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2014 year in review

  • January 7, 2015
  • 3 comments
  • 12 views
  • Rory


Garden in early May
Garden in late-May
Garden in early June
Garden in mid-June
Garden in mid-July

Becca picks a forward-looking word for each year on her blog. If I had to pick a word for 2014, it would be “ambitious”.  I was driven mostly by the long-range rewards of perennial plantings, with apple orchards and blueberry patches taking 3-5 years to yield a harvest. But I also wanted to cram in as much as possible in our truncated Minnesota summer, where delaying a project means waiting out the long and frigid winter before getting another shot. So, as I’m prone to do, I over-committed but got most of it done.

March

  • Planned new garden layout
  • Started tomatoes & herbs indoors
  • Tapped maple trees & hosted Tree Tapping Party

April

  • More cats arrive
  • Evaporated 65 gallons of sap (making just over 2 gallons of syrup)
  • Burned down our monstrous burn pile
  • Picked out our apple trees
  • Repotted seedlings
  • Replanted our hayfield

May

  • Built new raised beds
  • Filled raised beds with 4 truckloads of black gold
  • Planted main garden and blueberry patch
  • Planted apple orchard and watered, watered, watered
  • Planted strawberry patches
  • Planted pumpkin patch
  • Started beekeeping

June

  • Maintained the garden
  • First hay cutting
  • Re-mulched the blueberries
  • Hosted HoneyFest
  • First harvest (lettuce, cucumbers)

July

  • Built mobile chicken coop for raising broiler chickens
  • Chickens arrive
  • Weeding, weeding, weeding
  • Harvested peas, beets, broccoli, carrots
  • Second hay cutting
  • Wild blackberry picking
  • Staked apple trees

August

  • Harvested tomatoes, corn, peppers, potatoes (124 lbs)

September

  • Harvested onions (22 lbs) and shallots
  • Preserved peppers
  • “Harvested” broiler chickens

October

  • Re-mulched apple trees
  • Garden cleanup
  • Third hay cutting
  • Pumpkin picking

November

  • Got a tractor
  • Winterized the bees
  • Installed new wood stove

December

  • Pruned apple trees
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Rory

Rory Groves moved his family from the city to the country several years ago to begin the journey towards a more durable way of life. Rory and his wife Becca now reside in southern Minnesota where they farm, raise livestock, host workshops, and homeschool their six children. He is the author of Durable Trades: Family-Centered Economies That Have Stood the Test of Time.


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3 comments
  1. Pingback: It's Easy Being Green » Blog Archive » New Year of Homesteading Challenges Ahead
  2. Jeffrey says:
    May 18, 2015 at 10:31 am

    Are you sure this is still just a “hobby” farm? Wow. Great job.

    Reply
    1. Avatar photo Rory says:
      May 19, 2015 at 9:09 pm

      “Hobby” as in unprofitable, yes. “Hobby” as in leisure, no. 😉

      Reply

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