September Newsletter

Snippets, snapshots and tales from our north Florida farm.

Shiitake Mushrooms September 2016

Seminole Squash

Donated Windows for Greenhouse

Muggy the Mugrat - Making sure we stacked them correctly.

Zucchini Bread Orders

Our Happy Hen organic eggs, basil and roses.

Bean pest control - aka Anole Lizard

Yellow Four O'clock flowers.  Beautiful

 

September arrived like a lion, literally, a Hurricane Hermine lion.  We were blessed with no damage to property or plants, just a few days of no electricity which meant a great loss to a lot of our frozen/refrigeratables.  With five refrigerators we still have no complaints. Unfortunately now we do not have an air conditioner.  We've been helping it limp along for a long time now, it has finally given up.  As sole proprietors of the land, we don't even have a start to have the money to replace it.  On the bright side, it's nearly fall.  If you are an early riser you may have noticed and want to proclaim that fall has arrived....a bit early.  If you are, you are certainly not alone.  Yeah, the heat isn't over, I mean, this is Florida after all but we are praying for a long fall.  This year beans have beaten the heat and so far the vines are over 12' long and producing ... even if we have to share with some outlaw deer.

As we continue our quest of creating a plethora of year-around organic goodness known as an edible food forest, I want to know just how much permaculture can be incorporated with fruit trees on one acre of land.  As we look forward to be able to afford 50 or so acres one day, right now we also live and share with the driveway, chickens, ducks, turkeys, guineas, rabbit, etc.  I have seen this is California, etc., and although we share more with insects, have soil issues, etc., we are currently "successful" at having an ecosystem of predator insects and lizards to help control most of our garden pests.  At least it looks like we are on the right tract. 

It's always planting season, this week we'll plant hundreds of cool weather crop seeds of beets, carrots, kale, Swiss chard, onions, cabbages, as we move to the end of September.  We are consistently planting, a term I call "tucking".  Tuck a seed or seedling in a little spot here and over there to elongate harvests.  The more we plant, the less that space will be taken over by weeds which are basically plants of the unwanted varieties.

According to our Shiitake Mushroom Logs, fall arrived a couple weeks ago as we had our first harvest, about three weeks earlier than last year.  We have a lot of things going on, currently growing in our gardens are tomatoes, eggplant, arugula, asparagus, beans, okra, kale, cucumbers, Seminole squash, long island squash, peppers, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, onions, yellow squash, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, birdhouse gourds, garlic, mint, basil, lemon grass, oregano, water chestnuts, scallions, garlic chives, and I'm sure I have forgotten to list some; Fruit - apple, fig, peach, blueberry.  We also have flowers for cut flowers we'll sell next year and other flowers/bulbs as pollinator attractants. 

Thank you so much, have a wonderful September!
 
Ron and Annette Layton
Little Eden Heirloom Farm
Crawfordville, Florida
850/274-7690