Hello from Interlochen Michigan

[InterlochenVictoryGarden]

I have been lurking in the background for quite some time, just reading the forums. But today I thought that I would introduce myself.

My name is Gary. I am 62, and I have been working at creating a homestead on my 7 acres for a few years now. I have arthritis issues and I have decided to deal with it by keeping moving and working through the pain.

I am building raised beds and starting to garden. I used to have chickens and rabbits but I got rid of them last fall as dealing with everything in the winter is just too much anymore. So instead I make soup and can it to keep myself from dealing with seasonal depression during the cold grey days in northern Michigan in the winter.

I started all of this a few years ago when I watched the Back To Eden Gardening movie. From that I called a local tree service company and over the last few years I have received about 250 yards of wood chips. My entire front yard is covered in wood chips and I am building raised beds for pollinators. The raised beds made with tin siding (pictured below) is my strawberry and blueberry garden that I made last summer. I will be building raised beds like those in another area of my back yard this summer for my vegetable garden. The best part is that the soil I am using was made by wood chips that the flock of chickens that I used to have turned into garden soil.

I am also getting barn clean out material that I pile up of my back 5 acres to compost that I can use for raised beds, or spread out back there to plant pasture seed in for a future pasture. I am also seeing that it attracts deer back there that I never saw before. So I guess I will have to find freezer space for 1 or 2 of them a year as well.

So that is me. I hope you will welcome me and I can add and be a blessing to your community. I don't do social media so I being a part of this forum will allow me to glean a little and maybe add to what this community already does.

Thank you, and may God bless you all!

 

[murphysranch]

Holey Moley! What a great story/progress!! Welcome from Southern Washington state.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hi, and welcome from Texas. Love your story, admire what you've done and can't wait to hear more!

 

[flowerbug]

welcome to SS from mid-Michigan (a ways south of you ). i understand the desire to keep moving as a therapy for physical issues as i've had back issues most of my life (from work as a teenager plus things that have happened after that). gardening is what helps me the most as i've found that my back loves it when i dig.

we have various critters here to contend with too. for deer i have to have fences tall enough to keep them out or i wouldn't get much of a harvest.

 

[InterlochenVictoryGarden]

One of the first things I did in my back yard was put in a perimeter fence with 3 separate area's. One for an orchard (dwarf trees), one for chickens, and a larger yard for a big garden. The orchard came first and I has a real hard time getting the trees to survive and bare fruit. Our soil is basically just sand. So last year I took out the few remaining trees, and that is where the raised beds in my pictures went. Not only that, I am a type 2 diabetic and I am finding that high sugar fruits don't work well for me. I still have an apple each day, but strawberries and blueberries are what my wife and I really like. So I am hoping to fill a freezer every summer with them.

Anyway, the fencing post stick 8 ft out of the ground and above the 4 ft fencing is a strand of black poly wire every foot above the fence. I have seen foot prints outside the fence, but they don't try to jump over.

The back 5 acres I just had forestry mulched last year. The food plot I grew last year was just a test. I will be expanding and improving that as the years and compost comes along.

I wish that I would have started this project 20 years ago, but I was too busy working and chasing a dream that never came true. The last 5 years or so has been humbling as my body was telling me to do other things. I am glad I finally started listening.

Thank you for stopping by and saying hello neighbor!!!