We have the very large back garden where we grow the large things, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, peas ect. (The list is varied and changes yearly but those are the basics)
The upper photo of the lettuce is my wonderful and amazing
grow box, showing only one of four sections. Its growing fabulous this year and I can't wait until I can start to harvest it sometime next month. We start it in March, replant it in summer and enjoy lettuce until late fall.
The lower large photo is my kitchen garden. The blog to how we made it is
here. Last year we planted carrots, onions, dill, radishes and cilantro in it.
This year we've planted two large sections of carrots (raising rabbits has increased my desire for lots of carrots). We moved the garlic from the upper garden into the middle sections and they are growing amazingly!
Last years dill is coming up around the garlic and they seem to be growing well together! By the time the dill needs more room the garlic will be ready to be harvested (normally mid-July). So we will see how well it does when I pull them out.
The lower photo of the plants came as a surprise, this year when tilling our back garden we found wild scallions growing!
I've already chopped up a handful and cooked them up with pork chops! Very yummy!
As I blogged before (
here) we have added meat rabbits to our family. These are the breeders so they have been named and will continue to be doted on. The kids have permission to fall in love with them (as we hope and pray they all turn out to be good breeders)
Hubby designed and built the hutch all on his own from mostly reclaimed wood we were given for free!
On top we built a grow box and are currently growing wheat grass for the rabbits! Up next we will be building the grow out boxes for the babies we hope to have later on this year when these four are old enough.
Fun facts about rabbits - the males are the sweet ones! With many species the males are dominant and aggressive - not so with rabbits! If you are looking for a pet rabbit, choose a male! They are the sweetest things ever, I ADORE Zorro! Such a love!
Then come my ladies! I adore my hens! All 9 are well, we are getting 7-9 eggs daily now that its warmed up. We've been getting so many eggs I've started to sell them, 1-2 dozen a week!
Also I've added Mukluks, the latest in Chicken Couture - in spring and fall when the rain pours down (as it did ALL week this week) these are a must!
My girls are the sweetest, fluffiest nutters! When hubs wanted chickens a few years ago I couldn't fathom raising them (he hadn't even mentioned rabbits!). Gardening, I was good with. I love playing in the dirt!
Love the feel of earth, love fresh lettuce, carrots and our first harvest of garlic last year might actually last us until we can harvest in July - but I've been milking them along! We love garlic!
Raising chickens scared me! I was worried about the amount of care, time and health of taking care of them in such a mixed climate as Northern Utah has - bitter raging cold in winter and fiery hot summers.
They have been a joy!
I can't even believe it took me so long to get them! I don't know why more people don't have chickens in places its legal to raise them!
Next year (or the year after, life always throws odd things at us) we hope to add honey bees. We are also working on converting our small shed or even building a green house for an aquaponics system. Hopefully in the future we will have lettuce all year round, along with duck weed and fish.
So we have a bit of land, not much at all really, but manage to have a small homestead set up. The key is to take it one step at a time. I'm not overwhelmed with everything because we've slowly added one thing at a time.
Until next time ;) stay safe and healthy!
