Hello everyone and greetings from Finland!
You have no idea how exited I am to have found this
community.. All these resources and you the great and likeminded
people! This is my first post here on Permies.com after like a month of lurking, and I'm going to make it a long one. So, without a further a due...
Saana's journey to homesteading
Lets start with the basics: where did our journey start?
In the spring of 2021 we (hubby and me with a newborn) bought a small property from the forests of Southern Savonia, Finland (zone 5). The property consists of:
Roughly 1,5 hectares (about 3,7 acres) of land all slightly sloping to south of which 0,5ha (1,2 acres) is a field/pasture that I will mostly be focusing here on PermiesA shelter for sheepA chicken coop attached to a old barn with a collapsed run that is waaay too small.A root cellar that needs a bit of work (the doors are currently letting in cold air)Some berry bushes (blackcurrant, redcurrant, gooseberry, raspberry and aronia. Plus the three honeyberrie bushes I planted this summer, if they survive the winter)A good house mostly heated with wood, 60m^2 garage, a hay barn
What's the grand plan?
To be as self sufficient as possibleMake the field into a beautiful food producing.. I guess a forest?Apple, pear and plum trees. I really want to try to grow some apple trees from a seed.BerriesHugelkultur.. Probably a few hugelkulturs.Keyhole gardens.30m^2 (323 square feet) polycarbonate greenhouse. I would like some kind of heating in it to get a longer growing season. I think I read about someone having a Rocket Mass Heater in a greenhouse... Hmm..Sheep for wool to process and make crafts to sell and get some moneys from them.Chickens for eggs and meatHoneybeesTo build a barbeque all out of wood. No, it will not be treated with anything and it will not burn to ground. It will be magnificent.I'm already planting by the moon so lets spray some raw milk and stuff to the field too, why not! I like things a bit purple.
Where are we at now?
The first summer we spent mostly renovating the house. Last spring and summer I got some great things done.
I dug up an old very weedy strawberry area. The black plastics were all grown in to the ground and there were a lot of weeds. A lot.
What a great workout. Took me several weeks as I was only working a hour or so a day with a shovel while the baby was sleeping.
I brought in several bags of soil, added some organic fertilizer and planted potatoes. Got a great harvest, we are still eating our crop and there even might be
enough for seed potatoes for the coming summer.
Started way too many plants inside way too early so that the plan of getting huge amounts of
tomatoes turned into basicly not getting tomatoes at all. All those sad plants just died inside.
Totally failed with garlic as the weeds took over.
Planted the three honeyberry plants. Fingers crossed they survive the winter!
Then I found about
permaculture and no-till and...
Built two small
hugelkultur beds right in front of our house. (2m x 1m x 1m)
Currently at least the other one is an apartment for a
mouse of prolly a few of them. I have no idea what that will mean when the summer comes and I start planting things. Lets not worry about things we cannot do anything about!
Built a small leaf
compost. Oh if I had known about this forum earlier, I wouldn't have dumped in layers of old sheep bedding. I just learned about leaf mold and it sounds so great. I don't know what will come out of my leaf compost thingy, I probably have to ask hubby to
pee on it. We'll see when the spring comes and the snow melts.
Planted garlic and sowed some carrot and parsnip seeds where the potatoes were, hopefully not too early.
Hubby wanted to till a small section of the field for planting potatoes in the spring so the neighbour came in with a
tractor and did that.
Tried to overwinter jalapeno plants but then came the spider mites. The plants flew out of the door.
Successful year, I'd say. I'm happy. Lots and lots of learning!
Plan for the upcoming year of 2023:
To contain myself from starting way too many seedlings inside way too early. I have learned my lesson.Plant the hugelkultur beds. The plan was to plant the other one with tomatoes, chamomil, basil and marigolds and the other one probably with strawberries and asparagus (and?).Wonder around the field/pasture and see what is growing in it.Make plans for water retention for the field. Trying to figure out a rough plan about placement of the hugelkultures, keyhole gardens, trees and compost area.Try to figure out where to build up the greenhouse and make plans for the heating. The actual building (foundation, heating system and the assembly of the greenhouse) will probably happen in 2024.Clean up the old chicken coop and make it ready for a flock, extend the run. I'm not sure if the residents will arrive in 2023 or not but I would like to get it ready.Move some of the raspberries and clear a bit of the current raspberry plant mess.Fix the root cellar to function better. Currently we are burning candles under clay pots to keep it from freezing.To get leaves from the town in the fall. I need leaf mold. I NEED IT. Our only maple already has the fungal disease that makes the leaves turn into colorful dalmatians so just bring all the leaves. (Please do tell me if this is a bad idea)To enjoy running after a toddler exploring the world.
Okay, I think that was all. Ha, not really. But for now. Did I already say I'm exited? Yay.
In the next post I will be adding a drone picture of our place and talk a bit about the history and the current situation of the field, that will probably happen tomorrow. Now it is time for me to go to sleep.
Thanks for reading!
Oh and if I'm posting completely in the wrong section or something.. Umm.. Staff?