Where have I been?

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

Meet our hens - Rosie, Tulip, Lily & Violet!

I haven't properly introduced you dear readers to the happy hens of Mama Moon Homestead! On February 26, 2016, we brought home four fluffy baby chicks that were just three days old. Two of them are Rhode Island Reds, and the other two are Buff Orpingtons. It has been super cool to watch these girls grow from little peeping babies to clucking hens. 

Rosie is the leader of the pack. She has always been the lady in charge since she was a little one. She puffs her chest out and likes to herd the other girls around. Rosie has basically taken the place of a rooster. I don't plan on ever getting a rooster, so Rosie can be the boss. 

Tulip is the second biggest hen we have. She likes to run around and be tough like Rosie. Her comb is rather large and flops to the side which just adds to her already large character. 

Lily is next in line. She looks very similar to Rosie but isn't quite as large. She gave us quite a scare last week. We thought she was egg-bound which means a hen is unable to lay the egg she has inside of her. The result is death. Lily was removing herself from the other chickens and acting very lethargic. We made sure she was drinking plenty of water, but she seemed to have no energy. Her droppings also fit some of the symptoms of an egg-bound hen. 

We were so afraid to lose her. My sweetheart gave her a bath and went out to the farm store to pick up some ground oyster shells to make sure she was getting plenty of calcium. After the second warm bath and gentle belly rubs, Lily began to come around. We don't know when she lay the egg, but she must have because she is feeling 100% better! It's hard to tell who is laying which egg, right now all of our hens are laying. Our chickens are not just here to give us eggs; they are a large part of our homestead family, and I don't want to ever think about the day that we may lose one.

Last but not least is Violet. She is a funny girl. Violet has always been the runt of the flock, and her comb is still developing, but she sure lays some beautiful eggs. She is also very proud of herself and stands up to the other hens regardless of her place in the flock. 

I am extremely thankful to have healthy hens who provide us with fresh eggs daily. It feels awesome to fill up egg cartons with their eggs. I always say thank you when I find an egg in the nesting box. Having these girls has definitely changed the way I look at eggs. I appreciate the process so much more and have mad respect for chickens!

Harvesting Potatoes & Cave Tools Grill Tongs!

Oh, my. A lot of things has been happening around the homestead since I last wrote an update. Good things, but hectic nonetheless. I think I jumped the gun and harvested my first barrel of potatoes too soon, but hey, it's all a learning experience. Let me tell you what happened. 

I had read as well have been told by other potato growers that you need to wait for your potato plant to flower, then when the stem and leaves begin to shrivel and die, stop watering and wait. Okay, I did all of that! I was still unsure if it was time. The stems fell over, the leaves wilted and turned yellow. I ever so gently slipped my hand into the dirt, and I could feel a hard round potato! 

It was time .... I think? I grabbed the potato plant as far down as I could reach and pulled up. Potatoes galore! But, they were a lot smaller than I thought they would be. I did get two or three hefty potatoes, but the rest were dainty. After pulling all of the plants, and digging down to the bottom, I ended up harvesting three pounds of small potatoes. 

Hmph. 

So. I have a second potato plant that I heavily water because those potatoes need the water when the stems and leaves are large and vivacious. But, this time, when I see the stems fall over, I am going to allow the plant to have more time before I attempt to harvest potatoes. Maybe I will see a difference and maybe I won't? To enjoy a bountiful harvest, I need to try different things so I can discover the best way to care for crops.

After spending hours in the garden, my most favorite thing to do is grill out on our waterfront. We light a small fire in the outdoor grill and roast some veggie hot dogs. I was really excited when Cave Tools contacted me to see if I would be interested in reviewing one of their grilling products. Um, YES! I chose to review their stainless steel grill tongs. 

I was satisfied with the quality of the tongs. They were sturdy, came with a locking bracket, and were super simple to handle. I used them to grill some vegan sausages, and they were perfect. The grill tongs made life easy because they securely grabbed the food when I had to flip them. No tearing or dropping of the sausages, YAY! And best part yet, they were easy to wash. 

If you enjoy grilling, then you'll be thrilled to know that Cave Tools is offering YOU a 15% Amazon Coupon Code on a purchase of Grill Tongs: QACGJYPJ

On Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ar0yv5 

On Cave Tools: http://bit.ly/2acbQ9z

*The review of the grill tongs is an honest review, I was not financially compensated to write any of it. I received a complimentary pair of tongs.

Pruning Tomato Plants & a Trip to the Farm Store

I feel like this past week or so has been a lot of clean up in the garden. I've been trimming the grass along the raised beds, pulling weeds, and trimming back wild vines and such, so that our vegetables have plenty of room to breath and grow. 

While inspecting one of our tomato plants, I noticed these voluptuous red tomatoes just waiting to be picked and devoured until I turned them upside down and spotted the rot underneath. A total bummer! I jumped on the Google to see what I could find, and that's when I discovered you could prune your tomato plants. I did read where some people are opposed to it, but I followed my gut and grabbed some shears. I worked from the bottom up and started clipping away. Before I knew it, tomatoes that I never even noticed were popping up from beneath the greenery that I was cutting off. I could tell the tomatoes were much happier. I think now they have better air flow, and they won't be sitting on wet leaves. And guess what happens when you prune the jungle of tomato plants? You discover some goodies ready to eat! They were delicious in our lunch salad. 

It was a lot of work to sit and cut back the leaves, but obviously very worth it. Not only was it better for the health of the tomatoes, but now I have space to get in between the plants to pick the tomatoes which is a must with square foot gardening and ten tomato varieties!

Another surprise we came across this week was at our local farm store, my favorite place to spend a ridiculous amount of money on the homestead. 

We needed some rabbit food and hay, but before we picked those up, the kids and I had to make our usual round of visiting all of the farm store animals. They have a cat, chickens, ducks, and pigs. These are animals that live there, not the ones they are selling. I do plenty of 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the baby chicks for sale. As we peeked in the pig pen, we spotted three baby pigs! They were so sweet. Their little tails were just twirling around while they waddled around their mama. The babies paid absolutely no attention to us as we talked to them and took photos, ha!

Rainbow Carrots Rule!

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!

Two-week Update: Harvesting blues and lots of planting!

I missed posting last week for no good reason except life. The kids are out of school, so we have been enjoying walks to our local marina, ice cream, picking wild berries, and library visits. 

The past two weeks we've harvested:

13 heads of Chinese cabbage

Two heads of red cabbage

A handful of cilantro

One head of cauliflower

One head of broccoli

So far in 2016, we've harvested: 

Two dozen radishes
8 pounds of spinach
Two heads of broccoli
A handful of chives
Two bundles of lemon balm
25 heads of  Chinese cabbage
2 cups of cilantro

Two heads of red cabbage

One head of cauliflower

Garden

A lot of goodies have been ready to harvest from the garden. Our first raised bed was almost entirely empty after I harvested all of the cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. It made me sad. You would think that I would be reveling in the joy of all the awesome that I had plucked from the ground, but that was short-lived. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I am very grateful for the food that we now have and were able to share with our neighbors. I think it was the time, energy, and love that I put into growing the food and then it was just gone from the garden. Who knew I would experience these feelings?

I quickly filled the void by planting more seeds and purchasing some transplants. I bought thyme, purple sage, dill, rosemary, brussels sprouts, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and bell peppers; I also dropped some seeds into the soil – broccoli, spinach, butter lettuce, swiss chard, carrots, and bush beans!

Seeing the seedlings break through the soil has been uplifting. We have beet and pumpkin seedlings that are growing. The first big harvest for us has ended, and while I had unexpected feelings, I also had some clarity. Gardening is just like everything else in life; it runs in cycles. Harvesting is just the end of the cycle but brings space for a new cycle to begin.  

I love this adventure. It’s pushed me to work on my patience. You can’t force any of your crops to grow as quick as you’d like. You have to water, feed, and care for plants while they grow to their fullest potential. For example, I measured our apple trees two weeks ago, and they have grown between one and one and a half inches. Like I said, you must have patience. 

Upcoming Homesteading Chores

• Clean up and secure the rain barrel
• Finish weeding the second garden area
• Plant the box of dahlia bulbs we scored for free
• Work on the fairy garden

Until next time. xo

A late weekly wrap-up! Cabbage, potatoes, chickens, and more!

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!

Harvesting Six Pounds of Spinach!

It's hard to believe that another week has passed on the homestead. I have had a wonderful time watching everything grow larger. We had two super rainy days this week. It was nice to take a break from watering the garden and having Mother Nature lend a helping hand. 

This week we harvested:


6 pounds of spinach
A handful of chives

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

Garden

I noticed that our spinach had begun to bolt, so I pulled up all of the plants and was amazed to find that we now had six pounds of fresh spinach! We feed our guinea pigs, chickens, and rabbits spinach, so I decided to split the harvest into two groups; three pounds for the animals and three pounds for the humans. Since we have five or six more spinach plants in a large container that are still growing, I decided to leave those plants for when we need some fresh spinach for salads. I chose to freeze the three pounds that I set aside. 


I've blanched fresh spinach before in preparation to be frozen, but below I have included a link to a tutorial in case any readers are interested. Right here.

It took soaking and rinsing the spinach in water three separate times to remove all of the dirt and bugs. But other than that, it's an extremely easy process. Boil spinach for two minutes, immediately place into ice water, remove and squeeze out excess water before placing into a plastic bag. It's wild to see a mountain of spinach shrink enough to fit into a gallon sized ziplock bag after the blanching.

The garden bed looked empty after removing all of the spinach plants. I quickly dropped a few pumpkin seeds into the open space. We must keep the crops growing!


While inspecting the cabbage for any worms (found one!), I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the cauliflower plants has grown tremendously. All of this rain and sunshine is making an abundant garden! 

Chickens and Rabbits

Our furry and feathered friends are enjoying fresh scraps from the garden. We've been giving them large cabbage leaves and of course, lots of spinach. 

Gifts from Nature

After harvesting the spinach and planting the pumpkin seeds, I had to redo the netting over the garden bed to accommodate the large brassica plants. This meant I had to cover the chive plant with netting, but then quickly realized that the bees may not be able to land easily on the chive flowers they love so much. It's important for me to have a bee friendly space in the garden. I wasn't sure what to do. I finally chose to make life easier for the bees and dug up the chives to transplant into a container. As soon as I finished, a bumble bee flew up and landed on a blossom. I knew I made the right choice.

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.

Homesteading: How We Got Here

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