homestead

Meanwhile on the Farm

We have had some really lovely weather recently. We also were out covering our fragile plants one night that we had a freeze warning. But, overall, we’ve had warm temperatures. Scott and I spent the weekend working in the garden. We planted our cool weather crops that were started from seed indoors. So far, we have carrots, radishes, onions, cabbage, and potatoes in the ground. I got an alert on my phone last night that penny sized hail was possible and Scott rushed out to cover our tiny cabbage sprouts so that we didn’t lose them. I never heard any hail, so I think we were safe.

It is so life-giving to get your hands in the dirt to cultivate these plants that will feed my family. I prayed while I was planting that the Lord will bless our efforts. Every year, we learn more. Every year, the garden gets bigger. Every year, we face setbacks. But, we will persevere!

Our flock is also growing. Over the weekend, I posted one of our roosters for free. We have too many. This particular roo was getting aggressive to the kids, which I don’t have the patience for. He was so protective of his hens though, so I really wanted to give him a good home. Turns out, someone in our circle was needing a rooster for their flock, and they offered us a turkey in return!

We have been talking about getting a “guard goose” (I know it sounds crazy, but you can look it up.) to help protect the flock from predators. Guinea fowl have also been on our radar because they eat ticks like crazy. Everything lined up and we ended up getting a goose and three guineas over the weekend. Not only will they serve those great purposes, but they will also provide even more biodiversity for protection against certain threats to poultry. All we need now are quail, and we will have all of the farm birds.

I know that I say this so often, but I am so THANKFUL for the gift of being here. We are learning and expanding our skill set so much. I read about someone calling their rental farm the “halfway farm” because they were practicing their skills while saving for THEIR farm. I feel that way. This rental property is so incredible, and I love cultivating it all. But, I also cannot wait for the day when we get to truly call a place ours. I’m just so grateful.

Who know that when God placed a vegetable garden on my heart ten years ago that it would grow into all of this? Everything we do is bathed in prayer, and I encourage you to live your life that way also. When everything passes through prayer, you truly see what is from God.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, friends! Happy Monday!

health, homestead, preparedness

Support Local Farmers

Over the past few years, we have really tried to look for ways to source our food locally. Shortening your food chain is so important.

I know that it is difficult to figure out how to find your local farmers. This has been a process for me as I try to find more sources for what we use. It has taken a lot more work, but it has been so rewarding. I’m going to share some of the ways that we have changed to supporting local farmers instead of big box stores.

A few years ago, we did a CSA program. You can read about our experience here. We really enjoyed being a part of it. But, then we moved and started our own garden and decided to invest that money into our own crops the following year. Getting connected with a CSA is a great place to start. You can go here to find one local to you. When you do this program, you know that you are putting your dollars directly in the hands of farmers. Which in turn puts money right back into your local economy.

Eat Wild— This website has lists of many farms in your state that sell food. Most of our listings have meat and eggs. The cost of sourcing your meat directly from a farmer is SO much more affordable than the grocery store. The quality is also much better. Check out your state and see what you can find. We just purchased 1/4 of a cow this month after starting the process in July. It was so much cheaper than what we have been paying per pound of beef.

Get Raw Milk— This is an awesome resource to help you find local farms to get raw milk for your family. Raw milk still has the probiotics that help your body digest the milk. Pasteurization is why so many people can’t digest dairy anymore. We’ve removed all of the healthy benefits from milk because we are so afraid of the small chance of unwanted bacteria. Raw milk is so much safer than you think. Do the research, don’t just take my word.

If you don’t want to or can’t buy massive amounts of meat, find your closest store that sells local meats. We have a farm store thats an hour and a half away. I try to go once a month to buy our meat for the month. It is MUCH cheaper than even Aldi prices. Finding stores like this takes much more digging. Ask around and see if anyone knows of a place close by.

If you drive in rural areas, you can often find “eggs for sale” signs. Farm fresh eggs taste so much better and have much more nutrition than store bought eggs. These same farms will often have produce available during the growing season.

Search Craigslist. People will post eggs, milk (typically listed as “for animal consumption” due to stupid rules) and extra produce even. Get creative.

It takes a lot of creativity to find what will work best for your area. Once you have your rhythm down, it becomes pretty smooth sailing. These farmers work tirelessly and put so much love and care into what they do. I love being able to directly support them.

If you are local to me, here are some sources that we use:
Kilgus Farmstead— meat, dairy, coffee, soap, honey
Ropp Jersey Farm— Cheese, milk, and meat (Last time I was there they even had elk.) You can even pet the baby cows. Get the dill cheddar. Yum.
Graized Beef— obviously, beef
Janie’s Mill— locally grown and milled flours and grains
Beachy’s Bulk Food Store– This is an amish store, so there’s no website to link. There are so many bulk spices, grains, etc here. Local meats and cheeses fill the freezers.

homestead, preparedness

Preparedness

Preparedness is sort of a buzz word these days. I feel like most people think the term “prepper” means we are looking for a zombie apocolypse. That is a myth.

We have seen, especially over the last two+ years, a major shift in our country. We’ve seen empty shelves and shortages at the grocery store. Limits were placed how many canned goods and packages of toilet paper you could get in a single trip. We have seen our supply chain crumbling. Ships stuck at port. Shortages of truck drivers. It goes on and on. We can point our fingers and blame all kinds of people.

Really, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve removed ourselves from the work required to provide for our own households. We rely on convenience and don’t want to take personal responsibility. It’s easier to go buy a loaf of bread than put in a little work and bake your own, for example.

Preparedness also goes so far beyond what is happening in the world. What if you have a natural disaster? What if you lost your job today? How long would you be able to feed your family? What if you get sick and can’t go to the store for a week? Will you have enough food? Do you have the medicines you need now so that you won’t panic if illness does come?

First, open up your cabinets. Look at what you already use. Those are the items that you want to stock up on for these circumstances. If you lose your job, your family will not appreciate eating freeze dried bananas and beef jerky every day. Buy the cans of vegetables and soup that you already purchase. Look in your freezer. What do you usually cook with?

Buy an extra __________ each time you go to the store. Are you buying green beans? Grab one more can than you need. Get an extra bottle of ketchup. Throw an extra package of bacon and ground beef in the freezer. You’d be surprised at how quickly these things add up in your cupboards and give you a little bit of security.

During cold and flu season, make sure your medicine cabinet has what you will need– whether homeophatic, holistic, or allopathic medicines. You do not want to wake up in the middle of the night with a sick child and be unprepared. Know what you will do. If you have to write it all down just to have peace of mind, do it.

It’s also time to skill up! We need to go back to our roots and cook from scratch again. I saw something recently that stuck with me. It said “I used to joke that I had grandma hobbies. Now I realize it’s because those skills weren’t passed on to the younger generation.” So, here is Grandma Ashley encouraging you to start learning some of these skills. Bread baking is not that complicated. Yes, it takes a lot of practice, and there will be mistakes. But, be willing to be bad at something before you get good at it. Make your soup from scratch instead of a can. It’s much more cost effective and much healthier for you. You can make a double batch of soup and freeze the other half. This also comes in very handy if you get sick.

Learn how to hunt. Jill Winger just did an amazing podcast with Stacy Lynn Harris about hunting that will give you so much good information.

Grow your food. Not everyone has the space for a full garden, but a potted herb on your kitchen windowsill is a start. I started out with a few potted plants when we couldn’t have a garden. It made such a difference. If you can’t grow your own, find a local farmer to support. There are many of us out there.

Homesteading is a different life. I’m aware of that. I’m aware of the blood and sweat we have put into what we’ve built. We sacrifice in many areas of our life to build what we have. This life is prepping in its own way. The goal is to put up food from the garden to last through the winter into the next garden season. It’s a lot of work, and I’ve not been successful in reaching that goal yet outside of garlic. But, it is a goal. And it’s not for everyone. I get that.

Your family is your responsibility. It is no one’s job to bail you out should any of these scenarios come to pass. Yes, community is great and we should be willing to help others if we are able. I have been on the receiving end of so much kindness when our lives crumbled. So. Much. Kindness. But, refusing to do the work and expecting others to carry your weight is unacceptable. Do what you can with where you are at.

I know that this often brings the question of “where will I store this extra?” Do you have space under your beds? Boxes or tubs of canned goods can fit underneath. A little bit of space in a closet? Maybe you have a bunch of junk that you don’t actually want anymore. Get rid of it and use that space for storage.

Rotate through your stock so that nothing expires. I refill my cabinets from our extra stock, and put new groceries away with the stock. That way, ideally, nothing slips through the cracks and gets wasted. Find a system that works well for you.

Everyone can do something. I’m not saying to go out and panic buy. That is also irresponsible and puts a strain on things. Just buy a little extra here and there. I challenge you to learn one new skill this month. Learn how to make scrambled eggs. Bake a loaf of bread. Cook one meal from scratch. Just do something. I encourage everyone to give themselves a bit of food security. It will help you to feel much less panicked if you go to the store and see bare shelves. At least give yourself the extra security in case of a layoff or job loss. I cannot stress that enough, friends.

I am curious what the stores are like where you are. I have noticed that meat seems to be the tricky spot for us. I have to grab meat if I see it because chances are good that I may not see it next time. I should also say that I do not go to the grocery store very often, so what I see may be skewed. We do one big trip a month and then the occasional trip to grab more milk or something I forgot or couldn’t find. Let me know in the comments below.

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If you are wanting to do a long term food storage situation, this brand has had a lot of sales lately. I personally would rather not spend my money on those things outside of a couple of things that I couldn’t grow or make myself should calamity come. Things that may be a treat and make the struggle more bearable. (Brown sugar, honey powder, and chocolate milk for example.) But, it may be the easiest thing for others.

homestead

HOA Conference 2021

Holy cow. I don’t even know where to start.

Earlier this year, Scott and I volunteered to help at the Homesteaders of America conference. We have been learning over the past several years all about gardening, livestock, preserving, etc. Many of the members of HOA are the ones who I have been learning from, so I was excited for the possibility to learn from them in person and help the organization out during the event.

We headed out last week. It was a 10.5 hour drive one way. I am so glad we did it… and so glad that we drove…

I was most looking forward to hearing Jill Winger speak. She has been my #1 mentor for quite a while. She shared how to make the most of your time on the homestead. She gets a ton done, and is super inspiring. We were sitting eating lunch when Scott pointed and said “There’s Jill.” Introverted me almost stayed in my seat, but I got brave. I went up to her and got to chat with her about what we are doing. I walked away completely dumbfounded. She is a wealth of knowledge and inspiration, so go check her out. You can find her Youtube channel, Blog, and Instagram page by clicking on each word there. She also has an incredible podcast called “Old Fashioned On Purpose”. Also, her cook book is excellent. It is not just a cookbook, but also full of tons of homesteading information.

I also got to meet my other mentor, Melissa K. Norris. Once again, a wealth of information and inspiration. Unfortunately, we missed getting to hear her session because we had to get some sleep after being up all night. I will watch it on the membership page later though. You can find her on Youtube, Instagram, blog, and her many books that she has written. She also has a podcast called “Pioneering Today” that is so good. She was so incredibly kind and told us how to take care of the blueberry bush that we bought.. because, yes, we bough a big blueberry bush that rode in a seat home with us.

It really is a gift to be surrounded by thousands of like minded people. We didn’t have to explain any of our choices. It was a group of freedom-loving folks who started each day with prayer and the national anthem. So many people are tired of the system, and see how broken it is. We met several people who were just trying to learn as much as they could before they took the leap into homesteading. Everyone was in a different place with their goals, and it was so refreshing to see what can be accomplished.

We got to see Michelle Visser speak about homeschooling, which was so, so good. Ann Accetta-Scott spoke on food preservation. She had such a packed tent that we couldn’t hear her, and will be watching that one again later. There were so many good sessions that it was hard to pick which ones to go to.

The last night, after most people had gone home, we got to experience “Songs and Stories from the Homestead” that Rory Feek did. His story is so special, and he was so funny and kind.

I am so glad that we decided to take the girls along for the ride. I hope that they learned a lot, and feel just as inspired as Scott and I do. We are home feeling so grateful for all that we got to do and experience.

Thank you, HOA and Amy Fewell for all that you put into this event.

homestead

Back in Business

Friends, we are so excited!!

Our chickens have started laying again. We went four months without fresh eggs. Well, we would get an occasional egg from the chicken that moved to live with us. We also got a duck egg every day from our adopted duck. But, that was not enough to feed our family without buying from the store.

It is so fun to go out and check the nesting boxes every day. We have a lot of chickens that lay green eggs this time. Thankfully, we have only ended up with one rooster, which is our bantam silkie. We have five chicks in the brooder still. I’ll be so glad to be done with brooders. We have had some baby, whether duck or chicken, in a brooder since February. Yikes.

We currently have 26 animals– 10 ducks and 16 chickens. All four of our original ducklings ended up being drakes. We have to get rid of them since we have SIX drakes to one hen right now. They were mating her to death and had ripped out the feathers on the back of her head and causing wounds. We separated her and she has healed really well. But, we have to get rid of the jerks. They serve no purpose here. We are just feeding them and keeping them locked in the run so they don’t hurt any of our hens.

We free-range all of our chickens, the female duck, and our ducklings. They live such a full life, and I LOVE looking out the window and seeing them happily foraging for bugs. Today was the first day that I found an egg in a random place. Our duck (Matilda, because we name them.) laid her egg in the middle of our yucca plants.

We’ve been toying with ways to sell products from the homestead, but nothing is set in stone. If you think that owning chickens will give you cheaper eggs, you are wrong. But, if you want a QUALITY egg from chickens that are fed the best quality of food, owning chickens is the way to go. That is why farm-fresh eggs generally cost more. You get what you pay for.

Our garden is growing also. The garlic is getting close to harvest time. We go out and pick our salad for meals. We did have to re-plant quit a bit since we got some pretty bad storms immediately after planting the garden. It has been a challenge, but we are trying to not be discouraged. Scott and I are learning so much, and so are the girls.

Life in the kitchen has been pretty quiet. During the hot months, we try to grill or make simple meals so that we aren’t heating up the house. Monday felt like fall, so I baked a loaf of bread. It was so nice for a change. If you have any good summer meals, send them my way! I feel like I’m in a rut, and it happens every summer even though we have access to fresh produce.

We thank God every day that He brought us here. Scott and I were talking about it all last night. We both have grown closer to the Lord, our marriage has grown stronger, and our children are so full of joy since we moved out here. We didn’t know what God had in store when He closed doors several years ago. If we had seen what was coming, maybe we wouldn’t have been so hurt and struggled so much. But that struggle and pain stretched us and we grew. Growth is often painful, isn’t it. We still hold everything with an open hand. We know that the Lord directs our paths. We prayerfully approach everything in our lives. There is no better way to live.

garden, homestead

The Family Garden

It has been such a busy season around the homestead. Our biggest projects are complete. Is it possible to even say that? Duck house and run, chicken coop and run, garden and fence.. check, check, check! Nothing is ever truly complete, but we like it that way.

I have seen this meme floating around Facebook, and I really like it. We don’t want to rely on the grocery stores for our produce. If the past year has taught anything, we should see how fragile the “food chain” is in our country. Self-reliance is a huge goal of ours. That is why our family garden is such a big deal to us. I’ve been toying with a post all about this, but can’t seem to put my words together well. Hopefully soon I can organize my thoughts. Anyway.. We expanded this year to add a 13 X 24 foot garden on our homestead.

Because we were starting with a section of our yard, we borrowed a tiller to work the ground up. It was tricky to choose a spot. We have many low spots in the yard where water pools when it rains. We also don’t want it too close to the fields where they are spraying chemicals every year. If you know me, you know I’m all about avoiding chemicals. Avoiding too much shade was also important, obviously. It is next to a tree that has lost most of it’s branches. Thankfully what is left of the maple tree doesn’t create much shade here.

We hope to not have to till anymore after this year so that we don’t lose more topsoil. If you are familiar with the back to eden method, that is what we hope to achieve. It won’t be easy, but nothing easy is ever worth it. We have the wood chips to mulch the garden once the plants have a good start. You can get a free wood chip delivery by signing up with Chip Drop. It is a huge truck of chips, so be prepared when they call you!

The whole family got involved in carrying bags of topsoil to the garden. We also did some bags of composed manure. The kids wouldn’t get anywhere near that.

Once we had the topsoil taken care of, we started planting. We had all of our seed starts to put in the ground as well as plenty of direct-sow seeds. We are also going to try growing potatoes this year, which I’m so excited about! We planted foods that we actually eat, which I find to be incredibly important. Plant what you like instead of taking up space with what is popular. We did plant some chocolate pear tomatoes and pink celery just for fun. I have also found that the kids are more likely to try things that we have grown ourselves. They don’t always like it (cherry tomatoes, for example) but at least they try.

Our weather has been all over the place lately, and I am concerned about possibly losing our little plants. We started them too early this year. We are making notes in our homestead planner so that we don’t make the mistake again next year. They were getting root-bound, and we knew we were going to lose them if we kept them inside any longer. If you have seed starts– don’t forget to harden them off! Take them outside for 2 hours and increase the time each day until they are out for a full 24 hours. Otherwise, they get shocked and die easily. Hopefully the weather will stay warm enough for them all to survive.

Succession planting is something that we are excited to try this year. We have several bush bean varieties planted, and we will succession plant so that we have a greater harvest. We are doing the same with our carrots, radishes, etc. I planted some carrot seeds several weeks ago, and we planted a row of rainbow carrots yesterday. Radishes are fun to grow because you can harvest them approximately 25 days after planting. It’s a great encouragement since much of gardening is a waiting game. Then, when you least expect it, you are overwhelmed by your harvest in the best way.

I planted two strawberry plants last year. They have spread and grown a ton this year, and we are seeing a lot of little baby strawberries growing! It’s all so exciting!! We put some new blueberry and raspberry bushes in the ground this year, and it will be fun to see them produce over the next several years.

This has been so much hard work. All of our free time has been spent preparing and working–whether building coops and runs or raking and working the soil. It has been busy and at times overwhelming. It is so rewarding to see it all coming together.

chickens, homestead

“Escaped Duck Causes Chaos”

Do you like that headline? It’s like a fun news story.

We had beautiful weather two weekends in a row– both weekends that I worked at the library and projects that required two sets of hands couldn’t be completed. Then, a weekend off. A rain, cold weekend off. Scott and I did what we could on Friday evening while it was nice, but Saturday was gross out. We went to Menards (again..) and picked up the last of what we needed to complete the coop. We think.

Sunday morning, we got up to get ready for church. I was getting dressed and coming out to make breakfast when I heard Scott call for “anyone” to come help. He just tells me to follow him. I go downstairs where we have a duck running around free. Apparently she figured out how to flutter enough to fly over the side of the brooder. We caught her and put her back in the brooder.. and made the call that we were about to have the most miserable Sunday. haha! We had our ducks in a large brooder space in our basement (cellar, whatever you want to call it). Our furnace, water pump, etc. are also downstairs and having a duck wandering whenever she pleases is not even close to safe for any involved.

I guess I need to back up. The chicken run shouldn’t affect the duck run, right? We finished the duck house and run many weeks ago. It was at the same time that a friend asked if we could take one of her bantam hens that was escaping their yard. I said yes, absolutely. We knew she would be just fine in the duck house and run while we finished the chicken coop and run. But, when the ducks suddenly need their space, Carmel (the hen) can no longer hang out in the duck area. She is very small, and the ducks are very curious. So, that is why we had to rush to finish the chicken run in order for the ducks to be able to come outside full time.

We spent our entire Sunday building the chicken run. We honestly thought the run was going to be easy. All we needed to do was build the walls for the run and screw on the hardware cloth. W.R.O.N.G. The walls went up so quickly. Framing the door was tricky and took a little longer, but still not terrible. Getting the hardware cloth pulled tight without any slack was a whole different ballgame. We bought an old barn door on FB marketplace that we needed to cut down and reinforce because it had definitely seen better days.

We got the door to the coop put on after dark and filled the coop with pine shavings and moved Carmel over to her new and permanent home. The ducks came outside, also in the dark, and enjoyed their first cozy night in their house. Everyone seems very happy in their new locations. The ducks forage and munch all day. I take our 10 chicks out during the day to hang out with Carmel. It is still getting in the 30s at night, which is too cold for 9 week old chicks. They go back in the brooder at night.

Here is a picture of the coop– it stopped raining while we ate dinner. The picture is so deceiving and makes it look like we had a beautiful day.

We were honestly so cold. We wore our Carhartt overalls over our clothes. We had our hats and coats on with work gloves. We were soaked to the core. I felt like we would never be dry or warm. But, we did it! I am SO proud of Scott. He planned this completely on his own. We built it from the ground up.

Once we get it 100% completed, I will share more pictures and hopefully rope Scott into writing up the plans so we can share them here. We still need to paint the rest of the wood, build a true roost, and bury hardware cloth. None of those will take much time. This weekend, we plan to work up the ground for our big garden– which I think we will call our potager. Potager means “kitchen garden”, which feels fitting. It is great fun, and while we certainly would have preferred a dry day to finish this project, we are thankful to have it almost completed!

chickens, homestead

Chicken Coop Progress

How it Started:

How it’s going:

I went out and took a picture of it again this morning. We put the roof on in the dark last night because the wind finally died down. It’s supposed to be windy all week. Womp. Womp.

Our coop is really coming along! We found a ton of reclaimed barn wood on Facebook Marketplace. When we contacted the seller, it was still on the barn. Scott got the base and the frame done on Friday/Saturday. Sunday, after church, we got started on putting the siding on. We had 20-30 MPH winds yesterday with stronger gusts. That made everything extra challenging. We had to hold pieces up to see if they fit. Some had to be cut down to cut out large holes. On the back wall, you can see big gaps and rough pieces of wood. The inside of the back wall will be completely covered by another wall. We are going to make this thing weasel tight. We are also going to reinforce the corners, so you won’t see any of those rough edges or holes. I’m so excited at how it is looking so far.

Scott wrote up these plans himself, and I’m so proud of him. I plan to do a full blog post on the coop plans, size, and costs. If you have looked at the price of lumber recently, you know that it is SO expensive, and the cost continues to rise. We’ve actually watched prices rise as we have priced things over the past month. It’s absurd. The barn wood was a huge blessing. I also would love to leave the wood as is, because it is just so neat. But, we are going to paint it to give it added protection. We put the really weathered looking pieces toward the inside, so all of those cool details can still be seen. I’m just so thankful. Every time Scott and I are outside, we just stand back and think of how blessed we are. It is so much work. There is always something to be done, but we are loving every second of it. God has blessed us so far beyond anything we deserve.

homestead

Duck House and Run

We have finally been able to check one of our many projects off the list. The duck house and run are complete!

You can see the house before in the above picture– this was last June. The people who lived here before us had this inside of the shed. We pulled it out so that we could make room in the shed for our chickens and nesting boxes. It didn’t look too bad from a distance, but it was in rough shape. We moved it to the new location and took the doors off so that we could paint it all. We wanted it painted to match what we will do with the new chicken coop.

Scott built a new ramp and door so that the ducks will be safe at night.

I don’t mind painting, but all of these little details made me crazy.

The old roof was completely rotten. We pulled it off and Scott built a new roof out of plywood. Then, we used rolled roofing on top of that. For rolled roofing, you need roofing cement and roofing nails. It was super easy to do on a small scale like this. We just rolled it out on the ground, measured, and cut. Scott put the cement on the roof, then we both lifted it on and positioned it. Nails were put in to secure it, and it was done. The roof was probably the easiest part of the project.

Putting everything back together was the trickiest puzzle ever. But, it was completely worth it. It looks so much nicer, and we feel more confident that the ducks will be safe from predators at night.

We have only been able to work on this over the weekends. It took about four weekends to get all of this complete. Scott and the girls buried hardware cloth all the way around the run so that nothing can dig underneath. It is almost time for the ducklings to go outside for good. We are so, so thankful for all that we have been blessed with.

Tarter stock tank— this will be their “pool” to play in
Run kit— do NOT use this as a chicken coop like it is advertized as. Predators could easily get in. That is why we spent so much time making the house secure. We only have hawks as daytime predators, and they won’t work hard enough to get through this. At night would be a different story.
Clark & Kensington satin white exterior paint
Clark & Kensington satin neutral base exterior paint— Midnight stroll
Duck Waterer— this is still inside with the ducks, but we love this waterer for them

garden, homestead

Seeds- Where We Buy and What We Are Growing

It is that glorious time of year. Spring is on its way. The ground is starting to thaw. Seed catalogs have been arriving in the mail for weeks. We ordered our seeds back in January. We have been talking about the garden since we finished up last year. Probably even before then.

I am so excited for the garden. We are expanding our garden quite a bit this year. (I am just praying the “seventeen year cicadas” aren’t going to ruin it all.) In the picture above, you can see where I have drawn our three garden beds. The smaller rectangular raised bed was the only garden bed that we had last year. Scott built the 4X4 raised bed in the fall for our garlic to be planted in. We are working on another bigger bed. We may actually expand it more than what we have in mind right now, but we will see what we need. We had to pivot our mindset when re-starting our flock.

Where We Buy Our Seeds:

We have a few places that we like to order our seeds from. Some have major shipping delays because of the influx of orders this year. I highly recommend ordering ASAP so that you can get started on time.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds This is where we ordered most of our seeds from this year. I love that they have so many heirloom varieties to choose from. They currently don’t have any delays in shipping. Something fun about this company is they send a free packet of seeds with your order, which is a fun way to try new things. Shipping is also free with your order.
Johnny’s Select Seeds You can get free shipping on orders over $200. They are currently accepting home garden orders, so jump on it!
Seed Savers Exchange This is another place with loads of organic and heirloom seeds. I’ve received free seed packets from them with previous orders in the past. They are currently accepting orders, but limiting the number they accept each day, so keep your eyes out.
True Leaf Market This was our first year ordering with them, but shipping was fast. They also had a lot in stock. I’m thinking about ordering microgreens and/or sprouts from them later this year.
Territorial Seed Company Be sure to check their shipping update page to know how things will ship for you.
Annie’s Heirloom Seeds You can get free shipping on orders over $50. They are substituting seeds if something in your order goes out of stock. Be sure to note if you don’t want substitutions.

What we are planting:

This is my favorite part of it all! We are all truly so excited for this season–the kids included. We are trying to plant things that we can store long term through the fall and winter months and things that I am able to water bath can. A pressure canner is at the top of our wish list so that we can safely can veggies and meats. I am so thankful that I was sent a water bath canner a few years ago to try and review. It has been fun to learn how to preserve foods. There is something so incredibly satisfying about pulling a jar of home-canned food off the shelf to eat. Now, on to our long list of what we are planning to grow this year.

Veggies–
Scarlet Nantes Carrots– my plan is to plant a lot of carrots this year. They take a long time to mature. This particular variety is a good storage variety.
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions– these are my favorite, and also a good storage variety.
Chocolate Pear Tomato– I know nothing about these, but I was curious to try them.
Amish Paste Tomato– These will be perfect for sauce. I hope to can many of these!
Tam Jalapeno Pepper– I love jalapeno poppers, and we plan to make salsa as well.
Parris Island Lettuce– this was one of our free seeds from Baker Creek.
Russian Red Kale– Another free variety from Baker Creek.
De Jours Radish– I love how quickly these mature. Yummy as a snack and to go on top of salads.
Chinese Pink Celery– Everyone (but me) loves celery in this family. I’m excited to try another variety.
Flat of Italy Onion– This is another variety that I just wanted to try.
Merlo Nero Spinach– This is supposed to be a slow bolting variety, which is good for our temperature fluctuations.
Utah Tall Celery– We grew this last year, and it was so flavorful. The greens on top were beautiful also.
Musquee De Provence Squash– these are beautiful pumpkins, but are also great storage squash.
Cornfield Pumpkin Squash– just for pumpkins in the fall!

Fruits:
I hope that our strawberry and blueberry bushes grow again this year, so we will see on those.
Beni Kodima Watermelon– This variety is a personal sized watermelon. We have found that we don’t eat a full melon before it goes bad, so we are excited to try these.
Rhubarb– We will plant this in the fall. I ordered these seeds to plant last year, but we couldn’t decide where we would put it.

Herbs:
Genovese Basil
Wild Thyme
Slo-Bolt cilantro
Broad leaf sage
Oregano– growing again from last year hopefully
Garlic Chives–also growing again from last year
*I will purchase rosemary plants because I’ve never had success with starting it from seed.
We will have around 90 head of garlic to pull up when they mature this spring, too!

Beans:
Dragon Tongue Beans (to dry)
Climbing French Green Beans
Hutterite Soup Beans (free variety from Seed Savers)
Black Turtle Beans (to dry)

Flowers:
Lavender
Paradiso Mix Echinacea
Hopi Black Dye Sunflower
Autumn Beauty Sunflower
Evening Sun Sunflower

Cover Crop— We have winter rye to plant in our gardens after the main growing season is over. This will help put nitrogen back in our soil and prevent soil erosion during the winter months. I’ve tried to learn about soil health. The healthier our soil, the healthier our plants and food will be.

Of course, these plans could always change. We hope to grow more and more each year as we learn preservation methods. I’ve been slowly buying canning jars and/or lids whenever I find them in the stores. If you didn’t know, there is a major shortage happening on canning equipment. If you are a canner, buy when you see it all or you may miss out. It’s wild times.

I hope that it was warming up where you are! If you garden, what are you planting this year? The big girls want to have their own little garden space to grow flowers, so it will be fun to see what they choose.