Seems like it's been a cold wet Spring. A day to work outside and two to work inside. I'm not very good at start/stop living so this Spring has been a bit of a challenge. I think I am so far behind but last night as I was hauling the 100th wheelbarrow of mulch I thought; Hey, you usually don't have the mulch spread until Memorial Weekend! You're Ok...... Phew, talked myself off that garden ledge! And yet I seem to stay busy enough not to get a blog post out in timely fashion.
Still managing to get two youtube videos up a week and that has been interesting and sometimes a challenge. The haters finally found the channel so they have been banished to the ethers.
This morning is cold and rainy again so a recovery day from an 11 hour mulch extravaganza yesterday. Yes, moving slow and hearing my body talking to me when I really want it to shut up and behave!
So what has happened around the old homestead since the last post? Lots!
After last years drought I decided I was going to try valiantly to get a backup watering system. So much time and effort was put into hose dragging last year. And the veg garden definitely suffered, even with a top dressing of mulch.
Grabbed a 275 gallon IBC tote off marketplace and hope to grab one or two more in the next few months.
For the front garden I grabbed these:
I have used sprinkler hoses in the past and just turn them upside down and use them more as a soaker hose. A handful of mulch on top and no one knows they're there. 75' should be enough for the front beds where I plant hot peppers, melons and eggplant each year. Ya, our city has an ordinance against that stuff in your front yard but they'll never know because they will be mixed in with annuals and perennials and small shrubs. Stealth gardening is a must in this city.
The gutters have been fixed from all the ice damage last winter and I should get the rain barrels hooked up in their new home next week.
I planned to order 8 yards of mulch this year, not the traditional 22 yards. I have converted quite a few of the paths and beds around the fruit trees, asparagus beds and berry bushes to wood chips.
Broccoli and Cauliflower are looking so good this year!
I ran to the local mulch factory and you got a better deal if you ordered 10 yards so I went with 10. I might be stuffing mulch in my pockets at the end of this pile! Mulch in my opinion is worth it's weight in gold; suppresses weeds, keeps tender roots cool in the hottest months and helps keep moisture in the ground. Keeps the garden soil from blowing away too!
One chicken is just not cutting it for the compost pile so on one of those rainy days I ran up to the feed and seed and they had just got in loads of fluffy, chirpy, baby chics. I had been hunting for months and thought I would be driving to West Virginia because rumor had it WV had baby chicks at the farm supply stores. Chickens being the new toilet paper of 2025 were in hot demand. I had planned to wait it out and just knew they'd be showing up on marketplace when everybody got sick of tending chickens for a few butt nuggets.
But they were in the stock tanks waiting for me. I vowed I would only buy the chicken breed that works well here; Wyandottes! If they didn't have Wyandottes, walk away. Do not buy asshole chickens again..... Rhode Island Reds will never see this backyard again.
Using great restraint I bought 4 baby chicks. An Olive Egger, an Americana, a Blue Laced Gold Wyandotte and a Gold Laced Wyandotte. While I work in the garden, Mozart plays softly in the background of the kitchen for above average chickens 🎶
the Olive Egger has a different personality and usually by herself so I'll be headed up to the Feed and Seed to pick up one more Olive Egger ...... safety in numbers I think. But as the state of Ohio has minimum purchase of 3 chicks I could be in trouble here.
On those rainy days I got a bit of canning and baking done.
Canning:
Chili
and a few more jars of garbanzo beans.
Still need to restock the canned potatoes but then I'm sure it will rain again.
I also stocked up on a few more jars and every time I go out I pick up lids. Right now they are in the stores but they could get scarce very quick as I learned during covid.
I'm going to need more shelves at this rate.....
Laundry detergent got made so should be set for awhile.
and a bit of baking......
The rhubarb is ON! Thought I would clean out the freezer from last years strawberries and made a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars. They store in the freezer very well for 3-4 months.
The months bread allocation got baked and safely tucked in the freezer.
But all in all I am so ready to get annuals in the ground, clean out the hoop house, finish the fence out back, refurbish the chicken coop, and harvest a few herbs. All those seeds started when the snow was flying and they are ready to get in the ground. I am ready for flowers again 💐
Be well, be safe, stay busy, eat snacks and don't watch the news....... blessings be!
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