Time to get sticky!! And make some Honey Oat Bread. Honey Harvest Time!

Homesteading Prerequisites for Success

                                  Looks Cozy...Doesn't it?

          Don't be Fooled....by Pictures

This represents lots of hard work! LOTS AND LOTS! So, let's talk about what I believe are the things you need. You are going to have to be honest about yourself before you quit your city job and take on Farming or Homesteading.

1. Are you a bit on the lazy side? Love to have that down time to just sit and do nothing? Do you love your days off and like to go on Vacations? Well... that is all about to change. There are no days off...unless you have someone who can tend to your chickens, goats, gardens etc. AND...there is no lazy, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done! or Repaired or rethought through because it didn't work the way you thought it would. THIS IS YOUR JOB NOW! and they are longer hours than you are used to.

2. Do you hate being out in the heat or the cold? Well tough...because animals don't really care how you feel, they want to be fed and watered and tended to. I live in a place that doesn't have much snow...except this year. We got dumped on. The temporary hot house I built to keep the citrus from dying collapsed under the snow. The water in the chicken coop was solid ice and of course the hose was frozen and once thawed realized it was also split. All of the winter Broccoli, Kale, cabbage etc. was buried. After about 3 1/2 hours of getting snow off the "green house" and rebuilding it enough to at least not have huge spaces letting the cold in, dealing with frozen waterers, and feeding the chickens collecting eggs and then removing snow from the garden vegetables and putting up Agribon fabric and hoops to hold it up, I was frozen!! And this was my "off" season.

3. How about smells? Are you bothered by nasty smells? This is not the place for you then. I am always astounded by the smell of the chicken coop after it rains. We use a deep mulch method which is pretty much not smelly...unless things get wet. Then I am stunned to find that I need to add more bedding and deal with the droppings in the run better. How about poop on eggs that you collect? Will that bother you? Flies? not just outside but they find their way inside easy enough. And good grief don't leave your car windows open while home!

4. How strong are you? Slamming T-posts in the ground...unrolling Field fencing while trying to get it all tightly attached to the T-posts among so many other things that test your strength and endurance and patience.

All of that and $ is scarce. Even if you can find people to buy all your eggs and produce you will find it mostly goes right back into the farm in repairs or feed or what have you. 

This year has been particularly troublesome as I have been diagnosed with a lung disease and have spent around 6 weeks coughing and short of breath until they found some medication that actually made me feel normal again...well as normal as I have been in awhile. So, back outside and YIKES!! The weeds did not care that I couldn't deal with them for awhile. So, little by little I will deal with the weeds...and the worms trying to eat my tomatoes...and the over grown squashes and cucumbers that will go to the chickens and I need to remind myself for the reason I took this all on. Because I trust myself to produce healthy eggs by having healthy and happy chickens. That the fruits and veggies I produce don't have a bit of chemicals on them or in them. That our health is worth the work, the smells and braving the weather to take care of it all and there is something absolutely cozy about fresh baked bread or tea with Honey from your bees and pulling a jar of Tomatoes or pickles off the shelf that you grew and canned. So, I guess I will just plug along and try to catch up with all the work and maybe take a break from planting a winter garden....maybe. 

Garden Stuffed Peppers

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

I love when I make dinner and almost all of it I have gotten out of my garden. The satisfaction in what one seed has given me for a year amazes me. With it being Spring and the work is incredibly more difficult than I remember over the Winter, I won't say this is anything like FREE FOOD. I WORK for this! But, I know what I have....and most importantly what I haven't added to the soil or the plant. That what I am eating is pretty darn pure! So, on with the Recipe, such as it is. Remember all recipes can be adjusted to what you have on hand....what spices you like etc. You are always in charge. 

1. Starting with Peppers I froze whole at the end of the summer. Took out to thaw just a bit.

2. Sauteed Onions, chopped peppers (also froze from the garden) garlic in a bit of Olive oil

3. I cooked Rice to equal 4 cups as we like to have extra filling. 

4. Picked about 12 cups of Red Russian Kale and Rainbow Chard. Wash well and chop. Add to the pan of onions and cook until tender. It will reduce quite a bit. Mix Veggies with Rice.

5. I also add Meat Substitute Crumbles

6. Next, I take extra Sharp Cheddar and grate it to add to the filling. Love this Cheese! Season Filling with Salt and Pepper and anything else you would like.

7. I take 2-quart jars of my tomatoes, put them in the blender to make them more like sauce. Pour a little sauce in the bottom of the pan. along with some of the filling. It makes the peppers stay upright. Fill the peppers with filling and cover with sauce. 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Yummy! 

Installing Nucs of Bees!

   
    First thing Saturday morning we picked up the 2 nucs we ordered in February. We didn't know we were going to luck out capturing a swarm a week before this. So we are now the proud owners of 5 Bee Hives. This year I want to try to do some infused and smoked honey. Maybe Elderberry/Elderflower...I have Lavender growing so that is a possibility also...definitely some blueberry. 
   I am assuming that our garden is going to explode being surrounded by Honey Bees, which is exactly what we want. Farm Life is always busy and exhausting some days but always good...always satisfying and you sleep better too. :) 

                                         APPLES!!

This may look like no big deal but I planted this tree 13 years ago...it has never produced. We have gone through pruning wrong...pruning too much...not pruning at all. Fire Blight...Japanese beetles...Tent Caterpillars and other diseases. I decided to do to my fruit trees what I have done to my Vegetable garden years ago...I went ORGANIC! composting, mulching, composting again, mulching again. And I have apples! Of course this is the beginning of the season and we need to get to Autumn to be safe but they have never produce like this. #soexcited The other 2 adult trees also have apples and the 2 that are only 2 years old look super healthy.

Moving the Chicks to the Big House

Time to Move them out of my Mudroom!

    When I first get baby Chicks, they are so fluffy and cute...shaped like little puffy eggs with heads.  We all can't stop watching them...loving when those little spindly legs first start scratching...and then...in just a few weeks I am counting the days before I can get them out of my mudroom. I question why I haven't closed in the pole barn for these things. The smell, in spite of cleaning out the tub every week, starts to drive us all crazy. All that cute scratching...is now forming clouds of dust over everything. They perch on the sides of the tub and poop on my floor. They day I walked in and there were 5 in the tub and 16 walking around the mudroom I stopped counting and started to prepare for their entrance into the coop with the big girls.
   It was spring cleaning of the coop the week before. Pressure washed, clean Pine shavings and it was ready for the babies and now to separate the area to protect them from the pecking order. Stapled Chicken wire from ceiling to floor so the big girls can see them and get used to them being around. Besides the infernal Sounding of the Alarm while I was in the coop getting things ready, it all went well. The first night, roosting within sight of each other, The One Guinea, that I still have, kept sounding the alarm during sunset. Dumb bird! Two days in and everything is quiet...everyone seems happy and my mudroom is clean and quiet. 
   Yes, those are Curtains on their windows I got a little carried away 3 years ago when I first built the coop. Since then the pictures have been knocked down and pooped on so they are no longer there. It looked cozy when they weren't living in there yet.