In A nutshell

I am surprised I don't have more posts with this title, as I always feel that time gets away and I'm posting about whats going on , on the farm and homestead........... In a nutshell!

I found a moment of peace this a.m. My husband took my daughter to music camp , its quiet and I have my coffee,, a good time to sit , reflect and tell ya'll ( well as much as I can , there has been a LOT going on) what we have been up to!

GARDENS

They are more on the Jungle side of things now, or alteast getting there, but they sure were beautiful at one point , this is one of 4 gardens.....


THE BOUNTY

 A few photos of our Daily Harvests

THE FARM

its been a BUSY 4-5 months, we just pulled our Summer Honey ( about 1000 lbs) once that is extracted and in buckets, it will be time to get the girls ready for winter..
Here are a few photos from this Bee season.

COUSINS~
My Niece Collette Came down for a week. Norah and her had an amazing time!  From creek swimming To fort Building ~ Tree house redecorating to raiding the candy counter at the General store, :) I miss her already and sure hopes she visits again soon!

THE PIGS
Saying Goodbye To Bob and Terry was tough to say the least... We now  have a freezer full of meat to get us through winter and for that I am super Thankful... We will process 25 more chickens before winter and I still have a lot of garden Bounty to put up. We will be eating good this winter .


  So that's our summer In a Nutshell................................................



Blessings
The Cool Family

Progress and Simple Pleasures

Progress

Robb and I spent the day on Monday getting our row cover up for our cabbage and broccoli. I am done dealing with Cabbage worms. They are the sneakiest most destructive little suckers, and the squish squish method just isn't doing it anymore... Its easy to get them out of the broccoli, but the little worms borrow inside the inner leaves of the cabbage and its impossible to get them. I have had some gorgeous cabbage over the years , only to be destroyed...
So this cover will keep the moths from laying their eggs on my plants ( which eventually hatch and turn into little worms that munch away on my Brassicas.
It was a bit of work and dealing with frost cloth in wind, I forgot but was soon reminded that it is nothing short of aggravating.. I also managed to really smash my finger.. But I am sure it will all be worth it when I am opening a fresh jar of kraut this winter!

We have also been working on some new chicken tractors for our meat birds. This year we did not skimp on materials and made them the "right" way so they will last us many seasons. We just got tired of weathered rotting wod and things falling apart because we decided to use recycled items. don't get me wrong, recycled is great, but the maintenance and time we spent on these older tractors for them to just start falling apart made us realize we need to use new treated wood. These are some nice tractors!
Robb managed to get 2 done this week! Ill have more photos soon, they are pretty nice. Each one will fit around 10 birds. We will move them around the property as needed, giving them a good life of bugs n fresh grass!

I have planted nearly all my seed potatoes! 40 lbs!  I am glad to have gotten them in the ground, just in time for a much need rain, forecasted for tomorrow.


Simple Pleasures

In between all the work, there are always moments of simple beauty in spring that make my heart sing. I am so happy another season has arrived! The first bouquet of the season, our girls pollinating the peach tree, and some baby chicks are truly life's simple pleasures!

Happy ( almost) Spring!

Blessings

The Cool Family

and just like that, Spring has Sprung

 

Getting ready for life in the Fast lane, so to speak, here at our Homestead! It looks like Spring is jusssst about here. Now I am quite sure we will get another frost or 2, and probably one in late April ( Ya know that one that always makes ya freak out, because you have everything planted in the gardens). But for the most part it looks like temps are steadily rising.




The bees are out! and dang happy too! We have been feeding them some pollen substitute . A good source of protein for them before the Alders and Maples bloom( which are in Fact in bloom right now!)

Ive started all of my seeds. Some are being transplanted now, and other have a ways to go before that happens...
A lot of my cool weather crops are going  in now. I have 4 pretty good size gardens, and like to take my time getting stuff in ( instead of doing it all in one day) so I started planting last week and hope to  have all my cool weather plants in , in the next week or so.

Norah has been busy Fishing, Playing in her Tree House, and Bringing insects into the house ( the first sign of spring around here.. hahaa) ..  She even found some Frog eggs in the pond, that we are going to raise up and release, when time :)

It feels good to be outside with hands in the dirt again!

How are Temps In your Neck of the Woods???

Blessings
The Cool Family

Big Snow on the Homestead

Well ,the much anticipated Snow from Winter Storm Jonas,  arrived! I kind of lost count after awhile, but am guessing we were blessed with about 15" of the white stuff.
For those of you who follow our blog, you know that we are within a National forest. We have a 12 mile gravel ( now snow ) commute. The roads are not maintained by the state or county. although The National Forest does hire someone to plow( sometimes). Last time we had snow like this, it was 6 days before our roads were cleared...and a week before our Mail arrived.
They did come through with a plow yesterday when the snow started,but that has since been covered with about 10 more inches of snow.
Hey, it makes for a good hiking trail, when ya cant drive on it!

We have really been enjoying our time snowed in; baking, hiking, sledding , reading. eating and hanging around the wood cookstove staying warm.

Now spring can officially arrive.. *wink

Thankful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken, Green beans, Mashed Potatoes, sweet potatoes, Delicata squash, pickled peppers, stuffing with homemade breadcrumbs and our canned chicken stock, carrots, pickles, pumpkin for pie , apples for apple pie, and greens from the garden.. All from our homestead ..

 Setting the table. and dreaming of Pumpkin Pie...

 Time at the creek

Norah managed to snap a photo of me at the woodstove




Blessed and Thankful BEYOND measure. Spent the day preparing a Homegrown meal over the woodstove. Boy , that was a bit of a challenge as it was 60 out, but I managed to keep it fairly comfortable in the house.
What an indescribable feeling of pride , security, and gratefulness to be able to provide a Dinner from everything we grew, with wood we harvested, split and stacked. To be able to sit down as a family and enjoy and Reflect on all we have ( so so much!!).. especially our Health, which allows us to live this life,, made this day even that much more special.

We followed the meal with a beautiful hike outside and some time at the creek.


If a day were ever perfect, this was the day..


Hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Blessings
The Cool Family