Productive Weekend on the Homestead

Last Saturday, my niece and nephew came by and helped with a lot of big tasks.  We started with lunch (it's crawfish season!), then they got to work.  The two big tasks was the garden fence and repotting the rose.

This very special rose was a gift from my niece, Lori for the occasion of my husband Marc's funeral.  Lori later lost her life, so the rose has a double special meaning.  It's name is L'arc.  It was doing fairly well, but seriously needed a new pot.

I thought it was fitting that her sister helped me with the repotting.  It turns out that the rose had a very long root coming out of the hole in the pot.  Not so sure it will be able to do that in the new pot because the holes are around the edge.

Here's L'arc in its new home.  The grass has been cleaned out, and it's centered in the pot (and leaning a bit forward now).  I watered it well and will probably add a bit more dirt soon.  This is one happy rose!

However, most of the really heavy work was done by my nephew in the fence area.  I had a general idea of how I wanted the fencing done, but nothing specific. 

We got the gate and the front part of the fence up.  We discussed putting up the chicken coop (and surrounding pen), then using that as a side "fence" to the garden. 

I would purchase two more gates to go on either side of the chicken enclosure, which will give easy access to tools (in the "tractor shed") and to the compost at the back of the shed but not inside the garden.  The photo above, right shows where the "front" gate will attach to the chicken surround.

Here's a photo from the other side of the fence.  The chicken enclosure and coop will go behind the pile of hay (which needs to be moved).

Finally, the last three side-boards for the beds were cut, so I have two garden beds (almost) ready for dirt.  I have blocks for one more bed, and room for maybe two, so I need to make another trip to Lowes/Home Depot.

This week, I really need to get the chicken coop painted and built, and the beds ready so I can bring in dirt.  Once that is done (and I get another free weekend), we'll get together again for more fencing and mud bugs!

Until next time,

Stormy

What's the Latest Buzz??

The weather has been wonderful this week, after the rains on Monday.  I've been doing some mowing and a bit more work on the shred pile.  However, it's also Holy Week for me and my thoughts have not been that much on the garden.

Big news: the bees were delivered today!  It is a very small transport hive.  They will stay in that for a few weeks, then a regular hive will be brought out for them.

Tomorrow my niece and nephew are coming to help me with some chores: putting up a fence around the garden and replanting my special rose.  It is in desperate need of a larger pot.  I didn't cut it back this winter, but I've trimmed off the dead branches and it's covered with buds and roses.  At the moment, I'm planning to leave the tarp up behind it for future bad winters.  Probably need to take down the blanket and wash it, though.

Next week I'll get new under-skirting for my house, and hope to get the chicken coop painted and set up.  I'll also get all the garden beds set up and get some dirt so we can get the garden going before it gets too hot!

Wishing all a Blessed Easter.

Until next time,

Stormy

Slow but Steady

 I've been making some slow but steady progress on the garden area.  I have two compost bins (full) and have shoveled a lot more of the shreds into the bins.  Today, I was reminded that part of the pile is full of ants.  (I tried to get a photo, but the ants don't show up!)  

Here's the pile from the side.  You can see how much has been moved.  You can also see one of the garden beds.  It needs leveling and sides cut (I bought 8ft 2x6s - sides are 4ft).

I have family coming to help this weekend with putting up the fence (yay!) and I'm trying to get the big pile of shreds moved by then.  Though I may put some of it in the garden beds.

My apologies for not posting last Friday.  I've had some non-homestead projects that needed done.  In addition, there has been a LOT of rain.  One thing I'll need to do very soon is clean out the gutters because they're overflowing.  That's a bad thing in more ways than one.

It looks like this is coming from the side, or behind the gutter.  That will rot the facia boards.  Not good!!  At the other end, the water runs over the edge and drops onto the angled part of the down spout.  It makes a LOT of noise!!

Other things I have accomplished over the past week: I have determined where to put the chicken coop.  I've bought paint (it was unfinished) and a covered "cage" around it.  The chicken wire over the frame will be insufficient, so will need to be replaced.  However that will be less expensive than having one built ($4500 - that's an average price).  If the weather cooperates, hope to get the coop painted and assembled this week.

I've also done a little mowing.  Time to get after the bamboo again.  I'm still waiting for things to dry up some.  Maybe this evening...

Until next time,

Stormy

Accomplishments and Plans

Last week was a very busy week, which was good.  Monday was my slow day and that's the day I was depressed for Marc's upcoming birthday.  That day, Friday, actually went well, though I missed my post.  Today, I'll catch everyone up on my accomplishments.

• House was leveled!  Now I can open and close the front door with ease.
• Spoke with the leveling guys about new under-skirting on my house, as well as a predator-proof enclosure for the chicken coop.  That may be more than I want to spend right now (the coop-enclosure).
• Determined where to put the compost and chicken coop
• Started work on moving the tree shreds to the new compost pile (and had to start another one).

I made some progress on moving the pile of wood shreds.  The pile is just far enough from the compost that I need to shovel it into my wagon, then dump, or shovel it into the compost pile.

I put the frame from a pallet inside to shape it, but my wagon wouldn't dump over the pallet board, so I had to start shoveling.  I was thankful that the last few days have been cool!  However, it wasn't long before I got a bit lazy (not really, this is a LOT of work), and started another pile next to this one.  It doesn't have a board across the front, so I can just dump the shreds in the space.

This is much easier.  Though as you can see from the first photo, I still have a long ways to go.

I will probably put in the beds before the fence,  I still need to get dirt, though hopefully I won't need to do that next year!!  I can put beds across the back of the area, so I can get dirt in them and start planting.  I will probably also put some of the shavings in the bottoms of the beds.

Today, I gave up on the idea of using the old fence boards, and bought some proper 2x6s.  I'll have to cut the end boards (oh boy!).  It was sprinkling when I got home, so the boards will come out tomorrow.  I also bought paint for the chicken coop, hope to get started on that this week as well.

Yesterday, my yard guy finally came and mowed down the bamboo.  This will need to be done regularly (probably once a week).  I bought a new lawn tractor, but wanted him to do the initial cut.  So now, I need to start doing my own mowing.  But I'm really glad to have the bamboo down.  This photo is from last week.  This is maybe a week and a half after it was cleared?

My title also mentions plans.  Below is a photo of the "garden area".   The gray outline is where the fence will go.  (It's hard to see, but the double gray line by the burn barrel is where the gate will go.)  On the right side, the chicken coop is circled in yellow and the compost in dark red.  The plan is to repurpose the greenhouse (whose opening is no longer working) to be storage.  That will actually be very useful.  The area in front of the greenhouse is used for backing and turning around, so that needs to stay open.  It may look small, but it's actually plenty large for the usage.

Until next time,

Stormy

Making Progress

 This week has caught me by surprise.   I have a sort of seasonal depression that happens in the Spring.  It's grief-related.  There are a series of days, one in February, two in March, two in April and one in May, plus a floater.  Usually when one of those special days occurs, I get a bit depressed.  Maybe not terribly, but it is true depression.  My late husband's birthday is Friday.  I started feeling off and weepy on Monday.

I have been doing what I can to keep busy, which is always useful.  Yesterday, the fiber guy came to mark the lines and he also agreed to look for electrical lines.  I now know where those are (approximately), so I have a better idea of where to put the fence and the gate.  I've also decided where to put the compost and the chickens.

My plan is to start setting up the raised beds.  Unfortunately, where I want to put them has a huge wood chip pile in the way. 

So I started shoveling!  I've probably doubled this from the picture to the right.  There's still quite a ways to go on the pile.

This is the area where I'm putting the compost, in the back corner.  In the area in front of the tree, but along the shed is where I will put the chicken coop.  The coop is to the far right covered in a blue tarp and of course, still in the box.  I'm planning to buy a screened cover for the whole thing, to protect from overhead birds and from other predators.   The one I'm considering will probably need to have the mesh replaced, because I don't think it will be enough.

I have someone coming to mow the bamboo sometime this week.  I'm hoping they will clean up all the chips so it will be safer to mow.  Until it's dug out (and maybe even beyond that), I'll have to keep mowing this.  Can I just say, I hate bamboo!!

On the plus side, the electrician came today and buried the electrical cable that we emergency-installed when the well stopped working.  The guys, four of them, had to hand-dig the trench and were here all day.  Not in any hurry to get that bill.

I will be trying to keep as busy as I can for the rest of this week.  I have a lot of activities already scheduled, so I may not have much to report on Friday, but we'll see.

Until next time,

Stormy

Baby Steps

This project seems to be going in baby steps.  My mower, gate and posts arrived yesterday and the delivery guy helped me get the chicken coop out of the truck.  A friend from church came over to help me put up the chicken coop and gave me a lot of good tips.  She also told me about the place where she gets dirt, as she had just done.  It's a bit more expensive than what I bought last year, but they will load it in your pickup.

We didn't assemble the coop after all because a few things need to happen first.  Primarily, I need to determine where to put it.  My friend shared several suggestions:  it needs shade, ventilation, and of course, protection from predators.  She also suggested that we paint or stain it, as it's bare wood.  In addition, it needs to be accessible for my neighbor, and close to the compost for easy cleaning.

Another suggestion was to get a metal chicken run, preferably with a roof or cover of some sort and put the coop inside it.  

When I went outside to take this photo (of the box), I picked up the mail and went to my neighbor's.  We reviewed the area and have decided where we want to put things.

This photo is the garden area.  It will be L-shaped with the vertical section just to the right of the burn barrel and back past the mulch pile.  The horizontal bottom of the "L" will go across from the mulch pile to the greenhouse, encompassing the keyhole garden (in green, far left).

We will put the compost in the back beside the shed, against the fence-panels.  The chicken coop will go near the shed, but in front of the tree.  This will make the coop visible from both houses, somewhat shaded and easily accessible.  I'll get a covered run to put the coop inside.

I finally saw the hawks I'd been hearing.  When this one flew, I could see it was a Cooper's Hawk.  There was another, so I assume it's a pair.  The very blurry picture below is from the picture to the left.

Until next time,

Stormy

When your dreams are bigger than you are...

 My progress goes in spits and spurts.  (That's an old saying, please don't judge!)

I'm a bit on the lazy side, but today I got busy... eventually.  I started this morning thinking of all the things I needed to do towards my homestead and put together a spreadsheet.  Then I got a text from my vet saying my kitty's meds were ready, so I dropped everything and drove to the next town to pick up the meds.

It was noon, so I grabbed lunch and went to the nearest Lowes to look at paving squares.  I decided that Home Depot was cheaper, so headed home.  But my mind was still on my list, so I fed and medicated the cat and headed for Tractor Supply, where I spent a LOT of money.

What I needed was a gate for the garden fence.  And I got that.  I also bought a chicken coop and feeders and waterers, bedding and a bit of food.  I don't have chickens yet - I'm hoping to get pullets, not baby chicks.

But there was another thing on my mind.  Bamboo.  A week ago, my yard guy cleared out a lot of bamboo and brush from my place.  After a week, here's what the fence line looks like:

Those are bamboo shoots - some almost two feet tall.  I called and told my yard guy that I needed mowing done - he said it would be next week.  Today is Tuesday.  By next week, these bamboo will be too big to mow.  So I bought a riding mower.  The monthly payments are less than I pay for mowing.

The chicken coop is in my truck and I'm not sure how I will get it out.  The rest of the "big stuff" will be delivered this week.  Maybe I'll have the delivery guy help me get the coop out of the truck.

I decided to start moving the old fence boards out of the tractor shed so I'll have a place for my new mower.  It's not all the way there, but it's a start.  I also have some additional blocks for the raised beds.

After all this, I came inside to check in with my supervisor.  She watches me through the window.

Until next time,

Stormy