Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome back to Homestead Happenings.

I've was away at a dog sitting job,

and it sure was nice to come back home to the family,

the garden and my beloved chooks.

There's nothing that centers me quite like

rambling through the garden beds

with the girls scratching and pecking around me.

One of the tasks I was able to complete

upon returning home,

was my biannual compost sifting.

The compost bin that I built out of hardware cloth

and conduit, has been gifting me with compost

for the last 5 or so years.

It's mostly yard waste

with a few scraps from the chook runs.

This time I got 5 3/4 five gallon buckets out of it.

It amazes me how well this system works,

with very little effort from me.

I leave the chooks to turn it as they scratch through

all the material, so I don't need to do a thing.

Anytime I add a new seedling to the bed,

some of this magic mixture gets placed into the planting hole.

I also will use it periodically to top off the beds.

Some time was taken to gather fallen twigs and branches

from the wooded areas around the house.

These will be burned and the ash saved for garden use.

We have an abundance of organic ingredients

right here in our yard.

The cukes are coming along,

although I'm not sure they will get large enough

to harvest before we get our first frost.

Ah well, we'll see how it goes!

Thankfully, the lettuce and kale are doing

well enough that I can pick some greens 

every couple of days for my lunchtime salad.

Crisp, fresh and flavorful!

Some of the outer leaves are shared with the chooks,

along with turnip greens that I grow just for them!

We still have flowers in the garden as well,

including these nonstop nasturtiums.

If you enjoy a peppery bite,

the leaves and flowers are edible

and will give your salad a kick!

We have an ample crop of coreopsis growing,

and the seeds are being saved for next year.

Some of these plants have scaled heights of

over seven feet, so I wanted to make sure to save this variety.

We also have some greenery and blooms in the 

front flower beds.

This lamb's ear and alyssum make great companions.

Well, the first bread experiments have begun.

This is the second loaf of sandwich bread I made

using my new obsession interest of fresh milled flour.

It turned out okay,

but I will be working on this newly acquired skill

every weekend until I get it right.

The texture was a bit off,

and I think I know where I went wrong.

Still, the flavor was a big improvement 

over the gluten-free storebought bread.

B-I-G!

So thankful to be where I am truly content.

I love the pups I sit for,

and it's wonderful to get my pooch fix,

but it's always so glorious to get back home

and be where my heart feels most full.

May your autumn days be filled with meaningful moments.