A lot has been going on here on the homestead since my last post. Spring is always a busy time here, but add in some new family members* and include getting this company off the ground (We are Incorporated! We have a kitchen! It passed inspection! I ordered jars! I am designing labels! More stuff!) and you can pretty much get an idea of why it has taken me so long to get back here.
To give you a better idea of what our spring has been like, here are some of the pictures I have taken these past few weeks.
WEEK ONE: 4/21- 4/27
The cows* came home.
I am no longer so outnumbered by the boys I live with. Thanks, girls!
After spending two days in a small barn to help them get acclimated, Maple and Daisy moved outside to pasture.
The girls have very different personalities. Back in week one, neither really liked us getting too close, although Maple would let Dave brush her.
We wanted to raise a new breed of chicken, in addition to our Delawares, but had a bad hatch. Out of the 24+ Malines eggs we had in the incubator, only one little peeper made it.
We planted a peach tree.
It's going to be a long wait for pie.
The asparagus started to come up!
WEEK TWO: 4/28-5/4
Dave took one of our two rhubarb plants and separated it into three so that next year we will have a more abundant harvest.
We LOVE rhubarb!
I weeded the strawberry beds and found one wee blossom.
The almond tree was also blossoming. An almond tree in NY? Yup. We had actually ordered two different dwarf cherry trees about four years ago but the nursery sent us one cherry and one almond. We were allowed to keep the mistake and actually got a (very small) harvest last year.
Dave planted potatoes.
We harvested our first bunch of asparagus!
WEEK THREE: 5/5-5/11
Maple and Daisy were moved across the driveway to a new pasture. They really love the shade of the hickory tree.
The wild thyme has again started popping up all over the yard. It sure makes for some beautifully fragrant mowing.
I weeded the elderberries and potatoes on Mother's Day. I also "weeded" two more (otherwise empty) beds because I was on a roll. Too bad they were actually full of winter rye cover crop. Whoops. Sorry, Dave!
WEEK FOUR: 5/12-5/18
An early morning walk to grab the newspaper turned into a meet & greet with the girls.
Maple, now proudly sporting a bell.
Daisy in front of the big oak tree. Dave is currently working on ridding the field (by hand, with a Kaiser blade), of the barberry bushes that have taken over.
Both girls wear tags that we found in the house when we moved in. They are from the long gone dairy that used to thrive down the hill.
Our little hatchling, Eliot, had a field trip out of his brooder. He enjoyed some sunshine with the help of a fence and a bodyguard.
Eliot's full name is T.S. Eliot. The T.S. is for "terminal sire" -- we were happy to find out that our one hatchling is a boy.
Our current rooster, however, is not so happy. I wonder if he can sense that his days are numbered.
Talk about ruffling some feathers!
The rooster would not stop pacing the fence and crowing.
WEEK FIVE: 5/19-5/26
Since our last hatch didn't go well, we tried again with a combo of our own eggs and eggs we purchased (all Delawares). This little one was the first to hatch. It looks like he is snuggling up to the eggs while he waits for company, doesn't it?
We ended up with 4 survivors out of 24 eggs (a fifth, sadly, did not make it).
We harvested the first rhubarb of the season.
I made raspberry rhubarb crisp bars (with our home-grown and frozen purple raspberries).
They were gooooooood.
Eliot was moved from his small brooder to what used to be the home for the guinea fowl.
He sublet his brooder/gained four roommates.
I am so excited to see the currants starting to pop out. Last year was the first year the plant bore fruit. We didn't get much, so we just put them in a mason jar with vodka and waited. OK, I admit it, forgot all about them in the back of the fridge. But once I found them and made a cocktail...oh my! Let's just say I am VERY excited for this year's harvest.