A Garden and Homestead Update

In The Garden

I'll take you to the garden where things grow by labor put into the native soil of this very alkaline land.

After the nearly 5 inches of rain we received in two days, the ground is very moist and springy.  I like that.  I was worried my seeds would all wash away, but I didn't need to.  It all drains very well.

the pea and snow pea bed...look closely and you can see all the seedlings

The radishes are up now.

I think this is the spinach.  If not, it's lettuce.  

If this isn't spinach, it's lettuce.  :)

I have a very small strawberry bush with blossoms on it.  Remember, this is one of 61 bushes planted. 

A few of my garlic bulbs growing - I have a ton of it.  

My potato plants are up now.  I have early season as well as mid season growing.

Peas!  A close up of one row.

One of several rows of corn

I am pleased to see my fig tree, blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes, and all my fruit trees are growing well.  I also see an abundance of wild strawberries in my garden beds, but because those are sprayed when pest control comes out I won't pick them for food.  However, there are several other locations we can find them for eating.  

Around The Homestead

Our young birds are growing quickly.  The chicks have begun to fly from the brooder so we have to keep it covered with cardboard and a window screen.  I am thinking about putting them in the coop next weekend.  They are still too small to have out running in the yard.

There are a few bushes and trees Guitar Hero cut back last month who have decided to grace us with their presence again.  It's funny to see bushes and trees grow from where you think there is nothing.

All of our flower gardens are a mess.  I don't know which are weeds and which are perennials.  I figure if they look pretty, I'll leave them.  Besides, Jewel has told me she wants to do the flower gardens.  We'll see what she comes up with.

Some of the flowers growing in the gardens are quite beautiful.  We have found tulips, asters, irises, and daffodils.  We also have these lovely pink flowers growing like crazy near our basement door.

The grass, weeds, and wildflowers are growing abundantly as well.  We all know how ticks tend to accompany all that extra growth during the warm days.  So, we are trying to be very careful.

I bought some netting and stakes for trellises in the garden.  We also got a few bags of organic garden soil to mix in with our native soil.   I love looking out my dining room window and seeing bits of green growing in our brown garden bed.

I still need (or want) to plant the following in the garden:

green beans
cantaloupe
zucchini
tomatoes
carrots
kale
peppers
jalapenos
sunflowers
herbs
replant my aloe vera
try some alfalfa for the animals

Update:  Last night I worked at the dining room table and planted seeds in biodegradable pots.  When I finally get the garden beds completely weeded and raked, then we will get the seedlings planted.  I figured it was better for them to be growing somewhere than nowhere.  The bold produce in the list are the foods I have yet to put in soil.

Another Homestead Update

I tell you, I am sure it is nothing more than desperation that is getting this garden planted.  With only 7 weeks left in this pregnancy I am determined to get it all planted and growing.

It doesn't help any that my seedlings failed.   Now everything needs to be directly planted into the ground.

Progress has been a slow go because grass has re-rooted and making it difficult to clear the dirt.  This soil has never been gardened.  We are trying our best since we are new to gardening.

As you know, we have a few garden beds.  Guitar Hero left again for a month of travel, but he made sure he tilled the large bed again to loosen all the grass.  The smaller bed, however, has a lot of work still.  Since there isn't much to go into it, we are holding off until the larger bed is finished.

Our smaller bed has three rows of potatoes, one row of garlic, one row of onions, and a row with both garlic and leeks.  Since my leek seedlings failed to survive, I didn't have enough seeds for a full row.  

We also managed to get four watermelon mounds started.  I want to cover them with some sort of mulch to prevent erosion from water.  We plan to put in 8 more mounds for cantaloupe and zucchini down the length of this garden.  We should still have some extra room for a few other things, but per my garden book - I only have carrots left for this garden.  

Our strawberry bed is the smallest bed and it's slowly coming along.  I see some green leaves poking their heads up.  I am waiting still for the plants to be established before I put in straw to protect the roots.  

The larger garden bed is where we decided to work today.  We raked and pulled out piles of grass and rock.  Then the older two kids helped by opening our compost bins and bringing in loads of compost to mix in with our native soil.  We don't have much so we are using it sparingly rather than generously.  

Toyota really got into the part that involves removing grubs and earthworms.  He fed the large grubs to the chickens and divided the number of earthworms in half.  Half were to go to the new compost area while the other half could go to the chickens.  

Very disgusting in my opinion - I do think Toyota will be my pest control.

Both Toyota and Jewel took turns bringing loads of wood chips to make our walk ways.  I figured this would help to keep people on the right track since the other garden has already been trampled by those who didn't know where things had been planted.  We did have a few mishaps when the wheel barrow of wood chips fell over into the garden area AND when the wheel barrow of compost fell onto the walkway.  Clean up doesn't go so well on the latter.  

So, after several hours of working outside, we have half of our large garden finished (minus a row for the animals).  Toyota took the pleasure of watering everything when we finished.  We planted cucumbers, corn, peas, lettuce, and spinach today.  You can see I tried my best to leave two foot walkways between each bed.

We are due for rain tomorrow, so no work will be done then.  However, I think I'll be welcoming the break because I know I will be sore.  

Our chicks and ducklings are growing quickly.  The little ducklings are awful messy so we separated them from the chicks.  The chicks are not as smelly as the ducklings either, but after we cleaned up the ducklings' brooder we found it hasn't gotten quite smelly as fast as it had been.  We layered straw under the wood shavings which I think helps air it out.  The chicks are beginning to get their feathers as are the ducklings.  The ducklings are getting very big, quite quickly.  

When I went out to snap this picture, the ducks were telling me they wanted more food and water.  I also think they are due for another layer of wood chips or a completely cleaned out brooder.  We have a rabbit cage liner in their brooder to limit the water being spilled, but they sure make a mess anyway.  I also have some brewers yeast with garlic on it's way to supplement their food.  It is a learning experience for us and we are always researching and asking questions to insure the best health of our poultry.

Guitar Hero also made it a point to make sure the new chicken coop was ready (or pretty close to it) before he left.  It looks pretty good.  He even took time to seal the floor.  He had friends help him bring the new coop down to the chicken pasture last weekend.  He also made sure the parts for the duck house were in the pasture.  Both the duck house and the fence will have to wait until he returns.  Our plan is to run another fence between the two coops and give the meat birds a separate pasture from the laying hens.  The ducks will also eventually have their own run with a pool and proper drainage.  

The new coop has two roosts that go the length of the coop, two windows, double doors to make it easier for cleaning, a chicken exit, and a vent in the back.  It looks pretty good considering he made it as he went along. 

I'm not quite sure just what will be accomplished this week around the homestead, but I try to keep my hopes up that something will get done.  

In the Garden and on the Homestead - Update

We have our plots all tilled up now.  It wasn't my first choice, but the Back to Eden garden isn't an option at this point due to money and time.  So, we will have to till it and plant and cover with straw, hoping for the best.

We have a plot 35 by 40 foot.

The strawberry bed is about 12 by 8 foot.  It is planted now, but just waiting for roots to become adjusted and grow.  When that happens I will lay down some straw over top to keep the roots cool.

In this photo you can see the strawberry plot next to the second garden plot which is a 30 foot square.  I have the early season potatoes planted to the far end of this plot, but that is all right now.  Next to that will be two more rows of potatoes, but mid season and late season.

A new item for our garden is aloe vera.  It is always good to have this growing.

I opened all my greenhouses the other day to find exactly what I thought happened.  Nothing.  I have nothing growing.  This is totally frustrating for me.  So, I decided to water them for a while and see if they decide to do something.  Unfortunately, it poured last night and they are now standing buckets of water.  So, I think there is nothing coming from this venture.

The indoor seedlings look just as pathetic.  I have some tomato and kale, but even they are starting to look badly.  The onions have keeled over and died as well as all the leeks I had going.  I figure I will direct seed them into the garden and hope for the best. The herbs I had pre-planted also look pretty pathetic and keep dying.  However, I will try again in some flower pots on the deck.

On the Homestead

The chickens are all laying now, but only once a week do we get 8 eggs.  So, someone is slacking big time.  I would say we average 5 a day.  

Our new chicks arrived yesterday at Farm and Home so we drove out to pick them up.  We were very disappointed our ducks didn't come.  After asking why and if we would get them, she told us more than likely not.  Needless to say, Guitar Hero was not happy, but we settled for six Peking ducks from Tractor Supply.  

They seem very skittish.  They run and chirp as you reach into the box.  We will have to work on making them more comfortable.  

Guitar Hero has been working on our second chicken coop which we hope will be in place by the time the chicks need to come out of the brooder.  I am sure the coop will be cramped for a while until the new birds can be transferred to the old coop.  It will all depend on how they get along.

We plan to use parts of the old play structure for a duck house.  Guitar Hero has already cut it apart.  It isn't as important as the chicken coop.  He will also put a fence across the existing pasture to separate it for the laying birds and meat birds.  Eventually, we will create a small pen for the ducks so they can have a pool to play in.  Our hope is that we have a few female ducks.  That means eggs and more ducks.

Well, that about wraps it all up.  For those who follow my private blog; I am sorry if this is a repeat of what I  posted.  It makes it easier to update by copy, pasting, and editing.  ((smile))

One Way to Use Those Leftover Hard-Boiled Eggs

Four of our children are away right now.  This is bad timing considering we have so many hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator to eat.  You can only eat them so much before you wish you could give them away.

So, this morning I looked for ways to use them up creatively.  Mind you, I was looking for a breakfast dish.  I really couldn't find much online. (Partially because I didn't look for too long.) Then I suddenly remembered there was a recipe in my Amish cookbook that used hard-boiled eggs.  (Please note if you look online for Creamed Eggs, you will find numerous recipes.)

Creamed Eggs on Toast

4 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
2 cups milk
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
toast

Melt the butter in a pan.  Add your flour and whisk until smooth.  Slowly pour the milk in while whisking it.  Allow to come to simmer, whisking it to prevent lumps.  When the mixture thickens, add your eggs and stir.  Allow to simmer for another minute.  Turn off heat and spoon the mixture over toast.

I'll tell you this:  I was not intending to feed this to Peanut because I didn't think she would like it.  Would you know?  She asked for some and ate a whole piece of toast with some gravy to dip it in.

Who knew?

What is a creative way you use up those leftover hard-boiled eggs?

In the Garden: End of March

It's so hard to wait for spring when these snow storms keep popping up.  Yet, even when I yearn for spring and green plants growing, I can't help but find the snow beautiful.  It's breath taking.

Yet, even those snowy days fade withing 48 hours and you are left with the promise of spring.  Buds in the trees, wild daffodils growing, and green grass threatening to pop it's way up.  

I know soon, I'll be able to plant my garden.  As for now, I have my seedlings growing.  They are looking good for the most part.  My outside green houses don't seem to be doing to well, but I do have a few with broccoli sprouts.

parsley and cilantro

leeks

tomato and kale

Spanish onions

I also planted the top of our pineapple this morning into a pot.  Our last one was left outside and froze to death.  

I'm hoping that within the next few weeks my green houses will get warm and start growing veggies.  I gave the dry looking ones a squirt or two of water today.  

We now have 7 laying hens, but they don't all lay every day.  We did have a day this week with 7 eggs.  Our average, however, is 5 eggs a day.  I suppose it's nothing to complain about.  This afternoon I went out to find five eggs divided among two nest boxes, plus the one egg Boomer brought in around 11.  I always get a thrill seeing those eggs come in.

We will be picking up our next batch of chicks on April 12th.  We are really excited, but have a lot to do to prepare for 22 new hens and two ducks.  For now, the brooder will do, but I am certain that many birds will outgrow the pen quickly.  We have decided on 9 more Australorps, 9 more Buff Orpingtons, 4 Ameraucanas, and 2 Khaki Campbell ducks.  

So, how is it going in your garden and coop?