List of useful links

Recently I was asked where I get information to learn about living a self-sufficient life.  Beside our extensive and ever growing library, there are servers full of information out there on the internet.  The list below will be updated on a regular basis, but this list out to get you going.  As you can see, this is a pretty extensive list.  If you have some favorite links and would like to share them, please leave a comment for other to see your input.

The links below cover topic from growing your own food, frugal living, food preservation and storage, self-sufficiency and disaster preparedness.  Some of the links are other folks blogs.  ENJOY


http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/



http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/

http://extension.usu.edu/foodpreservation/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614113

http://www.howtosaveseeds.com/

http://sshomestead.com/

http://solarcooking.org/plans/Plans.pdf

http://www.dehydrate2store.com/

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614124

http://www.seedsave.org/

http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=8&tax_level=1&tax_subject=2

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614131

http://apartmentprepper.com/

http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/

http://www.simple-green-living.com/homesteading-skills.html

http://www.backhomemagazine.com/

http://www.webofcreation.org/BuildingGrounds/aqua/TOC.html

http://www.food-skills-for-self-sufficiency.com/

http://modernsurvivalonline.com/garden-update/

http://www.lehmans.com/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614150

http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm

http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/

http://gardeningtosurvive.blogspot.com/

http://www.stevespages.com/page7c.htm

http://whatifitistoday.blogspot.com/

http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/downloads/

http://www.livingoffgrid.org/

http://ronsprimitiveskills.blogspot.com/

http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/

http://suburbansurvivalblog.com/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614171

http://modernsurvivalonline.com/survival-database-downloads/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614176

http://www.pioneerliving.net/

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614181

http://ny-prepnet.blogspot.com/

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/

http://beprepared.com/

http://www.beewench.blogspot.com/

http://thesurvivalmom.com/

http://www.shtfblog.com

http://set2survive.com/s2s_basic.html

http://www.blogger.com/goog_406614194

http://www.preparednesstools.com/

http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/

http://theschultzcompound.blogspot.com/


http://www.hoglogfrog.blogspot.com/

http://www.preparednesstools.com/

http://www.armageddononline.org/

http://www.the-urban-survivalist.com/

http://www.grit.com/

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/

The Great Raised Bed Experiment of 2011

Yes indeed, finally another long overdue post.  Seems like whenever I have the great intention of keeping this blog up-to-date, I get side-railled and end up putting this on the back burner.

Being out of state for 11 weeks over the winter of 2010/2011 really put me behind schedule on essential tasks and projects around the farm. 

With the arrival of spring, I had to scramle to prepare things for this year's crop.  This included building 12 raised garden beds for our veggies.

The beds are constructed 100 percent of reclaimed solid oak planks.  The solid oak planks were salvaged from specialty pallets that were destined for the landfill.  These specialty pallets are made of 4"X4"skids and (2) 11/2"X6"X3' planks.  The pallets are extremely simple to break down and remove the nails.

The beds measured 3'X 6' and are 11 inches deep.

To fill the boxes I needed 18 square feet of composted soil for each of the 12 beds or 24 cubic yards of soil.

I visited a local dairy farm and scored a 6.5' X12' trailer full of pure cow manure.  The manure was hot when I picked it up, so I had to work it well and cool it down before putting it in the beds.

I lined the bottom of each box with newspaper then added a layer of about 2" of sawdust to each box.  Next, I added another six inches of cooled manure mixed with old compost to each box and watered it in real good.  After letting this settle for about a week, I topped off the boxes with another layer of compost mix and let this settle for another week.  I finally added two inches of premium potting soil and blended this with about 2 inches of the settled compost.

I built trellises from reclaimed wood to support the cucumbers and lima beans.  We plan to expand our raised beds by an additional 12 beds for next year's garden.

I have included the following links to assist in your personal research about raised bed gardening.  I can also recommend the following books to start or add to your gardening collection.



http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/vegetables/raisedbeds.pdf

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/guides/E-560_raised_bed_garden.pdf

http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/713.pdf

http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf2134.pdf

This is our Farm

When we hear the term "farm", it congures up a little different thought in everyone's minds.

Some people will think of a large commercial farm that employes hundreds of employees and has a fleet of farm vehicles to plant, fertilize, and harvest a variety of crops. Others will congure up the thought of a small business type farm that specializes in a particualar crop and takes these crops to a farmer's market.

Our little farm is special to us.  We like to think of ourselves as "subsistence" farmers.  We grow what we feel we need to sustain us until the following year.  We select what we want to grow, plant it nurture it, harvest it, and preserve it by freezing or canning it.  Any excess is given away to friends and family and periodically sold.  Selling any of our produce is NOT our primary focus.  Our primary focus is to work towards being self-sufficient.

This is now the third year we have planted a crop and we continue to learn how to simplify things and increase output.  We made tremendous strides in this area by incorporating some raised beds into our overall vegetable garden plan.