Hummingbird Farmz est. February, 2011

We have filed for a fictitious name for our little property with the hope of turning a little bit of a profit from our gardening passion down the road.  We are calling our little venture “Hummingbird Farmz”.  Our plan is to grow a little orchard along with our vegetable and herb gardens so that we might be able to participate in some of the local Farmers Markets and other various venues.  We decided not to try to get certified organic since it seems like there are so many hoops to jump through to get that title, but instead we are opting to ‘garden sensibly’.  We are mostly using organic fertilizers and sprays, but should the need come up for something stronger we don’t want to be locked in. 

We are doing a lot of research on varieties of fruit and various methods of pruning and training fruit trees.  One of the most interesting things we are learning about is how to grow cover crops to keep down weeds and add nutrition to the soil along with attracting beneficial insects.  All of this knowledge is so interesting that it must be shared and for now our blog will be the first place to share it. 

The most exciting goal of our little farm is to use it as a way to meet our neighbors and hopefully created a place for people to gather and share.  We have lived here for a year and half and haven’t met many neighbors, but the ones we have met seems to have varying talents and a lot to share.  One neighbor makes sculptures out of what many would see as trash and he collects interesting vehicles.  He grows lots of trees around his property so it doesn’t look junky and he parks his vehicles in such an orderly manner that it probably wouldn’t matter if the trees weren’t there.  I have been eyeing a collection of wheel barrels he has lined up, very interesting.  Another neighbor introduced me to several quilters up here in our little mountain community and she has quite the reputation with them all for her artsy quilts and the clay pottery she used to make.  Another neighbor I haven’t yet met has quite a grape orchard that seems to be expanding rapidly.

One of the first things we did to start our orchard is to start at the ground up.  We got a soil test done by Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply.  They have quite a website you could spend hours and hundreds of dollars there, but there is a lot of information to be obtained so check it out.  They sent me a sticker with one order we placed that put my motto into words perfectly “Life is a Garden…Grow it!”

I am getting prepared to teach a seed starting class at the nursery in Red Bluff so I will write up a post here on the information I gather for that in the next week.  I know I don’t have many followers as of yet, but my goal here is to share with as many people as might be interested what I know and learn from many more!

Life is a Garden…Grow it and Share it!

Ferne