🌱 Resetting the Garden the Right Way This Fall

Currently Happening on the Farm
Some of y’all heard in the last newsletter that I sold our Dexter cows. They were seriously some of the best cattle you could want on a homestead. The meat was lean since they were on grass their whole lives, but it still made excellent ground beef and good cuts for the table. We do not regret having Dexters one bit. In fact, I wrote about them in some of my very first newsletters, so if you want to know more, go check those out on my homepage.

Going forward though, we are ready for a step up in size. We have always talked about Red Angus, and now feels like the right time. Our plan is to get fences tightened up before spring and bring in 6 or 7 cows plus a bull. With the bigger frames, Red Angus will let us make better use of our larger pastures and even clean up some of the brushy property lines we cleared. We also plan to rotate them through the wooded areas to keep those in shape.

It feels like the start of a new chapter, and I am excited to see what we can find when spring rolls around. We also have some bigger news coming down the line, so stay tuned for that.

Learning From Gardenary
My mom has been learning a lot from Gardenary recently, and I highly recommend reading and watching her stuff if you are into gardening. Gardenary was founded by Nicole Burke, and she has helped thousands of people design and manage kitchen gardens in a way that works with nature instead of against it. She focuses on keeping soil alive, planting intensively, and making sure every part of the garden works together.

That being said, here is the proper way to reset your garden for fall the Gardenary way.

Resetting for Fall Without Starting Over
Unlike the old approach of ripping everything out, Gardenary teaches to work with what is already in the soil. That means:

• Leave roots in place if they are healthy: They break down slowly and feed the soil life. Only pull if there is disease.

• Add compost and amendments on top: Feed the soil without disturbing it too much.

• Plant intensively: Fill in gaps instead of leaving bare soil. This shades out weeds and keeps the soil active.

• Use cover crops and living mulch: Clover, rye, or vetch keep the soil protected, add nutrients, and prevent erosion.

• Always keep the soil covered: Bare soil is dead soil. Mulch with leaves, straw, or wood chips where nothing is growing.

Bonus Tip
Start a compost pile now if you do not already have one. The scraps and leaves you collect this fall will break down over winter and be ready to use by spring.

Fun Fact
A single teaspoon of healthy soil holds more microbes than there are people on earth. When you leave living roots and keep soil covered, you are protecting an entire underground community.

Tool I Recommend
If you are serious about building better soil, you need compost. Here is a simple composter I recommend:
VIVOSUN Outdoor Tumbling Composter
It makes turning and managing compost easy, and you will have rich amendments for your garden by spring. Using this link is the best way to support the newsletter if you find it helpful.

Closing Thoughts
Fall is not just the end of the garden season. Done right, it is the beginning of next year’s harvest. By leaving roots in place, planting intensively, and keeping your soil covered, you set up your garden for a strong spring.

-Tim Parker
Start My Homestead