Welcome to Foxy Farm

This blog is dedicated to sharing our experiences, learning & happiness inspired by our organic garden which includes, vegetables, fruits, 17 heritage breed chickens & our 2 giant dogs, Sunny & Buddy.

We began our little Foxy Farm as an organic, permaculture garden about 2021, when I moved in with Ernesto in Joshua Tree. This is the same locale where we built our Tiny House.

Permaculture imitates the connections & patterns that nature herself employs in her ecosystems. Usually, people using this system aim to create a sustainable way of living, as well as, a self-reliant one.

Our goal is to grow all of our own vegetables and fruits. At this current time, we are about 40% self-sufficient. At this fall’s harvest, we will hopefully double that figure for some time.

We had said for a few years, “Someone needs to grow a garden here.” And, then we realized we were ‘the someone’. We both found that we had an innate understanding for growing a garden & working with the soil. Granted I did grow-up on a dairy & vegetable farm with horses, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs & cats, too. And, Ernesto’s family had had a home vegetable garden with fruit trees. And they had a parcel a few miles away with horses, chickens & a cow at one time, too. So, the life was not foreign to us. However, we both were surprised how much we didn’t pick up about raising chickens and were sweetly surprised at how natural working with them is. Developing the soil seems like Ernesto is drawing from inherent knowledge. And, my understanding for planting seeds, growing & maintaining the plants & helping the chickens seems to be funneling-down from my ancestors. Farming has been in my father’s side of the family for many generations.

We immediately agreed that there would be no chemicals & that we would not buy anything from a store, if we could help it. We did find that we would need to use diatomaceous earth & neem oil for plant pests. And D.E. is a key ingredient in raising healthy, happy chickens & roos.

Almost every thing we have grown is from organic, heirloom seed. We mainly buy them from Baker Creek. I select the seeds we grow. I chose ones that are often drought-tolerant. I pick ones from countries where the heat is intense with long dry spells…like Africa, India, Mediterranean & South America.

We plant seeds every few days but often everyday at times. I find planting a symbolic exercise, as I am ‘seeding’ our future with possibilities & abundance.

Currently, we are growing zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, morninga, potatoes, beans, cowpeas, wild arugula, cauliflower, oregano, basils, mint, amaranth, chia, pumpkin vines, sweet potatoes, peppers, okra, Swiss chard, marigolds, 4’ o’clock flowers, zinnias, hollyhocks, strawberries, stinging nettle and comfrey.

We have a compost pile that Ernesto builds & works. He creates bio-char from scrap wood to improve the soil, carbon sequestration, hold minerals and nutrients in place & moisture retention. I will make a longer post later on bio-char and making a compost pile start to finish.

We water everyday… we never thought we would need to, but this summer’s heat has required it. Watering takes about 3 hours. We share this job most always.

That’s some basics about our garden oasis.

On my next post I will go deep about a vegetable that we are growing.