- 18 days after my last blog post I got married! Yep, we tied the knot on the beach in front of our home. The kids were our wedding party, and a handful of friends were in attendance. It was lovely!
- I spent days canning and preserving our fall harvest.
- I spent October-December caring for my neighbor on hospice. It was a humbling and emotional experience that I will never forget.
- The winter was brutal. The cold weather and rain overstayed its welcome. I am going to write more about my battle with winter gardening soon, but not right now. I failed at planting anything worthwhile except garlic. I planted a lot of garlic in late October!
- I published the second printing of my YA book, Invoking Nonna.
- I worked a lot.
Now, here I am again. Ready to write all about what I enjoy the most: homesteading with my family.
Right now, I have strawberries growing in multiple areas in my garden. I have potatoes in the ground and in a giant planter. We've been enjoying lettuce, kale, and chives. My broccoli plants bolted, but I am still planning on cooking them up. My carrot seeds have failed, but I am going to try again once I harvest all of the garlic. I spotted some tiny green tomatoes today, and my cucumber starts look strong. I have some onions growing, dill, leeks, cilantro, sweet bay, basil, lavender, mint, oregano, and chickpeas.
A friend shared some of her chickpea seeds with me, so I soaked them until they sprouted and added them to the dirt.
Also, fun fact: When I first sprouted the chickpeas, I added them to the dirt with their tails up ... ha, nope. The tails go down, they are the roots. Learning rules.
UPDATE: Two dozen beautifully-smelling garlic have been harvested and are drying!
In March, we picked up two Easter Egger babies from our local farm store.
Their names are Marigold and Sweet Pea. They are a lot different than the other hens we have which are Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons. These girls sounded like little songbirds as babies while our other girls did more of the traditional peeping.
As they've gotten older, they are growing these puffs of feathers that come from out of their cheek area that is too cute.
Most people who see them say they don't look like your average chicken.
Here is what they look like now. What do you think?
It's been a huge learning experience to add new chickens to our existing flock. I will admit that it has been frustrating. Our big girls are not into the new ones at all. As the younger two are getting bigger, they are being tolerated a bit more, but we currently can't keep them in the pen with the big girls unsupervised. I know there is a pecking order, but it is still heartbreaking to watch the little ones get picked on. So, for now, we rotate time in the pen until we feel the little girls are in a position to take the crap the big girls are dishing out.
Patience. Homesteading is all about patience ...
Well, life is calling.
Until next time,
Sage
Right now, I have strawberries growing in multiple areas in my garden. I have potatoes in the ground and in a giant planter. We've been enjoying lettuce, kale, and chives. My broccoli plants bolted, but I am still planning on cooking them up. My carrot seeds have failed, but I am going to try again once I harvest all of the garlic. I spotted some tiny green tomatoes today, and my cucumber starts look strong. I have some onions growing, dill, leeks, cilantro, sweet bay, basil, lavender, mint, oregano, and chickpeas.
A friend shared some of her chickpea seeds with me, so I soaked them until they sprouted and added them to the dirt.
Also, fun fact: When I first sprouted the chickpeas, I added them to the dirt with their tails up ... ha, nope. The tails go down, they are the roots. Learning rules.
UPDATE: Two dozen beautifully-smelling garlic have been harvested and are drying!
In March, we picked up two Easter Egger babies from our local farm store.
As they've gotten older, they are growing these puffs of feathers that come from out of their cheek area that is too cute.
Most people who see them say they don't look like your average chicken.
Here is what they look like now. What do you think?
It's been a huge learning experience to add new chickens to our existing flock. I will admit that it has been frustrating. Our big girls are not into the new ones at all. As the younger two are getting bigger, they are being tolerated a bit more, but we currently can't keep them in the pen with the big girls unsupervised. I know there is a pecking order, but it is still heartbreaking to watch the little ones get picked on. So, for now, we rotate time in the pen until we feel the little girls are in a position to take the crap the big girls are dishing out. Patience. Homesteading is all about patience ...
Well, life is calling.
Until next time,
Sage
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