Dear Friends, Christ is risen! Truly He has risen! As we continue in the joyful season of Easter and enjoy the warmth of Spring we wanted to give a brief update of adventures on the homestead. Winter came and went with a few good snows that reminded us of how blessed we are to live in a moderate climate. The snow lasted long enough for snow forts, sledding, and snow ball fights. Thankfully melting before we had to shovel it from our driveway. We enjoyed the slow down of winter and focused on chestnuts and home projects (kitchen and bathrooms). We also smoothed our pasture road with a few dozen loads of wood chips from a local arborist.

As Winter gave way to Spring we turned our focus to prepping the fields and starting our seedlings, which we’ll transfer to the ground soon. Rebecca took 2 boys up to Bismarck to visit big sister. Ryan took 3 of the oldest to Virginia for a parish mission and hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Spring time adventures await!!!

Semi-Fruitful Spring

Donkey, our favorite ram, sadly died at the beginning of winter meaning no lambs this Spring. Also our bull is apparently all talk and no action because he has yet to produce a calf with Rose. No lambs and no calf means lots of things for us. No lambs to sell and no cow’s milk to drink. Also, it means processing our bull must wait until we find another one. So sadly we have no beef. As always we are learning. For example, we learned about the barber pole worm which can dramatic reduce your herd and requires close monitoring. Oh the joys of homesteading.

Field Prepping

Last year we planted our hemp on a traditional grid pattern and it failed miserably. The land is not perfectly flat, so both the water and nutrients vary throughout the field. The top soil is also too shallow in many areas. This time we are planting on contour to better distribute the rain and make deep planting areas. We’ll end up planting less plants but hopefully significantly healthier ones.

Step #1) We marked contour lines using an A-frame level.

Step #2) We dug shallow ditches on the contour lines and filled them with tons and tons of horse manure.

Step #3) Till uphill side of contour lines.

Step #4) Shovel tilled dirt onto the downhill side to create berms and leave swales.