Homestead Happenings

 

It's time for Homestead Happenings,

where we share what's been going on 

here on our Piedmont homestead.

More cut flowers this week included some gorgeous

multi petaled tulips in various shades.

This vessel was actually the milk pitcher

my mom transferred over from the milk bottles

that were delivered to our back porch when I was a wee one.

One of the few childhood treasures I ended up with.

We did it!

We expanded our family and picked up a few

Olive Egger chicks!

It's so exciting having young energy in the house.

They are the softest creatures I have ever felt.

What a blessing to be able to nurture new life.

The unused spa tub is being used as a brooder.

They are not too loud as they cheep and peep,

so they don't keep Big K up at night.

I was wondering if his snoring would keep them awake!

Our hummer feeders have been washed and scrubbed

and will be ready for the first day of April

to start taking care of our feathered friends.

A neighbor had given me the little cleaning kit,

which comes with tiny bottle brushes to clean the ports.

It also came with extra ports so they can be replaced as needed.

We are swimming in seedlings,

which I have to admit,

is a nice place to be.

I've never before had so much success with starting seeds.

Thanks to the winter sowing method.

there are plenty for us and more to give away!

red kale

speckled Amish butter lettuce

leeks

More of the winter sowing seedlings

were transplanted yesterday into larger cell packs.

The root system is absolutely fabulous,

and I'm hoping they continue to thrive in their new pots.

The soil recipe I'm using came from a good friend

and fellow Master Gardener.

She uses organic topsoil mixed with perlite

and vermiculite.

Peat moss is never used here,

as it is not a sustainable resource.

This combination seems to work well,

and we have a local supplier for the topsoil 

literally down the road.

tulips

On my daily walk,

it's hard not to notice the beautiful blooms.

One of our neighbors, and fellow veg gardener,

has an amazing display of phlox sprawling next to his driveway.

This is a favorite, and I have plans to plant it

along our slope, so that it cascades down to the street.

This candytuft fills in another neighbor's mailbox bed.

We have some of this growing in our pollinator bed,

but I plan to add more around the homestead.

It stayed green all winter,

and requires very little care.

Our wonderful next door neighbor's irises

were struttin' their stuff yesterday.

The blues are so intense,

and the contrast between the bloom and the green foliage

is certainly striking.

Life is good here on the homestead.

How's spring shaping up where you are?

Garden Friday

 

Welcome Autumn!

 

Welcome to Garden Friday,

where we (occasionally) share what's happening on

 our zone 7b Piedmont homestead.

Just popping in with an update,

as I am still dealing with difficulties uploading my photos.

A plan is in the works to acquire my own laptop,

to see if that resolves the issues. 

If so, I hope to get back to weekly posts.

 

The garlic has been planted for the season,

although we haven't yet had any pop up.

This bed has over 60 cloves planted,

and two grow bags have another twenty or so. 

I've never grown this crop in bags before,

so it'll be interesting to see how they do.

Nearby, broccoli, cabbage and kale

seem to be enjoying our near-perfect fall weather.

 

A couple of trays of Romaine lettuce

were picked up at the big box store

and they are doing well.

This week, kale and lettuce were sown in containers,

utilizing the winter sowing method.

This technique was used successfully last winter,

but I wanted to try it at this time of the year,

just to see if it would help hasten germination.

Our nights are cool,

but we've been blessed with temperate, sunny days.

 

Our fall display is made up of several pumpkins,

a straw bale, mums, pansies and a few violas. 

I'm pleased with the results and enjoyed putting it together

in our pollinator bed, which would otherwise sit empty.

I'll plan to do a winter presentation as well.

 

Forgotten bulbs were added to the pollinator bed before

beginning the autumnal display.

This bed should be bursting in blooms come springtime.

 

The whole flock recently got the spa treatment

right in our front yard.

Having found lice nits on one of the girls,

we wanted to ensure that no one else had an issue.

They still have access to dust bathing,

(which usually keeps parasites in check,)

but as we needed to check everyone for lice,

we decided to employ the beautiful sunny weather

to get them squeaky clean and offer a bit of pampering.

 Believe it or not,

Queenie is still hanging in there,

and dare I say,

seems improved.

Grateful for more time with her and her

elderly sisters.

Life is Better with Chickens!

 

Garden Friday

 

 

Welcome to the first Garden Friday of spring!

It's a thrill to watch everything wake up from its winter slumber.

These tulips are so vibrant!

 

The bulbs are especially enchanting to me,

because having lived in Florida for so long,

we did not experience their magical uprising.

 

The daffodils are still blooming each and every day,

and we have a variety of colors and shapes to enjoy.

 

I was able to add some asparagus to my salad yesterday,

and I have to say that it is very rewarding to harvest your food

from right outside your door.

What could be fresher?

 

A new technique was tried for sowing carrots this week.

I'm notoriously lax about thinning them out,

so I decided to plant them more "by the book".

 

The Cobra was used to make drills (or furrows).

This tool makes the job quick and easy.

 

 

A friend gave me one of these seed planters,

so I thought I'd give it a go.

I think I still got too many seeds in some of the spots,

but we'll see what comes up.

 

Some rosemary was harvested from our established plant out front.

The plan is to move it to a sunnier location,

and I wanted to be sure that I had a back up plan.

 

 A dozen or so sprigs were cut and placed into a pot,

for future transplanting or giving away.

This drought tolerant herb makes a lovely bush.

The scent always reminds me of my sweet momma.

 

 

Two elderberry plants were put in place this week.

These were my purchase from our local Extension plant sale.

I'm hoping to be able to make elderberry syrup with the fruit.

 

Each year, I add to our food forest.

Last year we loaded up on blueberries.

 

After a couple of days of fairly heavy rain,

I noticed how much this yarrow had grown.

It seemed to shoot up overnight!

Looking forward to adding more natives to this bed in the front of the house.

 
 The tulips and this candytuft are just gorgeous.

I think I want to add a lot more of the candytuft to the garden beds.

It's gone through the winter like a champ.

What a treat to see them each morning

as I head out on my daily walk.

What's blooming where you are?

Garden Friday

 

 Welcome back to Garden Friday,

where we share our Zone 7b garden.

Look at this lil' fella I found lurking among the brush.

It's a sign of approaching spring!

A couple of weeks ago, I took the time

to thin out our irises near the mailbox bed.

I added them around one side of the new chicken run,

and I can't wait to see them all come up and bloom!

 

Some time was spent potting up many of our sprouted seeds.

I've been germinating seeds on our kitchen countertop,

using only damp paper towels and a clamshell lettuce bin.

It's worked great and has gotten me a bit of a head start

on the planting season.

 

 

 Just look at the roots of this snap pea after about 2 weeks!

When it's time for them to grow, they know it!

The beginnings of a climbing trellis were added

to one of the raised beds.  The peas were planted

just inside of these two t-posts.

As the peas grow, baling twine will be added across the center,

enabling the peas to start their ascent.

These peas will be growing on the northwest side of the bed,

so as not to shade the other plants sharing the space.

 

 

 Several pots of broccoli were potted up,

using the same sprouting technique.

The wire covering the bin is to dissuade squirrels

 from digging up the soil in the pots.

As I checked these on Thursday afternoon,

they were doing quite well.

There are also chard and kale seedlings placed here.

All of these will be covered with a blanket,

as we are supposed to have a cold snap come through over the weekend.

 

 

The blueberries show more buds each day.

With about a dozen bushes planted,

we are hoping to have enough berries 

for both the birds and us.

 

This stem was spotted near one of the blueberry plants,

but I think it's a raspberry, noting the thorns on the branches.

I'm hoping to transplant it elsewhere,

so that it doesn't interfere with the blueberry's progress.

 

Here's a curious creation.

I'm assuming some sort of creature

spent the winter snuggled in this cocoon.

Any ideas?

 

With this weekend's cold weather looming,

it would be a great time to make some soup.

This leek is more than ready to add some deliciousness to the pot.

 

This season, I'm using coir to add to the compost

I usually use for seedlings.

It comes in bricks like this,

and you merely add water to saturate it 

until it becomes a similar texture to peat moss.

 

We choose not to use peat moss, 

because of the damage to the ecosystem from harvest.

Wanna find out more?

Read this.

This beautiful coir comes from coconut,

and is far more sustainable than peat.

Adding this to compost or soil

adds in the aeration of your growing medium

as well as helping with moisture retention.

The tulips are coming up!

It never gets old to see these amazing plants

rising up from underneath the earth like magic!

I believe that I am now convinced 

that bulbs must be added each fall

to increase the wonderment each spring.

Who's with me on that?

Garden Friday

 

 

Season's Greetings on this Garden Friday!

Today we celebrate our fifth year in North Carolina!

We moved here 5 years ago on December 31st,

so that we could start the new year in our dream state.

 

We have a few things to report this week,

and I'm happy to say, it's all good news.

 

We got our first load of free wood chips dropped off,

just before Christmas day.

I've been on the list for Chip Drop for almost 3 years,

and this was the first time we have been graced with a load.

 

This mountain of mulch was put to work

as soon as it cooled down enough to move.

It's also been offered to several neighbors,

should they need them for projects.

 

The trees will savor the extra insulation

and utilize the nutrients to enrich the soil below.

I'd like to eventually plant some bulbs 

around the base of some of the trees,

but at the moment, the ground is heavy clay and 

nearly impossible to penetrate.

 

Some of the chips were added around the two raised beds

from the former garden location.

These beds didn't have to be moved,

and they are in their permanent spot.

The mulch will help to keep weeds down.

 

Another area near the old garden area

is dotted with birdhouses.

This may become an ornamental area in the future,

so adding the mulch helps me visualize the parameters.

 

Great news on the chook front!

Gandalf is feeling more himself

and has even started crowing again on a regular basis.

Of course, this means that he is back to "bothering" the ladies,

but I guess it all goes with the territory.

So grateful that he has healed well from the dog attack

a few months ago.

 

One thing recently discovered was that the chooks

love turnip greens!

We will have to make a point of buying them regularly

to add to their mix of cabbage, kale and lettuce greens.

 

I finally got the bulbs planted this past week.

These were gifted us by the local Extension Center,

and I just couldn't get to them until now.

 

New tulips and crocus will be a welcome addition come spring.

 

Piedmont Farmstead is a local farm that sells their produce and personal care products

at the farmers' market during the season.

On the off-season, they sell from the farm directly,

so I paid them a visit to purchase some Christmas gifts.

I'm hoping that I can pick up some of their lettuce and kale

on a regular basis.

They are good folks, doing what they love.

 

Back at home, I've covered most of the raised beds

for protection from the winter chill,

(although there hasn't been much of it),

and found that using t-posts works well to weigh down the sides.

 

The lettuce has been doing well under the covers,

and is finally big enough to pick for salads.

 

It feels fantastic to be able to harvest during the winter months.

 

The chooks go through quite a bit of water each week,

so I decided to fashion a 5-gallon waterer

out of an old bucket I had laying around,

 

and these poultry nipples purchased at our local hardware store.

 

So far, so good.

It saves me from having to fill it so often

and keeps debris out of the water as well.

Several other improvement projects are lurking

to make the chicken run a bit better.

Hopefully, the weather will continue to cooperate

and I can find the time to get it done.

Wishing you a multitude of blessings in the New Year!

~daisy