Bamboo

Four years ago, (before we even moved in), we planted bamboo down by the creek. Those first plants had a tough go at things. We didn't quite know how to transplant it yet (our root balls were WAY too small), the summer was terribly dry (and we weren't here to water), we planted them next to black walnuts (which inhibit growth). Despite all of our errors, a few of those original plants are still hanging on. Since then we have added 5 other varieties of bamboo. Some are growing faster than others, who would have thought it would have taken so long to get such a fast growing plant established. A lot of people ask us why we like bamboo. Here are ten reasons:

1.People food

2.Animal food

3.Erosion Control

4.Wind break

5.Nutrient removal from runoff.

6.Building material, plant stakes, ect.

7.Visual screen.

8.Cool place for kids to play.

9.Adds excitement to the bonfire.

10.We just like it!

This has been our fastest growing bamboo, it gets the most light, which sure does help. It is an unknown variety from a grove off of Sardis Rd in Charlotte, NC.

This is the giant of the temperate bamboos, Moso, it can grow up to eight inches in diameter and makes some of the best tasting shoots. This start is from a grove at a cemetery in Anderson, SC.

These are two starts we planted by the road. Unfortunately, we are going to have to move them because the water company is putting in a new line. The one in the background is "Allgold" purchased at the Bamboo Festival held at the NC Arboretum in Asheville, NC. The bamboo in the foreground is an unknown variety from a grove in Mint Hill, NC. Young bamboos are difficult to identify as many of their distinguishing characteristics do not show up until they start to mature. The shoots are the best way to identify different species, and we are hoping to be able to identify the unknowns next spring.

2010 Garden and Orchard

2010 has been a fair year as far as gardening goes. Seemed like we had wet spells followed by dry spells and very little "just right". We have a lot of great ideas for next year if we can just remember them next spring! The orchard trees seem to be doing okay, we just need patience at this point. A wild persimmon that came up in the front yard produced well this year.
Our tomatoes well after their prime.


Peppers

Okra

One of our pitiful little gala apples. They tasted great, but our apple trees have had trouble with fungus.

These are a few "Caroline" raspberries from starts that our friend, Walt, gave us. We only got enough for a tempting taste this year, but hopefully next year we will get more.

One of our nectarine trees. We didn't get anything from this tree this year, but one of our peach trees did yield a few delicious peaches.

These are the blueberry bushes from a local nursery. They are rabbit eye varieties and should get very large. We did get a few before the birds did. We might be in for some bird netting in the future.

This is our grape arbor we built last spring. There are two muscadines and two seedless grapes. The muscadines seem to be doing much better than the grapes.

Beef, its what's for dinner...

Our steer is growing well. We are not quite sure exactly how old he is but we got him in spring of 09 at around 300 lbs. Only a few months left before he goes to freezer camp. We started giving him 10 lbs of grain a day with hopes of nice marbled steaks! Funny thing is he never made a peep before starting him on grain, now he bellows for his dinner everytime he sees us!

Autumn at Last!

I love Fall! I love the food; the squash, the apples, the pork, the cinnamon. I love the weather; the cool mornings to wake me up, the warm days to be outside, and the cool evenings perfect for campfires. I love the holidays. Halloween and Thanksgiving are such fun without the anxiety and commercialism of Christmas. I love the colors. We camped in Pisgah last weekend and saw the first hints of the beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows to come.

This fall we have lots of plans. A yard sale, a trip to the zoo, and a BBQ top the list. There are also summer annuals to till under or feed to the chickens and fall crops to put in. This spring's lambs are ready for processing and it's just about time to brew another batch of beer.

So, swing on by any time and see what's going on this Autumn on Silver Creek.

Our Productive Neighbors

Looking for great produce and meats for sale in Morganton? Check out our productive Silver Creek neighbors on Bluebird Farm. They are working really hard to make quality produce and meat available to the public.

I Think We Have a Squash Bug Problem...

This was the last straw, next year I am getting guineas!

Picked up a used Vermont Castings Resolute off of Craigslist. The Fisher Baby Bear perfect for our old Charlotte house, but was just a little too small for Morganton. Soon after getting it home the power company took down a 40 inch red oak at the neighbor's house. He was kind enough to give us all the wood in exchange for getting it out of his front yard! The main trunk section was split with a little help from a black powder charge. We figure we got close to 8 cords out of this massive 80 year old oak, but that will be for a winter several years down the road. This years and next years supply is already put up in the wood shed (it holds 8 cords)

In the Kitchen

We've gotten lots of different things off the farm this year. Here is just a few examples of the more interesting things we've done.

Garden produce

Pickles

Bacon!

Bamboo shoots

Goat curry with bamboo shoots

Home Brew

Siphoning into the bottling bucket

This was a Pilsner. Pretty good. Some were more carbonated than others because I failed to mix the priming sugar in well. Otherwise a big success. At about 70c a bottle it was a pretty good deal too.

'Mater sandwiches!

Nothing like the first tomato sandwich of the year!

Peru with Heifer International

K- We had an amazing opportunity to visit Peru with Heifer International on one of their Study Tours. Two of our new friends, Noland and Bryan blogged extensively here and I would love for everyone to visit their site.

Heifer's cornerstone principle of "Passing on the Gift" is alive and well in Peru. I was completely awe struck by the welcome and the treatment we received. We were outsiders in the communities we visited but we were treated as honored guests and smothered with hugs and food. The scenery and culture was amazing but the real treasures we discovered in Peru were the people.

While in Peru, we attended two Passing on the Gife Ceremonies. Here, sheep were shared in Acopia.

We later attended perhaps the highest Pass on Ceremony ever in the "hills" of Pacchant, 15,500 feet above sea level. More than the elevation left us breathless at this event.

As I peruse my photographs, words are failing me. It was an amazing experience. Perhaps I will be more eloquent after a little time has passed.

Until then, please view a the promotional video that Heifer made from some of the footage from our trip. It is here.

Homestead Haircuts

Getting a trim!

The New Chicken Coop

First it was the foxes, so we got electroplastic netting, then it was the hawks, so we built "THE GEODESIC CHICKEN DOME" (inspired by Buckminster Fuller, of course). Introducing the (somewhat) portable chicken containment and protection system. The outer mesh is charged with 8,000 volts of predator (and feed stealing goats) repellent. We have not lost a chicken since. Sure beats coming out to a half eaten chicken everyday! Soon after finishing it we sold the flock down to 6 birds which has worked out great. Just enough eggs for us and a few friends and family.

Tractor Mod

Winter seemed long this years, so yet another tractor project was spawned. The idea was to stretch the tractor and add a bed for hauling things around the homestead. Things were going well until a chain broke, and unfortunately with this design, if a chain breaks, you lose your breaks! Not too cool, thankfully I was still testing, aware of this fault and no damage was done. Oh well, another project shelved until next winter...

Wheel Weights and Chains

We have had a lot of rain and snow this winter which has made it a little tough to haul wood around with the garden tractors, so I went to work building wheel weights and chains. The weights are made out of recast tire weights and added 170 lbs to the tractor. Between the weights and chains, it made a HUGE difference. I was even able to pull our 4x8 utility trailer (300 lbs+-)up the steep part of our hill with 6 inches of snow on it.

New Trailer for Garden Tractors

With some help from our friend, Josh, we converted a pallet tote into an additional trailer for the garden tractors, it holds much more than the wagon and the kids got a big kick out of the "train". Sure is a lot of fun to weld up something useful!

New Tractors

After siezing up the motor on my old Roper (did you know you have to check the oil?) Went to a mower guy to buy a salvage engine and a c. 1970 Sears 8XL followed me home. Had so much fun with it, a Sears Suburban 12 (complete with mowing deck, 3 pt hitch, and scrape blade) soon joined the fold. The 8XL runs like a champ, the 12 needed some work, however during the repairs it managed to throw the pully off the flywheel. So back to the salvage man...looks like plowing snow will have to wait until next winter...