Homestead Update #12
Friends! It has been a week hasn't it? A good one but it was so busy. I'm moving the Homestead Updates to Sunday. I'm not sure why I started it on Fridays to begin with....I'm start my week on Monday and don't end it on Fridays! Crazy! Anyway, here we are with another week to round up and it was full of goodness. Let's get started!
Eggs
We always, always start with chickens and eggs. First our egg count from the week. It will be slightly off since we've been doing Saturday-Friday, but for the week of 4/3-4/11/21, I collected 48 eggs! And I'll tell you something. I thought the Ancona's were not going to be prolific layers, but they are! There have been several days where I get an egg from each of them. They're small, but mighty I guess!
The babies are doing good. They go outside most days unless it's raining. I don't have a cover for their run. But I'll move them to the meat bird coop soon and they'll be out of the house until it's time to move into the big girl coop. I still think my one little guy is a guy. His name is Buddy because he's my buddy! He likes riding around on my shoulders. If they wouldn't poop so much, I'd probably have them out all the time. It's been nice brooding just two.
I finally cleaned out the coop yesterday. Boy it really needed it! It looks so much better now. I cleaned out the baby's brooder too. I try to get the coop cleaned a couple of times per year, but didn't get to it last fall. I'll try to do better now. I still have some work to do but they're safe, dry, and have a ton more room. I've come up with some boredom busters that I will be implementing soon.
I set some eggs in the incubator for another homesteader (I think I mentioned that here). They're doing good. We'll candle them this week and see what we see! Oh! We had an unexpected visitor this week. A Muscovy duck!!
Garden
Garden plans are coming along. I have someone coming over this week to do the plowing and install the garden fence. I've decided on the fencing and the gate. I still need to move the dirt into the raised beds and lay down some cardboard for the walking path. But I'll wait until everything is done before I do that since we'll have tractors and such in the garden working on getting things prepped. I also need to move the strawberries down and I'm thinking of ordering more plants. They won't produce this year, but they'll be ready in the years to come. I love strawberries and eat them a lot! I only have a few plants right now. They're on sale at Stark Brothers-$19 for 25 plants. I'mma thinking I'm going to order them.
I potted up a bunch of stuff hoping that they'll start growing better. My peppers, rosemary, and lavender are all stunted right now. I know they want more heat but I just don't want to buy a heating mat for them. I still need to start tomatoes and some flowers and herbs. I'm having lunch with a friend on Wednesday and we're going to talk flower garden design. And then I'm getting some flower seeds from another friend that day! I'm excited about the garden this year.
Anyway, here's what I've done thus far:
April 1st
Globe Amaranth: Planted 8; 6 germinated
Calendula: planted 16; 11 germinated
Drumstick Flowers: planted 8; 4 germinated
Oregano: planted 16; 15 germinated
Sage: planted 16; 12 germinated
April 4th:
Potted Up:
Luffa
Cabbage
Rosemary
Lavender
April 11th
Potted Up:
King of the North Peppers
Fish Peppers
Mini Gourds
Pie Making Class
Pie Making class was a success! We had a lot of fun talking about pies and then making pie. I think both of my participants are on their way to being world renowned pie makers! I mean, look at the perfection of those two pies. I'm sure they tasted just as good as they looked. YUM!
The Business End of Things
So, if you read my last post, you are aware of most of the things I've been up to behind the scenes these past few months. I'm really excited about each and every opportunity! And besides working on the homestead, raising chicks, planning gardens, I've also done a full inventory of my supplies. Now that I'll be back out and about I'll need to make sure I'm staying on top of my supplies and order replacements and also expand my items! I'm happy about this. But now I have a big mess to clean up. LOL.
I've completely updated my class calendar. It should be as complete as possible. I wish you could see my personal calendar and everything I have on it! HAHA. You might be a little scared though. I know I am.
The rest of the story
I got to spend some time with friends lately. There have been dinners, errand running, and just some 'hang' time. It's been good. I've been taking the time to walk or run on the treadmill. The treadmill was in the dining room for the winter and I didn't want to put it into storage. So the Mister and I moved it to the pool house. And now I get a place to exercise that's out of the way and that makes me very happy. But I can't list everything that I've been doing here...it would take way too long. But I'm happy. And very content with where things are at the moment. But now I must be off and running! Lots to do, always.
PS. I received a very nice surprise in the mail last week. The Mister brought the mail inside one day and handed me a box. I thought "Hmm...I didn't order anything" and then I saw the return address! I opened the box and there was the sweetest, nicest, most generous surprise inside. Tracy, from Garden, Cook, Eat, Repeat sent over a handmade (by Mr. Gordon) wooden egg collecting basket. You can read more about it here. But let me tell you, I don't get things like this. At all. And it touched my heart. Thank you Tracy and Mr. Gordon. You two are truly the kindest, most generous people!
'til next time
-k
xoxo