While life may be busy with many things, we are still slowly but surely working toward our dream of homesteading. I’ve come to realize that it’s not about the end result that matters, but about the lessons learned along the journey. That’s a huge reason why I started my business, to help other moms understand this same truth and know how to order their life to experience the peace that they thought those results would give them.
My business is not the only thing we’ve been working on though.
Having my parents close by allows us to continue to grow our skills and enhance our family’s livelihood by using their land and partnering with them in their endeavors. I’ve written before about how my dad is an avid gardener, and I really enjoy being able to learn from what he knows and learns.
We have already planted a lot this year!
In February and March we began starting seeds indoors, and those plants have about a week left before we start to transplant them outside. I am really hoping the broccoli does well for us this year. The plants we started last year never really made it, so I have been taking special care of the ones we planted this year and have learned a couple new things along the way.
Did you know that broccoli doesn’t like it if it’s too hot? They do better with cooler temperatures and direct sunlight. The hot temperatures make them grow too fast and they get a bit leggy.
We started repeating last year’s mistake, but so far seem to have saved the broccoli by transplanting the starts into larger cups for support and making sure they make it outside to harden off better. The true test will come next week when they are transplanted into the garden.
Besides the broccoli, we have tomatoes, basil, eggplant, oregano, lettuce, rosemary, cilantro, started indoors. Outside, we have onions, carrots, and potatoes, and the blueberry plants and strawberries already have little fruits on them!
We are also excited to start raising pastured poultry!
The chicks come in at the end of May. If they all survive, we will have 25 layers and 25 meat chickens. The goal will be to start selling them in some capacity in the near future as well as raise them for our own use. We are learning a lot from Joel Salatin and Justin Rhodes for how to build the chicken tractors and what it looks like to move them. We will build those this month!
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