Our Lady's Windy Acres

OK...I'm officially a homesteader

How do I know this? Well...for my recent birthday I received, to my surprise, a number of useful presents. A pistol, ammunition for said gun, a gun cleaning kit, and a John Deere t-shirt.  Well now...so much for a gardening apron or a new stainless steel cookie sheet!

So...today I get to really enter into the world of homesteading. We've caught a raccoon in a trap, and it's going to be my job to "dispatch" the little critter using the aforementioned present. Ah, the joys of farm life when your hubby is out of town.

Could be worse I suppose. 

Life on the Farm

Strawberry heaven and haying heck

There's something so deeply satisfying about picking your own strawberries, and knowing that your family is eating healthily!  I planted June-bearing plants last year, and dutifully picked off all the blossoms as I was told, so we were all excitedly waiting for the hopefully bountiful harvest - we weren't disappointed! I can't wait to make some jam!!!!

Now on the flip side of the coin, haying is another story. The weather just won't cooperate - we no sooner get the hay cut, dried on one side and flipped but that it rains and we're back at square one.  Add to that the fact that we do all this by hand and it becomes quite hard on the family. I pray the rain will hold off enough so we can get the hay in before it gets ruined!

An introspective moment in the garden

Last week, when I finally (!) decided to tackle the weeds surrounding the baby potato plants, I had a lot of time to think, work, sweat and pray.  It came to me that the Sacrament of Confession (confession of your sins to Jesus Christ through the priest) is much like weeding a garden.

If you procrastinate, the weeds can get a stranglehold on the plants you have lovingly placed in the earth, preventing them from bearing good fruit and eventually winning the nutrition war and starving them.  The same can be said of not keeping up with the Sacrament - the sins get a stranglehold on your soul and become much stronger and more able to "starve out" the goodness and graces that are resident there.

However, if you weed daily it takes less time and less effort to keep the plants thriving as God intended. So, an examination of conscience is vital in order for good fruit to form in your soul.

I wonder if anyone else has thought this? I thought perhaps the Holy Spirit was talking to me through my tedious work, to get me to learn a deeper lesson.

Oh, and I realize that many members on Homesteadblogger are not Catholic, which is why I put the explanation in quotes as to what the Sacrament is. I ask humbly and respectfully that if anyone feels called to leave a comment, they are most welcome, unless it is intended to get me into a theological discussion. I respect that we are not all the same, but that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

May God bless you on this wonderful Flag Day!

Projects accomplished!

Homesteading update - orchard's in!!!

My DH was so sweet - he planted all 17 fruit trees for me the other day! I'm so so happy to see them in, and I pray that they will bloom and prosper!  Counting as of now, we have 2 mature pears, 1 peach and 5 mature apple trees that have been here for years (I assume - we've only been here 2 years).  Last year we planted 4 new apple trees, and last fall 1 cherry tree. Earlier this spring we planted 3 more cherry trees and as of yesterday we now have 3 more pears, 3 more peaches, 3 plums, 3 more cherries, and 5 more apples! How exciting!!! 

Our strawberry patch is growing and growing (that might be a problem lol) and I'm so looking forward to trying our first taste of June berries!

Our blueberries seem to be doing well, as are our elderberries.

OH!!! We have 14 new chicks - buff orpingtons that we just moved out of my basement to the barn (yay!).  This brings our layer count up to 29.  I'm hoping that come Fall we'll have plenty of eggs - enough to eat as well as sell.

Our garden is barely planted - some potatoes, peas, carrots and lettuce, but we've had soooo much rain that it hasn't made sense to plant anything else. I'm hoping that will change in the next 2 weeks. I'd like to get the garden planted, my seedlings transplanted (first to plastic cups and then outside).

I think my next topic will have to do with my homestead wish list LOL!

Have a blessed day/night/whatever!!!!

Moving right along...sort of

Well....we're sort of moving along. My peas have come up, I think my butterhead lettuce is also, but I'm concerned because I've seen no sign, and I mean no sign, of my spuds (potatoes to you non-Irish folk out there) or my first crop of carrots.  Most of my seedlings (tomatoes, peppers and cantaloupe) in the house aren't doing well - very leggy and anemic looking, and I'm not sure why. Sigh.  I have 14 of my 16 Buff Orpington's bopping right along, but I wish they'd feather out because I'm so so tired of cleaning up after them! Ick! LOL!! When you think about it, chickens are a lot like kids - the bigger they get the bigger their messes get, and the worse they get at cleaning after themselves!

Anyway, I think I'm going to invest in some fruit trees that are on sale through a catalog I have, and work on expanding the orchard.

I keep getting a feeling that something big is coming down the pike. I don't know what it is, I just know "IT" is coming and it isn't good.  I keep feeling that we need to get sorted out, get more self-sufficient and more prayerful.

Wow....weeds!

Oh my...I had no idea  how many weeds were already making their presence known in the garden patch - but my back is telling me today!!  How they manage to grow with all the snow we've gotten - but they did, the little critters!

However, my trusty hoe and I were busy whacking away (and getting calories burned by the by) while DH rototilled the area with our trusty Mantis!

Now to plan the garden and plant what I can outdoors, and start my seeds indoors - better late than never!

I'm back!!!!! Spring is here!

Alrighty! Gave myself a swift kick in the pants now that I have two good feet, and realized that I've got to blog a lot more!  Luckily, one of my major e-mail groups that I was moderating closed down as well as a Forum tied to that, so now I have a bit of time freed up to focus on the homestead blog - yippee!!!

So...finally we had a decent Spring day here yesterday, but of course no unnecessary servile work was done here - my daughters and I went to a bridal shower, and the menfolk went off for a hike. 

I finally have all my seeds in and ready, and now have to plan the garden. I think the smartest thing I ever did was to buy a journal to keep gardening information and notes.  I drew out where all our crops were last year so that I can plant them in different areas this year.  I'm a bit behind, but I'll be starting some of my seeds today in the little Jiffy packs.  Better late than never!

Last week, we really had an interesting time - we got to learn how to milk a cow in order to help out some neighbors who went out of town. It was great hands-on experience (excuse the pun) that allowed us to see what owning a dairy cow entailed and for us to discern whether or not it was something we wanted to jump into.  By the end of the week, my daughter was getting more milk out of Gloria than her owner! I was really impressed by her - she's turned into quite the farmer!

We also ordered our chicks last week - we have Barred Plymouth Rocks, but this year I'm getting Buff Orpingtons - very pretty orangy gold color!  I read about changing the laying breeds every year - that way, when the eggs slack off you know it's the first breed, and they can go to the stewpot rather than trying to guess which one of the biddies is done.  Not sure what breed I'll get next year, but I do know we've gotten a small customer base for our eggs, and I want to be prepared for that.

We sure are blessed - I just have to make sure I remember that when I go to the grocery store and see the prices soar yet again! 

Have a happy Spring day everyone - it's good to be back!

New Year on the Farm

I can't believe I let so much time pass between postings. Of course, a broken foot and a computer in the basement might have had something to do with that! 

Well with winter sort of settling in - I wish it would make up its mind...it's time for me to go over what we accomplished here at OLWA, and figure on our plans for the upcoming year.

The laying hens were a big success!  We bought Barred Plymouth Rocks - only 15 of them since our learning curve was a steep one, and they're all fat, sassy, and giving us a dozen eggs a day!  Our garden (60x30) worked out well, with the exception of the rhubarb and gooseberry plants, and our potatoes got a flea beetle infestation, but everything else went very well!  We need to all work harder at the weeding, and I need to do more succession planting rather than all at once LOL!  I also need to make myself can more instead of procrastinating!  I'll be better next summer, especially if I have the right equipment!

So...next year's tentative plans are to expand the garden, put some more fruit trees in the orchard, make best use of the garden produce that I can, and perhaps venture into another breed or layers or even (gulp) meat chickens!!!!

The smell of sunshine

My farm runneth over!

An update on my veggie and fruit patch - the strawberries turned out to be June-bearing, and are finished (of course) but still sending out runners. Haven't decided what to do about those! My 6 blueberry bushes seem to have survived their first season, and have deep red leaves - hope that's normal.  My four elderberry bushes are growing like weeds (!) and I'm looking forward to making elderberry jam next year.  My potato crop failed (ok, only 3 rows but it was a crop to me ) due to what I think were flea beetles, but we did get a few spuds, so this Irish gal is happy!  The romaine has bolted and been strewn on the compost pile, while my cukes are threatening to take over the world!  Thanks to my neighbor Molly, I've canned some bread and butter pickles, and am facing my canning phobia one jar at a time!  If this sauna-type weather lets up, I'll harvest my Nelson and Hercules carrots, then blanch and freeze them as I've been doing with the green beans (well, my daughers have been doing the beans - what a blessing!).  I've got baby green bell peppers making an appearance.  We've got peas coming up, a veritable tomato forest...complete with its own wildlife aka tomato  hornworms...ICK!  Very hard to see those little buggers, but at least they're free chicken food!  The watermelons are sprouting up, and we have paper plates under them to protect against rot and worms, and the corn is higher than me - well, ok that's not saying much, considering I'm just over 5 feet!  I feel so blessed to be able to see nature and God in action.  Just growing some of our own food is SUCH A PRIVILEGE, and I think everyone should be required to do it at least one season, just to realize what our farmers go through, what the world goes through, and where our food comes from BEFORE the grocery store!

Off to help teach Algebra...ick! God bless your day and families!

Time for an update!!

Wow!  I can't believe I've let 6 weeks slide by without posting!  I can't keep a journal of our journey to self-sufficiency if I don't write, no matter whether photobucket is working for me or not, so here I go.

The garden has done amazingly well!  I'm now harvesting cukes and romaine lettuce, and everything else seems to be coming up well.  The potatoes had an infestation of flea beetles, but I found an organic spray to use on them so so far so good.

Our chickens have grown into lovely young ladies, and I'm waiting impatiently for eggs in about a month.  I'm thinking that I maybe should expand into meat chickens, but I don't know if I'm ready for doing the killing and dressing.  Hubby isn't into that so I can't very well ask him to do something I wouldn't do.  It's unfortunately one of those things that you can't learn too well from books, imho.  Perhaps I can get my neighbors to teach me.  I've also been thinking about getting a mini-Dexter dairy cow for milk and butter and cheese.

I want to expand our orchard, too, because these old trees we inherited are on their way out.  We did plant 4 new apple trees this year, but I think I may have to jump start that next year and plant twice as many, as well as expanding the different kinds of fruit.

Hopefully God will give me enough time to get my self-unsufficient act together before the world hits the skids.

Have a blessed day and week, everyone!

The planting continues....

My goodness, life goes by fast these days!  Well, since last entry I've gotten 3 rows of potatoes in, cukes, romaine, and two different kinds of carrots. I still have to plant peas and bush beans (yes, I'm late, aren't I?) , corn and then I've got melon, tomato and bell pepper seedlings growing in the house.  I have to say, though, that I don't know if they're coming up ok or not. Some have died, and I have no idea why. Perhaps a little helper has been opening the curtains and giving them direct sunlight.  I sure hope that I learn more while during all this. I have to admit to being totally flummoxed with most of this veggie stuff, and I have to work hard not to get frustrated at all the knowledge not passed down to me by my elders.  However, God has given me the grace of learning, so hopefully I'll do exactly that. 

The chickens are getting bigger every day, and now actually look like chickens!! We're hoping to build a chicken tractor with the next paycheck, because I want to get them out and scratching.

Blessings to everybody!

Newest goings on At Our Lady's Windy Acres

Personality Quiz

Twisted Noah's Ark

OK, I'll admit it...we  have a twisted Noah's Ark. Why twisted you say? Well, my dears, simply because none of these silly animals can reproduce LOL!  I finally took stock and what do I find? A gelding and a mare (don't tell the gelding he's one of those!), 2 drakes - I call them the old bachelors (or Felix and Oscar depending on my mood), 2 neutered female barn cats (who adopted us and before getting neutered gifted us with 11 kittens), the 5 male cats out of the 2 litters (I'll admit it, they aren't likely to bring anyone home pregnant)15 pullets for laying eggs, 2 female rabbits (not sure why we have them!), 1 neutered male 7 year old white German Shepherd and 2 male stray pups that were abandoned on our road this week.  Sigh....I guess some of them can be a meal if things get really, really, really bad LOL!  Now, everyone pray we find our camera. I want to take pics of the Barred Plymouth Rocks I have, as their feathers are coming out, but waaaaah, the camera has gone missing, mysteriously! St. Anthony, come around! Something's lost and can't be found!

New happenings on the farm!

Well, it's definitely time to update everyone!  We had gutters and downspouts finally put up on our barn, but I found out I won't be able to use rain barrels for the veggie garden because of the zinc in the metal siding...boo hoo!  Ah, well. I guess I can still set up some barrels to catch rainwater near the garden!  Speaking of which, we rototilled the whole thing, about 2000 square feet, yesterday! Boy, do my arms hurt! Even though we used a Mantis, it still is like holding down a bucking bronco with all this clay soil!  I found muscles I didn't know I had!!

I attended an interesting conference/seminar this past weekend put on by the Weston A. Price organization - fascinating stuff!  Makes me want to chuck all the "bad" food in our pantry and really start cooking everything from scratch! Babysteps are better for me, however!!

We also ordered our chicks, 15 Barred Plymouth Rocks, due in next Tuesday. There's no backing out now!!  I've cleaned out the bigger stall in the barn that was used by previous owners as a coop, but I'm not sure if I can use that one for the wee chicks or whether I need to also clean out the smaller stall that has chicken wire over the top. Blech! Not a fun job...did I mention we had 81 degrees here yesterday, and today it's dropped down into the 30s and we have sleet? This kind of weather after a taste of Spring is just ... wrong!  It's going to be like this through Easter, so I don't fancy going out into the freezing barn to clean that grotty place!  Oh well, I guess a big box will work just as well...I hope!  I'm hoping to add some pics to the album soon, so stay tuned!  God's blessings, and a Joyous Easter to everyone!

I am very blessed...

I wish Spring would spring already!!

Well, here we are...we've been teased with 70 degrees on Monday, and today it was raining and snowing!   I surely would like it if Spring would actually stay around, although there is hope!  There were bunches of robins on the ground getting the drowning worms near the barn this morning, so since robins are a sign of spring, it's all good!

We're adjusting to Suntide, the new bay gelding. He's adjusting to us, but it's a loooong way to fall off his back, as one of my I'm-immortal daughters found out yesterday, God bless her!  She's a bit sore, but none the worse for wear.  I'm to keep this info "in the house" she says, so legally I'm cool because I'm typing this..you guessed it..in the house!!   We also found out that he's got a couple of famous ancestors....Secretariat is one and Affirmed is another, as well as Northern Dancer.  Did we get a blessing or what?  Now, I really have to sit down and order my seeds and then, once this new storm passes, go clean up the chicken coop stalls in the barn for the wee chicks.  It sure is starting to feel real!