Garden:
Because we bought the house in July, we got a late start in the garden last year. As we broke down moving boxes we threw them down on the grassy sunny side of the yard and planted right on top of the cardboard. We used only organic heritage seeds and had a lovely crop of okra, tomatoes, horse radish, peppers, and butternut squash. We lost most of our sprouts and seedlings to a tornado, but grew enough millet to start producing our own chicken feed next this year.
Animals:
Annie- our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian. She's about 9 years old and sweet as can be. She came to us with heart worm but is fully recovered and full of spunk now. Annie can clear a fence like a gazelle and likes to go adventuring. She sleeps in the barn with the birds and does her job well.
Teller- a three-legged Cane Corso pup we rescued this fall. We all love him, but he is Nate's dog. Those two are inseparable, I tell you. Teller sleeps with the kids every night and guards the house well.
Chickens- we have 18 hens now and 2 roosters, Romeo and Big Red. We lost two hens to predators before Annie came to stay, and one to illness. The rest are incredible foragers though and so fun to have around the yard. My favorite hen, Lou Ellen, is glossy black and sassy. She's sitting a nest of a dozen eggs right now, our first chicks should hatch in a couple of weeks.
Ducks- 12 mail-order Khaki Campbell ducklings arrived this fall. At least, we thought they'd be Khakis. This bunch has white patches of feathers, is short and stocky, and wild as can be. They take a daily pilgrimage to the neighbors field and forage there, but come home to their little corner of the barn every night.
Pets- the kids have quite a little menagerie going now: two cats, Vivian and Charlotte, mice, and a parakeet, Ace.
Homestead:
We spent the summer outside clearing trees for pasture, then hired a bulldozer last week to push logs into permaculture swales and terraces for us. The neighbors are dismayed we've "wasted" all our trees, and thought we should have used them all for firewood. We did save plenty of oaks and some hickory to burn next winter though, and the kids are learning to split logs and fill the wood box daily.
Spring seeds have been ordered, this time from a local co-op and next month we'll order bees! I'm most excited about the bees, I think. Nate's promised to build some top bar hives and a homesteading mentor is going to help us get started.
When the snow melts Nate and I will build a fence sturdy enough for livestock and we'll add lambs and some turkeys to the mix.
