It's been just over a year since we moved to our sweet little farm. In the first frenzy of activity last year we had way more projects on our list than time would allow for us to complete before winter set in. And so it was that when our weather finally broke last week and the sun came out over the last 5 days Joel and I hopped on some easy projects that were leftover from last year.
Here's what we did:
With the help of a little caffeine to jump start our energy, we cut posts and notched out areas for 2x4" cross bars. After digging holes for the posts, we set them in cement and let that cure for 2 days.
Those posts became our new washline! We applied caps to the top of the posts and pretty scroll work to help support the cross bars and ta-da....we have an adorable farm-y clothesline. I can hardly wait to hang our sheets out there this week. Nothing smells as good as sheets dried in fresh country air.....I am sooooo looking forward to crawling into bed after making up the bed after laundry day.
Thanks to Pinterest for the idea for the pretty clothesline. After a couple of coats of crisp white paint Joel and I attached the hardware and line so on washday I can hang out our sheets. It's been years since I hung clothes on a washline.....probably almost 30 years. Can't wait to do it once again.
Next on our agenda was to build supports for the thornless blackberry bushes we planted last spring. They have long canes now and they need to be supported up off the ground. The bushes are planted in an "L" along one edge of the potager garden and that's where we put the supports. It feels really good to have these projects completed and the posts from both projects should last us years and years.
Last year I planted so many different types of plants......and only a few of them yielded anything(except, of course, the garden veggies) since most of them take a couple of years to produce fruit. These irises were one of the few bloomers that were gorgeous and I am excited to see them bloom once again. To the right are the Rosa Rugosa bushes we ordered special. Last year they were hardly anything more than sticks in the ground. But this year they are already tripled in size, they have many more branches, and all the branches have buds on them.
Rosa Rugosa roses are special in that a mature bush produces large, edible rose hips.....the result of letting roses die on the bush late in fall and those turn into "hips". Rose hips are very high in vitamin C and can be eaten after the the tiny hairs are removed from one end. The hips can be put in the dehydrator and dried so you can preserve them for use all winter long. Not only can they be eaten but they also make a lovely tea. So many uses besides having lovely flowers. And for this farm girl who is allergic to the vitamin C from all citrus, the vitamin C from the roses is one way I can get my vitamin C without sneezing.
Many of the plants we put in the ground last year are perennials, which means they come back each year without having to be replanted. Rhubarb is one of those. You can see the rhubarb on the right side of this pic is already a foot across. It's amazing that just a few weeks ago everything on the farm was covered in ice and snow....and now we have green popping up everywhere!
Our asparagus bed yielded several new spears yesterday, and the oregano and thyme are already greening up, too. The strawberry bed is starting to perk up as well as all the lamb's ears from last year. The blackberry and blueberry bushes are also starting to show signs of life once again and this year we may even begin to get our first small harvest from those bushes.
Now, all the plants I talked about are in our little potager garden up by the house. The huge main garden back by the chickens is still asleep. We have rearranged the movable white poultry fencing to include the main garden and the chickens have been happily scratching their way around in there, eating bugs and pooping on the ground, fertilizing it for me! Win-win! In the next few weeks I'll have to chase them out of there when I start to plant but for now they are helping me get the garden ready with all their scratching and bug eating.
Go, girls, go! Thanks for your help in the garden.
And over by the chicken coop, we have the side lid that flips up to reveal the 5 nests where our "girls" lay their eggs for us.
We check the nests twice a day and find at least 1 or two eggs in each nest. Pretty, light brown orbs of yummy goodness with the brightest golden yolks I've ever seen. Thanks, ladies.
Speaking of our ladies....these two hens have gone "broody". They sit on their nests 24 hours a day....staring off into the distance with a glazed look as they keep the eggs under them warm. They only get off the nest long enough to get a quick drink and eat a bit and then back on the nest they go, gently shifting the eggs around beneath them so as to turn them from time to time. We're going to let them continue to brood to see if any of the eggs actually hatch into baby chicks. Won't that be fun? I'll let you know when and if that happens.
Meanwhile, our egg production is down from around 11 eggs per day to about 7 or 8 per day. It really makes a difference having 2 broody hens. Plus, Joel suspects that when the broody hens get off their nests to drink, another hen goes in there and lays her egg on top of the ones that were meant to hatch. And we can't tell if that has happened unless we catch the nest empty and can count the number of eggs in the nest.
Last month, Joel had to clean out a nest where a broody hen had been sitting. She got up so many times that we finally had somewhere around 15 eggs in that nest from all the hens contributing to her egg count. And there was no way any of them were going to hatch as some of them had gone too long without the heat of the mama hen. So, we went in there and cleaned that nest out and put down fresh straw and sure enough, another hen is now broody in that nest with her own eggs.
Giggle.....this is all a learning process for us. We're not sure if we'll ever have any chicks hatch, but it'll be fun to watch the ladies try their best to bring a new brood of chicks into our coop. Personally, I'd like to see that happen. The more food we can produce from what we already have, the better.
Happy it's Spring,
Debbie
