Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome to Homestead Happenings,

where spring has taken hold!

One of the first signs of the warmer season

is these lovely dandelions that pepper the lawn.

We leave them be, as we know how beneficial

they are to our pollinator friends.

The color is making its way across the flower beds,

with pops of chartreuse breaking up the greens and blues.

It's wonderful to see how much the beds have filled in,

leaving less area for me to have to apply woodchips as mulch.

Densely planting discourages weeds from taking over.

The columbines seen here have really taken off

this year.  A few will most likely be moved within the same space,

just to fill in where nothing is growing.

They also add a bit of vertical interest to the garden.

They remind me of a fountain!

The pink dogwood in the front yard

is one of my absolute favorite trees on the property.

Each spring, I look forward to their splendor.

We have a white dogwood in the wooded area

on the east side of the yard.

What treasures!

The ajuga, phlox and irises are all 

strutting their stuff in various shades

of purple.

These return every spring and in fact,

spread to fill our beds even more.

Great plants to divide or share with another gardener.

We've been seeing butterflies for the past

three weeks or so.

This milkweed springs up every year

in our front porch bed.

It will be ready to greet (and feed)

the monarch caterpillars in the summertime.

The veggie garden is humming along,

with onions, leeks, garlic,

potatoes, kale and lettuce growing.

This leaf was recently found on our Yukon potatoes,

although just this one leaf was affected.

It looks a bit menacing, so out it came.

All of the chooks are enjoying the spring weather.

Once or twice a day, they are out foraging

for bugs and other treats they find in the grass or under leaves.

We will be picking up our chicks later today,

so I hope to have pictures in the next post.

This is the breed we hope to get.

They are blue-laced golden Wyandottes,

and I've been pining for the Wyandotte breed 

for a couple of years now.

Photo courtesy of BackyardChickens.com

The fresh-milled flour journey continues.

This past week I tried my hand at making Morning Glory Muffins.

In college, these kept me alive.

I was absolutely mad for them, and with good reason.

They are filled with pineapple, apple, walnuts, carrots and 

other goodies and they tasted like absolute heaven.

A recipe using FMF could not be found,

so I winged it.

They weren't what I remember,

so I will have to tweak the recipe,

maybe add some zucchini to give them more moisture.

I'll let you know if I come up with something tasty!

Last time,

I told you about a minor project 

in the room adjoining our kitchen.

Did you guess what it is?

This house has no pantry, and I've tried to work around

that for the almost nine years that we've been here.

I bought this little cabinet (on the left),

to help with storing bowls, jars and things,

and used a couple of upper cabinets next to the stove to store food.

I gave it a year, but still wasn't happy with the arrangement.

Big K and C put in these two IKEA cabinets

and while we are still getting used to the new location of items,

it seems like a good use of the wall space.

I think it'll work out just fine.

I'm thinking of covering the glass with fabric or frosted paint.

So grateful to have handy men in the house.

The sprouting has begun!

I've been wanting to get back in the habit of 

growing sprouts in the kitchen window.

They are one of the more nutritious foods

to add to your diet.

They really take tacos and sandwiches up a notch.

So easy to grow in a mason jar with a sprouting lid.

Even if you're still dealing with winter,

you can bring a bit of spring to your homestead!

ajuga

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today.

I'm sending peace and good wishes your way.

Do look after yourself.

Homestead Happenings

 

Well, it's finally happened!

Spring made Her way to our region.

We are still having a few cooler mornings,

but overall, I'd say She's here to stay!

Here's what's been happening on our Piedmont homestead.

All the leeks have been planted in one of our

Birdie raised beds.

There are still a few ready to be harvested 

that were planted in the fall.

They make fantastic soup!

The Walla Walla onions have been planted

in an adjoining bed.

I've never had too much success with growing onions,

but I'm not giving up yet!

We use onions often when cooking,

and this variety is supposed to store well.

It may be hard to see here,

but this is one of two lettuce beds.

By the time it was watered three or four times,

I noticed that some of the seedlings had already been eaten.

The most likely suspects are the pill bugs.

They have been difficult to deter,

so we'll see what we end up with.

Not to worry, there are backups in the winter sowing containers.

We have more lettuce, kale and other goodies

waiting for their turn at planting.

The new strawberries have been added to this round bed.

I've never tried growing them on a teepee,

but it was something I wanted to try.

Now I need to devise a plan to keep the squirrels away.

One decent-looking blueberry bush is leafing out.

There seems to be another next to it,

but I didn't think blueberries could self-propagate.

Any thoughts on that?

In any case, I plan to dig up the smaller plant,

and give it a different spot in which to grow.

Blueberries have turned out to be

one of my favorite fruits!

Color is slowly coming to the flowerbeds.

This vibrant phlox is not only gorgeous to look at,

but the chooks find the flowers irresistable!

I hope they leave some blooms for us to enjoy.

It's wonderful to have this pop of color from the tulips

out in the otherwise rather dreary butterfly bed.

Soon enough, its neighbors will wake up

and fill the space with brilliant blossoms.

Daffodils always seem so cheery,

especially in the early days of spring,

when cold snaps can still wreak havoc!

The way I deal with weeds/grass coming up in the garden,

is to throw some plain cardboard on top of the area,

and follow up with a layer of woodchips.

Works like a charm and no chemicals needed!

Some time was taken yesterday to sift through our 

yard waste compost pile.

We fork or shovel the material and sift it through a sieve

over a cart.

The larger debris is added to a separate pile to use

around flower beds or other areas of the yard.

The final product is easy to clump in one's hand,

just the texture I am looking for.

With half of the compost pile sifted,

I had five 5-gallon buckets of compost

to use on anything and everything I plant.

I'm hoping to be able to complete this task soon.

In the next post,

I hope to show you the redo of this area

just off of the kitchen.

It's quite a change,

but will make my life so much easier.

I'm so happy to report that all 5 of our girls

are doing well.

Even Henrietta, who had to join the Olive Eggers

after she lost both of her coop mates.

It seems that everyone is doing well with the transition.

Our new chicks should be here in a couple of weeks,

and I will introduce them next time.

Until then, look after yourselves.

Homestead Happenings

 

Welcome to Homestead Happenings.

Spring is getting closer each day,

as this carpet of daisies shows.

The seasonal beauties are popping up all over.

Here's some of what we're discovering in our gardens.

candytuft

hyacinth

tulips

iris

phlox

The purple muhly grass is coming back

after a hard prune last week.

This ornamental grass has a lilac hue,

which sways whenever the wind blows.

The sedum, lamb's ear and salvia are all returning

in the front porch bed.

Most of the lamb's ear will be transplanted elsewhere,

and the sedum will be allowed to ramble.

The Yukon Gold potato bed is hoppin'!

We had a couple of days of rain,

which gave them all the moisture they needed.

Chicken wire supported by rebar has been added

to the inside perimeter to keep curious chooks

and pesky squirrels outtathere!

A new whole wheat bread recipe was tried just yesterday,

and I think this one's a keeper.

The flavor and texture are both delightful.

This will most likely be my go-to for weekly sandwich bread.

It's so wonderful to be able to enjoy REAL bread again!

It's been a rough couple of months.

A few weeks ago, we lost Buttercup, unexpectedly.

This week, her buddy, Saffron joined her.

They were both around five years old,

and I did what I could to help them,

but it wasn't enough.

It's so hard when you don't know the cause to their illness,

and they go downhill very quickly.

I just pray that they enjoyed their time with us,

and that they are together again.

 

These four babies (they are two years old) will have to get used to not having access

to the raised beds for a while.

Winter sowing is going strong, and soon these beds

will be filled with transplants that will be off limits to the chooks.

Insect netting is used in the warmer months to keep them out.

It's possible they could talk me into letting them have one bed

for snacking, chatting and the like.

They will also have to learn to take in Henrietta,

who now has no coop mates.

I'll tell you something about Henrietta

that's pretty doggone amazing.

Yesterday was the first day that she was put into the run

with the four younger girls.

Now, we estimate that Henry is at least 8 years old,

because she is the only member of the original flock

who is still with us.

A few hours after I had put her into the other run,

I went to check on things, see how everyone was getting along.

I found this egg in one of the nesting boxes.

We know this is her egg because she's the only chook

who lays blue eggs

(it may look white, but it is a pale blue).

Now, mind you, she hasn't laid an egg in close to two years.

She had stopped laying one other time and then started again after a couple of years.

Needless to say, she never ceases to amaze me.

I think Buttercup and Saffron would approve.

Homestead Happenings

 

snacktime!

Welcome back to Homestead Happenings.

We are still in a bit of a holding pattern

with outdoor projects,

as the weather has been keeping us inside.

A few fair-weather days did allow for 

a tidy-up of the garden equipment.

Things were rearranged and quite a few

items have been slated for giveaway,

as we continue to streamline our possessions.

Less to keep track of, less to maintain.

Saffron and Henrietta are not the least bit

daunted by the size of the compost pile.

The other pile (just to the right),

will be sifted through and placed in

buckets until needed to give the garden beds a boost.

I did manage to get a bed of Yukon Gold potatoes planted.

The next time I get to the hardware store,

I will look to see if they have any seed potatoes

so that I can plant a few more beds.

They are so fun to harvest.

The winter sowing is going well,

with kale and lettuce looking strong.

We've had adequate rain in the last couple of weeks,

so no additional watering on my part was needed.

What could be easier?

Spring is definitely on its way,

as this display of almost-open daffodils shows.

The nigella in this bed is also spreading,

and we've had candytuft blooming for two weeks.

Crocus has also been spotted in the flower beds.

The elderberry is leafing out and

I'm hoping that I get better use out of the berries this year.

Elderberry syrup is often used by locals

to ward off colds and allergies.

I'm thinking of adding one of our plants to the chook run,

as it makes a great hiding place for the girls.

They eat the berries too!

crocus

Inside, we managed to get the master bathroom and

the adjoining room painted.

The color is "Warm Putty" and it makes the room look complete.

Sometimes just reading the names of the colors makes me smile.

The living room/office area is next in line for painting,

with a Robin's egg blue chosen as the color.

Pizza crust was made with the fresh-milled flour,

although it doesn't look as appetizing here.

This was before the pesto was added,

but it only enhanced the flavor of the crust.

This recipe will make it into my FMF binder.

Alas, the snow is gone,

but the anticipation of germinating seeds

is something to look forward to.

We are ready to spend more time outside.

What's the end of winter looking like where you are?