Good day to you all .The name is Gord.

In a little town north of the 49th parallel in zones 4A or 4B is where my family and I have a small farm. We raise a few pigs, a lay flock for eggs, full size standard dark cornish and cornish cross birds for meat. Also on the farm we raise chickens for feathers. These birds have long and narrow feathers which are used for fly tying {fly fishing}. Along with these birds we keep Narragansett turkeys. Just in the last few years these turkeys have placed grand champion of breed and grand champion over all breeds at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto Canada. We have a market garden for our food and the excess is sold from the farm house. Off farm work is forest management. This forestry work also keeps the farm supplied with logs to mill on the farm saw mill. It is my intention to use eastern white cedar 3x6 lumber for SFG box sides. I need to cut it short for now. I will continue soon .Thanks ,Gord.

Welcome aboard from SW Ohio, Gord!  Glad to have you here! Sounds like you keep pretty busy will all of that. Looking forward to follow your activities in building the raised bed gardens.

from Redding, CA. Lots of friendly folks here.

Gord wrote:This forestry work also keeps the farm supplied with logs to mill on the farm saw mill. It is my intention to use eastern white cedar 3x6 lumber for SFG box sides. I need to cut it short for now. I will continue soon .Thanks ,Gord.

Hello Gord!

That sounds very heavy-duty. Having your own saw mill raises the question of whether sawdust is good in compost.

Welcome, Gord, glad you found us!  So do you have any gardening experience?  You don’t need it for SFG.  Have you read any of Mel’s books?  I can’t wait to hear more, what your plans are, what you like to eat, etc.

Welcome Gord from Ottawa. Great to have you with us. Looking forward to seeing how to things progress for you. We love photos (hint, hint).

Welcome also from the Atlanta, GA (SE USA) area. Glad you've joined us!

So to continue: from just a short while ago. Our small farm does a little market garden. Small to some large to others perhaps. We have about 8 acres of what is named alluvial soil,class 1. A tiny creek runs through the middle of this 8 acres. From this point everything leads up hill. The rest is pasture, treed area,the main barns and outbuildings,and our family home. Seventeen acres in  total. Along with 100 acres of forest timber,mainly eastern white pine. All the land is under guidance of an  Environmental Farm Plan. Someone asked how we keep our poultry warm in our climate here in Canada Eh!.  Quite simple rather, chicken size red and white long johns and snow shoes.  As for the pigs they more that pay for the heating bills. Another question asked was what experience we have in gardening . My wife all of her life on the family farm. On the place we are at presently 27 years. So in total between us approximately 50 very short years. It was asked do I have a greenhouse in short no but it is on the two year plan. I presently have 11 sheets of 3'x7' Pella sky lights, 700 concrete blocks, and an oil fired boiler that had been used just twice to heat a swimming pool. This should give us about 33 feet of length,we will see, it would be nice. I need to check out of this chat room. Bye Bye !

Cool!  Welcome   Can’t wait!  Mel’s books are super helpful, no matter what you do.  I deviate from his prescribed plan, but I think I stick to the over arching goal. So excited to see/hear about your plans and progress.

Love this time of the year. It is the days I have time to read and make adjustments to our spring and summer plans. Although it is coming to an end soon. As we now after last nights snow of 6" and with previous accumulations we have nearly 9". This is the minimum snow level to begin skidding logs in in the forest. Anyway reading books such as the 2nd edition All New Square Foot Gardening and Square Foot Gardening {The Classic}and a recently ordered copy of SFG High Value Veggies is great reading at this time of the year. Last but not the least [ markqz ] brought up saw dust from my saw mill. First let me say that the saw dust which is produced from my mill is not dust but is chips mostly,as the saw is not a band saw it is a circular with inserted teeth. I can`t see using fresh sawdust in the SFG garden but I dont see a problem with the sawdust mixed into your compost. It is only a small portion of the total ,or it could be a small part. Also when fully composted very little if any nitrogen robbing will be going on. Be sure your sawdust is incorporated with many other units able to compost such as what we do here on the farm by inclusion of excess vegetable matter, animal bedding which also contains urine {high in nitrogen } manure, grass clippings ect. Some of our best compost consisted of the farm manure pile mixed with softwood and hardwood chips. The pile included saw dust from the mill in the bedding form .Until the next time.Thank you! Bye Bye.!

I like this time of year too, dreaming and scheming for the garden season!  Sounds like some good reading!

Hello Gord:

Drop over to the Canadian thread where I have a welcome for you.

Kelejan, Canadian Regional Host.