Each season on the homestead is filled with all manner of tasks, but Spring always has the most positive energy it seems.
It's probably because I am feeling positively crazy, but I am going to blame that state on my children. Having a senior who is graduating high school in a little over a month, and a child in competitive shooting sports and track makes things a bit more exciting anyway.
But as far as the homestead goes, well, I've got all the excitement I could ever desire on my acres that I am blessed to be the steward of.
One project that the hubs has been working on is soil regeneration. The front pasture near my garden area has had animals on it since the 90's. Now, that means there is tons of awesome organic matter in the soil of said pasture, but it also means the poor field is way overdue for a breather.
So the hubs got the cultivator out. He scraped up big piles of composted manure for me to use on the flower and garden beds, culitvated the field, and is currently out spreading rye seed where he cultivated as a cover crop. I can't wait to see that gloriousness sprout!
While the hubs has been in full field regenerative mode, I have been in plant cultivation mode. Since I am crazy and decided to start a flower farm on top of everything else I do, I have been spending a ton of time tending to and starting seedlings. Along with starting cold crops in the garden.
In the greenhouse I have flats of strawflowers, celosia, sweet peas, hollyhocks, calendula, marigold, zinnia, and Pro-cut sunflowers growing, along with my yearly peppers and tomatoes.
Two days ago it dawned on me that it was time to start some cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkin plants, as the last frost date in sight! Usually mid-May is our average last frost date, but I think this year it will be sooner. Some years we get frost clear into June, but I don't think this will be one of those years. And I have frost cloth if I'm wrong😉
I usually transplant some warm weather crops and direct seed some too so I don't have everything ready all at once. All the years of practice and gleaning an understanding of my microclimate and soil has its perks!
That said, I feel the crunch time-wise now, and have reacted accordingly. My carcass is sore because of it. With the warm weather coming I felt the pressure to get everything in that needed to be planted for cold-weather purposes, as here for the last few years we haven't got any gradual season transition at all. We are going from snow and mid-20's at night to almost 80 degrees Saturday. Which of course meant I made sure my potatoes and peas were in the ground.
I also installed the sweet pea trellis in the new flower field, and tomorrow the hubs is going to pick up the several hundred feet of landscape fabric I ordered for the annual flower beds.
This week was also the first application of fish and kelp emulsion for the season! My seedlings in the greenhouse lapped up that foliar feeding greedily, as did the garlic patch, asparagus bed, and the rhubarb.
One of the other chores I tended to was the last of my indoor seed starting. I did a plug tray of basil along with a bunch of other flowers, as I am making sure I succession plant all the pretties.
All in all this was a seriously productive week and I feel myself coming alive just like the landscape around me. It's so great to emerge from hibernation and just GROW!
Plus, thanks to all the hard work, I am sleeping magnificently.😁
Do you know what kind of blue bird? I don't know a lot about birds but I always loved the stellar blue jays we had in the Sierras. Such a vibrant blue. Yours reminds me of them.
Have you ever seen bachelor's button flowers? They are a pretty one.
The one in the picture is a Mountain Bluebird. I’ve got Western Bluebirds too, and I love all my little blue friends! They come back and nest here every year and the two pairs that nest in their houses in my garden are very talkative lol. They do have a blue very similar to jays😊
And bachelor’s buttons are one of my faves, I even have some growing in random places around here from one of those years when I went wildflower seed spreading crazy lol. They remind me of my grandpa who despised them because he had to hand weed them out of hay fields as a kid up in Bonners Ferry. I love their color though!
I bottom feed the seedlings in the house, as I don't have a greenhouse/hoophouse. They get foliar feeding once most of them are planted.
I can't wait to see the flower fields...
Oh, it does anyways! It's just not on the walls, etc...
You mean you don't want your house smelling like a cannery?😆
I am so, so excited for the flower fields, can't wait to show them to you!
!PIZZA
Looks like last week you were very busy working on the land. It's worth it. And it will put a smile on your face when you see plants growing.
You are so right, it's so worth it! I'm so looking forward to the smiles and speaking of smiles, thank you so much for dropping by😊
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
generikat tipped diyhub
(2/15) @generikat tipped @goldenoakfarm
We had bluebirds here when we arrived 25 years ago, and someone had positioned bird houses for them. But our cats were too naughty. So we took down the bird houses and encouraged the bluebirds to nest elsewhere. We still see them once in a while, though.
I just planted some squash, cucumbers, and flowers in "pony-packs" and put them in our wimpy greenhouse. It's better than nothing. I guess I ought to post about it....
Kitteh!