The winter months are a good time to make plans for our more active spring and summer seasons. The biggest planning event is our vegetable garden relocation and expansion.
With the end of our farm field lease last fall, we made the decision to tackle large scale farm expansions. The first expansion is for our vegetable garden, which will be expanded to the scary size of one acre and relocated to get less slope and more sun. I am actively planning the layout and varieties for this new larger garden and am really excited about the potential of the new space.
In addition to the vegetables, we may also be growing the flock. We have enjoyed our first year and a half with our birds. The responsibility of caring for livestock has stretched all of us but seeing the joy of our kids feeding the birds snacks in the sunshine definitely outweighs the negatives. The bird expansion requires some new buildings once the snow is gone, but we are hopeful that we can successfully bring in some new members to our flock.
Our expansions don’t quite cover the breadth of our new vacated field, so we will also be working on additional projects in the fields to prepare them for future livestock expansions. The research is currently focusing on growing pasture lands and creating deer sanctuaries. Fencing and fast growing hardwoods are also on the research topic list. As some of the other expansion projects get crossed off the list, we’ll intensify our research to get the lesser priorities handled.
We’re excited to be tackling some bigger projects this year. I’m very excited about the new garden and will be sharing more about that soon.