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.

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.

Drawing Inward

 

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I’m not sure I have ever had a more pleasant one. I spent two full days in the kitchen (my favorite place to be anyways) and then stuffed myself silly with all kinds of off limits food for the next two days. Warren and I are still mostly on that no grains kick. He a bit more than I. I’m tempted to cheat. He’s very strict about it.

We drank a lot, visited even more. Watched the kids revel in their freedom from schoolwork and the joy of seeing cousins. This far flung family doesn’t really get together often enough. I sometimes wish for the type of weekly dinners and get-togethers I see in some families, but know its not really in the cards for us in this season of our life. Maybe when the kids are older and have their own families we can draw them all back to our home for food and good times.

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It’s cold and predicted to be much colder by the weekend. Wool socks are a must, the wood stove is working overtime, the goats are shivering when I go out to see them in the mornings. They seem much appreciative of the extra hay I throw their way. I am positive Willow is pregnant and hopeful that Flower is too. That will mean milk in the spring! Stella is very much looking forward to milking a goat herself. I can’t wait to see that.

The baby chicks, who are no longer babies, have moved to the coop and are very happy with the big chickens. They all snuggle in at night and keep each other warm. So far all six appear to be hens, but I am the worst at sorting out the roosters until they really start acting like roosters, so who knows!

 

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Admittedly this is my favorite time of year for homeschooling. The weather just begs us to hole up and read. The wood stove beckons us all to the dining room table where we do all our work anyways. Co-op takes a break for the year so our commitments are very few and far between. We can focus more on our home and each other and reestablish the rhythm that this introvert needs. In fact the majority of our household are introverts which suits us just fine. Although I do feel bad for our two extroverts at times. We just have to make an extra effort to get them around people other than us.

And as of this very moment, I am wishing for a nightstand to hold my cup of tea. I don’t really need a nightstand. In fact I am realizing I don’t really need too much of anything. But I’ve been replacing my nightly wine with tea for the past few days and I find it much cozier to take my tea in bed, but have nowhere to sit it. First world problems. I should just be grateful and get on with it. I’m learning. I’m getting there. One simple cup of tea at a time.

The Tiny Farm In The Fall

Oh man Fall is here!

She is so so here.

She came swooping in wearing her gorgeous orange dress, blowing things around, shaking it up, sending a chilly wind across the fields.

I love it. Every single bit of it. The cold rainy weather that is happening right outside my window. The gorgeous painted shades of the trees. The frost in the mornings. Just now I smelled the very first whiff of woodsmoke of the season.

We've been working hard on our little piece of land which I shall now refer to as The Tiny Farm from here on out.

This is basically what we have accomplished in the past few years. One chicken coop, one raised bed, and a whole bunch of fruit trees that need some serious pruning. That big red barn in the back is not ours. I wish it was and maybe someday we will acquire the land and buildings next door but not right now.

These chickens and that little raised bed give us some nourishment and satisfaction.

 

 

 

This Fall we decided to add a bit to The Tiny Farm. Starting with six blueberry bushes and three blackberry canes.

 

 

 

And then Eli and I started on a project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't quite get the shed finished before the new additions arrived.

 

Oh hello, I'm a goat.

Oh yeah. That's right. Goats!

 

 

From L-R: Milkle, Willow, & Flower

 

A few days after the girls moved in, Mags came over to help me finish the shed. I mean...these gals deserve better than a tarped half finished home.



There was planning, and lots of power tool usage, with intermittent beer breaks for me. Warren's IPA is absolutely bomb. So good I had to put it on a pedestal.

We nearly finished that evening, but dark came quickly and we had to abandon it right before we put the tin roof on. Completely finished pictures to come.

 

The Tiny Farm is a work in progress.

El Pollo Negro

He's the only rooster that I haven't wanted to have for dinner.

Springlike

It's here! It's almost here!!!!! The weather was mild, the sky was blue, spirits were high. We soldiered thru our morning work and chores so we could spend the afternoon out of the house.

First there was oatmeal and spelling. Which actually go quite well together.

 

 

During our weekly library visit the kids found a stack of drawing books.

Stella was working on the animals book for a large chunk of the morning. She would

stop for a lesson or two in actual academics, but being only 4, the drawing book won out.

 

I was determined to be productive outside while I had the chance.

The trusty tiller and I did some major ground breaking for the

third time this year. My garden will be awesome! I swear it!

 

I try to juice fresh produce daily. It produces a lot of pulp. Instead of just throwing

it in the compost bowl to be taken out to the compost pile, I set it aside for the hens.

 

Warren was in brew mode last night, so this morning there was

a whole cooler full of softened grains. We added this to the fruit and veggie pulp and the

gals were in chicken heaven.

 

 

 

 

There was some lounging around on the trampoline, soaking in the lovely Vitamin D.

 

 

And then this happened. Oh what a beautiful day it was!

The Girls

Man oh man do we love these hens!

Fresh eggs on the daily. Responsiblity for the kids. Hilarious to watch.

Are they an essential part of homeschooling? Nah. But they do make for some good lessons. We've raised chicks from a day old, and now we are going to attempt to hatch eggs ourselves. Fertile eggs from the local 4H are headed our way.

 

This was the very first blue green egg any of our girls ever laid. Dude.....I've never seen the kids so excited.

 

 

 

These gals are new. Frizzles I am told. Their feathers grow backwards and extend down to their funny chicken feet. They were trying their hardest to peck the camera. I guess they wanted an extreme close up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow

We only get snow like this once every few years.

So....we kind of get obsessed.

 

I have lived in muck boots and tights for the last few days. The animals still have to be taken care of. Snow or no snow.

 

The chickens cannot be coaxed out. Spoiled hens are eating in their coop for now.

 

The dogs are still in heaven. Begging to go out every chance they can.

 

 

Boss is only four months old and already its a snow smackdown!

 

 

 

I ventured out one final time to check on the girls and couldn't resist these fleeting colors of the setting sun. I feel for you folks that spend your whole Winter with this weather. It's beautiful....but man its cold.