Building the Homestead- a photo history 2006-2010

U.G.L.Y. Yup, it sure starts out plain, so keep scrolling down!

I am blown away by the changes! This is the first time to upload all of the photos and view them side by side. It just goes to show: you don't have to start with something fancy! All we started with was a dream for Forgotten Works; an interactive garden/gallery full of inspiration for gardeners and new homestead enthusiasts...

October 2006 we moved our wee green bungelow to 7 acres of pasture; up from the lush creekbed where it had flooded twice.

By Summer of 2007 it was yellow for some reason, and the sheet composting project to help add nutrients to the worn out soil had begun in earnest.

2008 saw the addition of a small lakehouse (400 sf) to the left (west side) - to serve as a studio and office -and a kiosk to the right (east) side - to become a sunroom (currently the sun room houses two smelly teenage boys!)

2009 (above)was the turning point: the sunroom had windows and was actually attached with a door, and the plantings were beginning to look more natural, more permanent... not quite as "little oasis in the pasture".

2010(left): Eddie shattered his ankle, so it was all I could do to keep everything alive. We didn't see too much expansion (the orchard gained 40 trees), but the plants really started to fill in and make the place look established! Looks like we are sticking with the red, too;)

The gardens, too, have seen progress. We started with a herb bed, and honestly didn't know where we were going next!

The first few years were all about building soil ... in fact, this process is still very important and far from finished. In a perfect world, we would have improved ALL of the soil before planting anything, but that isn't very fun, is it? :) Looking east is the herb bed and veggie beds beyond. Year one sure was bleak!

We added a shed, and while working on soil improvement we let lots of legumes take over and work their magic as cover crops amid a few perennial herbs. I had surgery in 2008, so it was a pretty scraggly year!

2009 and 2010 were turning points for the garden as well: it crossed the threshold from 'pasted onto the landscape' over to 'a PART of the landscape'... I am sure the ever improving soil helps as well, and it sure makes all of the loads of manure hauled from the local stables seem worth it!

Other improvements include adding molasses and cornmeal to the soil, as well as beneficial nematodes and fungi cultures: it's all about building a healthy soil ecosystem capable of sustaining life!!!

A few beneficial insects like ladybugs have helped out as well, and I can't underestimate the value of the chickens when it comes to consumming harmful insect pests!

Conclusion: don't move just because your 'house' doesn't feel like 'home' yet! You can start with something plain (or hell, like us, even downright ugly!) and transform it into a lush, nurturing haven with just a dash of homestead savvy.

...Can't wait to see what the NEXT four years bring;) Time to go get dirty again my friends!

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Pay Dirt

Right: Our soil when we first moved onto our land...the worst dirt in the history of dirt! Eddie actually broke a pick ax trying to dig a hole. Tilling was an impossibility. After years of use as a pasture, the land would barely sustain bermuda grass, let alone a productive garden.

The solution: Sheet composting! I found a lovely book by Pat Lanza called 'lasagne gardening'...it is an introduction to starting a garden without any tilling or heavy equipment. Over the last three years, we have converted well over a full acre, and more than 4 tons of biodegradable wastes, into lush garden soil!

We gathered boxes from local businesses, as well as newspapers.
Thick layers were overlapped to completely smother the pesky and invasive pasture grasses, and grass clippings, manure from local stables, leaves left curbside in the city, and compost were layered on top of the boxes. In 18 months, the result was fertile soil!

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