Tag Archives: garden

Spring Gardens and Growing Things

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It’s spring! It’s spring! {smile} Everything is green, and growing, and even 57 degrees feels warm with the sun shining! I’ve been having a heck of a time keeping the kids in coats and hats! Yes, I’m a little militant about hats or hoods. But I’m also not a fan of ear-aches and migraines–and besides, the Cowboy’s “highlighter” hat is the only way I can keep track of him sometimes! Their Carhartt gear just blends right in!

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We’ve been letting the kids hit the woods right at the edge of the yard to hunt garden marker sticks and I think they have discovered the pure joy of playing in the woods–a joy I remember well from endless visiting to my own grandparent’s house in the mountains. I don’t know what they do over there, but there’s a lot of hollering and laughing involved.

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You can see our backyard fence in these pictures. With the leaves off I’m able to keep track of them pretty well while we’re working in the orchard and garden–or even reading and sipping coffee on the back porch.

Normally I hesitate to let them out of the fence–it’s that momma-fear again! But this year I’ve been taking a lot of deep breaths and letting them go. A little. {smile} I figure if I get used to it now, it won’t be as hard when the leaves are there and I can’t see them anymore. Besides, I always send Penny with them!

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We’re a little behind on the garden already. But we did have that last minute cold snap, so I don’t think it’s hurting anything for us to be taking our time. Our 3 new fruit trees are in and each child has claimed one as “their own.” (So I get a lot of help with watering!) And our existing peach and plum tree are flowering nicely already.

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And if you’ve been following us on Facebook, you’ve seen that our strawberry bed is coming along well. (I usually post Facebook pictures and updates at lunchtime and during the evening chores!) Our raised bed is 5×10 and we’ve got two long rows of strawberries to the outside and two long rows of onions to the inside. (Who knew strawberries and onions were great companions?! I’ve pinned a couple great companion planting guides here, here, and here.)

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No sign of our potatoes yet, but they’re down there. Our lettuce and broccoli are just getting started in the house (that would be the part we’re behind on!) and we’ve gone back and forth about the carrots, but I think we’re going to try to make our own seed tape and plant them straight in the ground this weekend.

We’re also planning to get the trellises up for beans and peas this weekend and those are ready to be planted.

Everything Gardening {LINK UP} @ Walking in HIgh Cotton {www.walkinginhighcotton.net}And don’t forget to check out the Everything Gardening {LINK UP}!

It’s still open–and growing!–until Monday and there’s some great stuff  there!

What’s your favorite things to plant (or just enjoy fresh!) in the Spring?

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Garden Planning

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Ok, it’s rainy and ugly and cold here and all I can think about is Spring, Spring, Spring.

Spring means lambs, and spring means flowers, and spring means the garden–which I’m not always as enthusiastic about as I should be. I think everyone should garden, at least a little bit, but not because it’s fun and easy and quick like most of the things I suggest around here. Just because it’s worth it.

Our vegetable garden is a. lot. of. work. Especially since neither of us is home full-time. It consumes huge amounts of our evenings and weekends around here. And if it’s not taking most of our time, it tends to get totally out of control! But Mr. Fix-It has big goals for our harvest and this year I’m determined to keep plugging away at learning to can and freeze, so I’m trying to turn over a new leaf of enthusiasm. And Mr. Fix-It is meeting me half way by adding more stuff that I like to the whole gardening process.

Like having a plan.

And having more fruits.

And having herbs.

And having a fence.

I’ll share some of our planning process this year (because I’m excited about it!) but you have to promise not to look too closely at my writing! My spelling’s not the best on a good day. When I get excited and hurried and am scribbling along while we talk or trying to write while thinking, it’s can get a little…um….creative.

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  • First–We started with a list of what we like to eat and cook with. (Seriously, there’s no reason to grow stuff you don’t eat!)
  • Then–consider what is annual and what is perennial (or “permanent”). We’re using raised beds for perennials like asparagus, strawberries, and raspberries because we won’t move them around every year.
  • Cut the List–I’m sure there are a few things on your list that probably aren’t worth your time because you don’t eat it a lot or don’t preserve it–or you know someone who can grow it just as well that you can buy from or trade with. Cabbage, cauliflower, sweet corn, and celery were on the cut list for us this year.
  • Cut more–It’s better to have a small garden that turns out well, then a huge mess of weeds. (Ask me how I know…) Double check your work load and your perennial list before you plant anything! Since perennials won’t move, be sure of where you want them before you plant them. We’re up in the air about blueberries and grapes this year–so we’ll wait until we’re sure.

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  • Companions–there’s tons of information on the web about companion planting–which plants grow well together and which are bad for each other. (I’ve got a bunch of great charts pinned on my Gardening boards!) Take your final list and make note of what should and shouldn’t be together.

Then the fun part–layout!

Some folks get all exact and count the number of plants and use graph paper to draw it to scale. I’m not good at that sort of thing, and I’ve got Mr. Fix-It besides. I just sketch things in (not at all to scale) while eyeballing how much room I think it will need based on past years. My “layout” is more about grouping plants near good companions, separating bad companions, and making sure we can rotate plant groups next year.

Nothing on my drawing is to scale or meant to indicate a number of plants. Details come after Mr. Fix-It goes out there with this plan and makes some notes on how much he thinks we need. I used circles and squares to help me differentiate plant groups and planting areas, not necessarily for plant shape or planting layout.

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The concept does help you define those physical boundaries and permanent planting areas, which will become boundaries for your rotating annuals. Grapes and blueberries are a great example–you’ll see both on my sketches with question marks because we’re just not sure where we want to put them. And we’ll probably hold off on planting them until next year to be sure of the location.

I’ve also laid out some ideas for herb planting to help with organic insect control (as well as making spaghetti sauce!), but I’m not sure if all of that will happen this year. It’s something new for us, so again, it’s just a concept we’ll test out as the summer moves on.

garden plan 2Our orchard plan is definitely a work in progress! We have one peach and one fig. We’ll be adding two apples and a second peach this year (they’re already ordered!!). Everything else is just in the “kicking-it-around” phase. There’s a lot of space there and we’re not sure what we want to do with it.

We’ve been gardening for several years now (I use that “we” lightly, it’s mostly Mr. Fix-It and the crew!) and this is the first time we’ve really sat down and put together a long-term concept. I’m sure it will be tweaked as we go through the season. But nothing about growing happens overnight!

Now I have to jump on the flower beds!

Do you garden? What are your plans for the year?

Linking up over at the Farmgirl Friday blog hop and the Homestead Barn Hop #98.

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Family Time and Homesteading

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The longer we parent, the more convinced I am that chore-time is essential to our family dynamic and each of our personal growth–or it can be. If you choose to be intentional about it. If you choose what is best instead of what is good. Homesteading just seems to bring God right into our…well…yard.

We have a few kid-sized garden tools that make it really fun and easy for them to help.

We all do chores here at The Lowe Farm. All. Day. Long. Especially in the spring and fall. And laundry and dishes have never been my favorite part of the day! But I’m learning to love chore-time because chore-time is family-time. Chore-time is learning time. Chore-time is character-shaping time. Chore-time is come-alongside-me-and-talk-about-life-purpose time. Chore-time is see-what-I-don’t-understand time. Chore-time is teach-me-to-understand-Biblical-truth time. Chore-time is show-me-how-to-shine-my-light time.

Our gardening skills and adventures are constantly evolving.

When they are finally tucked into bed, sometimes I mentally review how they’ve spent their day and part of me thinks–Wow, they didn’t watch any TV today, they didn’t do any art projects today, they didn’t play any sports today, they didn’t go to any clubs today, they didn’t have any computer time today, they didn’t play dress up today, they didn’t build legos today, they didn’t play on a swing set fort today…and they had a good day and went to bed tired and happy!

And sometimes I review the day and think–Wow, they didn’t have a good day, we must have made them worked too hard.

You know what the difference is, usually?

Me! {Well, me and Mr. Fix-It.}

I always recommend just starting with 2-4 things until you get the hang of it. It can get overwhelming fast!

The difference is, did we make it special family-time? Did we make it “team-building” time? Did we make it about serving the Lord and shining our light? Did we make it about stewardship and gratefulness? Did we use our moments together to talk about deep truths, amazing science, or creative expression? Did we laugh and praise and enjoy each other?

Or did we make it all about work, work, work, and use our words to grumble, complain, demand, and correct?

And only grow things you eat the first few years. Or ever. (Why grow things you don’t eat?)

We try hard to be intentional about our time together, and lately we’ve been talking about wasting food around here a lot lately.

We’ve been talking about stewardship and how stewardship is about being grateful. We talk about how waste is not stewardship and is basically being un-grateful for the abundance we’ve been blessed with. And we’ve been talking about how a grateful heart shines the light of God.

And we’ve been talking about how Speedracer needs to eat his broccoli.

And relax! Be forgiving! What’s worse–kids that always hate gardening–or a few trambled plants?

And the Cowboy said “The chickens will eat it. It’s not wasted.”

And then Speedracer followed up with “I’m sharing with the chickens. God wants us to share too.”

And the Ladybug said, “The chickens have chicken food.”

And the Cowboy said, “They eat garden food too.”

And the Ladybug said, “Broccoli is people food.”

And Speedracer said “My teacher told me that God wants us to share with everyone.”

And the Cowboy said, “Daddy put broccoli in the chicken bowl, I saw him!”

And the Ladybug said, “That was left overs. That was–”

And I said, “Who wants fruit snacks?!”

Do you have gardening or homestead plans for the weekend?

 

Homestead Updates: Lettuce and Lambs

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It’s turned rainy and chilly again, but Spring is definitely here.

Mr. Fix-It's already got some cool season plants in.

We’ve got lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and potatoes in the ground. We usually start with small plants for the early planting, while starting seeds inside for later planting. We find that the little plants are hardier for early season starts than our own seedlings. I haven’t gotten the knack of “hardening off” yet.

We planted head and leaf lettuce.

We also find that having those good-sized plants out there to start with get everyone more excited about getting out and helping and make it easier for the kids to get involved. They can tell what’s a plant and what’s a weed. I love Joel Salatin’s book Family Friendly Farming. (We have all his books, but this one is definitely my favorite!) It talks about setting your family up for success, not failure, to encourage everyone to love and enjoy the farm. This is a little bit of the same thing.

We'll be mulching this weekend. Besides weeds, our soil is very sandy and perks FAST. Moisture is always an issue with baby plants.

And we’ve very excited that we finally have grass!

We’ve been working the sheep back and forth from winter pastures to the backyard and pasture alleys to wean them on to the spring grass. They are half-crazy loving it, but you have to make diet changes slowly. They could bloat on the rich, new grass.

Oh yeah, and it's spring gobbler season around here again.

The new-growth grass is better for milk production too. The lambs are getting to the age where it’s hard for their Momma’s to keep weight on while feeding them constantly–especially if they have twins. The lambs are already starting to wean on to the fresh, tender grass and it’s helping flesh out the ewes again too.

Look at Mr. Fancy-Feathers there...we can see this little flock from our porch pretty regularly. They live down the gas line and power line easements adjacent to our top field.

Our little Washtub Willie is still out with his Momma and twin and seems to be doing just fine. Neither of those two lambs are as big and sturdy as I would like, I certainly would say “thriving,” but they’re hanging in there. And compared to the barely breathing puddle of baby he was when we found him, I think that’s pretty good.

They’re about a week old now. We kept them penned up with their momma alone for a few days, until I was sure they both had a good grasp on nursing and all three of them could find each other in a crowd.

Look at that grass! We joke that "one man's weeds are another man's sheep food!" {grin}

That ewe is certainly not up for any Mom of the Year awards. She takes care of them, but only as long as nothing else comes up and they keep up with her. She won’t go back for them if they get left behind and she’s very flighty so I have to be careful not to accidentally corner her or anything. She’ll freak out and plow right over top of them. We probably should have kept her penned up with them a few more days, but she was clearly getting stressed out being separated from the rest of the flock and she needs the fresh grass too.

Anyway, I’m off for Easter break with the kiddos today and Monday and my sister is coming to visit with my niece and nephew tonight, so we’ll be living it up on our 4 stay home days.

Do you have special plans for Easter? 

 

 

 

Charlotte’s Web

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This post is not about a children’s book.

The other day the crew was sitting at the breakfast table before school and Speedracer started hollering about a spider outside.

“Ewwww. There’s a spiDer on the porch!” (He’s been reminded about the “d” so much it’s a whole new syllable for him now.)

Now, spiders are allowed on the porch. Mostly. High up in the corners. I mean, it’s the country. I try to be fair.

But then I looked out the window.

This was not there the night before. We definitely would have noticed it.

It was one of those big black and yellow garden spiders that usually puts their web up in the evening and is gone by 9-10 am. They’re harmless, although they’re big and kinda scary looking. Kinda cool looking too though. We have lots of pictures of them.

But this one was right, smack in the middle of our porch.

And she wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

The Ladybug and I both grabbed our cameras and headed out to investigate.

Now that was definitely not there the night before when I let the dog out. That’s the gate that closes our porch stairs so that Penny has to stay out in the yard if we want to eat on the porch or anything. (And so that she doesn’t scratch the door to come in! That’s the most difficult habit to train out!) Believe me, I would have noticed that before I touched it!

She was still working when we saw her. Still putting on the final touches.

The Cowboy, of course, immediately launched into all the details of a spider’s egg sack and hundreds of spider babies hatching out everywhere and pretty much sealed the fate of this little family of arachnids.

My this-is-the-country tolerance is pretty low for the porch anyway, since I consider it part of our living space. If you want to co-habitat on our porch, you’d best be out of reach of the broom. Sharing picnic space with hundreds of baby spiders, however harmless, is not in my plan for this Fall.

She didn't seem the least disturbed by us nosing around. (Ok, Penny "nosed," the rest of us used a zoom lens.)

The kids were busy telling me all the bug-eating benefits we were going to get from hundreds of baby spiders hatching out on our porch and living in our yard and dangling over our heads just like in Charlotte’s Web…

So I waited until lunchtime…

Then I swept her and her precious egg sack triumph into the yard.

It's amazing how she's so big and scary looking and harmless and Black Widows are only 1/5 that size and so dangerous.

The kids were pretty disappointed, but the boys hunted for the egg sack in the yard and couldn’t find it so they decided that she must have hauled it off somewhere more safe.

I decided not to say a word about Penny’s suspicious looking, crunchy snack earlier.