Now that it's getting warmer, we have been working on an enclosed space to move the trees to.
We cleared out any dead limbs from the trees overhead, opening up a little more light and avoiding possible high wind bombs. It also has weed barrier over the ground.
Once we move all the big trees and shrubs into the outside nursery, we'll be planting a bunch more inside the greenhouse.
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We now have 6 new beehives.
We've opened them up a couple of times, and they all seem to be doing well. There's plenty of brood, eggs, and bees in all of them, although we did have to give one weaker hive a couple of extra brood frames from the strongest hive. None of them have started to fill out the supers yet.
We'll continue to monitor them while they're getting established, but it all looks good.
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We've been keeping on top of the garden work - weeding, replanting things that didn't come up, etc. - and it's really paying off. Many of the plants are growing like crazy. We're currently only eating greens and radish, but we're about to start on the carrots and beets too. Plus, all the peppers, cucumbers, squash, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans, etc. are taking off.
We added a trellis to the tomatoes, as they were all falling down, and we'll probably have to do one for the cucumbers and beans soon.
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Now that the night-time temperatures are such that we no longer need to close up the greenhouse, we have added a shade cloth. The plastic sides are now kept open, and the shade cloth goes down to the ground. It's keeping things nice and cool in there.
This week, we'll be moving most of the trees outside, so we can start a whole new batch.
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We're getting six new bee hives this weekend. Seeing as there are so many wild flowers around at the moment, we figured we should get prepared for them, by building each hive a super.
While my dad was here, he assembled the six supers (honey boxes). We then painted them, to make them more durable in the weather. They are now filled with their plastic frames.
We have a pallet all set up in the place where we'll put the six hives. So, just waiting on the bees...
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My dad came for two weeks, and my sister came for four days during that time. It was lovely seeing them both.
Before they came, they asked what kind of clothes they'd need. I'd informed them that we were pretty much into just shorts weather. Of course, that meant it was time for a random little cold front to blow in, dropping the temperatures from the 80s to 40!!! Oh well, as people in these parts keep telling us, "If you don't like the weather in East Texas, wait 10 minutes and it'll change".
I think the highlight for my sister was definitely the animals; she has a particular soft spot for all little critters. One of Vickie's cows had a HUGE calf. He was born so big that he came out like a one month old, and ended up having to be bottle-fed. I think Sharon wondered if she'd be able to fit him in her carry-on!
If I had to guess what my dad liked most, it would probably be the night trips we took on the 4x4. He'd shine the spotlight to catch the glow of eyes in the darkness. We'd then race over to see what it was. We saw possum, deer, armadillo, skunk (our puppy, Candy, got sprayed for the first time!), and owls. There were several species we didn't get to see, but maybe next time.
The boys loved having them both here. It was the best birthday present for Leo, who turned 10 on April 11th. Now, however, all our guests are gone and we have to get back to work! We miss them.
For family who want to see more pics, you can go to flickr.
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Micro-greens is an intensive form of growing greens. You plant a bunch of seeds in a tray with some soil, and then eat them shortly after they've sprouted. They are extremely nutrient dens, and much tastier than regular greens.
We've now done two batches and are on our third. The first two times we planted sunflowers, radish, and peas. We are now trying out some kale and arugula as well.
The greens from the photo were left a little too long (we were just too busy!), and the flavor wasn't as good, but still a great success.
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When we only had a couple of rows planted, watering by hand with a hose wasn't such a big deal. However, now that two thirds of the 5000 square foot area is planted, it had become a chore.
So, we installed an irrigation system. The garden is now split into four zones. The first one, which consists of three rows at the top and three at the bottom, is made up of drip lines. These are for the plants that prefer not to be watered from above (like squash, cucumber, tomatoes). The other three zones, with six rows each, have sprinklers.
Everything is set on a timer, so that they come on, one after the other, in the early morning.
We have also started putting mycelium and mulch in the paths, so that as the "wasted" space gets water, it will produce mushrooms.
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It was a really fun Easter. We had Abe's mom and my dad here, which was reason enough for the boys to be ecstatic.
However, they also had a great Easter egg hunt (it took them a long time to find all the eggs and they were only hidden in the area right around the house), AND they got a fantastic new toy from my dad... a trampoline!
They bounced most of the day and ended up absolutely exhausted. Still, they really love it. In fact, it is the first thing they have done every day after school, once they've finished their homework and fed the animals. They bounce and bounce, and are now starting to do some basic somersaults. Can't wait to see what they can do in a year!
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It's been crazy busy here for the past couple of weeks, so I haven't had much time to blog. But now that things have calmed down and we can relax a little, I'm back!
One of the main reasons we've had so much to do is that, aside from spring gardening and other normal homesteading chores, we have been trying to get the cabin ready for its first guest, my dad. Even putting in long hours, we didn't get it anywhere near finished, but at least it works as a basic bedroom.
Drywall
We had thought we'd be able to hang all the drywall in time, but it just didn't work out that way. Still, we got all the ceilings up and the bedroom walls. Once my dad leaves, we'll finish the living room and bathroom, and then we'll have to tape and mud it all, followed by painting and trim :(
Electric
We dug a trench from the electric pole to the cabin, for the mains wire and its conduit. We then wired up the breaker box inside the cabin, as well as all the lights and fans, and the plugs in the bedroom. The bedroom may not be finished out completely, but at least there's lights and plugs.
Plumbing
We have the bathroom plumbing in the walls done. It is ready for a shower, toilet, sink, and hot water heater. The grey water vent is finished, but the drain just goes through the floor for now, not out to the garden bed it will eventually water. We'll finish it all out once the drywall is done in that room.
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We have been putting insulation up in the cabin, and it is almost completely done now.
We have to do the plumbing in the bathroom, and then we'll start on sheetrock.
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So, we decided to try out a breed developed at Texas A&M. The rabbit is a mixture of different breeds, developed especially to be heat tolerant, among other things. They come out all different colors and are supposedly very hardy. The mix has now been recognized as a distinct breed, called TAMUK (Texas A&M University Kingsville). We'll see how they do.
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Last week, one of the cows we manage gave birth to a beautiful calf. It's the first one born since we've been here, but it looks like there'll be a lot more coming soon.
Things are now really greening up around here, which will help the lactating mamas. We're still giving them hay and minerals, but they eat less and less of both as the grass grows.
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For my birthday, Abe surprised me with five beautiful hens, which is fantastic, as a homestead just doesn't seem right without chickens. It's not only the eggs that we were missing (in fact, our neighbor gave us all the eggs we could use), it's the scraps. We give some scraps to the dogs, some to the rabbits, and the rest to the Black Soldier Flies, but there have been so many times when I've hated giving the BSF something that was made for chickens. And, of course, we now have something other than fish that will eat the BSF grubs!
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So, as we harvest some of the winter crops, we have to prep the garden beds for the Spring garden. For now, this entails mowing down any weeds and plants, and sprinkling liberally with rabbit manure, which we have in abundance.
Rabbit droppings are one of the new animal manures that you can apply directly to the garden. It isn't "hot", so it won't harm anything, and it's very effective as a plant food. Plus, it is already in pellet form and is quick and clean to gather. It's one of the many reasons we love our rabbits.
It's raining at the moment, so we'll let the bed get good and wet. Then, we'll put a tarp over it, in order to kill any new weeds coming up. After a few days, we'll be able to loosen the soil and plant the new crop.
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