A Barn Update

We have been working on the barn every minute that we can. Our goal was to finish it before Kipton's birthday, but that just wasn't enough time.

 We ran out of wood so we ordered more from the saw mill, so that set us back 1 week. We saved half of what it would have cost if we would have bought our lumber from Lowes. We were very pleased with our wood. 

Last night Kevin built the chicken coop door.

He has never built a barn before, but my dad has given him pointers and helped him along the way. He is always willing to learn. I am so thankful for that.

I was nominated to do the painting on the outside. My mom helped me a while, and it was appreciated because it was a lot of painting. The paint we chose was black barn and fence paint from Tractor Supply.

Once it gets on your skin, there is no getting it off.

The boys, were covered :)



I got three big walls finished. Then it rained, and splashed mud up all around the bottom. I was so upset, and then Kevin reminded me that it is just a barn. :)

This is the stall we also finished today. Going into the chicken coop area.

We decided to put wire on the top to give them a good breeze. We have to be VERY careful to make everything raccoon proof. I wanted to make it all wire, but it is just too risky. We are very cautious about every part of building due to the raccoons we have here in WV.

We always have helping hands. The boys LOVE work. 

When I told Kipton to wish on his birthday cake, he wished out loud to go to work. :) 

That's just how much they love work.

The sure do get it from their daddy. He just works and works. 

We have been waiting to tear down our old chicken coop. Now is the time. Kevin sold it on Facebook, and it's bittersweet but we are happy to have this nice area for chickens, and goats, and some cows. 

Our next step is to build the roof.

This step may take a while. We are doing a TIN roof, and have to order it. Before we can order we have to build the roof  with wood. I'm not exactly sure of what the plan is on that, but I know Kevin and my dad have all the details planned out.

Kevin has fell off the roof once during this project. He's also scheduled to have a small outpatient surgery next Thursday. We may be at a stand still on the barn for a while, but that's OK. He needs time to rest and heal. Please keep him in your prayers.

My Tips for Gardening

Today I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner Blog where gardening tips are the topic.

Since this is one of my favorite hobbies while being at home with my boys, I thought it would be fun to snap some pictures around our Homestead.

I love landscaping, and starting with the bare bones. When we first built our house I shopped around, and drew up some plans on how I wanted to landscape our new home. 

So I went to our local greenhouse and just looked around for a LONG time. I thought about what plants would go well in the front of our house with the morning sun, and what plants would do better in the shade. That is a BIG factor when deciding what to plant. I have wasted a lot of money, simply because I wasn't careful about reading the tags and just stuck it anywhere because it was pretty.

One of my favorite things about our home, is the front porch. One of the first flower purchases I make each spring are ferns. I just love them! I had my husband put hooks in each of the openings, and then hang a white chain. Ferns require a lot of water. Some good boost for them are miracle grow (once a month) and also Epsom salt. That is a trick I've learned over the years. I mix it up with water and let it dissolve. Then use a mason jar to give a scoop to each fern, just like I would with Miracle-Gro.

Here are some shots from our front flower beds. This weeping willow tree has pink blooms in the spring, but only for about 1/2 weeks.

Finding an edging is also key to a great landscape. It helps keep the grass out when you mow, and keeps the mulch neat and clean.

I don't plant annuals in my actual flower beds. I've found that I was spending too much time and money taking them out and fixing the mulch when they died. Now, I only plant annuals (not coming back each year) into pots on my porches. I find a good dirt with fertilizer in it, and they grow like crazy!

Winter/Spring Pansies 

Knock out rose bushes are a big hit here in West Virginia. They are good for height and for color. However, you MUST dead head them after they have bloomed. It is almost June, and I only have a few blooms. They are really a summer blooming bush. I try to plan my bushes/flowers around how & when they bloom. Then I will have color year round in my flower beds.

I love petunias, but they do require a lot of water. I have tried many times to grow them and I've found that the smaller ones are easier. I found this old galvanized bucket in my parent's barn, and thought it would be great to use as a pot. It has a country look to it. I found this star pick at a local country store. I love to stick them in different pots around the house.

The boys and I have really become bird watchers. O how life has changed :) 

Out back of our house I have many potted flowers on the porch, and some bushes to give height. A Crape Myrtle sits on the corner and gives lots of greenery.

I just found this interesting oriental grass this year at our local greenhouse. It's fiber optic grass. It has little white balls on each piece of grass and lights up. So COOL!

Each spring, we do a big garden in the back area of our property. It keeps getting bigger and bigger with each passing year. Normally my husband tills it up in March, and adds horse fertilizer. He tills it up about 3 or 4 times before we plant anything. Each year we get wiser about how and what to plant in our garden. 

This year we have 5 rows of corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. 

We also have pumpkins planted, but this past year I learned that pumpkins will take over your vegetables. So I've gone with a different plan, to move them completely away from the vegetable garden. Pumpkins do like sandy bottoms. It's good to plant them near a creek where sand may be, or even bring in bags of sand and till it in with your dirt.

I think pumpkins are very hard to grow because deer, chickens, and birds all like to peck them. Last year I planted over 100 seeds, and got 3 pumpkins. But I was pretty proud of those 3 pumpkins!

You can see here how I use my egg shells in the garden.

Here are my TOP 5 TIPS for growing a garden:

1. Use egg shells around your plants. Break them up into tiny pieces and sprinkle them around the roots of your vegetables.

2. If you have chickens, let them peck around in your garden. This is free fertilizer :)

3. Use your left over coffee grains and put them around your vegetables. This is an all natural way of giving your plants an extra boost without using harmful chemicals. I'm all about NATURAL!

4. Till up your garden 3 or 4 times before you plant anything. Add in any type of compost you can from the winter. Dried up leaves, horse/cow manure, chicken poo, store bought soil, and even sand.

5. Use a plant food like Miracle-Gro every month or so. Mix a scoop with a gallon of water and go around with your bucket and give them a little drink. It really helps get them growing in the right direction.

I hope these tips have helped. Gardening is so fun, and can really be therapeutic. 

Hope you'll come back to visit our Homestead soon!

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!

Critters and Fire

This past weekend, Kevin tilled our garden. We are so excited to plant. This year we have a whole different plan on where we are growing. I am doing a separate garden with just my pumpkins so they will not over take the vegetables, like last year. I am hoping that with our new plan on separating the plants, they will have more room to grow and can maintain their growth a little better through fall. 

The boys found 3 bull frogs while Kevin tilled the dirt up. These boys will go through fire to catch a frog. 

I have to brag on my husband a little. He is the hardest worker alive! He sees my vision for our home, and never complains with my crazy ideas! 

I can't believe this frog lover is 5. I am NOT taking the end of our preschool year well. I don't want it to end, because I know our days of Kindergarten are coming shortly.

We have enjoyed many fires this past week. I think I mentioned in my last post, that we had to cut 3 big trees before a big storm came. They were a threat to our power line as well as our house. So we have been burning and cutting wood like crazy to clean it all up. This particular night we stayed out until 10pm with the boys. (Their bedtime is 7pm) They LOVED every minute. 

What is a fire without smores? We all ate 2 each! YUM

Hope your having a great week!

Linking up with: The Homestead Barn Hop

Spring Photos from our Homestead

I am SO thankful it's FINALLY Spring! 

My winter pansies are also happy to be out of dormant stage. They are lifting up as if they are speaking to the skies! I am so giddy about these flowers. It's been such a long winter. 

Many new sprouts showing up this past week.

We've had to cut 4 trees this spring. We are stocking up on firewood. 

The boys are normally always willing to help around the house. They gather the eggs for me, clean out ditches, feed and water the chickens. 

Kipton is our chicken catcher. He can catch them any way he can. By the feet, wings, head, you name it he can catch it that way! He is not afraid of ANYTHING, and has a very GO get em personality.

Our baby chicks are growing so much. This picture is from when we first brought them home. They are getting their personalities now. Trying to peck at me when I change the water and food. 

We are getting 70 degree weather this week. 

Spring is such a happy season. Even through the rough winters, God brings us fresh new life!