HOMESTEADucation Angela and Mandi

Peas: Can be sown when soil temps are between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Shelling peas: for storage
Snap peas: fresh eating
Sweet peas: flowers, not edible
Sow ¼-½” deep in well draining soil. Keep moist through germination and while growing.
Trellis is required. 
Peas have thigmotropism: the ability to feel with sense of touch


Radish: Can be sown when soil temps reach 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pay attention to radish size, depth, and soil needs when planting.
Grow very quickly!


Carrots: Very difficult to germinate
Seed tape vs. sowing seeds – heavily sow and thin if needed
Keep moist until sprouting (the board trick)
Growing temps of around 40 degrees are great for sweeter tasting carrots
Carrots require fluffy soil with good tilth. Rocks in soil make squiggly carrots.


Bok Choi/Pak Choi/Bok Choi:
Prefers temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees fahrenheit
Prone to flea beetles; use coffee grounds in soil at planting time
Keep moist and cool, provide shade cloth if needed


Beets and Turnips:
Sow typically a few weeks before last frost. Requires temperatures in 40s to germinate and sprout. Keep moist. Sow heavily and thin as needed. Greens and roots are edible. Pay attention to variety for root size–some will never reach larger than a golf ball!


Spinach:
Sow 6 weeks before last frost. Prefers cold temps! Excellent for direct sowing when soil is workable, though does well started in seed cells too.
Crop is ready in as little as 6 weeks from harvest.


Spring Onions:
Plant in cool weather, but only when nighttime temps no longer fall in the 20Fs. Plant no more than one inch deep in seed cells or when direct sowing to avoid root growth restriction. Sow heavily and thin as needed.


Strawberries:
Plant bare root crowns and mulch surrounding soil with straw as soon as the soil can be worked. Be sure to identify desired variety; everbearing or June-bearing.


Calendula:
Cold season herb. Flowers are medicinal. Can be grown in spring and fall.

Remember! Some of this might be applicable to you now or in a few weeks. Either way we hope we have encouraged you to get out in your gardens and start growing something beautiful. 
Cheers. 

Angela- @axeandroothomestead
Mandi- @wildoakfarms

This is likely one of many chats between the both of us about our Livestock Guardian dogs. 
One of many. 

Stay tuned for more to come! Cheers. 

Angela @axeandroothomestead
Mandi @wildoakfarms 

The brassica family includes cole crops, descendants of the mustard family and wild cabbages. This includes broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and collards.
(cabbage is actually a member of the mustard family- but we lump it into brassicas!)

Soil and Temperature
These crops prefer well drained soil, kept moist. The seeds require slight warmth to germinate at 65 degrees Fahrenheit or more, but prefer to grow in cool conditions. If grown in peak summer, and not provided with cooling shade, they’ll bolt. Bolting means going to seed, or sending up flower heads before a true crop is produced for harvest.
Tip: Know your growing environment! If your temperatures where you are seeding stay in the 60-70 range you may not need any bottom heat for germination. If you do use heat mats (and we do!) just remember to remove the trays when you have germination. Forgetting to do so can contribute to weak and leggy seedlings. 

When to Sow and Transplant
Sow 6-8 weeks before last date of frost in seed trays. Direct sow when temperatures are warmer. Can be transplanted out three to two weeks before last frost date when left unprotected. If row cover or a hoop house is provided, can transplant into the garden much earlier.
Tip: Grow where you have NOT grown like crops in the past couple of years- this goes for the whole brassica family. 
It is safe to generalize the statement that brassicas want a soil pH of about 6-7.
Tip: I have found over the years that crops like broccoli and cabbage enjoy a little “extra love” when the plants are in your garden and roughly 4-5 inches tall. We side dress with some well aged compost. 
Growing and Harvesting
Harvest broccoli and cauliflower when heads reach roughly 5” across, variety dependent. To blanch cauliflower heads, tie the leaves residing directly below the head together above the crown. This will blanch the cauliflower for a whiter color. According to some folks, as brussels sprouts grow, leaves can be pruned off to allow more sunlight to reach the small cabbage heads along the stalk. This is said to increase sprout size. Cabbage should be harvested before the head splits, usually at around 6” in size (again variety dependent).
Kale
Note the kale experiment PerennialTroubleshooting: Any damage (usually pest related or rough handling when removing pests) to the central growing point can lead to a stunted or no head growth. The outer leaves will still grow so it may seem “okay” but they too will be tough and non-edible. 
Perennial choices exist for brassicas:
Angela purchases her’s here: 
https://plantingjustice.org/product-category/perennial-tree-kales-collards/
9 Star Broccoli (bushing growth habit and is white like cauliflower)Tree CollardsWalking Stick KaleDaubenton's KaleKosmik Perennial KalePests: Slugs, snails, cabbage moths

To deter cabbage moths, use row cover before moths appear throughout the growing season-
Companion planting broccoli with garlic, chives and nasturtium helps to deter cabbage moths. Plant thickly.Mulching the garden is great but leave a small bit of soil exposed around the stem of brassicas to avoid slug and snail accessTip: Spend 10 minutes a day with a morning tea or coffee and pick off any cabbage worms (small green worm like terrible creatures) and dispose. We also like to keep a butterfly net in garden storage to catch any you miss! 

We had the extreme honor of speaking with the incredible Dr. Temple Grandin today. She is not only a pioneer in the Agriculture industry as a whole, but an advocate for animal welfare and husbandry, and she has written over 60 scientific papers. 

On today's podcast we discuss one of her latest published papers:
Grazing Cattle, Sheep, and Goats are Important Parts of a Sustainable Agriculture Future. 
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/16/2092

You all. She is brilliant. Even if you don't farm or homestead, her information is applicable to all. After all, we all live on the same planet Earth. 

Enjoy! 

Ps! Another incredible piece to this story is Temple wrote the forward to Angela's book - The Sustainable Homestead- which comes out March 28th, 2023! 
https://a.co/d/0kCFOCV - Preorder her book here! 

Starting onions from seed:
Onion seeds are tiny little black seeds. Go figure, they are like more than 50% of
other seeds.
They prefer to be planted in loose/fertile soil and or seed starting mix.
You *can start them right in the ground if you have a longer growing season, but
most gardeners that aren’t planting starts are starting seeds early in the year. Late-
Jan- Feb.
If you plant directly in your beds plant them an inch deep and keep rows at least 1
foot apart.
Onion plants have very shallow roots and throughout the season will require a
consistent watering plan or irrigation for best results.
A lot of folks plant start onion seeds indoors or in a greenhouse using a bunching
method. Where many seeds are planted in almost a broadcast method in a larger
pot. The seeds will grow and almost look like grass with tiny black specs on top.
When it comes time to transplant outdoors you lift the entire bunch and carefully
separate the individual seedlings. It seems tedious, but as long as your soil is fertile
and loose its not too bad.
Planting onion sets:
Be sure when you are sourcing them that you source from LOCAL places and or
know your grow zone and what onion varieties grow best. IE: short day and long
Day.
Long day vs Short day onions:
This is just referring refers to the approximate hours of daylight a variety of onion
will need in order to start developing the bulb. Short Day means about ten hours a
day, while long day means twelve hours or more. This is important to consider when
choosing for your zone.
pH desired: 5.5-6.5- more acidic if you can.
In general, onions are ready for harvest in 100 to 125 days from seed. If you planted
onion sets, expect to harvest in 60 to 80 days.
How many onions do you eat in a year?
Curing?
Storage?
Onions prefer 6-8 hours of sun per day.
Plan for a spot with access to plenty of moisture as onions are slow drinkers. They do well in damp soil but need drainage… soaking wet feet leads to rotting bulbs.
Know your zone and onion type. Long day onion varieties are generally best suited for zones 6 and lower and require 14-16 hours of daylight. Short day onions need about 10 hours per day and work for zones 7+. Day neutral onion varieties are pretty adaptable with about 12 hours of sunlight needed daily. Ideally suited for zones 5 and 6.
If you’re planning on storing onions over the winter, grow storage varieties suited for long term keeping. My favorites are Aisla Craig for short term storage and Stuttgarter, Yellow Sweet Spanish, Patterson, and Yellow of Parma for long term. I’m not really a red onion person so can’t speak to that as much. 😉
Seeds are slow germinating and can be started in January with transplanting in spring into the garden.
Leeks, chives, Egyptian walking onions, ramps, and welsh onions are all great varieties to add to your must try growing list! Most of these are perennials too.
Keep onions well weeded as they don’t like competitors.
Plan to grow onions alongside brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and kohlrabi. They help to repel cabbage worms/moths with their strong scent when closely grown together. Greens, tomatoes and carrots are also good companions. So are fruit trees! Onions are great in guilds.
Never plant onions near peas or beans, peanuts or groundnut, nor asparagus. They stunt one another’s growth.
Harvest onions when they tell you to; their greens will usually fall over and begin to yellow. You can also see their papery sk

HAPPY 2023! 

We will admit, we recorded this right before the holidays and then the holidays happened. :) 
We would like to welcome you to the New Year with a fun recording where we talk all about some of the common myths that circulate the homesteading community. Or just the community in general. 

We both are very excited to bring you incredible content this year, but let's start with something fun! Cheers! 

Angela & Mandi 

@axeandroothomestead
@wildoakfarms