Holmberg Family Homestead

Holmberg Family Homestead Homestead, specializing in natural practices, local food, native plants, and enjoying life.

Some photos of our hard working farm cat, Bubba Floyd. Helping plant sweet potatoes and building the mushroom cellar. Li...
05/28/2026

Some photos of our hard working farm cat, Bubba Floyd.

Helping plant sweet potatoes and building the mushroom cellar.

Life is good.

Checking the grain.Grain begins turning amber from the ground and as the nitrogen is drawn into the seed the amber progr...
05/28/2026

Checking the grain.

Grain begins turning amber from the ground and as the nitrogen is drawn into the seed the amber progresses to the grain heads.

The definitive test is to pinch a grain and evaluate it's ripeness. Currently it is very milky as would be expected with this much green in the stems.

The harvest will be towards the end of June. Harvest is a hot and physical job. After harvesting, there is the threshing.

The grain harvest tends to be about tge same time as the potato harvest, which means that there is plenty of hot physical work.

Not complaining but the realities of subsistence farming means that you are hot or cold, wet, thirsty, and tired every day.

Peace.

High tunnel update 2026.All the cool season greens are doing well. I have added some tomatoes and peppers to see how th...
05/28/2026

High tunnel update 2026.

All the cool season greens are doing well. I have added some tomatoes and peppers to see how they do.

I haven't come to any significant conclusions just watching how the various plants respond.

I have noticed that the early red cherry tomato is doing well.

The lettuce is also doing well, which makes sense due to the shade. It will be interesting to see how the lettuce, kale, and collars do inside the high tunnel compared to the bed outside as the temperatures increase.

More later as things progress.

Peace.

Root cellar, mushroom cellar, and greenhouse.With the mushroom cellar walls approaching completion, I am thinking about ...
05/28/2026

Root cellar, mushroom cellar, and greenhouse.

With the mushroom cellar walls approaching completion, I am thinking about the next phase, which is a glass house for winter heat and some plant growing area.

I was blessed to have several panels of high quality glass gifted to me. I have to build the glass house to fit the panels so it won't be at the exact angles and dimensions that I would if I was buying the materials.

However the cost of greenhouse panels would make the project too expensive to accomplish. Sometimes one makes acceptable compromises.

Peace.

The first yukon gold potatoes of the season. As our sweet potatoes in storage are coming to an end the yukon gold potato...
05/28/2026

The first yukon gold potatoes of the season.

As our sweet potatoes in storage are coming to an end the yukon gold potatoes are beginning.

Between fresh food through most of the year and storage through the winter, a farm can have healthy food all year.

Peace.

Cotton update. The instructions I had for planting cotton was to plant two seeds and then thin if needed. Today, I trans...
05/28/2026

Cotton update.

The instructions I had for planting cotton was to plant two seeds and then thin if needed.

Today, I transplanted some of the extra sprouts into spaces where non sprouted.

I took an opportunity to look at the root system. I am using the cotton as a soil building crop. We will save any cotton we get and hope to get a good yield but having no previous experience, we don't know what to expect.

Peace.

Chestnut blooms. This will be our first experience with chestnuts in bloom so it will be interesting to see how they dev...
05/28/2026

Chestnut blooms.

This will be our first experience with chestnuts in bloom so it will be interesting to see how they develop.

These trees are from our friends in the Ozarks. Chestnuts In The Ozarks .

Peace.

Red cherry tomato in the high tunnel. We planted four cherry tomatoes early, about April 4th, to push the date for early...
05/28/2026

Red cherry tomato in the high tunnel.

We planted four cherry tomatoes early, about April 4th, to push the date for early harvest. One of the two red cherry tomatoes, was eaten but the other is doing well and in bloom.

The two chocolate tomatoes are doing ok but are much further behind.

I consider this experiment a success. Next year we will plant again in April, the seeds from this cherry tomato. Between coverage and adaptation we will have nice early tomatoes to enjoy.

Peace.

Fixing agriculture. Earlier I made a post about the broken system and referred to the 1400s.I want to be clear that is t...
05/27/2026

Fixing agriculture.

Earlier I made a post about the broken system and referred to the 1400s.

I want to be clear that is the concepts of old not that I don't appreciate technology. Air conditioning is wonderful.

These photos show rye growing between fruit trees and tools I use.

In a good year we would get rye, straw, and pears from what is shown in this photo. Unfortunately, due to a cold snap we won't get many pears this year. Which is the point of having multiple crops. Diverse nutrition and resilience to events.

The tools are a hand sickle to harvest grain heads and a brush cutter to mow the straw.

I do use technology and equipment but farm on a scale that doesn't require debt and government subsidies.

Focus on good concepts and growing real food and you will do well.

Peace, my friends.

Our agriculture system is completely broken. I am not sure how to describe all the issues with modern agriculture except...
05/27/2026

Our agriculture system is completely broken.

I am not sure how to describe all the issues with modern agriculture except to say that it is messed up. I also don't spend a great deal of my limited hours in a day doom scrolling or in a panic fantasy. I would rather focus on positive action.

Part of the solution is to raise your own food. Another part is to be as diverse as possible.

I selected some illustrations from a manuscript done in the 1400s to illustrate my points.

Notice that there are grapes, fruit trees, sheep, cereal grains, and hay in plots together. This was when growing food rather than commodities was the focus.

I would like to visit a bit with the women and men shown to gain a deeper understanding of their practices. Not to copy them exactly but to really understand.

That said, I have enough experience to know that a diversified agrarian system is a healthy system.

Folks raising part of their needs, larger market farms raising more, and a few larger scale farms raising the rest.

My question to you is, "What actions are you talking thus week?"

Peace, my friends.

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Warrensburg, MO
64093

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