June 15, 2015

(I can’t believe how swiftly the time has flown since I last posted five or six weeks ago.  We have been so so busy here on the homestead, welcoming new critters, expanding patures, building a new greenhouse…I am trying to keep up but life is so very full that most days I fall exhausted into bed, content with the day’s work we’ve accomplished.  Life is good.)

I wanted to share the greenhouse we’ve been building.  It was a last-minute throw together with some long hours logged by my husband while I tried to restrain myself from asking (yet again) how much longer til I could transplant my increasingly straggly starts.  Oh, he has patience, this man of mine.  And skills.  He managed to build this whole building for the cost of the plastic alone, about $250.  It is 24′ x 14′ and all the wood was salvaged from an old telephone pole left by the utility company as well as some milled wood from our property, and a few old fenceposts split down the center.  It is funky and crooked and needs some finishing details.  More importantly, it is just perfect for growing all the cukes, peppers, tomatoes, and basil I can hope for…as well as a watermelon and cantaloupe or two!  One day, when this “temporary” greenhouse has gotten too wonky to work efficiently, we plan to build a thermal mass greenhouse dug into the ground with a stone foundation for prolonging the growing season.  Ahhh, the ideas keep growing…

These photos of the early May garden really show just how quickly our big garden has exploded with food in 4 weeks…

mid-May (above) and mid-June (below)

…and from an angle across the garden towards the coop…

Towards the back corner, out of the main area lies a newly dug bed that Forrest has put a lot of work into…our Three Sister’s Garden to finish up his grade 3 year of homeschooling.  We planted various pumpkins and corn with beans to climb the corn.  So much fun peeking in there to discover what is growing, and how quickly!

Up near the house, just outside the front door, the kitchen garden is being transformed into a mostly flower garden.  I just love love love this space and in the evening, it is the place where the kids know to find me lingering as the sun dips behind the mountains.

We have had such an early season this year, with the peonies blooming three weeks earlier than usual.  If you want to feel like an amazing flower gardener, I highly recommend growing lots of peonies…surely there is nothing so magnificent and attention grabbing than a bouquet of these heavenly scented globes on your kitchen table…

I surely hope to find a few moments here and there to keep chronicling our adventures on our farm.  Life is busy and with all the chores that call me, it doesn’t seem there is enough time for everything.  And on that note, I ought to introduce you to our newest farm friends, two Nubian goat kids.  They arrived six weeks ago but I have yet to share them here in this space.

Introducing, Heidi and Willy…

These photos were taken in May while we picnicked in the home pasture by the sheep barn.  The goats are temporarily residing in a stall in there while we build a goat home by our shop.  Oh, and goats!  Honestly, they are so endearing…like puppydogs!  They are clever and inquisitive and always up to hilarious antics.  We will keep Heidi as our nanny goat, breeding her in the late fall.  Hopefully she will have a doeling that we will also keep for a second nanny goat…but that is a long while away.

In the meantime, there is a whole lot of animals to cuddle and scratch…our hands are quite busy here, that’s for sure!