Outside is Calling

The warmer days are coming, and the sun is starting to dry up the mud, and the birds are flitting, and the bees are buzzing, and the outside world is calling.

I love spring.

I've been walking around our yard and land today. It's so beautiful here, but the beauty has been a little neglected. Same as the inside of our house. The plants are a bit overgrown. I've held Jeremy back from cutting everything back because I haven't been able to figure out a plan for all the landscaping yet. I don't want to accidentally lose something we need to keep.

But the outside is calling me, and I'm starting to dream. I really miss having a garden too, although it may be that I'm forgetting all the work that goes into a garden. I miss those fruits and vegetables though.

So I walked around and dreamed. This field is about half an acre, and it's on a bit of a hill. I've planned to put the big garden here. There are some setbacks though. I'm not sure how to design a garden on a hill, and this field is nowhere near a water source. Except for the pond, but we don't have any way of getting the pond water on the hill. Of course, it's been so wet here lately, I don't think we'd need to water a garden for a couple of years.

But then here, next to the house is a sweet little spot for a small garden plot.

And this spot in the front yard gets lots of sun too, and is nice and flat.

Hmm, lots to think about. It's going to take lots of time, money, and work to get everything the way we see it in our heads. But it's kind of funny how quickly things can get done. When I think about where we started with this house 2 years ago, I'm amazed. We've gotten a lot done! We've had lots of help, but mostly it's just the two of us working in our free time.

The kids were outside too, and Noemi showed me how she gives the goats a treat. She had all three of our girls at attention. Greedy goats.

And then the billy came over to see what all the fuss was about. So Noemi gave him a little treat too. Leeli has to watch him closely though. At least, the two of them get along pretty well now.

Have you got any garden plans? Any ideas on gardening on a hill?

Forming a Food Community

It's all well and good to talk about eating good foods, right? We also need to do something about it. We need to actually start eating those good foods.

God Food, Good Food

I am, have been, and will be, trying to define our diet. I hesitate to even name it because I'm leaning toward calling it food. But perhaps that's not so well defined these days? Especially when you look at all the available diets.

A Walk in the Garden

The other night, we made our way out to the garden. It had been a couple of days since I'd paid any attention to the garden because of a foot injury. (I fell and busted my toe. I told my friend she needs to put "Farm Life is Dangerous" on a t-shirt.) We've had some rain, and some hot weather, so the conditions have been just right for growing food. It's time to start eating!

Dune Fencing

Our first year with free range chickens and a fall garden wound up being a year without any fall produce. So the following spring, we found a cheap and quick way to keep the chickens out for the year.

Planting Onions in the Sunshine

It was so, so cold over the weekend. We had the fire going, and I avoided opening the doors at all costs. I dislike the cold. And then Monday it was still cold, and it started raining. The rain wasn't freezing, but it was cold enough to turn it into ice on the door handles of the car.

How to Grow a Garden

Alright, alright...quit laughing. I know, you know I have a terrible time growing things in the garden.

Well, that's not quite true. I can grow weeds like no body's business.

Too bad we can't eat weeds.

Setting down Roots

So guess what we did in December... We started our orchard! See? Those sticks in the ground? There it is! Isn't it beautiful?

Top Ten Posts for 2015

2015 was a good year for us, with plenty of ups and downs, changes in plans, blessings and stressings. I fell twice, which I am not happy about (don't laugh like my husband did, I got all bruised up and made awful noises on the way down).

Burying the Weeds

So weeds defeat me. I can't garden organically without doing something about the weeds. It's always been a bit of a stretch for Jeremy to garden without spraying. Now he's growing lots of things organically with the Aquaponics farm our family is building. We've tried methods here, but only ever half-heartedly. Mostly because I always find some newfangled idea that I get all excited about and that requires him to find a dump truck load of free wood chips. (Which he did do for me, but we really needed two.)

The News Around Here...

Ah-ha! (That was said triumphantly, not like I just found something. Just wanted to be clear.) I'm back! And I survived school starting. Woohoo! We had a great first full week, loved it all and now we're spending the weekend resting and doing whatever it is we want to do.

Digging up Treasure

The busyness of summer has taken a toll on our house and our garden, but we're getting caught up again. We spent a couple of weeks sick with a summer cold, and that turned into an ear infection for the baby. When we finally got that bug out of the house, we were left with a house that looked like a tornado had gone through, with clean clothes and dirty clothes in piles all over the place. So we washed everything again and got the laundry caught up. Then we got the house clean and back in order. Just in time for Eowyn's birthday celebrations and a visit from Jeremy's parents. This week things are back in order in the house, so we've been heading outside to get the garden back in order.

Squash & Zucchini (& a Harvest Recipes Link up!)

I don't really know what I do to my squash and zucchini plants, it's just one of those things that apparently grow well under a black thumb. Or maybe the Lord loves growing it so much He just blesses us with extra. (Since I can't grow very much else well.) I really should pay more attention to them, actually. But I get a big harvest, and by the time the bugs start killing them off, I'm somewhat relieved. We all are, actually, we've been eating squash and zucchini almost every day for a month now.

Looking Close Enough

God's been walking in my garden again. I just haven't been doing my part well enough, but that doesn't matter to Him. He still comes. It's just if I don't do my part, we can't see His work unless we get close enough.

A Year's Meal Planner ~ Free for Subscribers!

You know, the only problem I have with the foods I put up and preserve is that I deem them too expensive. Bear with me.

Growing Garden Lessons

Look at how our garden grows! I've learned a few things so far this year, that I need to mark.

Around the Farm ~ Spring

I took a week off after Easter. I wish I could say I did something huge, but I didn't. I just rested. Read a book. And slept quite a bit. So, I figured I'd start back with a little up-date with the happenings around the farm yard! (And by the way, doesn't our front yard look like the perfect place for a milk cow? We'll have goat milk, I know, but...BUTTER. Not anytime soon, one day, I'd really like to make some of my own butter.)

Inexpensive Garden Fence

One of the things I needed to do for my garden's potential success was to put a fence around it before the chickens ate all of my new plants up. (They've done it before, dadgum chickens.) We had several t-posts laying around, so I decided to get my fence started. I didn't want to ask Jeremy to do one more thing for me since he's already done a lot here lately. I figured Gideon and I could figure this out.

Greenhouse Plants

Oh boy, have we had a week. The kind of week where at the end of it, I have a mountain of clean laundry piled up on a chair, getting all kinds of wrinkles. But it's clean. There's still another mountain of laundry scattered throughout the house that is dirty. And today, I should be taking a nap, but you know how there are some days when naps work, and some days when naps just don't? Today's one of those days when a nap just isn't working. And it's only making me grumpy the longer I try.

So I give up trying to take a nap! I'll write instead, and maybe I'll be able to go to bed early tonight.

Planting Peas with Potatoes

According to our new Seed Schedule Calculator from Reformation Acres, we needed to plant some peas, dill, and spinach outside last week. So while Jeremy was building our new greenhouse, the kids and I planted some seeds in the garden.