Spring has officially arrived at the homestead—well, sort of. We’re bracing for a significant thunderstorm tonight, followed by a couple of chilly days. Fingers crossed this will be the last cold snap! In the meantime, we’ve been enjoying mostly 70-degree days, which is simply fantastic. Our bulb garden is bursting with vibrant colors, and the last flowers to bloom are the lovely lilies. I plan to mark the empty spots and will add glads, irises, and alliums in the fall.
With the warm weather, we’ve been incredibly busy. Our neighbor shared a tip on sourcing churt at half the price we previously paid, so we have some on order and are just waiting for the right weather. Meanwhile, we’ve been preparing the circle drive. Rick has cut down seven stumps to ground level, and we’ve relocated all of our siding materials until they can be properly stored. It’s a bit disheartening to see them just sitting there, but we’re waiting on our friends’ schedules and the weather to cooperate. We’re confident it will get done! We’ve also started cleaning up the root balls on the left side of the driveway to reclaim some dirt for filling in low spots. It looked great until it rained and the area was driven on, turning it into a muddy mess that Rick had to dig out. For now, we’ll hold tight and wait for the churt.
We currently have some tenants renting our camper for about a month. Pastor Dan and Kathy, friends of our neighbor Ty, are like second parents to him. They recently sold their house in Arizona and moved here immediately after purchasing another property in the nearby development. They needed a temporary place to stay until their new home is ready, and they are genuinely sweet people. Their dog, Molly, is a sweetheart too! They’re new to the off-grid lifestyle, proving that it’s never too late to make a leap into something new, even if it gets a bit harder with age. We’ve had the opportunity to share some of the wisdom we’ve gained along the way.
We’ve added two more garden beds specifically for root vegetables. We discovered a pile of soil left by the developers that was decent quality, so Cat spread it across all but two of our garden beds. Those two already received garden soil purchased with our Target gift cards. The new beds are lined with logs, and we’ve added triple 13 fertilizer and rototilled them thoroughly. We had to pick out rocks and cut away stubborn roots and vines, but now they look smooth and inviting. In the first bed, we planted red and yellow potatoes, leaving a spot for our sweet potato slips once they’re ready. We’ve put some sweet potatoes in jars of water to sprout, even though it’s a bit late to start them. Fortunately, our growing season is long here, so I’m optimistic. In the second bed, we planted two rows of various onions and two rows of garlic. Yes, they should have been planted in the fall, but the garlic was free, and I wanted to give it a shot! I plan to sow seeds for other root veggies once this cold spell passes.
In other planting news, we’ve successfully planted peas using two different methods with two varieties. Cat soaked the seeds for one variety, while the other was planted dry due to not enough seeds to fill the rows. In the herb garden, she planted thistle, white clover, purple dead nettle, dandelion, and purslane. While many consider these weeds, they’re fantastic for her apothecary and some also as edibles. The first sunflower bed is planted, and the second is currently being constructed. We also planted milkweed in front of the bulb garden and sumac in the clearing created by the fallen trees. These will provide privacy from passersby during spring and summer, and they’re also beneficial for both edible and medicinal purposes. We scored a great deal on a blackberry plant and three raspberry plants, which have now joined our food forest.
We began our work on the left side of the driveway, where we successfully lined the new sunflower bed with logs and added sticks to the bottom to build up the beds. We've been diligently breaking up root balls to make them manageable for relocation while preserving as much soil as possible. This soil will be used to fill the sunflower bed, allowing Cat to plant the sunflowers soon. So far, we have completed four root balls, with four or five more to go. These root balls were removed when we hired a crew to clear the area for the conex delivery. They are drier than the ones uprooted during the ice storm, making them easier to handle. While the left side is more labor-intensive due to the root balls, it will ultimately speed up our progress since there are far fewer fallen trees in that area. We will need to take down some snapped trees, but we’ll wait until our tenants have left. We might postpone finishing that side and instead focus on clearing all the necessary trees to create a larger safe zone around our cabin.
As for the little things... Cat was baking a cake in our new glass dish from Target, purchased with a gift certificate. Just as the cake was nearly done, she heard a pop—the dish split in two! Thankfully, it held together long enough for the cake to finish baking, and since it didn’t shatter, we could still enjoy the cake. Cat was frustrated about the breakage, but quickly found a reasonably priced 8x8 cast iron pan at Home Depot, which offers free delivery. It should arrive by Tuesday. Rick also winterized the camper today in preparation for the upcoming freeze. Our tenants decided to spend a day or two at a hotel, so we took the opportunity to store the solar panels in the conex; he didn’t want to risk our new equipment in these winds.
Remember Small Steps Get You Miles
Rick & Cat
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