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Showing posts with label Foraging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foraging. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Great Scott! There are a ton of weeds!

My poor garden! It looks like a jungle! With all the rain we had a few weeks back it is now pretty overgrown and we are just starting the season. My mulch pile has dwindled and I may call around to local tree trimming groups again to see if someone takes pity on me.

I'm happy to report I planted about 45ish Sunflowers, Jalapeno's, Green Pepper plants, more Garlic, Zucchini, Chamomile, and Marjoram.

Found my herbs in the weeds doing well except- Basil, Dill and Stevia. Dang Rabbit has been nibbling on that and at least 15 of the Sunflowers I just planted yesterday! WAH! It ate my poppies seedlings too!

We have tried a bit of natural deterrents but haven't had a lot of luck. I'll keep scouring the web. I did find some more not so organic determent's but really want keep our garden as spray free as possible.

Farm fail include that rabbit eating our plants, a new chick died, a bunch of baby bunnies we yanked out of the yard were eaten by a Raccoon which was caught and is not with us anymore. On the plus side we did gain a new Rooster! Despite my no naming the animals policy this guy seemed like a Fred.  Cocky Locky my Banty is not doing so good. Much to my dismay I'm quite sure he is on the verge of passing away. He really isn't eating and rarely comes out of "The Abbey". We do have a broody hen and she has taken to stuff duck eggs to sit on. I'm pretty stoked about it and we will see what happens!

My Mom blessed us with several bunches of perennials that will perk up next year. I was also given a bunch from Mom's neighbor that I have yet to plant.

Speaking of which we went over to help Mom and Dad open their pool and did some minor things around their house. We hope to get over there a lot more often to help. Dad is doing much better and is happy to drive again. He's getting a bit agitated that he isn't getting around like he used to. He does need to get some dental work and a knee replacement and hopes for find out when he can get the okay to do so.







A few weeks back we also took time to see some wonderful kite flying at Fair Oaks Farm called Fair in the Air. They were a wonderful sight to see and are HUGE! Some of them are 20 Ft+! Wish I had a better camera or phone these pictures do not give the event any justice. We just stayed to watch for a bit and had a good time.

Mr. Awesome has been keeping himself busy with minor roof repairs, building projects, organizing, learning how to fix Carburetors, and aspiring to make cool stuff with Blacksmith.

I have been doing what I feel is the bare minimum and not for the lack of trying. I'm just so stinking tired. I did make a Plantain/Comfrey Salve, drying Lavender, Cilantro, Peppermint, Sage (Making Smudge sticks), editing my book (Slowly, it's been a challenge to revisit the memories), sleeping a lot, planting, weeding, studying my edible weeds in our yard, trying to figure out what is medicinal and added a Super to the beehive. I didn't participate in the last Flea market because I felt the weather was too breezy and I wasn't feeling so good (Lyme).





Excited Peanut has her first job starting soon! I'm hoping this will help with her social anxieties and plan to discuss some supplements with the Amazing Jen that may help.


I picked up these pinwheels and a few pink flamingos that just tickled me! I know I'm a dork but I sometimes have things speak to me. Oh, not literally, it's one of those things that randomly calls out to you and just wants to go home with you. Not that you need them mind you. They make me smile!

 Here is the bee Super and hiding in the background is Is  won't be surprised if they don't become targets for my adventurous Dad and Son team of hunters. SIGH! It was much to Mr. Awesome's chagrin that I bid and won them.


I haven't been online a lot. Kind of taking a hiatus. This does mean I miss a bunch of events, family and friend updates. It's not that it is just social media but stepping away from the computer has been nice. I was feeling tied and riveted to reading statues, seeing bad news or celeb stuff. I'm being honest when I tell you I don't know many of the celebs now that includes musicians as well. I know I must be living under a rock. (And yes when 4/20 came around I didn't get the reference) I don't think I'm alone by doing this. I don't miss it either, though Pinterest and Instagram are still my favorites and if we do watch anything it's been on YouTube and Netflix (Anne with an E was wonderful!).

The upcoming week will be filled with more planting! Wish me luck! I hope your week is joyful and blessed.




Thursday, March 2, 2017

Small scale farming and homesteading

Mr. Awesome and I began this journey in March it will be 8 years! 4 of those were very crazy due to the circumstances of my ex. (See my story here- My story of escaping abuse)

Both of us had an interest in learning the lost art of Homesteading. From raising Animals to Blacksmithing to Herbalism to Foraging and more. We read through articles from Mother Earth News, Grit and dozens of websites that offered practical advice. We dreamed of having a place of our own that we could actually try out the things we just read about!

We were blessed to come across a HUGE old hunt club and the landlord didn't mind small farm animals. Our idea at the time was to open this sprawling place into a B & B- I even still have the blog from that here- M & T Redrum B & B . I'll be honest I don't recall my password to the dang thing to remove the blog. So there it stays!

Things went wonky and sadly our plans had to change. But God had other plans! We found a property that met our needs! Now our initial plan was to also go traveling (our School bus renovation!) across the country to help out others where needed and perhaps find some land of our own. Finding our "forget home" very close to where we already are was just wonderful!

Here we can start doing all the things we just dreamed of! Larger scale gardening, having more animals, including some that are larger then a chicken or duck.

Now the home is 100+ years old so it needs some TLC. But the bones are there. Over time we will fix her up see our 2017 Goals!

My goal would be to have a sustainable food forest that we could supply food for us and also for the public. I would love to be able to give back to our community by providing veggies, herbs and fruit to local food banks.

In addition to educate children where our food comes from!  I hope to also like to have a Gypsy trailer or Tiny house as a shop to have vintage goodies for sale, Honey, tinctures, herbal concoctions and host crafty/homestead classes.

Mr. Awesome would like to have a few Tiny homes for WOOFERs that may pop-in to join us.

Sounds daunting I know! Have you ever had a gut feeling you should be doing something to help others? That's me! I have a feeling in my soul that I should be doing more. Now I've had this conversation with my Mom and Mr. Awesome, both believe my sharing my story of abuse My story of escaping abuse and Lyme story is a great idea. Tired of being tired Of 1 and Tired of being tired Of 2 .

Enough of that! We still have MS. Froggy the rabbit and she's doing great. P!And for a cage that will feature 3 separate cages is in the planning stage. Why 3 1 will be for a male and 2 others for Does. No plans to eat the rabbits but perhaps to sell the offspring. We had Angoras in the past and tried to get our eldest Daughter interested in collecting the fur for fiber. But she was in her early teens at the time and lost interest as quickly as it came.















Mr. Awesome found he has houseguests in the barn! This is wee one of his favorites.














                                                                           

Our Hens have been showing us some love! Not sure if it was our experiment of using yogurt or just because they are getting more sunlight. But we are tickled to start selling them again!









Last year we didn't have time to devote to foraging around the yard. I found both Spearmint and Wild onions!

Here's the Wild Onions! There are a few patches in other areas too! We know we have Mulberry and Cherry trees existing already. We added 10 Apple trees that were grafted but only 1 graft took and we'll work on grafting the other 9 soon.


It's also almost Fleas market time! I'll be setting up at Jasper County Fairgrounds in April! I'm excited!  I will also have Lyme Dis-ease info with me to hand out and info about the group I belong to. 

It's been a productive few days despite the crazy weather. I can't wait for Spring!