Organic Eggs and Vegetable Garden Planning

My neighbors here in Virginia who read my blog are going to think I’m nuts for posting this picture, but I was so excited when Patty, my friend who owns and runs Shady Acres Farm here in Prospect, gave me two dozen free range eggs! Talk about fresh and organic. This photo shows the beautiful colors of the eggs. She said she got an Aracuna rooster who crossed with some of her regular hens. The results are these beautiful eggs, all shades of green, pink and peach. They are like works of art. The colors are just amazing. The second set of eggs are strangely shaped, small and pointy. She thinks one of her hens crossed with guinea hens that guard the farm and flock. Whatever the unusual love affair produced, it definitely produce delicious eggs. Her hens roam about the farm, free range, and enjoy their days as chickens were meant to do. The guinea hens afford great protection and guard the flock. If predators arrive on the scene, the guineas cluck and chuckle and shoo everyone back into the safety of the coop. Even her goats alert to the sounds from the guineas, and any cry of distress alerts all the farm critters that a hawk, vulture, fox or other predator is nearby.

We finished the last of the raised vegetable garden beds yesterday, screwing together the frame and laying down the landscape fabric. I hauled wheel barrow after wheel barrow of cow manure from the major pile the Hertzlers contributed, and then John and I both hauled more compost into the beds. I think I ran wheel barrows back and forth for two hours. Talk about tired last night. I dropped off to sleep around 9 amd slept like a rock until Shadow and Pierre work me up around 6 for breakfast. It was so beautiful yesterday, I worked outside in just my t shirt and jeans. My workboots got all muddy and my heavy work gloves too. The sunshine was warm, the air smelled soft and of good earth, and a breeze stirred the pines.

Someone asked me how to plan a vegetable garden. One of the tricks I learned along the way, this one from my old neighbor in Floral Park, Mr. Hoffman, was companion planting. Mr. Hoffman was a retired high school chemistry teacher, but more importantly, he was of the Rottkamp family, one of the respected old farming families that used to farm Long Island, and he was like my adopted grandfather. I used to hop over the hedge separating our properties and as a little girl, I tagged along at his heels as he worked his backyard farm. When he’d purchased the land in the 1940’s, he’d bought his house lot and extra for a mini farm. It was an oddity in Floral Park but I loved it. He grew long rows of sweet corn, spinach, rhubarb, and many other vegetables. He taught my how to blanch celery with big boards and why leeks are hard to grow. When he’d plan his garden, he showed me that planting marigolds keeps away many bugs, and basil and tomatoes together not only taste great, but also work as natural insect repellants. This is organic gardening at its finest, using plants to ward off plants that trouble other plants. Marigolds saved the day for us here in Virginia last summer when my tomato plants were attacked by those hideous green tomato hornworms. Ugly, nasty things, but as soon as the marigolds went around the tomatoes they all skeedaddled back to wherever they come from.

Enjoy your day today! This is the last warm day for a bit, and tomorrow we are expecting more winter slush and rain, so I’ll be heading out to deadhead and clean up the perennial garden.