Spring Has Sprung!

Today the first day of spring. I've begun preparations in earnest for the development of Yellow Door Farm. 

Generating heat and compost using the Jean Pain Method

The compost pile has been a successful edition in the barn. I do hope that it takes off and does the triple function of a keeping the day old chicks warm when they arrive in April 29th, but also to supply supplemental heat to the greenhouse that I'm building on the south side of the barn, and provide soil for some mushrooms to grow later on in the summer, lastly to provide me with excellent compost to be used in the greenhouse when the cycle starts all over again.

A new tool addition to the farm this season is a brand new Wood Chipper. It really is a tool that closes the loop on the farm.  Taking the remnants of wood clearing and making them so useful.

 

I started the compost pile about four days ago. I used horse manure from the stall each day, and wood chips from the chipper soiled water from the horse and chickens.  I turned the pile today as I came in and I wanted to see how it was doing. It was extremely odiferous as well as there was steam rising from the pile. From that I made the assumption that I should move it over to the corner of the pile is already getting pretty large and I couldn't get the wheelbarrow in. So as I moved the pile the steam that arose filled the entire barn and made it difficult to see from one end to the other. That is only a distance of 27 feet! A day later I brought my digital temperature reader and it stated the pile (inside a few inches) was at 59 (about 138 degrees Fahrenheit according to Goolge) degrees Celsius.  I also added a coil of perforated drainage tile to allow for oxygen to enter the pile underneath.  It should really get cooking soon and I am a little worried that I started a little early. I did not expect it to take off so quickly. From the literature that I have read (The Compost Powered Water Heater by Gaelen Brown and  Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk)  it seems that the pile should go for at least 6 months at about the same temperature. 

New Greenhouse under construction

I have started the greenhouse as the picture above attest. I will be moving on to developing a circulating water system into the compost heap to provide supplemental heat to the young plants in the greenhouse through the evening the cool evenings.

I reread, with great interest, Eliot Coleman's The Winter Harvest Handbook this morning. I scanned through and made some notes that were relevant to my particular situation. I would love to eventually expand into movable green houses along the west side of the house. Using supplemental heat from an outdoor wood boiler, I think it would be extremely valuable. That is a plan for much later down the road currently I'm going to focus on the small greenhouse some hoop houses to the south of the barn as well as expanding our garden and food for us at the front of the house. Corn squash and some other high demand crops will be planted along the septic tank to take advantage of water as well as the extra fertility.

The maple syrup has not been running terribly while we have had several days at work in the negatives. Today it is - 10 and the weather is predicting that it won't get much above 1 or 2 degrees. Yesterday it was beautifully sunny, however the temperature did not climb above 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. This is making it rather awkward to collect the sap. Unfortunately as I was building the greenhouse I had a boil over on the maple sap and I was not paying close enough attention. As a result we have some extra dark slightly smoky flavored maple syrup in the freezer.

I have also reviewed Mel Bartholomew square foot gardening book. Though I find that he is quite repetitive and there is very little actual new information,  it does give you an idea on how to prepare small garden plots around the house. I am going to be building square foot garden soil on the edge of the deck to add extra insulation to the house as well as to take advantage of the solar gain from the thermal mass of the house as well as the proximity and ease with which we can harvest vegetables. The square foot gardens should cover approximately 125 square feet of vegetables. This should produce quite a bit for us to eat. The next large challenge will be trying to figure out how to store all of the goods I have purchased a pressure canner and some other equipment to help me prepare jars and bottling to collect all of the summer's harvest. 

It is beginning to look like the world will not be frozen forever! Take heart the sun has crossed the mid point and days will all be longer than nights for a time.  Enjoy the rebirth of the Northern Hemisphere!