It is hard to believe that May is halfway over.
Garden updates— We’ve been busy weeding away. We had a big hail storm that destroyed all of my spinach. The arugula was still hanging on, but I had to rip it out when the temps got above 90 last week. Aurugula is a cold weather crop, and bolts in the heat. As happened last year, our onions sprouted, and then stopped growing. They are still green and alive, but refuse to grow– even though we had them in a tunnel for quite some time. I even started them much earlier than last year. We left some onions in the ground last year, and they are growing a lot this year. So, we may not have many onions THIS year, but next year we should have a lot. The garlic was damaged by the hail, but seems to be bouncing back just fine.
We started our seeds and used grow lights this year. Our tomatoes and peppers sprouted and stopped growing for several weeks. Now, all of the tomatoes are turning yellow. I am hearing that A LOT of people are having this problem. Something must be going on with the seed starting soil. Are you having problems? On happy notes– we planted several berry bushes this year. Three blueberry bushes, one raspberry, and three blackberry bushes are new. We are going to have a ton of strawberries this year also!
Walmart marked their trees down to $13, so each of the girls got a tree instead of flowers after their dance recital. (They were thrilled, please know they are just as weird as me! haha!) One is a pear and two are maples. We may go back for more! I just bought some organic fertilizer, and I’m hoping that will boost vegetable growth.
I started reading this book to see if I can troubleshoot some problems that I keep having.
Animals— We have added a turkey to the farm. I love listening to her gentle call. We also have some chicks in the brooder to replace some of our old layers. We have three guineas in another brooder that will hopefully live long enough to eat a lot of ticks. I’ve heard it said that their favorite past-time is “finding ways to die”. And, we have a gosling. She is in a brooder also. I get her out of the brooder almost daily and she follows me around the yard and garden. We have quite the diversity going here this year and I am loving it! We are getting close to a dozen eggs each day. I actually had to take our egg sign down because we have so many egg customers. I’m going to have to start turning people away or my family won’t have eggs to eat!
Puppy— everyone always asks how Ranger is doing. He is growing a lot. He’ll be fourteen weeks old tomorrow. We have worked really hard at making sure he is socialized so that he isn’t aggressive. He still sleeps most of the day when he isn’t chewing on things. Pup is for sure in the baby shark phase. I’ve read that it lasts much longer in this breed. He is very sweet and loving though, and we are all glad he’s a part of the crew.
Kitchen— The kitchen is where I first become passionate about homesteading, so it feels important to include. With the temperatures heating up, I’m not baking as much. My goal is to continue baking our family’s sandwich bread and keep making bagels. But, there will be much less fun breads. I make tortillas for taco Tuesday about 50% of the time, and would like to get better about doing it every time. They are so good and easy. We bought a quarter of a cow earlier this year, and it has been some of the best beef I’ve ever had. I need to get on another list ASAP. The rising cost of groceries has me very concerned, and I’m looking for ways to cut costs without cutting quality.
How are things in your neck of the woods? Are you unseasonably hot also, or still unseasonably cold? Is anyone in the correct season?!
