Beginning Again

We're paring down our garden this year, but I'm happy to report that things are starting well. We've had abundant rain and continue with cool temperatures in March. That means the peas are looking good!

 I have a long bed of peas on this trellis, with plants on both sides of it.

The asparagus was up before we had a frost, so it got zapped and is now coming out again.

I planted spinach and lettuce because Adam said he wanted both. They went into the end of the bed with the peas.

We also have strawberries in a bed from last year that are spreading and blooming now.

 The tools are ready.

 At present I have 7 hens, no rooster. Yesterday they laid 7 eggs!

I try to identify which hen lays which egg. I'm not certain, but here goes:
top row, L-R: Clementine, Henny Penny, the next two are Sheena and Brownie, not sure which is which;
bottom row, L-R: Sylvie, Pepper, Ruby

Pepper and Ruby are pullets and have only been laying a couple of months. Sylvie is a silkie and her eggs are smaller.

My lemongrass starts are in pots and doing well. 

I have 3 more in water.
I'm propagating elderberry trees too! Can't wait to put them into dirt!

Last but not least, I've put my tomato seed (Matt's Wild Cherry) into cells, and some basil seeds from last year's plants into cells too.

They're on the front porch which is rather like a greenhouse. Do you see how many gourds I have sitting there, waiting to have something done with them? Sigh.

I'll put a bed of okra in later, but that will probably be it, for our garden this year. Thanks for stopping by!

All Quiet on the Farm

I've not posted anything here for months. It was a difficult year on the farm. We suffered under severe drought conditions during the late spring and well into August. Weather like that will kill off a garden quickly, and we could not afford to water the entire garden. However, we continue to learn about both ourselves and our little farm. Here are a few take-aways from this year:

1. The vegetable garden must be redone to allow Adam to mow it with the riding mower. Weeds take over when paths between the raised beds only allow a push mower. Adam will remove one or two of our long raised beds in the spring.

2. We have too many raised beds in the garden, and we continue to attempt vegetables that don't grow well here. We'll focus on crops that thrive here: okra, sweet potatoes, peas, asparagus, strawberries (we hope).

3. I'm moving all my tomato plants out of the veggie garden next summer. They'll be in large pots in the house lot. I'll only plant Matt's Wild Cherry tomato plants. My tomatoes in the garden got progressively more diseased year to year, and they take up so much space.

4. I will never, ever try lavender again. I gave it my absolute best try, and it all died ... again.

5. Elderberry bushes, however, do quite well! I want more of them.

6. My gourds did well. My herb beds continue to flourish. The willow saplings are doing well too.

Now for some photos of what's been going on.

Henny Penny hatched four chicks in late summer. They're now ten weeks old. I think I have two hens and two roos.

I continue to weave occasionally.

 Adam installed a new water filter in the kitchen.

 I continue to paint many watercolor cards and sell them. Here's a roo.

 Adam vastly improved the chicken run with a supporting pole for the netting and new mulch underfoot.

 He built himself a desk in the house too, for all his writing/editing/podcast/youtube work.

 We had enough figs to make my mother a few jars of preserves in August.

 We had wonderful okra! I planted it late, so it produced after the drought had mostly passed. It did well when nothing else did.

 I continued to knit for autumn.

 Adam and I sold my wares at the farmer's market each week.

 We survived Hurricane Dorian. The north side of our house was splattered with shredded leaves.

 I painted the walls and floor of the guest room.

 Adam pulled out the entire termite-eaten floor in the little building.

 And he put in a new floor after treating/killing all the termites.

 And I painted it.

 Our trees and shrubs are so very confused after two hurricanes in two years. The crabapple tree is now used to blooming in October.

 Molting season has arrived in the chicken coop. Poor Sheena looks awful!

 I picked a few herbs before frost, hoping to make sachets with them.

This is the extent of our sweet potato harvest! So very sad. Adam worked hard, and dug out a very long bed. That's what a drought will do to you.

 I'm saving dried okra pods for next years planting.

 Drying herb leaves in jars. Tarragon flowers also.

 And one last woven scarf.

We are keeping busy, but farming/gardening has been a disappointment this year. We're hoping for better rains in 2020, and healthier crops. It's raining right now! Praise the Lord!

Attacking the Garden Again

Hello, farm friends. We have been making progress in the vegetable garden. Strong wind and too much rain have slowed us down a little.

 Adam's been digging out his potato beds and now has them lined in metal like the other beds. He has white potatoes in one bed, and the sweet potatoes are coming this week in the mail.
This next area is the old compost pile (grass clippings). 

 He may plant corn there this year after he digs out worms and puts them into his worm bin.
Other happenings in the greenhouse and garden:
Tomato seedlings - Matt's Wild Cherry on the left and Amish Paste on the right:

 Basil, which I sold at the market this morning:

 Those onions I have no idea what to do with:

 Oregano seeds did not germinate well. These are all I have.

 The wind blew under the greenhouse plastic and left a mess!

 The thing growing best in the garden beds is the horseradish, sigh. We've tried to get rid of it.

 Someone gave us a nice yellow squash plant today.

I would show you the peas, lettuce, kale, collards, spinach, strawberries, and asparagus, but that means I'd have to show you how weedy those beds are, and I just can't do it. We will address the weeds after Easter. Been a bit busy around here lately, and the garden has taken second fiddle.

Hurricane Florence ripped up our chicken pen cover. Branches and leaves fell on it, and then the cords broke. Adam pulled it all off and put new netting overhead, plus a new center post to hold it all up. Old:

 New:

The netting looks like somebody's wig.

 Adam got four massive truck tires for free to use as planters for a new elderberry bush and some lavender. 

Elderberry bush:

 I've had no luck with lavender at all. These are varieties that supposedly do well here.

My broody silkie mama hatched three chicks. They are so adorable, peeping away. She is wonderfully attentive.

 They haven't yet left the end of the coop that is their brooder. Those other eggs in the photo were duds.
My other silkie hen likes to pretend she's broody. She sits in one of the laying boxes all day long, on the other hens' eggs with her eyes at half-mast like broody hens do. But if given half a chance, she's outa there, taking a dust bath, also known as chicken spa.

 There's a children's story in there somewhere.

I'm still painting the gourds I grew last year.

 The Lady Banks Rose is lovely this year.

A friend gave us a box of fresh local strawberries which we topped and put into the freezer. I'll make jam later. The fig trees are looking promising this year. Adam and I aren't quite as quick and spry regarding farm work as we were nearly 4 years ago! But we will get around to it all. Thanks for stopping by!