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Steve & Lucinda
2771 Paradise Road
Reynoldsville, PA 15851
ParadiseGardensandFarm@Comcast.Net Click to email us.
(814) 568-1207 Farmhouse (814) 932-6761 Cell
(Up Kramer Rd from Rte 119 in Stump Creek)
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New Years and January 2006
After a pleasant holiday, Stephen and I are here to wish you a happy healthy and productive New Year in which peace grows on Earth and vegetables grow on earth. We look back over the half year since we moved here, with some satisfaction at all that has happened and what is in the offing.
 Snowbirds |
Over
three weekends of
December, the cockerels were slaughtered and prepared for the freezer.
We planned very carefully how we would perform this task so that the
birds would be stroked and comforted right up till the last moment and
hopefully would not know what got them. It is still a heartwrenching
task that seems to get harder not easier. But it is part of the cycle
of life on the farm. Sometimes it makes me want to be a vegetarian, but
then I think, these birds might well not have lived such a pleasant
life or had such a careful death if they were not ours. They are deeply
valued both in life and on the table. So we now have 11 pullets growing
to be hens and two young "roosters-in-training." Tick who was upset
when the cockerels were first separated has been mad at me ever
since
the cockerels went away and is only just coming around. The pullets,
however, love to be hugged. Blondie over on the left has the lightest
coloring. |
 Greenhouse Greens
|
The greenhouse greens have
been feeding us all winter -- arugula, spinach, turnip greens,
collards, and kale. The lettuce is just about ready, too. The more
leaves we pick, the more of them grow! The plants are double-covered against the winter cold -- first by the greenhouse itself, which adds about 10º of temperature, and second by plastic rowcovers, which add another 5º. So the outside temperature can be in the mid-teens and the plants should still be above freezing. In this picture, you can see the hoops over the tray beds and the plastic behind. Then just to be sure, we've installed a low-temperature thermostat so the heat will only kick in when the greenhouse interior reaches 35ºF. |
 |
We're getting our goats! Two kinder does, one with kid, and the other pregnant, will be coming to the farm just as soon as we get the fencing redone and the barn refurbished. We expect it will be April. This picture is the logo of the Kinder Goat Breeders Association which has more information about this lovely new breed. A dual-purpose (milk and meat) goat, they're described as "moderate sized, highly efficient diary goats [...] with a charming personality, delightfully rich, sweet milk and the ability to produce three to six kids every year. [They also] grow rapidly at a rate of about 7 pounds per month [and therefore make] extremely desirable meat animals" (http://www.goatworld.com/breeds/breeds/kinder.shtml) So far we've picked all our animals at least in part for their personalities and haven't gone wrong yet! |
 |
Finally, our seed orders are
placed and greenhouse planting will be starting as soon as the seed
arrives
for the earliest crops. Stephen is working on converting the old pig
barn into a garden shed, the last of the messy old buildings on the
property, and then will renew and restore the rest of those bed tables
and shelves in the lower and upper greenhouses (see earlier entries and
Lucinda's incomplete attempts in the Nov 2005 entry
of the Paradise Gardens News). |
In the News  |
Lucinda is featured in a Winter/Spring 2006 article on women in agriculture in the Penn State Agriculture Magazine called "Not Your Father's Farm"! Check it out! Just click on the picture of Wyatt and me here and again on the Table of Contents page. This article highlights PaWAgN, Pennsylvania Women in Agriculture Network, of which Lucinda is a new farmer-at-large member of the Steering Committee which meets at the PASA (PA Assoc. for Sustainable Agriculture) conference in February. Our little red 1952 Farmall Cub tractor just may be going to the conference too, to be part of an equipment operations and maintenance workshop. Photo by Howard Nuernberger, Penn State Agriculture Magazine. |