Today I am joining sweet Sara, of Farmama, for
‘Around The Farm.’
It’s funny, I’ve felt hesitant about calling our homestead a “farm” because when I think of a farm I think of big red barns, large grassy fields full of grazing animals and huge gardens. I told our friend Carla about my hesitation to call our place a farm and she said “you grow food here, it’s a farm!” And that made me laugh because it is so true. Our place might not be your typical farm. Our home and garden might be tucked into the surrounding forest and nestled into the mountainside, our “barn” might be an old car port with some pallets and a tarp, and we might not have hardly any grass at all for animals to graze on……. but we produce food here and today I am declaring that we are indeed a farm!
In celebration of that declaration, I’d love to share what is going on around our farm this week.
Most of the week has been cloudy and rainy. Then today the sun came out and we can actually feel summer coming closer now. (So there’s a mixture of sunny day pictures and cloudy day pictures and I got really camera happy so this post is rather long.)
I haven’t had as much time to put into the garden or the animals this year while caring for Bracken. But I’m realizing that each year has it’s own flow, this year I’ve been focusing my energy in new areas and loving up our baby is truly the best! And as I walked around and took pictures this week, I appreciated all the things going on around our farm in the beginning of June, even with less energy from me going into it.
Welcome all!
I would love to take you on a tour.
The strawberry plants are all covered in white flowers. (I’m guessing the strawberries that we’ve been enjoying at farmer’s market lately have been growing in a greenhouse since they’ve been ready so early.) The trick is getting to those luscious red berries before the birds and slugs do!
We have lots of collards growing in the garden and have been enjoying eating our homegrown greens this week. I was so excited at farmer’s market last weekend because I didn’t need to pick up any collards or kale, since we had our own that was ready to harvest! Jeff and I decided that we are going to harvest our entire collard crop tomorrow morning because it’s ready and the weather is starting to turn a little warmer than it likes. You can guess what we’ll be eating a lot of.
Kale ready to be eaten! I am so so grateful for homegrown greens!
Here is Faun from earlier this week and the overgrown spot we wanted her to clear. Historically we’ve always fenced the goats out of where we didn’t want them to go, and let them graze everywhere else. This week we had a huge bunch of blackberries etc. in the spot where we want to terrace and plant blueberries and grapes, so we decided to stake the goats out for the first time and let them clear the area for us. We’ve been feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do and need to put our business before homestead (because we need to make a living.) We thought it was a great way to let the goats work on the homestead while we worked inside on our business. Well, it didn’t quite go according to plan. They wailed the whole time, but I think if they got used to it they would love it.
And speaking of grazing animal plans “gone awry”, remember how the ducks were free ranging throughout the garden? That was going great, they were eating lots of slugs and bugs, leaving all our garden plants alone, Bracken loved watching them waddle past all the windows, and we were so excited about it all……… until they ate a large majority of our lettuce crop within a few minutes (that was going to be our salads this week) that Jeff had started from seed in the greenhouse and spent so much time caring for. Bummer! But that’s how you learn, right? Above is “Exhibit A” of destruction by ducks. So they went back in their yard. Jeff gave them a pool to keep them happy. Now we are wondering what to do if we can’t have the ducks free ranging around the garden? (More on that in a future blog post.)
This is along the outside of our greenhouse. There was a lettuce plant in between each collard plant, it looks pretty funny now. But we’re going to harvest those collards and then dig it all up and plant the celery there.
All different kinds of irises are blooming.
We love the bright colors that flowers bring throughout the garden.
Look how beautiful this one is!
Next to the columbines, it looks like an enchanted faery world.
Good thing I captured these pictures of the irises earlier this week because I noticed today that the petals were beginning to fall off.
Lots of starts in the greenhouse. Lettuce and kale above. We have all kinds of herbs popping up and we’ve been putting the cilantro on our salads.
Squash galore is popping up in there too!
And when the weather turns sunny, you are sure to see plenty of naked baby! (that might need a little help sitting up, with a mama hand!)
And baby toes in the sunshine too!
The chives are all blooming. Jeff loves to use chive flowers for flavoring soups.
I love to grab little sprigs of lemonbalm and mint whenever I walk by, to carry the scent with me. Yum!
The hydrangea is very happy that we pruned it last fall. I love it’s beautiful blue blooms each summer! One of these days I’ll walk outside and they’ll be there.
So glad when we see bees in the garden. We want to start raising them again, but for now we are just happy when any come and visit.
Parsley is everywhere in the garden. Giant bushes of it.
Plenty of parsley!
We left a lot of kale over the winter, that is now going to seed. It looks so beautiful all covered in joyful yellow flowers. We’ll save some seeds for planting, but mostly for sprouting in our kitchen to eat on top of salads.
We planted catnip last year and now our little patch is really taking off! We love to make tea with it.
Won’t be long before the fuschias open up! Jeff planted a bunch before I moved in and they’ve gotten huge all around the pond he built. There are some giant bushes that are taller than me. It’s like a fuschia jungle!
Bleeding hearts blooming up the front walkway. So much life everywhere!
Onions growing fast and looking good!
Rhododendrons blooming. They are native to here and make the forest look so tropical!
Unknown flower Jeff planted by the front pond. I love the veins in the petals.
Jeff found this mushroom growing by our lavender and blueberries, so he looked it up online and sure enough- it’s edible!
Bracken came along to help harvest the rest of them.
It was nice to get a mushroom harvest for our dinner right out of our own front yard! The ones that were no longer good, we put in the compost so hopefully they will spread there.
~
Thanks for joining me for a tour of our June farm.
What’s happening in your June world?
Thanks all for your comments! They bring me so much joy!
Looks great Taryn! 🙂
The farm is looking good Taryn! I love all the juicy kale and collards!
Fun tour!!! I love seeing all your pretty flowers blooming — June is just the best isn’t it!! I’m so sorry to hear about your lettuce. We have so much, I dearly wish I could send you guys a big heap of it.
Right now the showiest things blooming are the iris and poppies. The poppies are so gorgeous and fleeting! And the columbines are blooming too.
After wintertime (which I love, too!), it feels so good to lay eyes on greenery and color and flowers and life!
Love to you, and happy Friday!
Lindsey
That was lovely, thanks for the tour.
Your irises are stunning, what beautiful colors.
Shame about the ducks eating your lettuces. It’s amazing what birds can eat in such a short time!
I think your unknown flower might be a type of geranium, i’m not sure, my parents have them in their garden. Beautiful, delicate, paper thin petals.
Much love xxx
It looks so lovely.
My husband and I dream of living in the mountains with a little plot of land like you do, but until we can I told him we are bringing our dream to our little beachy town in Florida. This year I starting to make a raised bed and our compost pile is doing lovely.
Lovely pictures. I can almost smell the air from here.
love the baby toes in the sun! 🙂
Beautiful photos! We’ve put chicken wire around our garden beds to keep the chickens and the ducks out, while still allowing them to free-range. It’s working nicely 🙂 You might want to put wire up only around the plants that your duckies seem to want to eat (like your salad greens).
Our June is incredibly hot so far, a few record-breaking high temps and quite a few thunder storms. It’s nice to get a glimpse of June in your part of the world!
What a beautiful tour through your farm! So many things to comment on – all those lovely flowers, the promise of many meals but of course I can’t resist commenting on Bracken’s oh-so-sweet baby bottom and toes! Give him some extra kisses from me!
xo R
…delicious, beautiful, enchanted… 🙂
Oh my goodness! I just spent some time at Mystic Orb. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as beautiful in all my Etsy days. Everything is just breath-taking. I will be saving my pennies for the right piece to come along (although, I may have to buy some Hobbit buttons first ;-). I love Hobbitses. 😉
Congratulations on your proclamation! Indeed, you certainly are farmers 🙂 Beautiful! We love collards…nom.nom.nom. I plan to overwinter them this year in our tiny spot between concrete patios where the garlic is soon to come out. Your Rhodies and strawberries (and of course the moss) made me think you’re in the PNW. Me too…it’s pretty much heaven! Happy summer!
Wow! What an amazing walk through the farm – cute naked babies, naughty ducks and goats galore. Love it. I would love to know more about your thoughts on the work/homestead balance. I am dreaming and scheming to find the perfect homestead but wonder if its truly possible on an educators and artist pitance 🙂