Welcome to our garden....

Well yesterday we visited the chicks, so today as promised I will show you our garden raised beds.  I have always had the old fashioned conventional garden, you know, the dig in the dirt, break your back to till, spend hours and days ridding weeds type garden.  It wasn't always fun but it was a great produce maker and had lots of space.

Since we have moved to our daughters land, she has always used the raised bed garden.  I must admit it has always  intrigued me.  So when we moved here she and I began to talk of having a good size garden this year so that we could preserve the produce for the winter.  With the way this country is going right now we must plan and do what we can to take care of and provide for our family with what ever we are able to and have at hand.

When I was young, I remember spending many summers along side my grandparents working in the garden or in the kitchen with them canning and freezing all of the produce from our garden.  I can honestly say that those were some of the best times of my life,  My grandma instilled in me a love of  canning and baking that I carry to this day.  I can tell you that I still love to walk through a garden and dream of what those beautiful plants are going to bless me with with a little water, a little sunshine and a little help from the Lord above.

I have gotten off the path so let me get back to my garden story for you.  This year my daughter and family decided we needed to double the size of her old garden so she and her hubby built 4 more boxes for a total of 8.  I will tell you in advance, that still is not enough!!

working on the new garden boxes

Anyway, the adding of the boxes was quite a good days work making us feel quite accomplished when finished to say the least.

So with this addition of 4 more boxes we are able to greatly expand what we want to grow and we had started some seeds in the house  to be place outside in the boxes.  Needless to say we planted to soon and with help from the many of the plants did not make the cut to the garden.  

This was one of the lucky survivors in the tomato plants that made the cut. We have planted a mess of tomatoes so I am sure we will be picking and canning them for weeks!!  Below you will find some of the "instant garden" we have planted and despite all the rain they all look really good today.

Peppers 

Lettuce and Strawberries in the planter

 

We decided to move the strawberries to a planter for easier access and to be decorative later.  

So I think we are all done with the planting of the garden and no, we did not have enough space even with the addition of the boxes we still had to till up 3 more conventional spots along side the beds to place potatoes, cauliflower, onions and garlic.  

 So what we planted in our garden:  Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and jalapeno's strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, sugar snap peas and Kentucky wonder pole bean.  That is a full garden and will be lots to put up for the winter I am sure.

Along with this garden I decided to try and plant a few things with the chicken girls in mind so I did small container gardens for them. I decided to place these close to the run for the girls so that I can treat them when ever I go in to visit them.  To put them in  the run would mean they would wipe them all out in one sitting and they would have no treats this summer. So far everything is doing well.  

I have lettuce coming up in the little square containers, in the buckets I have a Patio tomato plant  and cucumber for them.  I also planted Rosemary, Thyme and Basil for my usage in my kitchen.  In the green planter is mint that is supposed to keep the mice away and that will go in the ground all around the coop when it gets bigger to help keep the mice away (hopefully).  

Lettuce for the girls and for my salads.

Tomato and Cukes, with mint in the blue pot behind the buckets.  Please note these items will be removed from run before the chicken girls have access to their new run.  That will be this weekend.  I have placed them in there to protect them from all the rain the past few days.  

Thyme, Rosemary and Basil

So that ends my little garden tour for today.  Hopefully the rain is done for a few days and these     plants will grow like crazy.  So I hope you have a blessed day today and everyday.  You can choose to do anything, choose to be kind.  Take care and we will see you very soon back here at SunflowerFarms.  

They are here!!

Well the last time I was here I told you that chicks were on the way and you saw our progress on our coop and run.  I am very happy to say the build was a success and is now complete.

When I say complete I mean really complete.  Our chicks arrived on the 27th of April and spent 2 weeks in the house in totes in the bathroom and laundry room.  Why inside with such a nice coop you ask?  Well we live in Michigan and Mother Nature has a sense of humor it seems.

We thought that the babies would be able to go immediately to the coop but the day they arrived it was a blustery rainy day and we knew that the best decision would  be to keep them in the warm house.......  for a day or two.  BUT the weather had other plans.  Not only  did it rain but the temps dropped, and we even got a couple days of snow.  So the babies had to stay inside, which was okay for a week.

But 19 chicks is about 10 too many in one tote so we had to separate and divide into 2 totes and then into another room.  This was the 6th day and they grew so fast we knew what we had to do.

So bring on the next tote and lets let them have some room.  The chicks were much happier.  I did have 2 little chicks that had a bad case of pasty butt and one developed a prolapsed vent so I had to be very choosy who I put with who.  So luckily we have chosen 4 very docile breeds and it was not to difficult to choose.  We have Salmon Favorolles, Austrolorpes, Delewares and Speckled Sussex.  All very sweet girls for sure.  

Now the chicks are 3 weeks old and if you are at all familiar with chickens you know what little mess makers they can be.  Needless to say they needed to be moved to that lovely coop ASAP.  We love them but we didn't like the mess, the dust and the poop!  OH so much poop!   I had forgotten how much poop they can produce and with 2 brooders going ...... yeah  they had to go out.  

So when they turned 2 full weeks they made the move to the big girl coop.  We had a few pretty chilly nights but with the help of a little space heater and some dividing of the coop the girls did just fine.  Now they have full run of the coop and they are beginning to truly become chicken girls.  They love life and I love these little egg makers. 

 I can't wait for the day when I can take a little run out to the coop and gather some goods!!!    Some fruits of their labors this time....

But that is a few months off for now.....   If you have never had a fresh from the nest egg before.....  You have no idea what you are missing out on.  They are the best,.  and I know what my chickens ate and how healthy their eggs really are,  

Well until next time everyone, have a blessed day and we will see you soon.  Next time we will show you our garden and how it is progressing.   Be kind to one another and take care.  See you soon.

They are here!

Fuzzy Butt Plans

         One of the best things about coming home again is the joy and anticipation of raising chickens again.  I love chickens....  I love just about everything there is to do with chickens and I even don't mind cleaning up after chickens.  I love all the eggs they bless us with.  I love all the different color eggs these sweet girls give you.    I can't imagine having a small farm without having some fuzzy butt girls to brighten my day.  They are my joy in the early mornings and I love to sit and have little conversations with them each day.  
     So if we want to have chicks, we must build a place to put them.  Some place safe for them and easy for me to clean and gather the goods they leave for me.  Thus the coop and run build has begun.  It won't be a big coop.  Not nearly as big as what I had in South Carolina or Arkansas but definitely just as safe as those.  My husband likes to call them his version  of Fort Knox.  We have a lot of predators here as we did in SC so he is making it as safe and impermeable as he can.  This time will be no different as the last two times.  I will only have a small flock this time but they will be so special to me.  I am finally getting a breed I have longed for so I intend to keep them as safe and healthy as I can.  
     The chicks will be here in just a few days so we must  get this coop ready for the big day.  Here are just a couple pictures of the progress of the run which is almost done and the coop that we began today.  If you have any questions about how we are doing the build you are welcome to ask in the comments or send me an email.  For now I will sign off it has been a busy day and tomorrow promises to be even longer.   See you next time when the fuzzy butts check into town and take up residence in Sunflower Farms .  Until next time...... Take care and be kind to everyone. 

Who says you can't go home again?

 So welcome to my little homestead.  Please come in, kick your shoes off and sit back and enjoy  a cup of tea and some company.  This is the story of my adventures with my family, my chicken girls and my homesteading adventures.

We are HOME!     
 Its  been a long time since I could say those words.  My journey started quite a few years ago.  My husband and I started our country life adventure 16 years ago.  We moved from our home in Michigan to find a bit more relaxed life than the hurry happenings of a big city.
     Our journey took us from Arkansas to South Carolina to Florida and now back home to Michigan.  Needless to say I am thrilled, my husband not quite so much. We moved to Arkansas to be close to family....  that moved back to Michigan years ago.  We stayed, and watched the  oil fracking companies absolutely ruin our land, home water and peace and quiet.  So we moved to South Carolina, my personal favorite place to be ever.  We had gorgeous land, with a river view and breathtaking mountain views literally minutes from our front door.  The weather was amazing, the countryside breathtaking and I had chickens, lots and lots of chickens.  I loved my home there and would have been very content to live there forever......  but my husband wanted warmer weather.  HOT weather actually.  So we went to Florida. 
     Florida was not what I was wanting or needing.  The weather was HOT all the time except for  2 or 3 months of the year.  It rained almost everyday in the afternoon, the humidity was as miserable as Arkansas.  The snakes and gators and monkeys were not entertaining to me at all.  The land was not good for planting where we landed and I could not have chickens, the beaches were too far away to enjoy and the scenery where we were was nothing  to admire.  Can you tell I was not happy there?  I stayed because my husband liked it there and yet he even admitted the last year was too hot and humid for him soooo......  back to Michigan we went.
     Michigan is where our daughter and kids live on a lovely 3 acre piece of land with a lake view.  Michigan is where we were both born and raised.  Michigan is where my heart was and now we are home where we began the journey.  So we have come full circle.  Who ever said you can not go home again I think may have been wrong,   Just sayin......

      Moving to Michigan has made me very happy, not just because I was born and raised there but also where we live now I can once again have a garden and chickens.  I will be with family and be able to enjoy watching the girls grow into beautiful young women.  I will have a chance to enjoy the good times and the nots so fun times with my kids.  I can have a family once more.  I have found as I go through the seasons of my life that nothing else matters so much to me than to spend time with my God and to be surrounded by those that I love. my family. 
     So until next time......  see you on the homestead.