Do you think we have enough garden this year?

I have always LOVED gardening.  It seems deep down somewhere it is in my blood.  I have many treasured memories of planting flowers with my Grandpa Al, he always had roses, a bleeding heart plant, petunias, and the Dusty Miller plants always edged his flower bed.  I have added a rose for each kiddo in our front landscape, will be transplanting a bleeding heart from a friend, and am pondering what edging to add.  With this green thumb, and my husband's drive to be a farmer, this year we relocated our garden and increased the size.......


 

 

He just kept tilling more and more :)

 

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We started off with many many pots, mostly with popsicle stick to remember what we planted.  The puppy stole most of the sticks,  I guess we are in for some surprises!
 

 

 

 I am always in AWE of the way things grow.  Here is a very large tomato plant compared to the seed that is still hanging onto one of the leaves.  From something so small comes a plant, then food for us.  AMAZING!

Ready for transplanting to paper pots



Some plants we started, and some indoor plants I am not always good at keeping alive through winter. 

I absolutely LOVE these newspaper pots!  They have held together better than I expected, and now planting in the garden gives the seedlings extra protection as they grow, the roots are hardly disturbed for quicker transplanting, and the paper and masking tape composts into the ground.  I asked my librarian friends at the local library for old newspapers they were going to recycle, and here you are!  TONS of paper pots for transplanting!  Check back for produce!

Farmers Market

So part of our new adventure with our farm and the LLC is to attend the closest farmer's market.  We were lucky enough to be accepted for the entire season as a new vendor, and after two weeks have had great fun, learned a lot, and made it a family affair!  After week one we had a list of things to improve, since we had never set up a stand such as this it helped to get one day under our belt to see  what we needed.  After adding some home made signage, more table clothes, and a better display for our corn heating bags, we feel it was successful!  It was so fun to share pictures of our chickens to make buying our food more personal.  So MANY, MANY people stopped by to look at the pictures and chat about their experience with chickens.  Some own their own, grew up with them, checked for eggs at their grandparents farm, walked around as a kid with a rooster on their head, or remember roosters chasing them around the yard :)  It attracted a lot of attention.

  This lady was the hit of the morning!

I also offered min-muffins as samples of my quick breads this week.  It was an easy addition and a hit.  Many adults tried them, then purchased a loaf or bag of muffins, and some kids got their breakfast from our stand.  I definitely will be doing this more often.  I offered larger muffins for sale with the quick bread loaves, and that was also  a hit.  I think  I will take a break from my French bread, also since there is a great bread stand at the market, and focus on quick breads, eggs, and corn bags until our garden produce is ready.  Garden set up happened this weekend so more on that soon!  

I was very proud we made our sign from scrap wood on our property, and leftover house paint!

Mr. Hopewell did awesome helping set up, make change, and take kiddos to the bathroom :)

 I was so excited that Mr. Hopewell's display idea for the bags, along with a friend's idea for a display board, worked!  We sold 7 bags in one morning!  The most ever, as we had been giving them as gifts and didn't sell any the first day but had lots of interest.  I am a bit excited since my new sewing skills are really working out, and it was nice to have others I don't know enjoy what I made. 

This is our updated corn hearing bag display.  Now you can see the explanation board, many types of fabrics we use, and our sizes.  You heat them in the microwave and the corn holds the heat longer than rice seems to.  They were a hit!

Using our chalkboards from home to list our goods, and of course the rooster picture mom and dad made us!

I am very happy with our stand right now and probably won't make any major adjustments for a while. 

 

CORN Heating Bags!

Just some of the prints I found on sale, or in the remnant pile at the fabric store.  It is a perfect first project for this beginning sewer, since my skills come from my middle school Home Ec classes. 

A long bag perfect for sore neck muscles.  This print was snatched up, have to make some more!

Cold toes love warm beds to crawl into at night :)

This is common to see at our house as one of the daughters gets growing pains quite often.  She always requests a warm bag to sleep with. 

 We are having so much fun, and teaching the kids many life lessons this year.  I can't wait to see what is in store for the season!  This weekend we had helpers in the garden, friends over for pork chops on the grill pit, and beautiful weather for getting dirty in the woods.  Here's to all the blessing we have had our entire lives, but especially since finding our home.  Get out and get some fresh air!  The buds and flowers are amazing!

A new coop, from old materials.....

So, we had our large chickens in our "old" coop and they were happy, but with the arrival of more we needed a bigger coop and free ranging area.  They were allowed all over our property, but without a fence around it they ventured across the road, or to the neighbors.  Not everyone loves chicken poop on their yard so we had to do something!  My husband, Mr. Hopewell we dub him, came up with a plan.  He found a hay wagon for sale online nearby and purchased it as we made plans.  He then started collecting materials.  We found some scrap wood around the property, used 2X4s from the small coop that were roosting boards, purchased windows from the local Habitat for Humanity Restore, used our old basement door, and got some free pallets from one of the home improvement stores.  We did need to purchase new 2X4s for the frame, nails and screws, roofing(which he got about 1/2 price since it was damaged), and some siding(which was also almost 1/2 price at the store since it was damaged.).  It is amazing what you can scrounge up!  It is not the prettiest coop, but the chickens seems to LOVE it! 

Mr. Hopewell and some of the kiddos showing off the coop. 

 The lower window opens to let chickens in.  The larger window does not open but streams in sunlight, helping them know when the sun rises and they should start laying.

The larger door,  we need to work on a latch to hold it open. 

 They have a large fenced in yard for now, until we can fence more of the wooded property, and make a fenced path to the garden so they can work on bug control this summer.  We needed a smaller area to start so they would know where to return at night. 

Someone wants to try a nesting box before they are even finished!

Roosting spaces for those who like to sleep high. 

Inside view of the boxes, unfinished, they are finished now.  He will add another row above.

The youngest at the time, about 2 1/2 months old, those beautiful Ameraucanas and Rhode Island Reds joined the flock. 

They are so curious!  Night is falling they are getting ready to rest. 

We added a sturdy ladder from logs we found on the property and cedar branches. 

Another ladder for the window door. 

This is much better for their food and water than before.  Now it is under the roof overhang so when it rains it doesn't get ruined, and we can catch extra water in buckets to use. 

You coming up?

They must like it!