We are in full garden mode around here, tending, nurturing, and harvesting on a daily basis. In the early morning, while Justin and Reece are still sleeping, I walk around the garden, checking in on everything, looking for bugs, noticing things that need to be done, and harvesting a few things for breakfast. Throughout the day there is weeding to be done, and watering, and more harvesting for lunch and dinner. In the evening, we usually sit back and watch as the sun sets on the garden, enjoying the peace as dusk settles on our little bit of land.
To some it might feel strange to set the rhythm of your days around the garden, but for us, it feels just right. We flow through these soon to be summer days with the garden as our guide. We eat based on what it is producing, we work based on what needs to be done, and we relax, enjoying the beauty of all the hard work. The garden is such a big part of this season for us, that flowing with the growth and change it goes through is simple and easy.
Everything has now been planted, and a few things reseeded, pretty much everything has come up, and we are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of more crops to eat. These days we are eating, and sharing, salad greens, Swiss chard, kale, spinach, baby beet greens, chives, and parsley. I have harvested comfrey this week to infuse in oil for healing salves, and catnip to infuse in alcohol for tinctures. The self-heal and yarrow is almost ready to harvest, and lemon balm, peppermint, and red raspberry leaves will be harvested for our first herbal sun tea of the season this weekend. The first pumpkin flower is about to burst open, marigolds are on the brink of flowering, and daily new calendula flowers are appearing. It is exciting in the garden at this time of the year, and I love the surprises I find out there each day.
You may have noticed a new garden in the photos above. You know me, squeezing in a little garden wherever I can. This corner was just calling for a small bed, edged in rocks...so I did it. It has been seeded with a variety of sunflowers, a variety of zinnias, and calendula. Now, if the squirrels and chipmunks leave the seeds alone I just might have a lovely little flower garden in a few months.
There is still quite a bit of real work to be done around the garden. Now that everything has sprouted it is time to get it all mulched. We have been mulching with straw for quite a few years now, but the last few years I have had problems with seeds in my straw. This year, on the recommendation of another local homesteader and gardening expert, we have put the straw in the chicken run. The chickens have been eating all the seeds, and this weekend I will begin moving it all to the gardens. The bonus, the chickens also poop in the straw, so not only do I get mulch, I get fertilizer too. It's a win-win.
Did you see that big pile of gravel? That will require some real hard work, but we are game. The gravel is for all the pathways in the garden areas, and for the driveway. We don't see this project as something that will be accomplished in the next week or two, it is more of a long term summer job, with completion happening in the early fall.
Justin finished all the fences and now I don't have to chase chickens out of my gardens anymore. We have been asked about the chickens, and how we keep them, so I thought I would share how we keep our chickens. The chickens have a coop and a fairly large fenced in and secure run. If we are planning to be away from home during the day they stay in the run, where we know they will be safe from predators. If we are home, they are out and about on our property, free ranging and enjoying life. It feels right to us to let them have the space to roam, and soak up life outside the run. They do get into my perennial beds at times, and I have to shoo them out, but for the most part they stick to the perimeter of our property where there is some shade and good pickings (bugs) in the ground. Our new chicks have not been roaming yet. During the day they are in a little outdoor run we have set up for them, separate from the big birds, and at night they are in a plastic tub in the cottage. We are hoping to transition them to the big coop this weekend, and slowly integrate them with our older flock over the next few weeks. This has been tricky for us in the past, but we are hoping this time will be a little easier.
So, that's the update on my garden, how are things around your garden?