Why did the chicken cross the road? Because it got out of its coop. Keeping them secure is just one of things we are considering in preparing for our first lot of chickens in 2017. As chickens are right at the bottom of the food chain – there is every predator known to man that Read More
Composting
We have two huge piles of garden debris to convert into compost for the gardens. However there is more to composting than meets the eye so we have stalled on this project until we decide on the location and design. One thing we have been struggling with is what to use to shred the debris Read More
Vegetable Farm
When we cleared the area for the greenhouse (which needs full sun) – we found we had created some sun for growing vegetables. We had never contemplated growing vegetables before as we had too much shade from the trees. However when you live on a hill, you don’t have much flat ground so this embarked Read More
Fruit Trees
Our first array into fruit trees was purely an impulse gesture. You see some cheap fruit trees at the market and thoughts of eating delicious fruit directly from the tree goes through your mind. However fruit trees need full sun to thrive and produce and when you live on a wooded property – this is Read More
Greenhouse Photos – 2015-2016
Starting in late 2016 and finishing in early 2016, the greenhouse became a much larger project than originally anticipated. It has paid off though as we can now keep some plants that would not normally handle a Tennessee winter.
Greenhouse – 2015
We have a number of plants that are not suited to the colder months that we get here in Knoxville. To combat that issues it was decided that we needed a greenhouse which we started mid 2015. The project dragged out longer than expected but we got there in the end. It worked very well at keeping the plants warm though the remaining colder periods but we have been unable to keep it cool enough through summer.
Bees of Anderson Estate
After learning of the plight bees currently face, we decided to purchase some hives. There is certainly no shortage of flowers for the bees to feed upon. In 2015 we purchased two hives and started on a steep learning curve to know all we need to know about maintaining healthy bee colonies and potentially harvesting the honey they produce.