My attempt to document the planting, growth, harvesting, and preserving of our family’s 8000 square feet of garden.
Northeast Iowa Gardening in growing zone 4
Last frost date May15, First frost date September 15
Two inches of May rain revived everything, weeds included.
On the archway trellis:
In the main garden area:
Fun planting:
What we harvested:
We also finally trellised the English peas! We pounded 3 steel T-posts into each 30-foot row. Then strung baling twine (bought a giant roll from a farm supply store a few years ago) between each post approximately 2-3 inches between each twine.
We currently, with Elvin working full, time don’t have the resources to grow all our own animal food, but I am learning what I can about varieties and saving the seeds so that I am ready if one of the children or Elvin would decide to ‘farm’ some of our crop land in the future.
Here is a little bit about each variety of crop I planted for the animals.
Tromboncino squash: This squash, because it is an heirloom variety and has complex sugars is much less vulnerable to insects like squash bugs or other pests that affect more modern, hybrid varieties. The Plant rows vigorously with little to no tending. The squash grows very large, up to 3 feet long and often we get multiple wheelbarrow loads of squash from 5-10 plants. I plant to put another hand full of seeds on our compost pile for another crop of carefree animal feed.
In its young, tender stage, 10-15inches long, the tromboncino squash is used like a summer squash and, in my opinion has a much more buttery and full flavor profile than the modern varieties of summer squash or zucchinis.
When the Tromboncino squash is mature it will store like a winter squash for up to two years. In my experience it stores better than modern varieties like the Butternut.
We store crates of squash in a cool dry place (our shop) and feed them to the pigs and chickens all winter long as a supplement to their regular feed and to cut down on the winter feed bill. We also use them for human consumption in the same way we would use any winter squash, even for making pumpkin pies and other pumpkin desserts. We rough cut into large chunks for the pigs and smaller slices for the chickens. Fow ruminants you need to smash them fine to prevent choking.
Tromboncino squash in its mature stage are rich in carbohydrates, giving a much-needed energy boost that helps animals stay warm when fed in wintertime. Also, a great source of fats and proteins. My favorite reason to feed squash? Their seeds help naturally manage intestinal parasites.
To save the seeds: I save one of the best-looking squashes, cut it open, scoop out the seeds and let them dry on a paper towel for a few days and then plant them!
Hickory King Corn: A 150-year-old Appalachia Heirloom corn known for its reliability in poor soils and less than ideal climates. Over the years it has become popular on self-sufficient homesteads because of its durability and multi-purpose functions for both humans and livestock.
My introduction to Hickory King corn was when someone gifted me some at a seed exchange! I planted my seeds at the edge of my regular sweet corn and was shocked at how tall the corn grew! 12-15 feet tall when mature! The cobs were 6-8 feet from the ground, and I had to cut down the stalks to harvest the cobs!
This corn, because of massive stalks and foliage is an excellent choice of animal feed: In its green stage (green chop) providing an excellent boost of hydration in late, hot summer when pastures are often dry. The foliage is an excellent source of sugars providing immediate energy. Growing this corn insulates livestock owners against late summer droughts.
When fully mature, the cobs are harvested for the animals. We store the cobs in a cool dry place, hanging upside down by their husks for winter feed. The dried cobs provide an excellent source of carbohydrates and protein for pigs and chickens. We throw the whole cob to the pigs; we shell and crush the kernels for the chickens.
For Humans, this corn is the old fashioned, gold standard for hominy, masa, and tortillas, none of which I have tried but would love to in the future.
To save seeds I simple shell some seeds from the best-looking cob and put them into the soil. This corn has a 90–110-day maturity date, this means, in my area, I need to plant as early as possible and pray for a late fall frost.
Sorghum: I am not completely sure what variety of sorghum I have as the original seeds were a gift and only marked ‘sorghum’.
The reason for growing sorghum is that it is highly drought resistant and like corn provides hydrating ‘green chop’ during the growing season and especially in late summer when our area is most likely to experience insufficient rainfall. Sorghum requires 30% less water than corn does. It requires less nitrogen than corn does and produces more forage than other traditional forage grasses. It is often planted as grazing forage. Because Sorghum is a short season crop it can be harvested as ‘green chop’ more than once in a growing season providing an extra insulation against drought. Sorghum is very similar to corn in its nutritional profile but provides a little more protein than corn foliage does.
The seed head of sorghum, also known as Milo, are a high energy, nutrient dense grain offering nutritional benefits like corn.
We allow some of our sorghum to mature then harvest the seed heads and hang them upside down like corn cobs. We feed the seed heads, whole, to our chickens in wintertime. Because chickens have a gizzard that easily grinds up the tender seeds there is no need to grind the seeds first, making this a very high energy, and carefree winter feed for the chickens. Milo seeds should be ground before feeding to other animals to increase the available nutrients.
To save the seeds I simply gather the seeds from what we have stored and plant them directly into the soil.
We are far from completely self-sufficient in livestock feed but each year we buy less feed than the year before even when our herds and flocks increase in size. I am confident that slowly but surely, we are learning the art of sustenance farming/gardening.
It is easy to imagine and work towards complete self-sufficiency and talk about it with pride and a feeling of accomplishment! It is easy to imagine and work towards independence from the grocery store or the feed mill and the freedom it will bring. It is a worthy and inspiring dream that we have. But we must give Glory and Honor where it is due. Without God’s inspiration I would have none of these dreams. It is His goodness in me that inspires me to steward the gifts of the earth and its fertility with great tenderness! Without His grace in my life, I wouldn’t be able to recognize that all good and perfect gifts are from Him and only Believing in His son and the death on the cross do I gain eternal life. It is not through any heirloom variety of foods or any organically grown foods that we gain eternal life.
So it is with great thankfulness and humility that we work this little corner of God’s great creation, doing the very best with the knowledge that He has given us, passing that knowledge on to the next generations until such a time as he takes us home to Heaven where there will be no tears, no disappointments and no more weeds, No droughts, no floods and no more storms. But if we labor here on this earth there will be not one perfect growing season. Striving for a perfect growing season under our own power is simply a trick from the enemy to encourage us to take our eyes off cultivating the spiritual garden in our hearts that grows fruit for the kingdom.
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
