The year is drawing to a close here on the Farm. We survived a drought with some of the gardens and all of the girls intact. The xeriscaped wildlife habitat front did extremely well with zero water all summer, except what fell naturally from the sky.
Due to the drought, we scaled back the food garden, and shifted most herbs and perinnerals to the Temple garden instead. We've finally gotten it cleaned, and a few things planted, like poppies, violets and my prize German Porcelin garlic I ordered last summer. We should have 5 beds in production next year, down from last year's eight.
The girls are getting new digs, a new fence with mesh topping to keep out the huge hawk that would REALLY like to have chicken for breakfast. We're hoping to have the coop revamped next spring as well.
The first-ever winter garden is doing well so far, with cabbage and Brussels sprouts heading up the menu. We are growing both English and snow peas for the girls, and some purple pod green beans that are doing so well that we've been able to put up 4 quarts, and have fresh for Turkey Day dinner. There is some lettuce and spinach, but for some reason the lettuce is a bit bitter. We'll probably let it go to the girls and transplant some of the overcrowded cabbages in their place. So much to do!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Beautiful, beautiful beans!
The fall weather has been good to the plants so far this season, and while the lettuce didn't do as well as I had hoped for, the purple pod beans have done better than I expected! We've gotten about 5 pounds from two small trellis plantings, and they don't show any signs of letting up any time soon. We've eaten alot of them fresh, and I finally put up a pound in the freezer for Xmas dinner. I'm hoping to be able to build some tiny greenhouses over the raised beds, and see how long the warmer weather plants continue to produce.
Talks are in process for a new greenhouse. I'm love to have a permanent one, instead of plastic covered, except then the view from one or two windows is compromised. Going to check into clear panels and see if that would work. I'll post more about that later when the project gets going.
Talks are in process for a new greenhouse. I'm love to have a permanent one, instead of plastic covered, except then the view from one or two windows is compromised. Going to check into clear panels and see if that would work. I'll post more about that later when the project gets going.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Beautiful fall weather!
It is finally fall here in Central Texas, and the weather couldn't be any more beautiful! Many people think that we only have hot, hotter and Oh Dear God! for weather here, but that is so not true. We do have an autumn, our trees do change colors after the first frosts, although not nearly dramatically as the ones up northeast. The days are warm, the nights cool to almost cold. We do tend to get rain this time of year, because of our geographic proximity, we get moisture from both Atlantic and Pacific tropical storms, which gives us our semi-tropical designation.
The gardens are doing very well, with lettuces and brassicas growing away. The girls are settling in for the winter. We don't use a light any more to heat their coop on the cold nights, so we have much diminished eggs right now. It does seem to be a feast or famine thing, and is certainly seasonal eating!
The possum family has been trimmed way down, thanks to live trapping. The possums are released unharmed into a local greenbelt which runs along the creek, so there are plenty of bugs, lizards and snakes for them to eat. The last one is the big one, which we think might be a female, and we are hoping to relocate her this week. She's much older than the rest, and is proving harder to catch.
Things are still going strong, with preserving food and tending the fall garden the biggest projects. We hope to be busy all winter, will post more projects when they are finished.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Welcome to the new and improved Cat Creek blog!
Welcome! I'm hoping that this blog platform will be much easier to use, and hopefully generate some interest and discussion on my tiny urban homestead.
Cat Creek Gardens is an urban homestead in the heart of Austin TX, 10 minutes from downtown. When I decided to quit teaching due to the stress, which I was not willing to handle any more, I started looking around for something to do with my life and creative skills.
I had done the chef thing for some years on and off, and it was fun, and I love to cook, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I've owned shops and done artwork, with mixed results, depending on the economy at the time. I tried my hand at a landscaping biz, but that didn't feel right either.
Then the economy started to slide downhill. People began to feel the pinch, especially people at my economic level, pretty much living paycheck to paycheck, most of mine going to processed and convenience foods, and eating out. We all began to gain weight, and were getting sick a lot more often. We didn't have the energy to go out like we used to, preferring to sit around and play WoW or watch TV.
I began researching, and one thing caught my attention, a web page from the Dervea Family in Pasadena CA. They were urban homesteaders, living the good life (for them) in the heart of several million people. I was already of the homesteading bend, having picked up my first back issue of Mother Earth News when I was still a teenager. (More on that later) So when food prices and gas began to climb, and I realized that these two things were putting us in the hole very month despite two paychecks, the Family confabbed, and I decided I would quit teaching, and we would urban homestead.
Like its big sister counterpart homesteading (usually done on a larger acreage area in the country), urban homesteading relies on doing more oneself, like food and energy production, among other things. Many skills I had learned from the older generations growing up, like growing a garden, raising livestock for food, wild gathering foods, herbal and preventative medicine, as well as repair skills and a few things like leather working, blacksmithing, and VERY basic carpentry. Urban homesteading has its own set of problems and hurdles, like dealing with neighbors woken up by your chickens at 5:30 a.m., because it is light, and they think EVERYONE should be up right then. And building issues on the property, city inspectors, etc. We aren't hardcore to other urban homesteaders. We are working into it slowly, seeing what works for us, and what doesn't. Mostly we raise some of our own food, and do many things from scratch that others buy. We try to reduce, reuse and recycle on site as much as we can, are cutting utility use and money waste, and in the process are steadily becoming healthier, and much, much happier.
Do I wish I was a multi-millionaire, and could hire everything done, shop at Whole Paycheck for my daily needs, and live the Pitt/Jolie/Beagley Jr. lifestyle? Well, yea, I do. I lust for things, just like most people. I want my house remodel to be off the grid, but I'm not willing to go into major debt to get it, and unfortunately don't have the skills to do it myself. So we do little thins, and add to when we can. Hope you enjoy reading about our journey, and the really cool people we are meeting along the way!
Cat Creek Gardens is an urban homestead in the heart of Austin TX, 10 minutes from downtown. When I decided to quit teaching due to the stress, which I was not willing to handle any more, I started looking around for something to do with my life and creative skills.
I had done the chef thing for some years on and off, and it was fun, and I love to cook, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I've owned shops and done artwork, with mixed results, depending on the economy at the time. I tried my hand at a landscaping biz, but that didn't feel right either.
Then the economy started to slide downhill. People began to feel the pinch, especially people at my economic level, pretty much living paycheck to paycheck, most of mine going to processed and convenience foods, and eating out. We all began to gain weight, and were getting sick a lot more often. We didn't have the energy to go out like we used to, preferring to sit around and play WoW or watch TV.
I began researching, and one thing caught my attention, a web page from the Dervea Family in Pasadena CA. They were urban homesteaders, living the good life (for them) in the heart of several million people. I was already of the homesteading bend, having picked up my first back issue of Mother Earth News when I was still a teenager. (More on that later) So when food prices and gas began to climb, and I realized that these two things were putting us in the hole very month despite two paychecks, the Family confabbed, and I decided I would quit teaching, and we would urban homestead.
Like its big sister counterpart homesteading (usually done on a larger acreage area in the country), urban homesteading relies on doing more oneself, like food and energy production, among other things. Many skills I had learned from the older generations growing up, like growing a garden, raising livestock for food, wild gathering foods, herbal and preventative medicine, as well as repair skills and a few things like leather working, blacksmithing, and VERY basic carpentry. Urban homesteading has its own set of problems and hurdles, like dealing with neighbors woken up by your chickens at 5:30 a.m., because it is light, and they think EVERYONE should be up right then. And building issues on the property, city inspectors, etc. We aren't hardcore to other urban homesteaders. We are working into it slowly, seeing what works for us, and what doesn't. Mostly we raise some of our own food, and do many things from scratch that others buy. We try to reduce, reuse and recycle on site as much as we can, are cutting utility use and money waste, and in the process are steadily becoming healthier, and much, much happier.
Do I wish I was a multi-millionaire, and could hire everything done, shop at Whole Paycheck for my daily needs, and live the Pitt/Jolie/Beagley Jr. lifestyle? Well, yea, I do. I lust for things, just like most people. I want my house remodel to be off the grid, but I'm not willing to go into major debt to get it, and unfortunately don't have the skills to do it myself. So we do little thins, and add to when we can. Hope you enjoy reading about our journey, and the really cool people we are meeting along the way!
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