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.

Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome to Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's happening on our

Piedmont NC homestead.

The garden is humming along, with all beds planted.

Broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce,

and a ton of garlic are going to spend some time with us this fall and winter.

The Red Russian kale has been impressive,

with the leaves raising up the row cover.

The bonus is that because of cooler temperatures,

the trouble of bug damage has been zero.

I love the fall garden!

The garlic planting took two days.

Having ordered a pound and a half of soft neck,

the end result was over 150 cloves planted.

No worries about vampires here!

This was the first time I used a new technique

to soak and then plant the cloves.

Here's a great video about the method.

Garlic in several beds (and some assorted places),

was planted 2 inches deep and four inches apart.

About 20 cloves of the hard neck variety 

were also planted, as I've never grown it before.

If successful, this should be plenty of garlic

to get both sister and I through the year.

We may even have some to donate.

A few red onions were planted in a nearby bed,

and we'll see how they do over winter.

They sure look like they were dying to get into the ground!

The second set of Seminole pumpkins were harvested,

which ended up giving us another 14.25 pounds of food.

I've used it for soup and muffins,

and am quite pleased with the results.

It keeps well in a dark place,

but can also be cut up and frozen until it is used.

The Red Ripper beans are continuing to bear,

although are taking longer to dry on the vine,

most likely due to the cooler weather.

We're still being blessed with summer flowers,

including Tithonia, zinnias,

and celosia.

I'll be on the lookout for dried branches

and evergreens to bring inside,

now that consistent fall temperatures are here.

sweet sleeping bee

The big soil bags acquired from a friend

have been emptied and are ready for a fresh

serving of shredded leaves.

The leaves are collected with a mower

and are placed into these bags to spend time

composting until springtime.

We also have a large leaf pile for the overflow.

Leaves are used as mulch and as a soil amendment

all through the year.

Mother Nature always provides,

if we just pay attention.

Seeds continue to be harvested,

including these nasturtiums.

This little seed provides a powerhouse

of color and texture in the garden.

We've had the most glorious nasturtiums this season.

the bullies

All of the girls are doing well,

and are giving us at least a dozen eggs a week.

(Although the three seen here no longer lay.)

They relish their time free ranging,

scratching and foraging,

and the dark orange yolks in the eggs are the result.

What a blessing the chooks are for so many reasons.

This is sweet Matilda,

"She who will not be contained".

At every opportunity,

she scales the fencing and strolls the property.

She is a free spirit and quick as a wink.

This week I enjoyed some homemade

carrot-ginger soup with this

polenta based cornbread.

There was no cornmeal to be found in the kitchen,

so I subbed with what I had

and it turned out better than expected.

Isn't that always a welcome surprise!

Here's hoping you have some wonderful surprises 

awaiting you this weekend.

Garden Friday

Welcome to a sodden Garden Friday!
We've had almost 4 1/2 inches of rain since Tuesday,
with more predicted this coming week.
No need to use the drip system we recently installed.
No complaints here!

 Along with the pelting rain,
the winds have been fierce.
Some of the sunflowers in the pollinator bed
have fared the worst.
Hopefully, once the weather calms down,
I can get out there and stake them up.

 Another casualty from the winds 
was one of the birdhouses.
I found it face down on the ground,
the ten foot pole having been blown over.
Thankfully, when I checked inside,
there were no eggs yet nesting there.

It got fastened to the gazebo frame
until we can get some more rebar.
I hope the occupants decide it's safe enough to return.



The snap peas are blooming now,
so they were given a dose of worm castings.

 A few pods have been sampled,
with much satisfaction.
There is nothing so fresh tasting
as a snap pea eaten off the vine.

 One of the 4X4 beds was partially planted,
but until the rains hit,
there wasn't much action here.
Now it seems that the seedlings have grown
several inches in just a few days.
There's nothing like Mother Nature's blessings.

Detroit Dark red beets

 The lettuce and kale in the coffee cans exploded!
The scarlet kale will be transplanted into a raised bed,
as I hope to relish eating it for months.

The strawberries in the galvanized tub seem content.
This batch was acquired this season from Cooperative Extension
during their yearly plant sale.

 Another batch was gifted by a dear friend last year.
They are planted in a straw bale
and are putting on fruit.
I'm thinking I might cover them with deer netting,
so that we actually get some berries to enjoy.

 This is the first time I've tried using netting
to protect my plants from larger critters like birds and squirrels.
It's easy, organic and causes no harm.

 

 There's a volunteer cantaloupe growing in the pollinator bed.
The plan is to move it into a container,
although since it's already flowering,
I may have waited too long.

 We have squash coming up in one of the 3X8 beds.
Three varieties were planted,
but so far, only two have germinated.
The rest of the bed will be planted with sweet potatoes this weekend.

A new bean to me, Dragon Tongue, 
(I wrote the wrong name on the tag),
popped up yesterday.
This versatile bean can be eaten fresh, shelled or dried for the pantry.
 

 If we get a break in the weather,
one of the weekend's tasks will be to empty the trailer
of another load of free mulch.
Slowly, I'm working on expanding the walking areas around the garden.

 The front porch garden is coming along.
Most of what is here returned from last year
including the allysum, coneflowers, Gerbera daisies, lantana,
milkweed, rudbeckia, and salvia.
Even a stray sunflower arose,
most likely thanks to squirrels or birds dropping the seed here.
The bird bath in the middle,
fashioned out of an old cement base and a plastic saucer,
gets many visitors each day.

rudbeckia

The flower seedlings started earlier in the week
are germinating and will be ready for transplanting in a few weeks.
These include daisies and zinnias.
(The wire caging is what I used before acquiring the deer netting.)

blanket flower

The rain may have slowed down my work in the garden,
but the crops, flowers and frogs are mighty satisfied.
Here's hoping for just a wee bit of sunshine
so that I can tackle some garden chores this weekend.

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, 

snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, 

only different kinds of good weather."

~John Ruskin