It's been sooo long.  Business has been on and off.  Meanwhile there has been plenty of grass to cut and animals to care for.  County Fair has come and gone and we're already preparing for next April.

 

The mustang grapes (Wild Muscadines) are in and "jelly" (sort of) the figs are coming on strong.  Cucumbers are sneaking up on us too!  Each year we are trying to be more self sufficient on the farm side.  For those self sufficient types here's what we did, from my journal...

 

First, we learned Josh and 16' ladders are not a good combination...  Anyhow, about 10 gallons of grapes later...

 

Muscadine grape jelly-

 

Batch 1:

 

Followed “Juice for Jelly recipe” from Ball Blue Book p. 30

 

~4 c. grape juice

3 c. sugar

 

Boiled the bujeezums out of it (per Ball “no pectin” recipe) to about ¼ volume i.e., 2 hours!?!  Still didn’t gel so I added a packet of pectin (Sure Gel No Sugar).  Yield:  4 1/2 pints and they actually jelled.

 

 

Batch 2: 

 

Followed “Juice for Jelly recipe” from Ball Blue Book p. 30

 

~6 c. grape juice

7 c. sugar

 

Boiled hard a few minutes.  Followed pectin packet insert.  Still didn’t gel.  Yield:  8 1/2 pints that didn’t jel.

 

Will reprocess and see how they come out. 

As weather begins to warm, the field planting begins...

 

This year we are planting Virginia Pine seedlings.  This will provide both bonsai material as well as future Christmas trees.  We are also putting in Common Perimmon, Trident Maple, Zelkova, Chinese Elm, (more) Bald Cypress and a newer experiment- Mexican Plum. 

 

All this is a lot of work but this is the only way to achieve large quality trunks.

 

We are also growing out on a large scale Shimpaku, azaleas, serissa, hollies, and procumbens. 

 

Oh, and I'm also trying to sneak in some collecting- my real passion!

A new year dawns and tons of plans are in store for the farm and nursery...

 

We've received our first goat- Jezabelle, a matronly nanny which will hopefully bring many meat goats in the future. 

 

A hint of new plants for 2007 appears in the updated offerings list...

 

500 Virginia pine seedlings are on their way for Xmas trees and bonsai use.  A much under-utilized species!  More Persimmon, bald cypress and Mexican Plum are on their way as well.

 

So plenty of new fields to prepare and fertilize in anticipation.

 

For our farm customers, we're looking at new varieties of meat and egg birds.  We've also gotten into the farm-fresh turkey business so check in before Easter!

So what do you think.  After having constant problems with getting my site to load correctly I bit the bullet and redid it.  Look for shopping cart capabiilty soon.  I will also start posting specimen pictures soon for sale.