Our Heirloom Seeds Arrived

Our roughly 4600 seeds arrived today from Eden Seeds. I was thoroughly impressed by the turn around. We ordered them online late Thursday night and they arrived on Monday. THAT is fast delivery! So anyway, no doubt we will be planting our 34 different species frantically in the coming weeks.

We are pretty excited about some of the seeds we have bought, all of which are heirloom varieties, being the original, God created versions, completely un-modified and un-altered. There are no hybrids, and no GM varieties. I am looking forward to the gnarly colours and rich flavours. They won't be perfect in appearance, and they may come in a variety of sizes and shapes....sounding rather like us humans really aren't they...but they will be ours, and they will be fresh.

The 34 varieties we bought were somewhat strategically chosen, and somewhat chosen just because we liked them. We have aimed to choose many varieties based on how well they play with others. Companion planting recognises the natural features of plants and locates them near other plants that can benefit from these features. The idea being that successful companion planting will negate the need for artificial insecticides and pesticides. For example, we will be planting marigolds, garlic and garlic chives around the perimeter of each of our vegetable gardens. the odours put off by marigolds, garlic and garlic chives tend to repel many of the critters who would otherwise love to feast on our tomatoes (etc). Another benefit, the bright colours of the marigolds attract bees and butterflies and other flying insects, which will saunter over and pollinate our flowers for us. All things will work together - or at least that is our intention, but I am sure there will be teething problems.

So, over the coming months, we look forward to enjoying:

• Black Zucchini
• Watermelon
• Cherry Tomato's
• Tomato's
• Shallots
• Coriander (Another insect repellent species)
• Sweet Corn
• Rockmelon
• Rhubarb
• Sage (A good moth repellent)
• Rosemary
• Peppermint 
• Parsley
• A bunch of different chilli species
• Carrots (including a purple variety)
• Capsicum
• Cumin (used in curry)
• Pak Choi
• Garlic Chives
• Pumpkin
• Lettuce
• Beetroot
• Cucumber
• Bush Beens
• Basil
• Lemongrass
• And a bunch of fresh flowers

Look forward to bringing updates as we start seeing produce from our emerging food forest.

Chicken Tractor building tips - Progress!

Well yesterday didn't go quite like I had hoped! I spent nearly 3 hours inside my favourite place for a little R&R. That was the good bit! 3 hours inside Bunnings is a dream come true for any self respecting home handyman, me included. The only problem on this occasion was that I didn't spend it ogling the latest power saw from AEG, or the new mower from Rover, but rather I spent it crunching figures and figuring out which materials and options were the best for the sheeting of the coop part of our chicken tractor. I learned an interesting lesson though which I should have learned long ago - Ask the professionals! I had been trying to figure out what ply sheeting would work best and which would be easiest on the budget etc etc etc. But when I finally asked the guys there for some help, they had what I think was a great suggestion! They suggested trying Fibrous Cement Sheeting. It's water proof, light weight, and best of all, half the price of ply, and will last a lot longer! So anyway, I could have saved myself 2 hours had I asked them in the first place. That said, 2 hours in Bunnings is better than 2 hours nearly anywhere else!

Today I had a few hours spare after church and set about progressing on the chicken tractor. I managed today to finally finish the framing, put the floor of the internal section in, framed and hung the hinged roof and started framing the door for us to get inside when we need to. I am really happy with how it is turning out and will post an update video shortly to show the progress.

I must add one more thing. I have really been enjoying this project! I am getting a real kick out of building this chicken tractor and hope others will be spurred on to considering a similar project. I have sure learned a lot through it!

NEW VIDEO - Our Chicken Tractor Progress

We put together a real quick video of the progress on our home made chicken tractor building project.  We decided to build a fairly large chicken tractor to house about 8 birds, with the ability to move them around the yard. We are hoping to use them to mow our weeds, and prepare the soil so we can sheet mulch behind them as we move them.  Of course we get the added benefit of having fresh eggs daily, which I am REALLY looking forward to.

Chickens are one of the best animals you can have in your yard, particularly if you have them in a mobile coop. As the chickens scratch up the soil in a fresh place, they dig through and gobble up all the weed seeds and bugs and do a mighty fine job of aerating the top layer of soil for you. One of the biggest benefits is the free nitrogen rich fertilizer they leave behind for you.  As you can see, chickens are going to be our new best friend.

Well, below is our progress, with a few hints on ways to construct your chicken tractor on a very small budget.  We aren't finished yet, but I will keep you updated, assuming you can handle my terrible filming and narration...

We bought 4600 seeds...

...or thereabouts.

Bron and I just spent an hour and a half pouring over the scintilating Eden Seeds heirloom catalogue, and may have gone a little overboard on the purchasing front. We are in the process of setting up a whole new 20m x 12m section of the yard as a macro food forest.  We have already planted out the fruit trees around the Eastern, Southern and Western ends to form a sun trap (over time) and have now purchased the seeds to plant out the whole middle section with vegetables, fruit vines, legumes, pumpkins etc etc. The Southern end of the area bounds our property, and instead of a fence, we are thinking of making a Hugelkultur to make a seudo fence, and maximise our productive area.  We kind of figure we may as well do something like that, and then cover it in strawberries and the likes so passers-by can enjoy a little fruit if they are game.

We will be sure to add some photos shortly, as well as a review of the Eden Seeds products and service. I will also try  to do up a digitised plan we can put up here so you can see what we are doing with the space we have. The intention is to make the most of the area and fit as much food production as we can.

We will keep you updated with pictures and progress as it comes along.

If the Eden Seeds website claims are correct, we may well have our seeds by Friday - today is Wednesday. That would be incredible customer service if they get here that soon!  Imagine that, I could be planting all of Saturday at this rate...