Homestead Happenings

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! 

Even our chickens enjoyed their summer treat. These watermelon were gone within 10 minutes. 

Our garden is growing pretty good. I had to replant a few plants in a fertilizer soil instead because our hard rock just wasn't helping them grow. I keep the egg shells after we eat our eggs and put them in the garden. 

The main ingredient in eggshells is calcium carbonate (the same brittle white stuff that chalk, limestone, cave stalactites, sea shells, coral, and pearls are made of). The shell itself is about 95% CaCO3 (which is also the main ingredient in sea shells). The remaining 5% includes calcium phosphate and magnesium carbonate and soluble and insoluble proteins. (source: gardenweb.com)

We have planted four rows of corn, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, sunflowers, and zinnias in our garden. Below our house we have started a pumpkin patch. I've been wondering if it's a good spot for the pumpkins because I will be relying solely on the rain to grow them. If we have a long drought they could not make it. I will have to see how this year goes with this new spot. Last year I planted the pumpkins in our garden with the vegetables, and they just took over everything. 

This weekend, we just stayed HOME. It's really one of the best places in this entire world. So peaceful, and the boys just play and play outside. Karson asked to use Kevin's hacksaw. I told him he could and I would watch him. He wanted to cut some trees down that were around his little tree stand. I never dreamed that he could actually cut them down. To my surprise, he cut down 4 small trees yesterday! (they were in the way of a soon to be tree house anyway)

He showed and explained to little brother, how this would all work. We found some great grapevine on our property too. I would love to make some crafts with that soon!

We've had some pretty crazy chicken stories to tell over the past 4 weeks. It sure has been a whirlwind of a spring here. We started with 18 baby chicks in March, and are down to 6. Every year, we feel we are ready for the predators to come out of their dormant stage. Once again, they win. It is very discouraging as we put many hours of our time, and money into growing up our farm. I know these things are just part of the nature circle, but they still hurt quite a bit. I have tried nursing a few back to health, with no luck. 

However, we are trying to move forward with what we have left, and stay hopeful we are doing our best. 

Life in the country is never easy, but the rewards are more than you could ever imagine!