I dropped the ball in the blog department. I have so much to tell you about our homestead. I am going to fast forward the past 10 months into a bulleted list.
- 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
I noticed our carrot tops were falling over, so I checked my planting date and realized those babies were ready to harvest. I waited to remove the carrots until after I watered the garden for the evening to make it easier. What a treat it was to pull each carrot out of the ground and see a new color.
After building a mountain of carrots on a baking tray, I brought them inside to show the family. Everyone was picking their favorite color or shape and of course, crunching away on carrots. I weighed our loot and was excited to see we grew almost three pounds of carrots in just a few square feet of our garden. I chopped the carrot tops off and filled two, one-gallon bags. Our bunnies and guinea pigs will be feasting on those nutritious greens for awhile!
I can't wait to roast the beautiful carrots. I can just sit and stare at the picture in awe of all of the vivid colors. How cool! Oh, speaking of bright colors. I made a red cabbage and potato hash last night with the two heads of red cabbage we harvested last week. I love the purple color of the cabbage, too!
Happy Tuesday evening! It has been a busy week on the homestead. It was the last week of school for the kids, so a lot was happening, and their energy was bouncing all over the place. Plus, we had some family visit over the weekend which is why my weekly round up is being posted on Tuesday instead of Sunday. That's okay; the family is number one!
This week we harvested:
12 heads of Chinese cabbage
A handful of cilantro
So far in 2016, we've harvested:
Two dozen radishes
8 pounds of spinach
One small head of broccoli
A handful of chives
Two bundles of lemon balm
12 heads of Chinese cabbage
A handful of cilantro
Garden
It's wild to see the space we have as we have begun to harvest the vegetables. I am still planning what will replace all of the cabbage. Speaking of, let's talk about how I planted too much Chinese cabbage! Okay, so I've harvested 12 heads. What in the world do you do with all of the cabbage you might ask? Well, I gave a few heads to friends and neighbors, and then I froze the rest. I am freezing the cabbage in different ways to see which way ends up tasting the best.
I washed the cabbage, plucked off the tiny slugs, and cut them into thick strips. The cabbage, not the slugs. I blanched those strips for just 30 seconds and then added them to cold water. They dried a bit and then went straight into the freezer bags. I think they will be great for stir-fry meals, casseroles, and soup. I also froze raw leaves and raw chunks of leaves. I want to see the difference of blanching vs. no blanching. I feel like a homesteading scientist right now.
I still have about 8 - 10 heads of cabbage left to harvest. I think I will be doing more freezing and sharing. Also, a cabbage and potato casserole seems fitting for tonight's dinner.
Our beets have popped through the dirt to show their little green leaves, and our large potato plants have begun to flower which has me over the moon in excitement. I've also noticed some broccoli, cilantro, spinach, and cauliflower that are looking ready to be harvested. It's going to be another abundant week around here.
Chickens
Our girls are around four months old which means fresh eggs may be in our near future. I like to check every few days just in case there is a surprise waiting. I tell the girls to lay when they are ready and no rush, but secretly I am growing impatient. Not so much for the eggs, but just for reaching such a big milestone with them especially after raising them from three days old.
My beautiful friend Rebbeckah from Harvest Moon Homestead blogged about a bee waterer and I was very intrigued to make my own. It's extremely simple to do and brings the bees much joy. I gathered some rocks and shells from around my yard and added them to a planter bottom, then simply filled it up with water. I placed my next to the chives which our local bees love dearly.
We here at the homestead are big jokesters and love to laugh. I thought I would leave you with some shenanigans that my 12-year-old daughter took part in with a growing tomato. Until next time!
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.
I grew up in Georgia on a half acre of land filled with pine trees, kudzu, and parents who knew if they wanted to make ends meet and survive then they would need to garden, can food, chop firewood, and live frugally. And here I am 37 years later, with three children of my own, homesteading on a small piece of property. Except I am a long way from where I grew up. I am in a small community in northern Washington. It's wild to think I am on the opposite sides of the country, yet living as I always have.
In my twenties, I did a lot of apartment hopping. Despite my lack of space, I always had my potted plants. I worked full-time, sometimes two jobs, so homesteading wasn't in my path at that time. Then I became a mom, and that's when things shifted for me. I wanted to feed my children better than I fed myself. I wanted them to experience the beauty of the world around us. I began to grow food in containers, sewing clothes, and even homeschooling at one point. I thrived to get back to basics. To enjoy life.
Fast forward ten years. My family and I move cross country to Washington state. We again find ourselves in an apartment. Nothing wrong with apartment living, but I longed for a yard to grow a large garden with sufficient sunlight.
This year, we moved into a large home on the waterfront - still renting - and finally have space to not only garden, but raise four chickens and two bunnies, house a large compost bin, a rain barrel, and two semi-dwarf apple trees, A big change!
I struggled with investing in homesteading because we don't own this property. What if the owner decided they wanted to move back in, and we had set up all of this for nothing. But, then I realize that finding joy in what you are doing each day is not for nothing. So, instead of worrying about the what if's, I decided to jump right into homesteading, but keeping in mind that I may have to transport our mini farm (ha) one day. I am okay with that because I am living my dream.
I hope you'll follow our journey as we garden, raise farm animals, and figure out to be as self-sufficient as possible. I work long hours, so it's hard to devote many hours throughout the day to homesteading, but I think I am doing a pretty darn good job. I have lots of thoughts, pictures, and stories to share with you.
Thanks for reading! - Sage
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.
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. 
