Homestead Update #16

Hello there! How are you? I am good. I feel good. I feel more centered and focused. I took a couple of days to just breath and be. It was nice. I didn't run here and there and everywhere. In fact, on Friday I read a book. All day. I cooked dinner on Thursday and Friday for the whole gang here. I made shrimp scampi one night and venison stroganoff the next. I went to bed early one night. Stayed up late one night. I've laughed and been quiet. I've visited with a dear friend. I've had fun. It's been good. And now I'm ready to get back to work. And to fill you in on what's been happening around the homestead!

Eggs

First up are the eggs! And the chickens. I actually don't have much to report in the way of the chickens. They're doing better. We're still working out our new pecking order. So far the big girls are still being bullies, but Buddy and Baby are growing fast. The Mister heard some crowing the other morning. Or attempted crowing. That could be Tomy, one of the Anconas, though. She was the one trying to crow all those months ago. They must know by now that Buddy is a boy so she might be trying to be the dominate one. Baby and Buddy still run from the big girls and sometimes the big girls make them hide in the coop. But they'll work it out.

As for our egg count, I think I'm behind a couple of weeks. So for 5/17-5/23/2021, I collected 44 eggs. And from 5/24-5/30/2021, I collected 44 eggs. I'm getting a dozen eggs every other day. And one day soonish, Baby will be adding her olive eggs to the mix. And I've had several days of getting 7 eggs!

I do have plans to start planting some fun plants around the chicken coop and run. I just need to add a border or something to keep the shavings in the run. Once I've figured that out, I'll start adding some shade tolerant plants. I purposely put the coop underneath the Norwegian maple so it will stay cool and shaded. But I also want to decorate the coop and run. What's a girl to do? hehe.

Garden

Oh my goodness, y'all. The garden. Sigh. It's better than I could have ever imagined. I love it. Oh how I love it. I am about 95% done with the plantings. Actually, I'm just waiting to see what pops up from seed. I did some seeds and some plants. I bought most of the plants from various farm stands. In fact, I just added a ton more today. I need to plant them now. I might have a slight addiction to plants. I was with my friend Diane today and we were just traveling around looking for yard sales and such. Of course we stopped by every farm stand/plant stand we could find. We had a good laugh about us being addicted to plants. And ice cream. One of the plant stands also happens to sell ice cream. And even though it was about 45 degrees outside, we had ice cream. In the car. With the heater on! HAHA!

Anyway, I'll do a separate post about the garden so I can keep a good record of what all I've done. I don't have actual dates that I planted but I can at least get close to the dates. So for now I have a ton of pictures for you!!

The Business End of Things

There's not a ton to report about the business right now. I needed to step away for a few days to get the garden done and other things taken care of (more on that below). The business is good though. I always come back from a little break with new ideas and new things I want to do and try. And this time was no exception. I'm reorganizing...well, not reorganizing, reorganizing. Just getting more organized. I guess that's a good way to put it. I've felt like I'm all over the place lately so a good 'sit down' with pen and paper was in order. And now I feel better about that. You'll see more about this soon.

I do have a few classes coming up and will continue adding to my line up. I'm also writing another chicken article for the River Reporter. So you'll see that soon too. I'm taking the time to focus on specialty items so you'll see that soon as well. So. Really, not a ton to report on. Yet!

The Rest of the Story

As for the rest of the story. Well. It's been a lot lately. The fishing season, especially the busier part, is a lot. y'all. It's been a hard season. I don't know if it's because of last year and not having anyone in the house. Or if I'm just getting too old to be living in a 'frat house' for part of the year. I should write a book on what it's like to live in a fishing guide house. There's been lots of good and fun, but I do l look forward to the part of the day when it's quiet. I like quiet. Speaking of. I was just having the conversation about being quiet. Why do people always think it's bad to be quiet? Why is it that people feel the need to fill the silence? It's more uncomfortable for people to be quiet versus talking to fill the silence. The conversation also lead us to discussing that people are uncomfortable when you try to better yourself. Anytime you do good for yourself, there will always be people in your life who try to tear that down. Not many people will encourage you to be better. To be yourself. They'll say they're supporting you, but they'll also tear you down in the same breath. But I'm to that point in my life that you just nod and say thank you and then move on. I like surrounding myself with people who genuinely want you to be happy. To be yourself. Who will encourage you to do better in the areas that you need to do better and will support you in all the other areas. And I want to do that for them too. Wow! That was a bit heavier than I intended for it to be. But, dear reader, these are the things that have been on my mind lately. The things I've been thinking about, pondering, and deciding how to change or move past. And I'll always be as honest as I can be. Do you struggle with something similar?

So. To keep myself, and my thoughts, occupied, I've been doing a lot of landscaping and cleaning out. I put landscape fabric down on the front flower beds. We're extending the one side and I'll need to finish laying down the landscape fabric and then extending the rock border. Then I will finish mulching. We'll add some plants as we go along. I think it will be a nice addition to the front of the house. I'll also do the same in the back. I planted a bunch of bulbs last fall in the back and they looked soooo good this spring! I want to keep adding to it. But it also needs a border. And we have lots of stones around the property. I also cleaned out our sun porch. We've had the same curtains hanging in the windows for 20 years, I swear! So when someone offered me free curtains, I knew exactly what I would do with them! I didn't take any pictures, but just know that the sunporch is in much better shape now!

We've also been eating a lot of our meals out front. Well. We were until it got cold the past few days. But it's supposed to be nice again next week. We were mostly grilling out and then eating out front. Just the Mister and me. That's been nice. After a chaotic, noisy morning 'getting the kids off to school' and then us doing our various things, it's nice to come together and have some quiet time. I need a good rhythm and routine. I thrive with that kind of discipline. Once the routine gets derailed, I find myself losing focus and not getting as much done. That's why I keep taking these little breaks (well, sometimes they're little, sometimes they're longer). But the breaks help me refocus and get my routine back on track. It helps me reevaluate what's important and what I want to get accomplished. What I want (or need or don't need) in my life. So. There you have it. I've been reevaluating and I feel good. I'll be back soon with more focused posts and lots and lots more updates and details.

'til next time
-k
xoxo