The Birth of Spring

Now that it is finally spring and the weather warming up it is time for the garden to get to work. We had previously tilled up a large area at the back of the hay field to plant into and have been letting the soil get prepped for planting and its finally time to fill it up.

Our goal this year is to maximize on what we relatively successful in our small front garden. Which was peas/ beans/ and collard greens. We ordered seeds for purple hull, zipper cream, and elite peas, bush beans in large quantities and got to planting.

Hope helped us set up the seeder and we walked the rows dropping them as consistently as we could. Once the seeds were dropped Jaken went behind covering them up with the soil while Hope made sure he didn’t miss a single one. We also planted watermelons, collard greens, onions, carrots, beets, spinach, lettuce, and broccoli. We shall see what takes off.

We also decided to build a large raised bed in front of out “Green Giant” barn with some cedar planks we found out in the Dixie Barn. We had learned that these planks were milled by my great Uncle when he worked out at the saw mill a long time ago. Its nice to see them put to use instead of laying in a pile waiting for the perfect project and they sure do make an attractive, albeit rustic picture.

Once built we filled them with hay, topsoil, manure, and BACTO before plating tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalapenos. But we didn’t stop there. We also would love to have some fruit on the farm so we purchased some strawberry plants, blueberry bush shoots, and blackberry shrubs. We got the old original flower bed cleaned out and put three blueberry bushes in as well as two yellow rose bushes for companionship and because they are just pretty to look at.

This flower bed was the front of the original house that was on the property back in 1952 when my aunt and uncle bought the land and when it started falling apart they tore it down but left the flower bed and concrete walkway with it. Growing up I loved that we always had Aunt Dixie’s rose bushes our in it but when dad passed and no one was there to keep them up it fell to the wayside. It just feels right to have some roses back in that flower bed and makes my heart smile.

We took our blackberry shrubs and hanging strawberry pots out to the back of the hay field where our wooden swing is and hung the strawberries up on the frame and say the blackberries on the ground beside it as a kind of berry grove. We already have several strawberries coming in and turning red.

After all our planting and potting was taken care of we came up to the house to collect our thoughts when Jaken heard a tap tap tap. He looked up where the noise was coming form and say a tiny face and beak pop up in the incubator window. We got close and looked and had six little yellow chicks stumbling around their hatch mat!! Only one egg hadn’t hatched yet and we knew they needed to be totally dry before we could take them out so we rejoiced in the success of the hatching and bided our time till the sixth makes it appearance.

Not two hours later it did and we now have seven perfect little chicks set up in their new cage with a heat lamp until they get their feathers. It is so incredibly rewarding for things to come full circle here on the farm. Just a little while ago we were living in the suburbs failing to grow a cucumber much less hatch a whole chicken from an egg. The arrival of Spring has certainly boosts the spirits and we are excited to see the next exciting thing this season has to offer.