The August Garden

I stepped out back this evening to commune with the bees and sulk over the state of the garden. It's been quite a few weeks since I put any real work into it and it sure enough shows. The expanse of lawn in between plots was newly mown but the plots themselves... Oh my.

The goat pen stands empty and overgrown. The girls are off at the farm being bred for (hopefully) Spring babies.

I posted a shot of the garden from this exact spot about 6 weeks ago and it was gorgeous. Glorious even. Now it just looks sad and neglected. I was able to unearth some squash from that mess but the squash bugs pretty much decimated my zucchini and yellow squash.

The basil bed is unruly and completely misbehaving.

As are the hens when I let them out for their evening romp.

When you walk thru all that mess you have to watch out for pumpkins. Everywhere bits of orange peek through the grass. I'm having a lot of success at growing them this year.

I've already picked 10 and then I found these last night. There are probably 10 to 12 more still on the vine and I'm hoping they hold off until the appropriate season for harvesting.

Out of 30 plus tomato plants about 5 are still hanging in there. We have had a very wet very cool Summer and I'm not sure if that was the cause but there was an awful lot of root rot going on.

Last night's harvest is still sitting in the basket in the kitchen. I've got plans to go rip whole basil plants out of the ground and make as much pesto as I can. We are eating tomatoes with every meal because we just aren't getting enough of any one kind to process them. I thought I would be more upset about that considering all the work I put in, but it worked out because my plate is very full right now and I think adding one more task (especially a large one like canning) would do me in.

When The 6 Year Old Has The Camera

Around The Tiny Farm

Oh I do love these two girls. Although we are done with milking for the Summer, they still get plenty of attention. Seriously? Those faces? They just beg to be scratched.

Volunteer pumpkins coming up out of the compost pile.

Bees enjoying the pumpkin blossoms. Do you think pumpkin flavored honey is a possibility?

Lots of things are growing! Exploding basically. I'm pretty sure we planted way too much. It's a good thing I've got friends and family to unload this stuff on.

The bunnies were getting to my carrots so I went ahead and pulled them all. Not too bad for my first time I suppose.

July

This morning I went out to tend the animals and check the garden. I toted my iphone along to snap a few photos of the first of July. Welcoming another hot hot Summer month in the South.

I posted the following sunflower picture to Instagram along with the caption, "Happy July."

What I didn't post was a picture of the dead hen I found in the chicken pen. I don't know how she died, all I know is that it was a very unexpected portrait opportunity of death that I was not willing to document. I don't share a lot of the things that go wrong when raising animals or plants for that matter. For all the gorgeous garden pictures there are a thousand I could have taken of half eaten plants, flooded gardens, sick or dead livestock. But I don't and you probably don't either. People want to see the pretty. They want to keep that ideal of homesteading, tiny farming, large scale farming, CSA, etc. etc. etc. in their head. So we fill our Instagram and blogs and Twitter with the lovely filtered view of living in the country or wherever we have chosen to eek out a simpler way of life.

Just remember that the screen provides a pretty narrow view of reality.

New Products & A Giveaway

 

We crafted a few new soaps a while back and when they were first posted to Instagram, one of them sold out on our website almost immediately. We quickly made more batches and those are finally ready for sale. I’m proud to introduce our two newest bars…

Sweet Orange Patchouli is our first exfoliating bar. It contains dried orange peel to scrub away your worries and any rough skin. A warm woodsy and slightly citrusy scent perfect for Summer that will take you right into Fall. This one is my current favorite.

Eucalyptus Lime is fresh and bright and slightly reminiscent of our other bestseller, Lemongrass. It might make you want a margarita or just a day at the beach. That can’t be helped. Sorry.

We’ve also introduced some new packaging. Our coconut oil lip balm that used to be packed into plastic tubes is now poured into reusable little tins. We can’t help but think it’s a bit more eco-friendly and super cute. In fact, we are giving away a tin of lip balm (Peppermint flavor) and a bar of our bestselling Lemongrass Coconut Oil Soap. Just follow @thetinyfarmco on Instagram, repost the photo, tag us and add the hashtag #coconutoillove. Easy!

In the meantime, if you can’t wait to win, head on over to our site. Remember we are including a free gift on any order over $25.

The Chickens Get A Vacation Home

The grass is always greener…in the chicken tractor.
 



The gals permanent coop was looking pretty shabby after the harsh, wet winter we experienced here in Arkansas. Warren got to work a few weeks ago (he really just wanted to play with his new table saw) and constructed a mobile coop. Chicken tractors are terrific in the fact that the hens can have access to fresh grass on the daily and fertilize your yard or pasture at the same time.



 
But lets pause for a moment to talk about Crazy Chicken. We normally reserve the moniker Crazy Chicken for any hen that has gone broody. This years Crazy Chicken is the hen seen above on the perch with the ruffled feathers. Its not just her feathers either, her attitude is quite ruffled. This hen went broody nearly 4 months ago and has hardly eaten or drank since. She just sits. On a nest of eggs, or an empty nest when we have robbed her of her precious. I’m thinking the next Crazy Chicken should just be called Gollum.

The other evening, Cash and I went to gather eggs from the coop. We had to lift up Crazy Chicken’s rear end to retrieve seven eggs. I was about to close the coop door when Cash asked me to wait a moment. He grabbed a few handfuls of grass and stuck them in beside her. I asked what was up with that and he replied, “I think she appreciates it. She hardly eats or drinks and I’m taking something from her so I think I should give her something back.”

Whoa.

My Minecraft/Lego obsessed kid might turn out to be the most caring farmer/naturalist/environmentalist or whatever he decides to do with his amazing mind.

We have a white silkie who is pretty much a pet. She’s worthless as far as production goes. She’s also not the best flyer. Always having to be helped into the coop at night. Cash’s opinion of this is that she just doesn’t try hard enough.
 



They were striking a pose whilst enjoying the luxury accommodations of their Summer retreat.

If our flock continues to increase we will probably need another one chicken tractor. And I have big plans to situate them over the garden plots at the end of the season. Chickens are excellent tillers! Add to that you can pre-fertilize your beds for next year and it just seems like a win win situation.

Buzz Buzz

Our hives sat empty. Waiting on us to place an order. Or for a sympathetic old beekeeper to take pity on us.

In the end, our neighbor stopped by and alerted us to a swarm not 1000 foot from our lonely, unlived in hives.

So that’s how we became beekeepers.

After reading all the books. Buying the equipment and gear. Discussing and rediscussing what breed to order. Fretting over having enough time left. Worrying over what to do in case of a swarm. Swarm schwarm.

The bees came to us.

And we are very happy to have them here on our Tiny Farm.