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Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sunday, April 10, 2016 - Spring Is Here - Almost...

Removing ugly hostas - plan to replace with peony bushes

Cut down about 10 trees (all were small and ugly!) in preparation for planting 3 willows around the pond.
Removed two ugly bushes from the patio border.  Plan to replace with whiskey barrels with posts in them so I can string outdoor lights above the patio.

The pond after the trees were cut down.


Laid down black 3mil plastic in an effort to kill the weeds/grass in a 20' X 25' area of the outer garden.  Hoping that by having this plastic down for a month or so as it starts to warm up outside, we will be able to plant some sweet corn, squash, cucumbers and other vine-type vegetables out here.

Spring is a fun time on our little piece of land.  This is our second spring here and we are excited to begin some projects on the little homestead.  Nothing too major, but getting the gardens and orchard set are a major priority for me this summer!  Hoping to get a few infrastructure projects completed (in addition to the raised beds we already built last fall) so we can get a good idea of how large we really want the fruit/vegetable production portion of the homestead to entail.  

Discussed with Connie today raising some meat chickens at her farm.  Between the four kids and her, we figure about 50 birds would be a reasonable endeavor to take on this spring/summer.  Will do the butchering ourselves and I really hope to be able to be a part of it this year.   But even if I am not, I will be footing a portion of the feed bill at her request.  I am hoping to get about 15-18 birds out of the venture.  Enough for at least one roast chicken per month with a couple extras for birthday parties (beer can chicken or smoked chickens always go over well!).  

Discussed the possibility of taking on the task (at Connie's house) a few pigs next spring/summer if other siblings were interested in splitting costs associated with raising/butchering hogs.  I know Connie is interested, just have to see if others would be as it wouldn't be worth the work/expense for just the two of us!

Still need to get the garden beds filled with dirt so we can be ready to plant at the end of May.  Haven't started garden seeds yet, not sure if I will this year, or if I will go with greenhouse grown plants.  I can get some heirloom plants from a local nursery - so it is a good alternative, but spendy!






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