My current home doesn't have a verandah or even a porch but I dream of owning a little farmette again, with a verandah overlooking chickens, goats and gardens. Absolute heaven!

Do legumes cross-pollinate?

Do legumes cross-pollinate? For instance, next year, I plan to grow a vining white cornfield type bean, a black bush bean, a soybean (bush), a green lentil, and a blue-podded pea (for dried/split). I want to save enough for winter-eating but also enough to plant true for the next year and years after that. So... will they cross each other? If so, how far away do I plant them?

The white beans will be in the 390 square foot "cornfield" in the fenced-in backyard. The rest of the legumes will go where-ever I feel the soil has been amended by the chickens and where there is support (for peas and lentils) or where there is room enough. AND where the goats can't get to them!

= = = =

We had a terrible storm last night. A town nearby made the news with so much hail that it looked like it snowed. Our goat pen flooded (thankfully the goat house was a little higher and was tight and dry). We have some work to do before the next storm. Lost some raspberry plants to the storm, and some beans.

Thunder, lightening and lots of rain most of the night. We even had a tornado warning so we (including mom-in-law) went down to the basement. That's ok.. the bunny wanted company!

Made my first goat milk ricotta cheese on Sunday and it was amazing! So easy! Can't believe I had never made it before, from any milk. Want to make cheese from the whey so I'll experiment with that when I have time. Chickens ate their portion like they were starving!

Found some storage bins made specifically for keeping "pet food" so we bought 3 (goat food, chicken food, bunny food). Need 3 more (oats, cracked corn, sunflower seeds) but have to wait until the store gets restocked.

Made some blueberry bread for my neighbor, and while I was delivering it, she gave me another gallon of goat milk. Gonna make more ricotta cheese and/or yogurt today. Also told me they had just planted some prozo, which I later found out was millet. Said she planted as late as August last year and harvested and fed their chickens on it most of the winter. So... I had some millet seeds in the freezer, because we eat it and I give it to the quail. Soaking some tonight in water, and will toss in a special patch tomorrow or the next day ... experiment to see if we can grow millet. If we can, wow! Perfect!

We're giving that neighbor our two quail, Pecka and Fella. She has only laid one egg in the last several months, and they've been so good to us, so ... well, two little quail won't be dinner, but maybe it'll be an appetizer for the family.

1 comment:

FernWise said...

Most beans self-pollinate, even before the flowers open up.