Summer Gardening.. Part 1

chives..

make me 

HAPPY!

I love them in my salad..

sprinkled on my eggs..

and on my chavre cheese...

this Summer we planted our 

very first garden 

AT the farm

food garden that is..

i know.. i know you're thinking

WHAT???

but we've been a little busy

restoring that farm house..

blazing those trails..

building that coop

We decided to make steps

not these steps..

although we DID make these too..

to go up.. into the woods..

these.. we didn't plant..

they are just wonderful

and happy

and grow here

and there

sprinkling happy where ever they are

these I didn't plant either..

but… it is so lovely to have..

by planting..

I meant food I could eat..

not my chickens

not some ants…

but our family..

by steps..

I meant we dug HUGE steps into our hill

because planting ON a hill

CAN be problematic

we decided to go with the "no till" garden

really the hardest part of this process was the 

STEPS

and

the gathering of the materials needed for the layering.

we gathered things like gravel

cardboard

kitchen scraps

hay

straw

old grass clippings

fresh grass clippings

compost

fowl poop

they gladly obliged

they poop ALL the time

we layered

and layered

by we

mostly I mean

SHE

the boys were busy gathering the supplies

and SHE was busy layering

fluffing

spreading

it really was exhausting..

I helped..

a LOT..

but 

even I give credit

where credit is due

this girl ROCKS

She was solid mud

and she didn't care

look at that beautiful bed

only 5 more to go!

and go she did!

the interesting thing about 

not till gardening

is that it provides SO much of the nutrients needed

for the plants to grow strong and healthy

we sure did get a late start this year..

we had a lot of rain

and trouble making those steps

it was a challenge,

but we did it

and we were impressed with the results

and how quickly we saw them.

I sure was glad to have all my helpers though

because my back

does NOT bend like that

watering between layers is important!

Little Man loved adding worms.. 

HIS job was to hunt for worms

to add

which gave Princess 

the 

PEACE

she needed

to work in her way

at her pace

she loves that

and then there are the helpers

with buckets of sand

and muck

and worms

and mess

adorable

wonderful

hobbit like

mess

ah yes

my girls always look for bugs and worms

now they have competition

so do the troops

and they are SURE loud about it

lots of squawking going on…

in other news

we discovered the weird wooden cage thing..

is surrounded by brick..

like it was framed in

on PURPOSE

any ideas on what this is..

we welcome those 

because we wonder

the flowers were wonderful

the greens so amazing

my eyes could see so crisp

the edges 

the colors

I love the garden

the food garden

AND

my flower garden

fabulous flowers..

I miss them already

their hue

the early morning dew

my rose bush

my oh my

It's a glorious thing..

to have your own little herbs

mint for my Mohito's

and wood chips and gardens for the birds..

time to make things pretty

see the MUD!!!!

its rained again..

utter SLOP

but things are growing

oh the grand hopes we had

do you see the mistake

those are bamboo rods

they are NOT a mistake

tomato plants

surrounded by basil

and parsley

and marigolds

and the pit

is just squash

and pumpkins

and watermelons..

but its CLEAR

we've graded off too much soil..

we'll have to add more soil

we are PLEASED

can you SEE our grand mistake..

we could

but we needed TIME

and we didn't have it

we JUST didn't have it..

it was like that soap opera

like sand in and hour glass

so are the days of our lives..

slipping…

slipping moments

we were grappling

for moments

rushing about

making the most of everything

every moment we could!

planting little things here

and there 

and everywhere

planting plants and seeds..

finding snakes

someone was VERY smart and went IN the coop

someone joined her

besties

all in all a great beginning..

aren't you just DYING to know what happened 

NEXT