It's time to get serious folks. I'm talking about myself. I was reading one of my favorite blogs,
Thoughts From Frank And Fern, and Fern was talking about her herb garden. What I really found interesting is how she mapped out her garden on a piece of paper. Then I remembered how another friend mapped out her whole farm. She doesn't have much level land, but she sure did put a lot of stuff in the small, level acreage that she does have. So I got to thinking, (I know, scary.) I'm going to map out MY place. I've got around 55 acres of land here, and I didn't know where to start! I was told to make a list of the things I have here and things I want here. Why am I now just letting that sink in?
I know I'm gonna have a garden. I actually already have that set in place so I won't have to do much thinking on that. The new chicken coop is right next to the garden. That way when we would happen to have a few tomatoes, or such, go bad, I can just chuck them to the chickens. The brooder is going right next to the "big girl" coop. We have our pond, my clothes line, our driveway, and our, soon to be installed, homemade, outdoor, wood burning stove, so I have to make sure I put those on the map. Hubby is going to want to build a garage to put the tractor and hay equipment in, so I'll make sure I put that on there too. Our pasture fields are pretty much already set in stone.
Now I have to figure out what I WANT. (This is better than Christmas!) I know I want apple trees for sure. I have a couple already planted, but I want more. We eat a lot of apples in the winter. It may be in the form of pies, crisps, apple butter, or just fried apples, but we like them a lot. We usually go to a local apple orchard and get them, but they are usually sprayed. I want to be able to use my own unsprayed apples to make apple cider vinegar. I also want blueberries. Yummo! I want strawberries. Double yummo! And I want to transplant our blackberry bushes closer to the house so that they are not on the other side of the 55 acres.
I have always wanted an herb garden too. I have started one a few times, but something keeps coming up to where I have to move it. The last herb garden has been run over by the tractor so many time everything died. Everything except the mint. You just can't kill that stuff. :-) I have books upon books of herbs. I LOVE the thought of making my own medicine, or having my own herbs to cook with. Hey! I'm gonna have to make a map of things I'm gonna put in my herb garden! Oh goodness, I think I'm going to be obsessed. lol
I could go on and on about my wants, but I think I'm going to go and start mapping. I'll let you know how it goes.
So until next time,
Small Farm Girl, Mapper