Happy Halloween

Wow, it's October 31 already! A lot has happened since our modest little first market in Port Medway in late May. The short version is - we worked very hard, learned a lot from the experience of greenhouse growing in shallow raised beds, tried our hand at growing microgreens, had great success with some things and little success with others, and got some sheep on the far!. All in all it was a fantastic experience! Moving forward, we have decided to take a break and re-evaluate the direction for The Wooly Crow farm.

In other news, we got our fall garlic planted, yay! We planted about 90 cloves in total of several varieties; Continental (historically grown in NS), Music, some from our neighbour Vincent (also our Halifax Seed rep!), some from neighbours in West Berlin (thanks Dan and Elaine!) and some mystery cloves that I collected from farmer's markets (West Dublin, Liverpool, Bridgewater etc). Hopefully next July/Aug we'll get a great harvest and can double the amount we plant next fall.

Now we come to the sheep! Wow! So exciting to have 3 young Icelandic ewes come to live at our farm. They love it when I feed them kale, but I have to hold the stalk for them so they can tear the leaves off!

They were shorn in the image above. Here they are in full wool!

~ the cranky crow

1st Market Day

Our first day at The Port Medway Crafter's and Vendor's Market May 21, 2017. We sold 3 and 4 oz bags of mixed greens, baby beet, spinach, tatsoi, endive and arugula, as well as a Mesclun mix. We potted up some young plants grown from seed, tomato (Celebrity, Big Beef, Lemon Boy and Matt's Wild Cherry), Calendula, Zinnia, and two kinds of kale (Siberian and Vates Blue curled).

Introducing The Knotty Crow

Well, her butt at least.

Day 122 Winter Has Arrived!

Hügelkultur

Hügelkultur is a German term for raised-bed gardening using buried woody material covered in compost and topsoil. As the wood decomposes within the bed, it retains more and more moisture over time. However, a good crop can be planted in it in the first year.

I would like to try this at The Wooly Crow Farm. I just pruned a mountain of branches from an enormous wild rose and some kind of flowering shrub that threatened to eat us.

For more information see Paul Wheaton's blog Richsoil
or check out Permies.com

Day 2 - Contractors

Met with a couple of contractors to get a quote on doing some insulation and dry-walling on the second floor.

As you can see there is some work to be done to get it livable.

When I arrived at the house today to meet with contractor #1, the neighbour to the west came over to introduce herself. She had left these on my property and wanted to let me know I could use them anytime!

Day 1 - By The Sea!

Today we got the keys to our new home!

Dreaming The Wooly Crow

The dream of The Wooly Crow is of sheep and fowl and gardens, of craft and fine art, of an apiary where surely mead would follow.

A place that will be home to grandmother, great-grandmother, grandson; future generations, ancestors and landwights; crows too.

It was born in 1970 as a seaside summer cottage; a 28' x 24.6' cedar shingled square on 1.6 acres of the north Atlantic coast.
There is a village of 300 nearby where fishermen dwell and artists and regular people.
There is a general store / post office / cafe / gallery, an artist's co-op; a lighthouse park, a meeting place for writers.

We three will be caretakers for a while and follow the best ways possible to keep harmony with land sea and air, and be good neighbours.
In spirit dad grandfather grandmother and uncle, we'll always remeber, and thank you.

May the Gods be with us, and the land and folk always in good health!