Weekly Wrap-Up Around the Homestead

It's been a hot week. You can tell summer is just around the corner!

What we've harvested so far:

Two dozen radishes
3 - 4 dozen large spinach leaves
One small head of broccoli

Garden

In the early morning hours, I spotted a baby bunny hopping around the yard. After inspecting the garden, I saw some nibble marks on a small strawberry. I decided it was time to put some netting around the strawberry plants. My daughter asked me what we should do with the nibbled strawberry, and I told her to pull it off the plant and leave it for the bunny. When we woke up, we both were excited to find out what happened to the strawberry. It was gone! We found remnants of it in the grass. None of our other berries were eaten. A very thoughtful bunny.


We took the plunge and added two semi-dwarf apple trees to the homestead. I planned on taking the kids to a u-pick farm to gather enough apples to cook and can with, and after crunching numbers, we will save hundreds of dollars by buying our trees. We bought a North Pole variety and a Scarlet Sentinel. 

We had record high temperatures in April then a drop to cool temps in May, and now we're back up. It's been a roller coaster ride of weather. I noticed that my largest head of broccoli had decided to flower. I went ahead and harvested it, so we could enjoy it before it grew too tough to eat.

Our Chinese cabbage is growing like wildfire. I am hoping the high temperatures won't bum them out. Today, we added higher netting to give them some room to spread upwards. 

Chickens


The girls love watermelon. They pecked at a round piece of watermelon until the rind was paper thin. I was very impressed with their work. I read a few months ago that mint helps to keep rodents at bay. We haven't had issues with any by the coop, but I decided to be proactive and transplant some of our lemon balm around the chickens' pen. I also know lemon balm has a calming effect, so I hung a fresh bunch to dry, and when it was ready, I crumbled some in their nesting box.

Rabbits

Our male Rex rabbit, Ostara, has stopped pooping in the litter box. I am not sure if he is moody or something else is going on there, so we've kept a watchful eye on him. He is getting plenty of water, eating, and bucking around his exercise pen. His sister Juno is her usual awesome self. They have both enjoyed feasting on the fresh radish greens and spinach from our garden. 


Gifts from Nature

I spotted a tiny little eggshell on our carport. It seems to belong to a bluebird. I am going to keep my eye out for a nest and babies. Hopefully, this one made it.