Back to My Passion

Back to the Farmette. 

It's a two pot coffee day!

Back to Normalcy. 

Back to my PASSION.

I am glad to be back on the 
Allen Family Homestead!

I am just coming off a 6 month, temporary substitute position at a local school district. Funding our farm projects costs "dough", so I tend to take on jobs/positions that can get us some quick $$ to fund out next project, clean up the next mess, or fix the next struggle. 

I am soaking up the quiet and the simpleness of homestead living. While Brad Paisley is keeping me company on my radio, I begin to tackle the farmhouse projects that were put aside for six months. So much to catch up on!

Determined to attack Mt. Washmore, I climb mountains of laundry that our busy family of four continuously creates. Muddy jeans and chore clothes seem to always fill my laundry basket inbox! The whir of the washer and dryer becomes background noise as I decide what next on the list needs to be checked off. With the smell of fresh baking banana apple bread in the air, I peruse the never ending list of things to do and pick my favorite!

Our husky dog  Sandy "guarding" our sleeping garden

It is that time again to reassess last years garden and plan for the upcoming growing season. Time to flip through the seed catalogs as I sip my coffee and make my wish list. 

Every year we expand our garden, using the knowledge of what we did the year before as a guide. However, last year may not be such a great gauge because we were in such a drought. Our wells struggled to contain enough water for our chickens, crops, and our household. But we had a great crop of onions and potatoes, strawberries, raspberries and beets.  Praying hard for a little more rain this summer for my lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and peaches.

We have several planned additions to the Allen Family Homestead this year: 

Honey! We have a very large honey bee nest in the walls of our barn. It is time to get them into hives, so I won't be teased by the smell of honey in our barn on a hot day. With many bees now listed as endangered species, I am going to take on beekeeping. This will be a win-win experience for our next endeavor...

Apples! We have some very old apple trees here on our acreage, and the work very well to feed our chickens and give us apples for sauce and cooking. We plan on adding an additional apple orchard, well plotted and pruned for picking and selling.

Ready to "tweet" about our love for chicks!

Strawberries! I have to move my ever bearing strawberry patch. It is so large now, and hard to maintain. This is a huge project to tackle because there are so many plants. I have to get them in to better fertilized soil and back into rows again, for now its just one huge muddled mess. Makes it difficult for picking. I dream of creating a u-pick someday!

Chickens! We have to increase our coop size in the barn, because we plan on taking on meat birds this year as well as egg layers. We have a small flock of 35 chickens right now, and we need to make more room. We have had up to seventy five before, but it was a little tight. Getting more chicks is a big deal here at the Homestead. We love these cute little critters!

Want to know what is so crazy? This is just a small portion of our things to do list! I can't wait for spring. 
Keep checking back as I tell of our adventures of the 
Allen Family Homestead expansion!

Here's to Never Having Time to be Bored ~ 

City Gone Country Girl ~ Jenn