While I don’t own my homestead yet, I am very privileged to get to be a part-time farmer at my adopted family’s 20 acre hobby farm… which is conveniently right next door to the ten acre farm I am under contract to buy!
I enjoyed having last week off from work due to Spring Break – but with lots to do on the “big farm” and even more to do for my upcoming move and farm purchase, I can’t say my week was restful. I used every second of it to get stuff done.
Orchard Improvements: Impulse Purchases + Trellis Install
I was impressed by Costco’s selection of fruit trees and bushes this year! I impulse purchased a 2-pack of elderberries for $13.99. We have some elderberries growing wild on the property, but they are very spread out, and I typically don’t forage enough to make syrup with.
The box said to plant them 6 to 10 feet apart, so naturally I planted them about a foot apart. I usually see them clumped in nature, so I decided to take the risk. They seem pretty opportunistic around here, so I’m hoping they will compete with (and help beat!) the blackberries and invasive bittersweet that runs rampant in the orchard space.
We also installed the classic Tractor Supply cattle panel trellis – highly recommended, by the way – to help the grape vines that have been on the property for several years. We’ve never really had a harvest off of these as the old trellis system broke pretty quickly after installing it, so we’re hoping this keeps them happy and off the ground. As an aside, I’m really looking forward to installing several of these trellises on my own farm – they’re so easy, inexpensive, and incredibly functional.
Garden Progress (and Setbacks): RIP Peas (my bad)
We have had some successes and failures in the garden prep this week. As I discussed in a recent post, we are using the new greenhouse to start most of our seeds using the soil blocking method. The tomatoes have absolutely taken off, and we transferred them into 4 inch (ish) soil… mounds. The 4 inch soil blocker, unlike the 2″ and 3/4″ tools, is extremely expensive, and my rudimentary version wasn’t able to pack the soil tightly enough. I haven’t given up on creating a tool to make 4 inch soil blocks, but in the meantime the tomatoes really needed to be up-potted, so we made it work. So far, so good.
The peppers had an incredibly low germination rate, despite the seeds being stored and treated identically to the tomatoes. A couple of varieties germinated (Murasaki and Mini Bell), but others didn’t at all. We are perusing local nurseries, but might end up starting some more (which will inevitably convince the ones we planted to suddenly pop up, I’m sure!)
We had started peas in soil blocks, but unfortunately they did not survive their transplant into the ground. Peas don’t love to be transplanted in the first place, but I doubt that was the problem – I think we didn’t harden them off enough. They had spent several days outside, but best practice a would have been to work them up to spending the night outside before transplanting. I just got lazy, and their first night was too cold. I’m glad I made the mistake with peas instead of tomatoes! In the meantime, we’re soaking more seeds for a late spring harvest.
The Early Stages of My Slow-Motion Move
With just two months until closing day, I submitted the cancellation form for my apartment lease and placed an order for a couch – two huge milestones. I was able to work with a local company to design my dream couch, which was expensive, but I promised myself that after tolerating terrible couches for years, I was not going to skimp on something I’ll spend a lot of time on and keep for a very long time.
I also technically started moving! My adopted family’s farm has a big open space in the basement now that the patio furniture has been moved outside for the season. My moving plan involves bringing a box over every time I visit between now and the closing date. Then, I will hire professionals to move only the furniture. Since I visited a lot over spring break, I have already moved quite a few boxes and items into the basement – winter clothes, a guitar, jai alai cestas, a set of mounted ox horns that my dad found on the side of the road, my pressure canner… you know, normal stuff that everyone owns.
This move is finally starting to feel real, and I can’t wait to get started on the new property. Stay tuned here and on TikTok for updates as the homesteading dream inches closer!
What are your favorite spring gardening tasks? I’d love to hear what you have going on!
Talk soon,
KC