A Busy But Wonderful Life...

Though it has been quite sometime since our last post on here (over two years) we are still homesteading and doing our thing. We do have a Facebook page  now so you can always keep up with us on there, but we're going to try to keep the blog updated for now on as well. 

So I am sure your dying to know what in the world have we been up to in the past two years?! Well here's what's been going on and of course an update on all the animals!

First and foremost we welcomed our second child, a sweet baby boy (LS) into the world on January 2014 so that's been one big reason for our absence on here.

Also while we are on the topic of kids here is an update photo of our two precious little ones! LS is now 14 months and LM is almost 3 years old!

Now moving on to whats been going on with our homestead....

Well one of our last post was about the garden so here is an up to date picture of that, which may surprise you, but I will explain.

Like most this time of year we are preparing our garden for new crops to be planted, but particularly this year we are redoing some of our raised beds and adding more height. Last year our garden did fine in some parts but because of a very large tree near by sucking up all the water around one side of our garden did not thrive as well as the other. Recently we removed the tree so we are hoping to have more success this year. Also this is just one side of the garden shown above but the other side looks quite the same. 

Here are some more pictures of what's going on inside the garden so far this year and also what has not yet made it into the garden.

Above is a picture of our strawberries doing well as always. We are now just looking for a way for them to grow somewhat off the ground to prevent from rotting by sitting on the ground.

Here is a picture of our favorite veggie, asparagus doing equally as well!

Recently we built a little green house to keep our plants in until we move them to garden. So far we have Kale, Broccoli, Squash (two different types), Zucchini, Cantaloupe, Sweet pepper and Cucumber started.

Now on to what you've all be waiting for the animals....

Here are some of our Guineas. They are all this color (pearl) except one that is white.

These are our chickens and here are the different kinds we currently have.

This is our one special breed we received in an order that came from Mcmurray Hatchery

which is typically where we order our chickens from. If you haven't used them and are looking for a reliable company to order your chicks from this is the place to use.

Back to the Rooster above....He is a Buff Cochin and his name is fluffy. FYI we didn't know he was a rooster before we named him. He is feather footed, as you can see and a beautiful breed.

These here are Ol Fluffs offspring which are two roosters of course that were breed with our last Red Star before she passed. So they are Red Stars and Buff Cochins.

The hens breeds we have now are some Speckled Sussex and Buff Orpingtons. Both are beautiful breeds but I tend to favor the Red Stars which we will hopefully have some of soon once we place our spring order to the hatchery.

 This is our one and only Bourbon Red Turkey hen sitting on chicken eggs. She isn't one of our smartest birds. She has yet to have any eggs hatch.

We also have a pair of breeding Khaki Campbells which are very entertaining, especially when playing in their pool. We are hoping to have ducklings from them hatch later this week so be looking for a post on those.


Talking about hatching babies these recently hatched last week and though we are not 100% sure what breed they are yet we are pretty confident the all yellow one is Buff Cochin breed with Buff Orpington and the other two, Red Star/Buff Cochin breed with Buff Orpington. So we shall see what we get when their feathers start to come in. So far we have 2 feather footed and one without.

Now moving on to the goats we currently have..... 

The top picture is the oldest goat on the farm, Pebbles. If you've read our previous post she is one of the first goats we purchased and when we got her we were told she may be pregnant and sure enough a couple months later she birthed these two baby girls. Wilma is on the left and is identical to her Momma. Then of course the bottom right is her other baby, Betty.

The other goats we have here are...

Jack and Jill which are brother and sister. Like all our goat here they are Nigerian Dwarfs.

Our newest additions are strictly for food purposes but they sure are cute to look at, for now anyways!

 These are our two female American Guinea Hogs that will be with us until about November and after that they will be remembered every time we sit down to have some of our delicious home raised pork.

On a not so happy note we recently lost our oldest animal family member, Drake. Our sweet 13 year old black lab passed away due to heart failure two weeks ago. 

Not only was this hard on all of us, (my husband especially since he had Drake the entire 13 yrs) I can only imagine it has been the hardest for our other chocolate lab, Bristol that has been with him her entire life. She has never known life as a only dog, but thankfully she has handled it like a champ and of course we have been spending lots of extra time with her to help her cope. We have considered getting her another companion but that is a whole other issue. So we will see what happens.

Well I think that about covers all that been going on here at Lees Reach. 

Oh, except one more thing.....

We are overjoyed to announce we will be welcoming our third child into the world in September of this year!!!!

Garden Plan 2013

Well last years plan was a big Bust! I had high hopes to run 2 gardens the first year at Lee's Reach and it just didn't happen. I did have good success with the "Food Plot" garden but not one thing cam up in my raised be garden. So this year I am abandoning the Food Plot Garden and focusing on the Raised Bed Garden. Sounds backwards I know. The reasoning is I can water the raised bed garden and I cant the other. Also it's mush closer to the house and therefor I can give it more attention. It took a four wheeler ride to get to the other garden. I purchased some composted soil the other day and loaded up the beds this weekend . I have also been composting all winter so I should be able to add more as the season progresses. Last year the only thing I did was till the soil and I never added and fill dirt or compost to the beds. Also I never planted anything until late June and it was super dry and hot. Here is the plan for this year.

(Click on the picture for a larger view)

I am hoping that less is more. Fewer plants but more produce. When the garden was so far away last year the critters were able to get to everything before I was. With this new set up I should be able to "Defend" it from the house and keep a closer eye on it. 

Now it's time to start some seeds.

Garden Update

Next year I will do things different.....I'll probably say that every year. Between the squirrels and the weeds it has been an interesting garden. Despite having 42 tomato plants I haven't picked a tomato in a month. They get to them way before they get red. 

Actually most of that green is the garden but around the watermelons and the pumpkins there is a lot of tall grass. The garden is just too thick to get a tiller in there anymore.

 The sunflowers have done great. I got two cabbage heads out of the 14 or so I planted. Bugs got to most of them.

Ok so I may have been a little of on my planting date for the pumpkins........We have orange pumpkins in August. Maybe if we are lucky some will still be around in October. I doubt it.

The watermelons are doing great too I just hope the squirrels don't find the ripe ones before I do. 

Here is my harvest from last night. I finally got some green beans. I was really late planting then as I was with everything else. Some of my zucchinis got a little big but oh well. I think the cucumbers are about done. I did get enough to make about 9 jars of dill pickle spears and chips though.

I finally moved the Guineas into the old dog kennel. They have ALOT more room now so I'm sure they are happy. I have set up a bunch of high and low perches for them so they can build up their wings before I let them out.

Here is Tab with Bristol and Drake going for a golf cart ride.

Garden #1 Complete

Yesterday for mothers day we went to my moms house for steaks and corn on the cob. Before we went there though we made a stop at our soon to be home and finished up a garden that I have been working on for a few weeks. Two years ago this spot used to be thick woods but we have slowly turned it into a decent garden spot and fall/winter hunting food plot.

You can look back at this post ( http://homesteadnewlyweds.blogspot.com/2012/04/seed-starting-and-garden-building.html) from when I first started tilling it to see how far it has come.

We placed post all the way around it and then zip tied deer netting to the post. I ran out so one side so I am using a temporary construction barrier.

You can see in this picture the tomatoes I started back in February and the cabbage in the back.

She may be 38 weeks Pregnant but she can still hoe!

Here you can see the watermelon mounds and the cucumber, squash and zucchini behind the tomatoes.

Hopefully these barriers will keep the critters out enough for us to have some great produce.  Luckily it is raining today so these seeds should get off to a good start.

Seed starting and Garden Building

As you know we are building a new house. We should be in by the end of May. This time frame make it hard to get a garden in this year since we currently live an hour from where we are building.

One way or another I am going to make it work! I went all out when purchasing our seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I may have went overboard but we will see. He is what I bought.

1 x Rose Gold, 1 lb SEED POTATO (39401)
1 x Kentucky Wonder (Old Homestead) BEAN, SNAP (POLE) 28 g (13503)
1 x Early Flat Dutch Cabbage 2g (22101)
1 x Danvers 126 Carrots 3g (35103)
1 x Silver Queen - hybrid Sweet Corn 28g (41901)
1 x Dynamite CORN, POPCORN 28 g (41610)
1 x Straight Eights CUCUMBER 2 g (51107)
1 x Georgia Green COLLARDS 2 g (24101)
1 x Bloomsdale SPINACH 5 g (67105)
1 x Forellenschluss LETTUCE, ROMAINE 0.5 g (62705)
1 x Crimson Sweet, Virginia Select WATERMELON 3 g (55118)
1 x Jalapeño PEPPER, HOT 0.5 g (46508)
1 x Connecticut Field PUMPKIN 5 g (53113)
1 x Early Prolific Straightneck SQUASH, SUMMER  4 g (53101)
1 x Zucchini, Dark Green SQUASH, SUMMER  4 g (53106)
1 x Roma VF, Virginia Select TOMATO 0.16 g (49235)
1 x Homestead 24 TOMATO 0.16 g (49121)
1 x Cilantro (Coriander) - Herb 1g (71216)
1 x Rosemary - Herb 0.1g (71239)
1 x Autumn Beauty SUNFLOWER, ORNAMENTAL 4 g (05301)
2 x Yellow Sweet Spanish ONION, DRY BULB 3 g (66103)
1 x Country Gentleman (Shoepeg) Sweet Corn 28g (41104)
1 x Beauregard - 6 Slips (74102a)

Yeah I know, It's a lot! I don't care. I enjoy it and I hope that I have more than I can handle and we will have a pantry full of canned veggies with plenty left over to share with family and neighbors.

My plan at this point is to have 2 gardens. One will be a 20x40 Raised bed garden consisting of 8 4'x10' beds and 1 4'x7' bed.

Raised Bed Garden

(Herbs, Carrots, Lettuce, Collards, Onions and Spinach)

Food Plot Garden

(Corn, Sunflowers, Pumpkins, Tomatoes, Peppers, Squash, Zuchini and Watermelons)

This one is named the Food Plot Garden because in the fall and winter it will be planted for the deer.

I have spent the last few weeks trying to get these two areas ready to be gardens. Living so far away has not allowed alot of time but I am happy with the progress I have made.

First off was to start some seeds inside. I started Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes and Cabbage.

Once they grew their first true leaves I moved them from starter  trays to plastic cups with soil in them.

I have now started to put them outside for a couple hours a day to harden them off before I move them to the garden in the next few weeks. 

While the plants continue to grow I have started to till up some ground. I started with the raised bed garden. This is next to the house and its good dirt but lots of roots because just a few months ago this was woods. The plan he is as I posted above to be a raised bed garden with a 3 board fence around it to keep out the Deer and other critters. So far we have the fence post all set and have started putting the cross boards up.

I've only got 1 bed built at this point so I still have a lot to do here. I don't want to plant anything in here yet until I get the boards up so that he deer dont get in there and ruin my plants.

Next it to get the Food Plot Garden ready, as if the first one wasn't enough work! This one is 60'x60'. This ground has been worked over pretty goods the last few years so the roots aren't too bad.

I have ran the tiller over it once so far and it wasn't bad at all.

I will run over the whole thing again before I plant. Also I have ordered deer netting to go around this garden since it is pretty much in the middle of the woods.

So that is were we stand on the garden situation. We still have a lot to do but are making good progress and I expect to have everything planted on time.