Homestead Happenings

It's Friday and time to share what's going on 

around our Piedmont Homestead.

Spring has definitely arrived,

and we have color popping up all over!

These purple irises have never looked better.

Something I've wanted for a while now,

is a pulley system for drying clothes.

I had been using a whirly-gig type,

which worked fine,

but as I get older, I am looking to

streamline chores and make things easier on myself.

What a thrill it was to use it for the first time!

What can I say?  I find joy in the everyday.

These lovely blue pots had contained our blueberries.

They had been relocated to this area,

after a disappointing harvest a few years ago.

Unfortunately, the move didn't help.

I decided to again try growing in the ground,

in a different location.

When I pulled up the plants,

none of them had much root development.

No wonder we didn't get any fruit.

Back into the ground they go,

this time right on the outside of the new chicken run.

I placed wire cages around them,

because I noticed Betty eating the flowers off of the stems.

Ugh.

I'm hoping that the fertilizer from the chooks

will aid in healthier plants.

I also added tons of organic material

collected from the recent cleanup of our woods.

The pine needles and leaf mulch should benefit them.

Time will tell.

The strawberries have been replanted

in the round Birdie's bed,

after redesigning the garden layout.

It was promptly fertilized with 10-10-10.

I’ll need to come up with an idea

to keep the squirrels out of this container.

I'm thinking of adding more strawberries to another bed as well.

The potato cages were placed inside this silver metal bed.

This will be a flex-bed, changing out crops as needed.

The other silver bed was placed between the two tall Birdie beds.

The plan is to sow herbs here,

or maybe designate it as a tea garden.

As each bed is moved to its new location,

hardware cloth is added to the bottom,

to deter critters (read squirrels), from digging up from below.

Before the soil is added,

the irrigation needs to be fed up into the side of the bed,

to offer a more efficient watering system.

The bottoms of the taller beds will be filled with

logs, branches, twigs and a layer of shredded leaves

before the soil is added.

We have plenty of wood piles to clean up around the homestead.

This takes up some of the cavernous space in the bed,

and saves on soil costs.

These deep beds are great for root crops,

but the height actually makes it easier for harvesting at waist level.

These two are enjoying their time together.

Betty (left) and Queenie (right) have become best buds.

They spend their days (and nights) together,

and can often be found sitting side-by-side sunbathing.

In fact, I'd say that Betty's balance issues

have become almost non-existent due to Queenie.

Friendship can be a great healer.

And, believe it or not,

she has started laying eggs again.

It's been months since she's offered us anything,

but now she is laying quite regularly.

Just shows you what a little love and understanding will do for a body.

These leeks that were started from seed that a friend shared,

are jumping out of their winter sowing containers.

I've never had such good germination of leeks.

Just look at the root development!

These beauties were transplanted into pots

and left to grow on before placing in beds.

Up ahead-leek soup!

My French momma would be proud.

The front garden is coming along.

I've been working on this over the last year,

adding some much-needed evergreen interest here.

It's still a work in progress,

but I'm feeling very contented with our movement forward.

What a treat to once again have fresh picked flowers

to bring into the house.

No doubt there will be plenty more

throughout the growing season.

I'm not sure why,

but I'm feeling a renewed sense of stewardship 

that I've never really felt before.

Things are coming together in a most

extraordinary way,

and it's such a blessing.

What's happening at your homestead 

on this fine spring day?