Back Forty

Growing up, my dad would often refer to the "back forty".  It basically meant "out back" and I guess referred to the back forty acres even though we never lived on so much land.  Every once in awhile this phrase pops into my head and it reminds me of my dad and about how one day I'd love to own forty acres.  Unfortunately (or, more likely, fortunately for my more frugal and practical side) I'll likely never actually own forty acres, but today, I'm going to show you some pictures (mostly garden) of our "back forty" as it stands today.

 Remember those mangels we planted to feed to the chickens this winter?  Well, our first planting/crop failed for lack of weeding, so we planted another section at the end of our sunflower patch.  Some of them are huge.  I'll let you know how the chickens like them.

 Our sunflowers are finished for the year.  The whole experience went really well and I'll be sharing more details about it soon.

 Our year-old strawberry plants have spread out nicely.  I think we're due for a good crop next year and we can't wait.  Note to selves:  Start new patch in four years instead of waiting for five and basically going without any the year in between.

 Our pepper plants are as beautiful as our tomato plants are ugly.  As the tomato plants died (earlier than they should have), the peppers took off.  This has been the best pepper year/harvest yet.  There are still lots hanging on and I'm not sure what to do with them since our freezers are now completely full.  Would any locals like some green bell peppers??

 parsley and basil that will be dried shortly

 Last month, I believe, I showed you a picture of a very weedy corner of our garden.  Jamey put an end to it and planted oats all throughout the garden as a cover crop.  It will grow up and die, keeping weeds down and adding to the soil/mulch.  It sure looks a lot prettier than weeds.

 Just last week we started eating fresh lettuce and spinach again.  These cold frames should help us extend our salad season once we put the plexiglass "lids" on.

 asparagus

In the past couple weeks, I've found crickets, a grasshopper, ants, fruit flies, several spiders and even an earthworm in our house, but thanks be to God, I haven't yet found one of these.  I hope Jamey's work will understand if such a family emergency arises.

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