Life got busy....................

June 11, 2013

Wow, it's been too long, i didn't realize how long it's been.  I will try to fill in on a few things going on around here.

Well, we got the garden planted after planting some things twice.  Crazy weather we had this spring, cooler than normal temps kept seeds from germinating.  But we were blessed with an abundant of rain to get things growing when they finally popped up.

Radishes

Squash

We also had 7 lambs born during the Easter week.  Three twin births and one single.

Check out our facebook page for some video of the lambs. 

Last weekend we hosted the Sicard's Family Reunion on my husbands side the family.  It was an awesome time, everyone enjoyed coming out to the farm and having a day of fun and fellowship.

Life gets busy sometimes, but sometimes it feels so good to pause..............and reflect and be Thankful for the blessings in our life.

    Live Simple....................Sheryl

Spring Fever

Feb 6, 2013

This past week we had a case of spring fever........Temps got into the 70's, lots of sunshine.  The only cure for this fever is to get my hands gloved up, rake and shovel in hand and get started breaking ground, and weed pulling.

We made a new bed and transplanted some thornless blackberries that were getting to much shade in the far back of our property.  Hopefully this site will spruce them up with lots of sunshine and produce more berries for us.

Some of you are wondering why we do the small individual beds??? I use to do the big plot garden in the back of our property, but the tree line has grown and started to shade alot of our back yard.  This site, if you have been a follower of our blog, use to be a in ground pool site that we filled in.  It gets alot of sun, and its near the back patio.  This makes it convenient, and easier for me to keep up.  I think viewing it every day encourages me to be in it everyday, pulling weeds and keeping it looking nice and orderly.  I love to incorporate beneficial flowers into my beds and I like companion planting as well.  Dreaming of a french type garden you see in magazines, Lots of mixing of vegetables,  flowers and herbs...Hmmmmmmm I will get there someday.

We ordered some heirloom seeds this year from Seed Savers Exchange, a seed company with a pledge to sell non GMO seeds, and open pollinated and heirloom varieties.  With these seeds, and carefull planting, you can grow and save your own seeds and become a steward for our food heritage.  I love this company's mission and their  efforts to preserve our gardening heritage for future generations.

I stared some tomato seeds the other day, and I'm so excited to see these heirloom spouts pop out the soil.  I'm hallucinating and  dreaming of tasting these juicy homegrown tomatoes.......I think my fever is spiking!!!!!!!!!! quick......get me a cold rag.........

Thank you!!! my sweet hubby......for getting all my beds tilled up and amended.

We are ready for planing now.......
What are you doing to get ready for spring planting???


Linking up to:
Backyard Farming Connection
The Home Acre Hop


                                Sheryl

Digging up the "Black Gold"

January 23, 2013

The past few days we have had some pretty sunny days, with temps in the 60's.  After the weeks of rain and cold temperatures, i could not help myself today................I brought out the shovel and wagon, and went digging for the "Black Gold". 

No........it's not the gold stuff the westerners got rich on, but it's the black material that makes my garden beds rich in organic matter.  It's the dark organic material buried under a layer of leaves in my compost pile. 

Composting doesn't have to be all fancy or complicated.  Most gardeners make compost by simply combining their kitchen waste, such as veggie scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, and fruit scraps, along with leaves, and other garden waste.  Hmmmmmmm  I think i see something green growing in the pile......Looks like a few potatoes!!!!!!!  We also have access to manures, which contributes greatly and gets things heated up to start the decaying process.  I usually clean out the chicken tractor, and the horse stall and dump to one side of the compost pile.   I add scoops of the manure to the pile throughout the year, when I'm flipping the pile periodically.  No need to buy special activators or inoculants to get the process started, there are plenty of natural microbes in the waste to promote decomposition on it's own.

 I usually contribute to this pile all year, and in late winter or early spring i dig to the bottom layers to gather my "black gold". 

My chickens also help with this process, when i let them free range, they love getting into the compost pile, scratching and aerating the pile for me.  They also love the tasty veggie scraps they get to nibble on and help break those down.

So today i got started getting those beds enriched and ready for spring planting.  I ordered some heirloom seeds this week from Seed Savers, looking forward to giving them a try. 

Hope this encourages you to try your hand at composting.  It's not difficult, all you need to start  this project is a small spot in your backyard and start stockpiling scraps, and before you know it..............You will be digging your own "Black Gold"

Shared this with The Backyard Farming Connection


 awaiting spring.................................Sheryl

Fall harvesting

December 4, 2012

The fall garden is looking pretty good. We have had several pickings on our mustard greens in spite of the lack of rain and warmer than usual temperatures.

Haven't picked any turnips yet, but i don't think they will be much longer.  The leaves are beautiful but taking a little longer to make a bulb.

A few scenes from the lettuce patch.  Looking pretty good............

mesclun blend variety

We also have some kale, parsley and shallots along with buttercrunch lettuce growing in this raised bed.

buttercrunch lettuce

Cabbage is also looking good, starting to form a head. Hmmmm hope they are ready for New Year's Dinner.......

cabbage

I wanted to give brussel sprouts a try, my hubby loves them, and that's one thing i have never grew before.  I was curious as to how they grow, and couldn't wait to watch the little sprouts grow and produce these little babies.

brussel sprouts

Not many of the plants survived the drought,t but it's been neat to watch these grow.


The pok choi was growing beautiful also, but the warmer than normal temps have forced it to bolt, it has gone to seed now.

Chopped up and stir fried with onions and smoked sausage. 

Reminds me of smothered cabbage.........for you Cajun gals who have never tried this cruciferous vegetable.


Linking up to Backyard Farming Connection , click over to read some interesting stories from other homesteading enthusiast.



                 Shery

Dehydrating Figs............

July 9, 2012

The past few weeks, it's figs, figs, and more figs.....it's that time of the year, all at once these sweet fruit are ripe, and ready to pick. 

I have to fight the bees and wasp to gather the sweetness.  I loose so many to these flying insects.  I guess i need to get into bee keeping and set up a hive close by.  That would be some awesome honey produced by these little critters.



I found someone else who loves their sweetness as much as the bees do..................

My granddaughter just loves them, she runs straight to the tree and reaches for one every time we're walking out in the back yard.

I have been making preserves with them for some time, and wanted to try something different. I own a dehydrator and i guess i never thought to give it a try with figs. 

SO .........slicing away i went............................a four quart bowl full filled up my five tray dehydrator.

I dried them for 12 hours, which was the shorter period of 12-15 hr time recommended.  I was afraid to dry them to a crisp so pulled them out at 12. Instructions say to be sure no beads of water appears when sliced, i found some had a tad bid of moisture still in them while others felt really dry.  They looked and tasted really good. I put them into mason jars with lids to store for later use.

I have plans to use these in a trail mix i plan on making later. But they are excellent to just snack on right out the jar.  As the days went by my stash got smaller and smaller, we could not resist opening that jar and popping one into our mouths, just like candy...Hmmmmmm

As I got ready to post this information, i noticed some of them starting to mold a little.....guess the time in the dehydrator needs to be longer to be sure i get every bit of moisture out of them.    I will have to try another batch before the bees get them all......

If anyone has other ideas to use figs, let me know........My daughter and i roasted a few in the oven, stuffed with cream cheese..........ohhhhhhhhh they were pretty good, great little appetizer served up on your favorite cracker or pita chip, drizzled with a little honey.

Enjoying the taste of summer.....................

                                             Live Simple..............Sheryl

struggling to get a harvest

June 23, 2012

Hi, hope you all are having a good summertime weekend.  We have been busy with summer activities and farm chores.  I thought i would share with you today some of what we have been harvesting out of my struggling garden.  I have battled potato beetles, worms on my tomatoes, and plants that just drooped over and died.  Not sure what that was all about, being that it happeded to just a few plants in different beds.

I did loose a few tomato plants, but still have a few that survived and while waiting for this beauties to turn red, i had to deal with this......................

And I think these were to blame..............................................

My lovely ladies..........

Not you too "Lou Lou"...............

I didn't want to think it was them, until i saw them jump up and peck at my tomatoes.  I didn't have this issue last year with them, they would just walk around the garden eating the bugs and not messing with any of my plants.  Guess this year they couldn't resist, or they needed this in their diet.  Hmmmmmm funny how things change in the garden from year to year.

The garden is always trial and error and always a learning experience.  When you have a really good year and an abundance of one thing, and death and destruction of another, you can expect that it will almost be the opposite the next year.  I always try to rotate my crops by planting something different in it's spot the next year round.

This year there was an abundance of green beans, I planted a variety called "rattlesnake", it's a heirloom variety, which means i can save the seeds to replant in the future. 

Love the purple coloring through these.

I was able to get a little patch of corn grown and harvested.

We did get strong wind and rain storms at the begining of the month, but it didn't knock it down too bad.

It makes me feel good to be able to bag some of the harvest for future meals.

Hmmmm corn soup in the heart of winter made with homegrown corn.


I grew some peas, a variety call "Mississippi Silverskin".  They grew really well without any bug problems.

My only problem is.........................I didn' tplant enough of them.

One benifit of gardening here in the south.....is our long growing season.  So what i didn't get accomplished in the first planting, i will try again with my second planting.  I did plant twice last year, and was very successful with cucumbers, peas, squash and i tryed a heat resistant tomato.  By planting again you sometimes miss the life cycle of insects, and they are less of a problem...sometimes.

We feel blessed to be able to grow some of our own food

Hope you're gardens are plentiful this season....

Live Simple.........................Sheryl

Happenings on the hill........

March 28, 2012

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day ,a big Thank You goes out to all our fallen veterans across America, who have lost their lives to fight for our freedom. On this Memorial Day I'd also like to thank all of our military who are serving today, your decision to serve this country is a huge sacrifice and a brave one, you are in our thoughts and prayers. We are so proud of our own Cody, for his decision to serve, you are on our minds often and we pray for you daily for your safe return home.  Thank you Cody, we Love you.........

   I don't know about your part of the country, but down here in the south it has been a hot one.  My garden is not doing what i would like it to be doing, but i guess i should be grateful that I'm getting a little out of it. I wanted to show you what i discover this weekend in my garden.

Something is eating on my tomato plants!!!!!!! They have attacked a few of my plants overnight.

Those nasty little worms.........I hate that!!!!!!! I tryed picking them off and was going to resist spraying, but they were everywhere.  I try not to put any chemicals on my garden if at all possible.  I had to spray a few of these plants before i was left without any tomatoes for the season, and that would have made my husband disappointed.  His mouth is watering for a homegrown tomato........

I picked the first ripe tomato this week from the two heirloom tomato plants that i planted in containers.

I have never planted heirloom tomatoes before, i found these at the local feed store and thought i would give them a try.  Maybe i can save the seeds and start my own plants next year.

The blueberries are giving.......I'm thankful for that.



We were fortunate to get rain just as the bushes were setting fruit, and they are plump and sweet this year.



I made a batch of blueberry preserves this week, only had to add just a little sugar to these already sweet berries.

Looking out the back field i spotted this.....................



It's Jolie.......on top of the hay bale inside the hay ring. She just stood there nibbling on some hay.

 I guess she likes being "Queen of the Hill".

A few Happenings on the hill......Hope your holiday weekend was a good one.

Sheryl