It’s the last push before summer ends and the school year begins. Typically, my back to school to-do list involves meal prepping and lesson planning; this year is the same, but with the added pressure of trying to finish every farm task I possibly can! I was spoiled with a week of incredible, almost autumnal weather – I took advantage of every second of it. Here’s what I got done this week:
Food Production
The biggest and most absurd garden task was to begin spreading wood chips. At the very end of last week, I received a free delivery of 20 cubic yards of wood chips. The pile is almost comically large. It’s worth its weight in gold as far as garden weed suppression and long-term soil health are concerned, but it is a huge task. I managed to spread about 40% of the pile, but the garden looks great.
The farm came with a cold frame that had been constructed by the previous owner. It holds a lot of promise, but had been reclaimed by the encroaching field. It took several weeks to dig it out by scything and pulling weeds, and in doing so I learned that the plywood boards used to construct the walls were starting to deteriorate. This week, I finally replaced some of the boards – which, of course, required some trial and error and the purchase of a new power drill. (My drill was from the late 90s and really struggled to get a screw through a board – not a problem for my new Dewalt. Will this be the last tool purchase for a while? I seriously doubt it.)
I’m sure I’ll need to replace more of the boards by spring, but at least it no longer has any gaping holes. I filled it with compost and planted lettuce and arugula as a test. While I was at it, I planted more lettuce and some late season zucchini in a garden bed as well; both will be done before it’s time to use that space for garlic in October.
Unfortunately, I discovered that the deer decided to sample my mulberry trees. To dissuade them from returning to finish the job, I made a spray by blending water, garlic, and cayenne pepper. I’ve made sure to re-apply every few days, and so far it seems to be working.
I’ve enjoyed a series of small harvests from my family’s garden. It won’t be long until it’s time for my first harvest from my garden!
Resource Acquisition & Preparedness
I often struggle to bake sourdough bread during the school year because my favorite recipe takes about 36 hours – the actual work is minimal, but I can’t stretch and fold during the school day. Before I moved here, I set a rule for my new homesteading life: no more store-bought bread. In order to be prepared, I baked four loaves of sourdough bread this week – three for the freezer and one for me.
I also went to two garage sales and had two great finds, one of which was a Brute trash can. It had been on my shopping list to keep mice out of the horse food in the barn. They cost about $60, but I only spent $10!
Aesthetic Utility
My other great garage sale find, shown above, was a set of nesting end tables from Pennsylvania House for $10. While I don’t have a location picked out for them, I just knew I had to have them – nesting is the epitome of utility to me.
I also purchased a braided rug for my entryway and some light switch covers. The little touches make such a difference; I feel like parts of this house are really starting to come together.
Energy Independence
The very first leaves are starting to display their autumn colors, which means I’m officially behind on stacking firewood. I used my electric chainsaw to buck some logs and borrowed the utility vehicle from my family to haul them back to my farm. There is something undeniably satisfying about splitting firewood, but I’ve been picking at the job little by little to build up stamina.
Moving Forward
The first week of school is always exhausting – my school-day endurance will have wasted away to nothing. So I’ll take it easy this week, but there is still firewood to split and wood chips to spread. In the long term, I need to build another firewood rack – come to think of it, my new drill will make that a lot easier. 🙂
Talk soon,
KC