Chop Wood Carry Water Plant Seeds is a blog about Self-Sufficient Homesteading. How can we live by creating a sustainable bio-diverse world, instead of by consuming and destroying the only one we have? What kind of teaching have you got if you exclude nature?

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Our first harvest

The harvest has begun :) These radishes, spinach and Mizuna are from the February sowing inside the greenhouse! The last winter was very mild and thanks to that this was possible. Lets make some salad :)
By the way you can see in the background all the mentioned veggies within the greenhouse.
We are also harvesting Rhubarb and freezing it for the winter.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Rhubarb Pie? Hell Yeah :)

Sweet Kristine and I harvested our Rhubarb for the first time and ...
... of course baked a Rhubarb Pie :)) yummiiiii
But before the pie we made an omelet with our homestead eggs, Nettles and Ground elder. The tomatoes are organic from the shop but the Basil on top of is from our pots :) 

Just to update; I planted today Red Lettuce, Iceberg, more Onions, more Carrots, more Radishes, Perennial Rucola, Parsley and Leek. All seeds. 

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Gardening has begun

Its time to start planting seeds! This winter was very mild and thanks to that we can begin planting now.
Onions, Summer Carrots and Radishes
Raised beds filled with composted horse manure
Colorful Spring time at The Willow Farm :)

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

One chicken gone missing ...

... thats what I thought when I went to lock them up for the night. I always count them when they sit on the stick; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, .... !!! Where is the 9th one !!! So I looked outside and she was not there! One brown one was missing! Then I looked into the nest boxes and there she was sitting on the eggs :)) She became broody :)) how great is that! Now I have to research what to do so the other hens don't lay new eggs every day into this same nest when she is eating. I think I might separate her into the newly built cage within the same coop. I wonder how many eggs can she brood?

The Greenhouse is Alive

I have started Tomatoes from seeds in February which as a bit too early I think. They have grown so big that I had no other choice but plant them into the greenhouse even though the temperature is still on the low side. Most important is that frost will not happen and even if ...
... I have placed the tomatoes in poly-tunnels just to be on the safe side.
Geenhouse Spinach from sawing in February (23rd)
Mizuna (above) and Lettuce (bottom picture) from sowing in February :) who sais you cant have early veggies in Denmark :) Next year I will plant much more in the greenhouse in February. I will also plant late in the Autumn this year after the Tomatoes have finished to have salad until January.
I even planted Potatoes today outdoors. I will continue planting more lettuce, spinach and radishes outdoors and will probably plant the parsley and summer carrots too as well as onions.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

All the lovely green people

I have spent a very nice weekend on an island in Denmark called Samsø where 400 people came to part-take in a manifestation called Practic Ekology. This was the first time that the 6 Eko organizations had a meeting at the same time. I have met many many lovely green people and have learned a lot. I even got some very interesting seeds and plants for my permaculture forest garden :)

My friend Cristian Damgaard and I used this opportunity to talk about natural beekeeping in top bar hives. The organizer Trine Krebs gave us an official hour to present this alternative to conventional beekeeping. 50 people came to the presentation :)) and we will be meeting soon to start a new organization which still has no official name but I call it Biernes Venner Skandinavien (Friends of the Bees Scandinavia). One member suggested name "Swarm Denmark" which I like very much :) another mentioned "Bee Herders" and "More Buzz in the Gardens" which is also very nice. I'm so happy to see many interested in letting bees be bees rather than manipulating them for the sake of more honey.

400 people came to Samsø to stand up for a better greener world
Dragon Dreaming was just one of the many workshops during the weekend
Many inspiring talks and presentations ...
big thank you applaud at the end of this lovely meeting
Next big thing is the Nordic Permaculture Festival in Denmark :) stay tuned or even better join us :)