http://songcroft.com/calendar/

It’s that time again. Our Self-Sufficiency Skills School class schedule is on our website. If you are interested in becoming more self-sufficient through learning the skills early homesteaders used, sign up before the spaces are full.

Some of our topics include:

Wild Medicinal Plants. Saturday, May 5  10-12 $25

During this class you will learn to identify different plants and how to use them. Marilene will teach you how to prepare simple remedies that you will be able to make on your own in the future.

Winter Vegetables Sunday, May 19th    10-12pm   $25

Believe it or not, you need to start in June here in Western Washington. You will learn ways to extend the season, which varieties will grow best here, and special technique to help you be successful.

Permaculture Design Course    June 6-20th, 2012

Come join our 14 day/night Permaculture Design Course (Earn your PDC Certification) June 6-20, 2012

Dynamic team of 4 experienced instructors, plus guest speakers in the Permaculture movement:

Kelda Miller – Primary Lead for duration

Marilene Richardson – Special Host Lead 2 days offsite www.songcroft.com

Jenny Pell – Special Guest Lead 3 days at Shambala- See Jenny and Kelda’s bios at www.permaculturenow.com

Tyler ‘TyTy’ Burns – Assistant lead for duration

Space is Limited! Class Curriculum and additional details to be posted often, call for more details 360 387 4110~ or visit : http://blog.livewellventures.com/permaculture-design-course-shambala-farm/

Soft Cheeses Around The World

Saturday, July 22  11-2  $40 per person

Come to our family farm and see how to make soft goat cheeses from around the world.

So Much More Than Canning

Saturday and Sunday, August 11-12  10-4  $125 per person

Food preservation galore! hands-on experience with lacto-fermenting, dehydrating, hot water bath canning, pressure canning and more.

Folk Wine Making

Sunday, August 26  11-1pm  $35
Come learn how to make folk wines from local fruit! This class covers what you need, as well as basic recipes for you to take home and try on your own. Pre-registration required. Adults only.

REGISTER RIGHT AWAY AS SPACES ARE LIMITED

Please share our class schedule with your friends and family. Doing classes such as ours with friends, family and neighbors is a great way to build and strengthen community.

High 55   Low 37   Overcast with deep darm clouds. Light showers. 

It’s that time of year again. It’s when people from all over the world decide to WWOOF or not to WWOOF. WWOOF’ing is an acronym for Worldwide Workers on Organic Farms.

People from all over the world experience travel, community life, family life, farm life, and for some their first shot at adult life. Last year we enjoyed the company of three WWOOF’ers whom were young, energetic, interesting and eager to learn from our experience. It can be a truly win-win situation for both us and them.

From January through April we are pretty busy answering emails and phone calls from the many folks looking to learn how to live more self sufficiently. Most are looking to learn to grow food, some are interested in livestock and others are interested in living in community. Most of the WWOOF’ers who contact us are interested in permaculture.

We have limited spaces available so we spend a fair amount of time talking, asking questions and reading the resumes and applications that are sent to us. So far, we have three full time apprentices and two others that live locally that will come by once a week to work along side us.

Although we are a small family farm, we are able to meet the needs of interns by finding out what their interests are and designing projects and educational experiences to help meet their needs. Because we have experience from running the SongCroft School, we are well prepared to give the WWOOF’ers hands-on experience along with the dialog that brings it all together for a good learning package.

If you are thinking about doing something different and worthwhile this summer, you might ask yourself, “To WWOOF or Not to WWOOF?”

High 55  Low 37  Rainy, windy, thunder, power blips

My kids keep asking, “When is Spring?” I don’t think anyone around here knows. We’ve had three sunny days so far this year. Two of which only lasted until mid-day and then the sky let loose with torrential rains.

We do have some signs of Spring. The chickens are laying. We are averaging 29 eggs a day out of 31 hens. We have turkey hens sitting on eggs. The bees have shown that they are strong and healthy although they are not able to get our much due to the rain. I will likey have to feed them again. Our rabbit does are bred and hopefully our goats are too. Let’s just pray that the buck got the job done. This is a new buck and although he was sold to us as proven, he doesn’t seem real amorous.

Our girls never look super big until just before they kid so we may not know until right before. Ugh!

As of last week, we still had enough hail to turn the land white and sheets of ice on the ground every morning but the birds are singing and the frogs have joined in the chorus too. They were tentative at first. Singing on one night and then waiting as if to ask, “When is Spring? Is it here yet?”  But just his morning I saw the first seedlings poking their little heads up through the soil. Bok Choy with it’s little rounded cotyledons looking all proud.

Regardless of the weather, I have been making progress on the land. There has been a lot of compost, manure and soil moved. Our tomatoes and peppers are nice and strong in their 4-inch pots. Our 16 year-old dog may have eaten half of what I had going but we still have plenty for our family. We have bulb fennel, collards, broccoli, and cabbages ready to plant in the beds. Raspberry and blueberry beds were just prepared and so was the soil under a cherry tree so a guild planting can be completed there. It’s going to be a good growing season, as soon as Spring arrives!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shambala-Farm-and-Nursery/102729396478154

Have you always wanted to earn a Permaculture Design Certificate?  Well, what are you waiting for? Jump in and learn with this great team, Kelda Miller, Jenny Pell, Marilene Richardson and Tyty Burns. Join us for two weeks of intensive learning on Camano Island, WA.

You’ll be glad that you invested in yourself!

High 45 degrees    Low 32   Bright and clear day but chilly. The sun is tempting us in to spring.

http://songcroft.com/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

I just finished the Spring Self-Sufficiency Skills Newsletter. It went out to subscribers today. It is always fun to write about different  Self-Sufficiency topics as I tend to write about things that are seasonal and often are what we are working on on our land. Some of the topics this quarter are Medicinal Bee Gardens, Starting a Nursery and Local vs Organic Foods. I enjoy writing on topics that might inspire folks to try their hand at new things.

This Spring I plan to redesign part of our land for the bees. We already have lots of medicinal plants here but I would like to add some aesthetics near the hives.  Our bees will be making more medicinal honey for our family and I would like to make the area more pleasing to visit.

If you ar interested in the subject listed in the table of contents, you can subscribe to the newsletter for just $10 a year. The funds currently goes towards volunteer work we do. Thanks much! http://songcroft.com/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

http://rawtelevision.co.uk/

I’ve been meaning to get this on the blog for the past couple of weeks but things just got busy so finally I am getting time to sit and write about an interesting phone call I recently received from the U.K.

Cheyanne Dillenberger called to inform me that  Raw Television, out of the U.K., is casting for a new television series on off-grid sustainable living. She said that those who are interested could contact her through the information below. I asked her to send it to me in an email so I could post it here in case anyone would like a change in 2012. So here it is:

CASTING NOTICE:

Raw TV, the makers of the hit shows Gold Rush and Locked Up Abroad,

are searching for individuals to feature as part of a new series for a major cable television network. Do you have the spirit of an American pioneer? Are you fed up with the world you live in today and imagine another – better – way to live? Do you and your

family and friends ever talk about leaving society we know it, leaving it all behind and building a new world off the grid, with the frontier grit of your forefathers? If you are passionate about your beliefs and would be willing to share them with a national

TV audience we would love to talk to you.

If this sounds like you, whether you have a plan in action, have a more long term dream or are already living out on the frontier, please email your

contact details and a brief description of your situation to: Raw Television

casting@rawtelevision.co.uk

 You should have seen my kids faces when I read it to them! They were ready to stuff their packs and head out the door! Our kids grew up in this lifestyle of growing food, raising animals, diy sort of living and using our creativity to figure things out. Even our teen daughter didn’t bat an eyelash when I reminded her that we would likely have to go back to composting toilets and solar showers. Our son used to watch a vhs tape from the UK that showed a family named the Strawbridges. He knew learned about water wheels for energy production, trapping heat in greenhouses and all sorts of things from this video. Both kids were game.

When I mentioned this to a few folks who know us and they immediately wanted to know if we are going to apply. It is an interesting and tempting idea but I am not sure how we would pull it off. We would need to still be able to cover all of our costs while we are away (both for the farm and for travel) as well as have farm sitters. There is also the matter of Bri taking time away from his electrician’s job. Unfortunately, for most folks who are already trying to move in the direction that the they are casting for, we are too busy living the life to participate.

We are planning to keep up on the developments on this program as we would love to watch it if nothing else. Anyone out there planning on responding to the Raw Television casting call? Let us know.

High 34            Low 26    Bright and sunny in the afternoon, thick fog in the morning and night.

Whew, I made it. It’s been a busy holiday season. Even though I have worked a lot, I can truly say it’s been a Happy Holiday season. I have worked most every weekend selling our farms “value-added” items. SongCroft Naturals is expanding it’s all-natural skin, body and hair care from Farmers Markets, to Holiday Fairs and now in to retail establishments. This is exciting news. We now have products and gift baskets in the Yogalife Studio at Greenlake as well as the Natural Clothing Company on First Street in historic Snohomish. We are happy to partner with both owners who are wonderful people that support other small local businesses.

Now that the business events are over, I am taking the next two weeks off to just hang out with my family. We will go ice skating, make a gingerbread house, bake cookies, make name tags, watch classic holiday movies, wrap presents, play board games and create memories that can only be created through true connection and love. This is what Happy Holidays are made of.

My side of the family will join us on Christmas eve for a dinner of smoked chickens, roasted vegetables, baked quinoa, salad and pumpkin pies. A great deal of the ingredients will be from our land. We are still harvesting cabbages, collards, kale, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, spinach and parsnips. We have squash set aside from local farms (those who had extra sent some our way after our ducks made chop suey out of the vines).

We will exchange gifts, play some games and I think the younger generation will be playing with nerf guns and magic cards. (neither of which are something that I can relate to). The rest of us will likely be making jewelry, talking and laughing at life through stories and memories.

I especially value this Christmas as one where I can enjoy both my own family (as my children are still young and at least one still enjoys toys) and my mother who is starting to show her age. I find myself cherishing every moment that I get with her. How fortunate I am to be able to experience this before she leaves this world. A Happy Holiday for her is to have her girls together with their families.

To update you on what is happening on the farm, as mentioned, we are still harvesting the aforementioned vegetables and we also have a lot of herbs. We put up a few hundred pounds or apples and potatoes for the winter so we are enjoying them. Our “Liberty” apple and “Spartan” produced well for their first time. Next year I will likely have to thin them a bit to get bigger fruit. Our medlar gave plenty of fruit. They are palatable but not especially juicy. While they would be helpful in a time of scarcity, they are not proving to be a family favorite.

The hens and rooster , Iris, are doing well. They have a very nice dry space thanks to Brian’s work this past Spring as well as the recent coop improvements made this past week. There are now added roosts inside the coop and tomorrow morning I plan to staple a layer of greenhouse plastic across the top of the walls to lower the ceiling in hope of it holding more heat in. The plastic is clear so light will still come through the rigid clear poly-carb roof and the air trapped between the two should create insulations. We have not added a light.

The turkeys are doing well. I added a nesting box today so we will see if we get some eggs. There is a hen that is squatting every time I walk past her. This is a good sign that she wants to hatch some eggs. I will get a leg band for her and over the next couple of weeks, I will band three hens to save for breeding. Midget Whites are good breeders so no artificial inseminations is needed.

The goats are still not bred and just like last year, they are not showing strong signs of wanting to be. There has been no one calling out, flagging her tail or anything else. I thought for sure they would go in to ester on the full moon but instead they got totally silent and pretended to be statues because coyotes came to visit. Maybe the coyotes scared the hormones right out of them (kidding)

I sold six rabbits this past month.  Lots of people have been interested in our rabbits. They are a good bunch and easy for people in the city to raise. They produce great manure that is highly valuable. I have been able to use it to barter with. I love raising rabbits!

Our ducks are still quacking about. They are not interesting in going in to their pen at night and are hard to catch. I am hoping ot catch them soon before a coyote or bobcat gets them first.

Well, that is the skinny on what is happening down-on-the-farm. How are things up your way?

Happy Holidays!

If you would like to support our farm by purchasing some amazing personal care products that you probably need anyway, www.songcroftnaturals.com is our retail website. We will have all 35 products there shortly! Check our Facebook page for sales and special offers. Thanks.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

It’s been a busy harvest season here on SongCroft. I have been canning tomatoes, peaches, pickles, sauces, plums, and salmon. Crocks of cucumbers and sauerkraut have been fermenting and sausages were made. Whether you are homesteading or not, this the time to put up the harvest!

There is lots to do as we transition from the summer into autumn. Alfalfa must be stacked for winter feeding of goats, stalls must be cleaned, hooves trimmed and herbal worming must become a ritual. I must also watch for signs of the does going into ester as we have one two-year old doe on our homestead who will be bred for the first time this year.

Chickens have their needs too. I do an extra deep cleaning of their yard and house, scrub out the nest boxes and give them a little extra diatomaceous earth to ward off mites. Pests become more active in the wet months so these are preventative steps.

The duck flock had to be reduced as we had to many drakes. Drakes can be relentless in their desire to breed and if the ratio of drakes to hens is out of balance, the hens lose. My youngest child and I worked together in harvesting our ducks and making them in to the best sausage we have ever had!

I’ll have to begin harvesting turkeys soon too. Our flock of 11 are huge and beautiful. I will keep my favorite tom and two-three hens with the hope of breeding them next year. The rest will come Thanksgiving dinner and many other meals throughout fall and winter.

Now is also the time to amend the soil. I plan to get several pick-up truck loads of horse manure from a neighbor who feeds only organic hay. We are making compost on our homestead but want to get a jump start by bringing a bunch on to our homestead instead of waiting until we make enough o our own. In time, we plan to only use what we make ourselves. This as well as all of the Big Leaf Maple leaves I rake from the neighbors 4 acres will be piles on our garden beds before they are seeded with fava beans and winter rye. (That means  I better get a move on things because I’m running out of weather!)

There is also garlic to be planted so we can enjoy it’s harvest all next year. Deciding where I want it to go this fall is a challenge since I want to add the manure and leaf mulch too. I will have to work that one out soon.

This is also a great time to plant or relocate plants. I moved a plum so it can grow on the edge of the campground and placed a medlar in it’s former place. I hope that I will be able to  pitch a tent under the plum tree in future years. It will bring back fond memories of my summer with my kids on the Bullock Brothers Permaculture Farm on Orcas Island.

In between the chores, I hope to get in some reading, board games and knitting. What are you doing prepare for fall? are you on a homestead or ? We would love to hear more about our readers.

If you are interested in reading more about  moving towards self-sufficiency as a family, check out our quarterly newsletter. The Winter 2012 issue is going to have our duck sausage recipe!

High 65 Low 40                 Clear sunny day with some crispness

Want to live on a farm for the summer?

It is that time of year. The time when interns are moving on to farms all around the country in hope of learning how to grow food, work with livestock and for some run a business.

Our interns will get to learn some of all of the above and a whole lot more! We are opening our farm to up to three interns at a time. We hope to keep the same folks from June to September so that they can build community and learn the processes more deeply. A minimum of 30 days is required.

Most of you know that we run a Self-Sufficiency Skills School as well as Farm Camp and other classes. Our interns get to experience these things as well as be part of the day-to-day learning opportunities. Interns will work along side of us as well as independently as we grow food, harvest, save seed, put up the harvest, milk our goat, raise (goat and human) kids, make cheese, raise chickens, sell eggs,raise bees, tend our fruit trees, build an outbuilding and enjoy our silly ducks.

Interns will be living permaculture.

We are outside of Snohomish, WA on a 3+ acre family farm. We are not a big operation but rather a small farm working on a closed system, permaculture design and cottage business. We are close to lots of amazing hiking, beautiful lakes and a sweet little town that feels like it’s out of an old movie.

We have a weekly farmers market booth where we sell our all-natural skin, hair and body care products, www.SongCroftNaturals.com. This is a good opportunity for someone interested in learning about running a business. Social networking, marketing, writing a blog, bookkeeping, shipping and managing products are all part of the mix.

You may also have the opportunity to work on the subscription newsletter we publish.

We expect interns to have good work ethics, great communication skills and the ability to live in a somewhat rustic way with a good sense of humor, some knowledge of growing food, carpentry, animal husbandry, business or alternative energy. We are able to enrich your knowledge base but hope you have at least one of the above skills.

It would be nice if interns have some experience living in community/cooperatively.

Interns will have their own tents as well as access to our work studio, most of the time, which has a shower, kitchen and library. We also have Wifi available for you to use your own computer.

There will be lots of good healthy food as well as private spaces on the land to sketch, observe nature or?

The stipend is room, board and education. Interns get two days off a week.

If you are interested in exploring this adventure, please send a resume and cover letter to us via email by June 1st.  marilene@songcroft.com

Thank you!

High 34 degrees  Low 8 degrees Clear with 6 inches of snow over night that began to melt in the late afternoon, becoming a solid sheet of ice in the evening.

I was recently asked to share my favorite fruit tree varieties here on the blog. My apologies for taking so long but now is the time of hard woodcuttings, seed starting, classes, and getting my SongCroft Naturals products in to the Grow Washington store. It has been a busy time (as always).

There was another reason for not getting right on listing the varieties I like, there are just so many.  I mean for some women, it’s shoes and purses or jewelry and perfume but for me, it’s plants and dirt. I just can’t get enough! So narrowing down my list was a bit hard and I must start by saying that there are plenty more varieties of fruit trees I love but these are the ones that made today’s list and each for their own reasons.

Apples are a mainstay in most of Americas diet. I grow a few different varieties and would grow even more if I had more room. When I choose a fruit it will be for flavor, characteristics, size, disease and/or pest resistance. Of course whether or not it survives in my area is a factor as well as what time it comes into fruit. The Chehalis Apple was discovered in Western Washington. It does well in a short season area with a lot of rain so it is a perfect fit for me.  Other favorites are Williams Pride, Akane, Winter Banana, Liberty, Spartan, Gravenstein and the columnars. Columnars are fun because of their unusual growth pattern and because they fit into pots or other small spaces. I do not care to buy varieties with multiple varieties, which have been grafted on since they are not usually very hardy and at least some of the grafts will usually fail.

Pears are great and I love to eat them fresh or canned. Most are not really great at being stored in a cellar but they are so good that they are worth it.  Bosc stores for a month or two and usually tastes better afterwards. Orca has been a reliable variety for me. It was discovered on Orcas Island, WA. which is also in Western WA. Bartletts are delicious fresh but do not store very well. They are great canners though! Red Bartletts are pretty.

Cherries are a challenge. Every time they come into season I feel a sense of anxiety since it’s the birds or me. I tried planting some for them too but they don’t seem to get the “some of them are for me” part.  Some folks say that the gold cherries are less bothered by the birds but I think the best eating are with the Vans, Stella and Lapin varieties. I like the dark cherries best!

I have grown peaches in the past. Frost has been reliable and abundant but only lasted about 12 years before petering out. From what I hear, this is normal. I now have an Avalon which is young and gave it’s first couple peaches last year. They were small but delicious. We’ll see what we get this year!

We have a Puget Gold Apricot that is growing like crazy, probably due to the autumn olive planted next to it (nitrogen fixer) but it hasn’t given any fruit yet. We are crossing our fingers that this will be the year.

As for Plums, Beauty is our hands-down favorite for fresh eating.  We discovered it while staying on the Bullock’s Farm on Orcas Island.  Sam had us pitch our tent right next to a tree and the kids were as happy as clams!  Italian plums are the best for preserving.

I hope that this is enough to get you started.  I am planning on expanding this to a much more detailed version for the newsletter.  I think it would be a helpful article for many.  I will be sure to mention which fruit is good for preserving in what way and which need to be eaten fresh.

Happy garden planning!