Definitions

I said earlier that I believe that I live and work on my HOMESTEAD. I Googled the word Farm and Homestead, and this is what the Free Dictionary had to say:

FARM - NOUN
A tract of land, usually with house, barn, silo, etc, on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood.

HOMESTEAD - NOUN
The home place, A home and the enclosure or ground immediately connected with it. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave an individual, 21 years of age the right to claim a section of land (160 acres), live on it for 5 years, make improvements and file for title to that land. Until the law was repealed in 1936, 10 percent of the land within the lower 48 state's was claimed by Homesteaders. Better then half never filed a claim, could not make a go of it.

So that is the legal definition. But I still refer to my 3 small acres as my Homestead! I do not expect to make a living off this land. But I do plain on trying to be as self-surfactant as I can. Growing my own food is a big part of that. To say that the soil here is POOR, is the biggest understatement of the century!
The corn field that my 3 acres use to be part of was used so badly by the farmers that only the weeds do well. After decades of heavy tractors, plows and harvesters, the sub-soil is like concrete. Its mostly sand (no humus material or real soil to speak of, and WORMS - forgetaboutit!!!). And the use of chemicals to control weeds and fertilize, I believe that there is some of that stuff still out there. We have lost most of the trees, flowers and produce that we have tried to grow over the last three years. I planted two pear trees the first year here and they are sickly and their leaves turn black every early into the growing season. One tree, (the bigger of the two) had two small pears on it this past year. They turned black right along with the leaves. And to try to grow produce is a constant battle with the poor soil, deer, rabbits and the WEEDS! We have volunteer corn everywhere! And a hybrid seed was used, so the volunteer plants come back as the parent plant. They are stunted and very deep rooted. We can not just pull them out, they have to be dug out. And I'm talking about 100's of plants here!
So this year we will be building raised beds and making our own growing medium. 1/3 composted horse manure, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 worm castings. The beds will be in wooden box's, (from recycled wood!) 8" X 8". We will start out small and build on that system over the next few years.
And my project for next spring will be Chickens! For both eggs and meat.
So it will be a work - in - progress. And a HOMESTEAD, not a farm!
Tom

Old read - New read

OK, so I said no Bella report as I promised. Suffice to say that she is home and took two liters by IV and is felling better.

I was up reading a new Blog (A Home Gown Journal) the other night and one of her post talked about the books that were on her night stand that she will read this winter. Well as is my wit, I'm going to barrow her idea and talk about two books that I have and have enjoyed very much.

THE OLD READ

The first is the book you see above, The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. I have had this book for years, in one form or another. I got my first copy back in the late 70's, early 80's and it went on every where with me while I was in the Navy. This is the book that jump-started my dream to own a HOMESTEAD. I don't think of my place as a farm, and the way I look at it is anything that I raise here will be for my own use and the use of family and friends. This book, along with  early publication's of "The Mother Earth  News" (that will be the subject of another post very soon!)  were instrumental in the "BACK TO THE LAND" movement that took place back in the early 70's
But Carla's Book is huge and has so much information in it and is a very down to earth, good read. I have had three copies of her book over the years, The first was the sixth edition that I allowed someone to barrow and never got it back! The second copy was the seventh edition and by the time this copy came out, Carla was a very well known person on all the morning shows. She even did the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson a few times! This is were I saw her the first time. I read that copy so many times that some of the pages were falling out and it was pretty beat up. It even made the 52,000  mile, 9 month cruse to the "First Gulf War" with me.
I'm sorry to say that Carla passed away back in 2005 while on a book tour. And that is when I got the ninth edition I have now. I never got the chance to meet her, I wished I had!! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow a few tomatoes or raise a few chickens.

THE NEW READ

This is the book that was part of the stack on "MAMA PEAS" night stand. and what a wonderful book it is. Kiistin Kimball was a free-lance writer living and working in N.Y. City, who took her skills out to the sticks of up-state New York and now lives with her husband and two little girls. They own and operate a CSA that provides 100 + people year round produce, meet, poultry and dairy. Its an amazing story and this book covers the first year on the land where they live. And they do this with very little use of tractors or heavy machinery, They use Horses!
Another great find!
Thanks
MAMA PEA!!!

So what do you read, I need new material. Its going to be a long cold winter and I can only take so much of all the "Seed Catalogs (got three more today! that's 11 so far!!).
Tom
P.S. Thanks again to all the followers who have made comments about Bella. I'll give an up-date in a few days. And Thank you to Ruth and welcome aboard! I hope I don't disappoint!
Take care!