first I was a little disheartened, but I have always held the opinion that the wedding is as much the groom’s as it is the bride’s. So I decided to search the beautiful world Pinterest for “Church Weddings.” There, I quickly warmed to the idea of the simple, undecorated, white churches as I scrolled the pages.

We are members of a small section of the Christian denomination known as “Missionary Baptist” and have been all my life. If you aren’t familiar with us, we have loud preachers, song services that could rattle window panes, and (conveniently) little white churches dotted all over the countryside. Note that I said “countryside”… I could still have my country wedding! My mother and I drove and drove looking at those churches in our area. She would send me pictures while I was away, and if I liked the outer appearance, we would attend church there the following Sunday to see the inside.

When I finally found a church I loved, undecorated, it had something a little extra special; honestly, I don’t know why it wasn’t one of the first I chose to look at. Goodson Missionary Baptist church had been my grandfather’s home church for years. In fact, his photo was still up on the bulletin board near the church doors decorated with pictures of military men they prayed for throughout World War II. What wonderful symbolism for my grandparents (who’d long since passed) attending one of the greatest days of my life. I still get goose bumps thinking about it exactly 3 years later today

What about my wedding dream, you ask? We had a simple, outdoor, country reception. We compromised. His dream became mine and mine became his until this wedding became OURS. OUR wedding was catered to US; a simple, inexpensive wedding with all the people we loved most invited. It wasn’t traditional to a T, but we enjoyed ourselves, had fun and look back on it with warm hearts.

Sometimes the things that we always thought we wanted, end up not being the things we need or the things that end up being the most amazing. Compromising can result in one of the greatest days of your life. Not to mention that it is an awesome way to start off marriage and sets the tone for the relationship. My husband’s wish for his wedding day and my wish for mine combined to make something awesome that day. It symbolically marked the beginning of an official “Us.” The perfect wedding results in joining two hearts in love and all their ideas, hopes and dreams. And I’ll tell you what, that church wedding was perfect.

Green Thumb

Terracotta Herbs

May 11, 2018May 22, 2018 gooseberrycreekfarms

Planting my annual herbs in my over-sized terracotta pots today sparked my mind to all the reasons I had chosen to raise my herbs in this manner a year ago. Initially, I simply wanted an herb garden I could move indoors in the winter and reap the benefits of my work year-round. I mean, who doesn’t prefer fresh herbs? As I began reading my farming and homesteading books, I quickly realized there were several other advantages.

The first thing I discovered was the dominant personality of mint. Thank goodness I had planted that one in a pot y’all. It apparently has an insane ability to grow… and grow… and grow… until it has taken over an entire bed (or yard) if not constantly put in check. Talk about a pain in the butt!

Given the fact that we have been living with my parents this past year and the resultant lack of “extra” space prevented me from moving my herbs into the house for the winter. So imagine my joy when I discovered that some herbs are perennials and I would not need to move them indoors to have them return the following year. Some of these include:

-Tarragon

-Bay

-Rosemary

-Marjoram

-Lavendar

Now some of these herbs are reported to be “tender” perennials, such as Rosemary and Marjoram. “Tender” meaning they need warmer and/or milder winters to return the following year. However, as a precaution, I decided to move all my terra-cotta pots into the greenhouse for the winter to give them the greatest chance of survival.

I personally didn’t grow Marjoram last year and I never got more than a short sprig of my Rosemary to grow so I cannot attest to how well they return. However, wintering over my terra cotta herb garden in our greenhouse, I found some of the above to have done well and some to have done poorly.

The mint, tarragon, summer savory,chives and thyme all wintered over phenomenally. In fact, when we went to start seeds in early spring, the tarragon was already about 6 inches tall y’all! The mint had a few green leaves on it, and the chives several green sprigs at the time, but I was fairly certain the thyme and summer savory would have to be restarted. But My mother and I kept watering and monitoring and soon we found a few green shoots arising from the dead tangles. So, lesson learned, don’t give up on your perennials too soon folks.

Since Sage is woody and appears to be a more hardy herb I had assumed it would do well, but it did not come back as I had hoped. As for the oregano, I had a difficult time getting it to grow last year (though once it got a start it was proliferative) so I was none too surprised when it was determined to remain a dead mass of leaves.

So I had to reseed both sage and oregano in addition to my favorite annuals: cilantro, parsley, basil and dill. Regardless, I’ve learned something I didn’t know before and will be able to add that information to my homestead journal for future trial and error.

For anyone with a hankering to grow, I highly recommend starting off with an herb garden. Even in the city you can grow one indoors in small pots with saucers. Those I’ve found to be easiest to start and grow indoors are: basil, thyme, cilantro and parsley.

I don’t know about you, but I love me some seasonings and I’m so excited to move my herbs back to our sidewalk. I’m so excited to, once again, have easy access to fresh herbs all summer long.

Gettin' Those Ducks in a Row

Book Club

April 26, 2018May 17, 2018 gooseberrycreekfarms

One of my recent reads, The Do It Yourself Homestead, recommended holding a monthly book club to increase community, help one another learn new skills and share ideas gleaned from books. I personally love this idea and have a few friends who are interested in doing so with me. However ours will be more as a group message instead of an in person experience due to being separated by several states. I’d love to start something local as well so that we could get together for some hands on skills but I’m so excited to start regardless!

The book I mentioned above includes a suggested monthly book for 1 full year of book club with an activity that ties along with each book. I love this idea for the in-person book club, but for our case I just created a list of those I wanted to read most. Since we are starting in May instead of January I will include suggestions from the selection I’ve already read for the first 4 months of the year.

January: Welcome to the Farm, by Shaye Elliot

February: The Backyard Homestead, edited by Carleen Madigan

March: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen

April: The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, edited by Gail Damerow

May: Gaia’s Garden, by Toby Hemenway

June: Root Cellaring, by Mike and Nancy Bubel

July: The Homemade Pantry, by Alana Chernila

August: Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Ellix Katz

September: The Organic Canner, by Daisy Luther and C. Morgan

October: Beyond Basics with Yeast, by Melissa Richardson

November: The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, by Jennifer Kujawski and Ron Kujawski

December: The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, by David Asher and Sandor Ellix Katz

I, personally, am going to aim to read more than one a month as there are a LOT of books I’d like to read before we get our own farmhouse and outbuildings built, as well as before we start adding to our farm animals and food production. For those I do get read, I will be more than happy to share some information on and provide you with a link!

I may be the biggest nerd in the planet, but I find reading these books to be addictive. In fact, the more material I read, the more reading suggestions I’m given on various topics. I will probably never get all the information read that there is out there, especially before our home is built. But you better bet I’m going to keep striving for it.

Fur, Feathers, Fluff and Fuzz, Popular, Poultry

My Case for Fluffy Chickens

April 22, 2018February 21, 2019 gooseberrycreekfarms

Not that anyone has denied me a fluffy chicken (yes, I know they are also known as Silkies, I just like the term “fluffy chicken” more). In fact, I have a very wonderful mother-in-law who has volunteered to buy me multiple fluffy chickens and a mother who is willing to house said chickens on her property until we have a home and outbuildings of our own in which to put them. Nevertheless I NEED a fluffy chicken. And here is why:

1. First and foremost, I love a good laugh and have you SEEN a fluffy chicken? I’m pretty sure my sister-in-law thought I was bonkers when we visited them in North Carolina and I couldn’t stop my uncontrollable giggles when I saw her neighbor’s fluffy chicken. I didn’t even know such a creature existed and I grew up on a farm folks. Watching all that fluff bob up and down each time the chicken scratched, stepped, or,oh my, when it ran… I could NOT stop watching that chicken guys. If we were outside, my eyes were on the chicken. So point numero uno… who wouldn’t keep one around just for humor’s sake?

2. Apparently these fluffy chickens are extremely difficult not to love. According to the writer of The Do It Yourself Homestead, she is not easily attached to farm animals… and she loved those little guys. They ALL did. Furthermore, one of co-worker’s sons wants a fluffy chicken so badly that he did a report for school on the topic. His intent was to persuade his parents, but it was his teacher that went out and bought a fluffy chicken after his presentation. See? Lovable.

3. I don’t know if you’ve ever owned a Banty rooster or chicken, but folks the ones we had were mean. These fluffy chickens are of the Bantam category… but guys… they are friendly. Even the roosters are, not only, gentle with their ladies but with their owners as well! They even like to cuddle. Who wouldn’t want to cuddle with a fluffy chicken?

4. As an ornamental aspect, these chickens are sure to please (or at least entertain) any visitor you have to your hobby farm or homestead. Additionally, bantam chickens mean bantam-sized eggs! Kids, and people in general, LOVE tiny things. I mean there are whole YouTube channels devoted to those people that cook on working dollhouse sized stoves. Speaking from experience, the daughter of one of our friends prefers our “chocolate eggs” (particularly the ones with “polka dots”) over the white store-bought eggs. Imagine how she’d feel about mini-eggs! Novelty eggs anyone? I see a niche in the making.

5. For more practical applications… these chickens are notoriously broody. This means they will sit an egg til it hatches. You can use their natural broodiness to your advantage if your other standard-sized ladies are less than desirable sitters. You can simply tuck your standard-sized fertilized eggs under her bum and you’re golden! As long as they fit, she can sits.

6. Another practical use… not only are they good sitters, they are good mothers. Instead of having to worry about your new chicks drowning themselves in the waterer or wandering too far in the yard, getting lost in a stand of grass when you aren’t looking… there’s a literal mother hen for that. You, of course, still need to provide clean water, food and shelter. But that fluffy momma will take care of everything else.

Fluffy Chickens… who knew?

Popular, Where the Heart Is

Inquiring Minds

April 20, 2018May 17, 2018 gooseberrycreekfarms

For inquiring minds:

Many of my friends have asked me in various different ways what “homesteading” and/or “hobby farming” is all about. I honestly never really thought about exactly what they meant when I started wanting to do this. I gave it some thought and to me “homesteading” means creating a home that relies on less of the outside world than a typical home. It also means, to me anyway, building a certain home atmosphere of hard work and a love to raise and grow.

As far as the term “hobby farm” goes.. my husband and I ENJOY this. It is a hobby to us and we have no intentions of making enough of anything for mass production. We would only like to produce enough for ourselves, gifts for our family and friends and sell whatever we have that is extra. Perhaps at a local Farmer’s Market… maybe on here, who knows! However, these questions also got me thinking about what the true definitions of these terms were. So I’ll start off with the term “homesteading.”

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of “homestead” is: “1 a: the home and adjoining land occupied by a family. b. an ancestral home. c. HOUSE . 2: a tract of land acquired from the U.S. public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating the tract” Well folks, we sort of fall into all. Our homestead doesn’t have a house, yet. It is currently in process. However, it will be a house, it will be occupied by my family, and it was land owned by my family as far back as I know. As for the second definition, we my not have obtained it from the government, but we obtained it from my parents with the intention to live on and cultivate the land.

A more meaningful definition of homesteading, gleaned from “The Do It Yourself Homestead,” is gaining self-sufficiency. Tessa Zundel talks about many different ways to become self sufficient in this book and that homesteading does not mean that you have to be ENTIRELY self-sufficient (which is nigh impossible). It simply means that you are striving for personal freedom in some capacity. Whether it be with energy production, produce production, meat production … really it could be anything! This definition also fits us, as we would love to know where most of what we consume comes from.

As for “hobby farm,” the Google Dictionary defines it as: “a small farm operated for pleasure or for supplemental income rather than for primary income.” Well, if this isn’t us… I don’t know what is. My husband is going to school full time with his GI Bill and I work full time at a small clinic near my home town. He may not love school and he won’t be doing that forever, but I LOVE my job and don’t think I’d ever be able to completely leave it. Regardless, I doubt the farm will ever be a primary income and we certainly find pleasure in growing green things and tending farm animals.

So there you have it! “Homestead” and “hobby farm” may not necessarily be interchangeable terms in every situation, but with our humble abode they co-exist quite nicely. Any other questions you all have, shoot them my way! I have no problem answering them, in fact, I usually learn something new myself when I do!