Summer life is so busy on the homestead! All of the plans we work on over the winter are finally put into action and it's so exciting!

We finally got some much needed rain and the world around us is lush and vibrant. I had planned on doing this tour using video but ....

I made my first ever planned tutorial video recently but we forgot to hit record so I can't share it. My tongue always seems to get thick and woolly when the camera is pointed at me so we spent more time laughing than actually making a video. In order to make an actual video you obviously need to be in record mode otherwise you get a photo like this ...

instead of a video (bahaha). We have a lot of learning to do.

We don't have cell phones or decent internet and only run open source software so I've been working on learning video "old school". As part of this I've been learning a video program called blender. Maybe one day soon you'll get some video from me but for now, I'll stick with what I know best so come take a photographic walk with me around the property! :)

Take a walk with me

One of our big projects was fixing the greenhouse. It's been a work in progress since spring. We had to jack up beams and put in new supports and all the sides needed re-doing as well because all the wood had rotted. It's not the most gorgeous looking structure but very sturdy now (and I love it). The sides open down in two big flaps for airflow on those hot summer days. There is chicken wire on the inside to keep critters out. We've got to tackle the other side next but I think we'll wait for autumn when the air is cooler.

The blackberries and raspberries are in flower and the bees are going crazy! My tee-pee bean poles and one of the garden beds with mammoth beets and herbs are shown in this photo.

The blackberries should be bountiful this year! Look at all those flowers! :)

That wild bit of green by the fence has Jerusalem artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb. We would like to fill the grassy area with more trees, shrubs and eventually just have paths.

This is one of the new garden beds that I haven't shown you yet. We've done them in a raised bed style. In here we are growing a row of herbs that will hopefully become a perennial bed), plenty of pole and bush beans, potatoes, squash & beets. The buckets have no bottoms and the squash is tucked in there for now. Once they are big enough I'll remove their protective barriers. There is also a few rows of buckwheat and nasturtium scattered around to attract pollinators and a row of young elder bushes.

We have had some unwelcome visitors. The potato bugs have been laying eggs but I've been faster than them. Every leaf is inspected every morning.

I've been disappointed with our potato harvests since we moved here but the plants are really vigorous and healthy this year and my instincts tell me we might have finally figured out all our issues. (fingers crossed - knock on wood). I just LOVE potatoes.

This is another one of my rickety sticks and twigs arbours. I've got the grapes running along top of it and would like to start some more on the other side.

This is the second bed in the new garden (and the largest). It's a bit of a weedy mess (it looks nicer in person) but we've got lots of sunflowers planted, Ethiopian lentils, corn and I planted some red fife but it did not germinate (old seed). There is also some garlic growing in the corner. It's not doing as well as in the other beds. This plot is surrounded by young cherry and pear trees and the herb spiral and frog pond is planted here as well. You can see the solar panels in the distance, they are tucked away in an open valley.

These are the Ethiopian lentils. We've never grown them before so I am really excited to see the progress.

The third bed has three rows: garlic, onions and squash. I had planted carrots but they didn't do well, the soil is a bit sandy right here so I've turned them over, amended the soil and planted squash instead.

We used a few runs of "bio-mulch" in this bed for the garlic and the onions. This is supposed to be a soy/corn based bio-degradable plastic. I am still not sure about how I feel about using this ... but it did work really well. It's not sustainable for us to buy this stuff but the difference between a row with the bio-mulch and without is quite notable. We have garlic planted in a variety of areas, using different methods. I'll write a post about it later so you can see the differences and the results.

This is the herb spiral which will hopefully be bursting with perennials eventually.

This is the pig shelter. We've talked about converting this into a bee house. It sits in a fenced off pasture which would be ideal.

The dogs exploring the fenced pasture. We don't usually let them in here because the hens also hang out in here but this was a little treat for them while we were working in there.

Here's the chicken coop, built to last a tornado (lol). My dad was an underground miner and helped build it ...I've lived in houses that were less sturdy. We have only four hens right now so they are living quite luxuriously. We are getting more than enough eggs for our personal needs with the four so less hens means less expenses overall for us.

The chickens have a run that leads them safely to the pasture. Being so close to the forest and having two hunter dogs, we aren't able to let them run around wherever they want.

This is the view of the pasture from the chicken coop. You can see one of my compost bins behind the greenhouse. This one is filled and we are cooking it down so that we can hopefully use it in the fall before we plant garlic.

The raised bed garden is coming along nicely. The strawberries will be ready soon but most other things are still to early to eat. We are so thankful for the perennial food like rhubarb, chives, horseradish etc because we've been eating them for a while now. The greenhouse is also a blessing because we've been eating kalefor a month now while the plants in the garden are weeks away from being large enough to eat. We had a terribly late start to the season this year.

Along the front wall you can see the grape vines, they add shade to this garden and the birds love to hang out in there as well.

The cabbage is covered by nets because the cabbage moths are plentiful this year.

Right in front of the house I've got hops growing here (one plant survived the dogs) and spirea along with a vine that was planted before we moved here.

This bed has three big lilac trees, sassafras, salvia, lupins, sweet William and a bunch of wild flowers. The bees are really active in here as well. We have plenty of water for birds, frogs, critters and of course the dogs. Molly goes around drinking from them all each day as part of her routine.

When the first lilac bush fades another two with a different type of flower start to bloom. That fragrance is so intoxicating, especially when the wind carries the scent with it across the property.

Everything seems the be happy and healthy and I can't really ask for more! We have more visitors arriving shortly so I am off to bake some bread and get some garden work done before their arrival.

Be well everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful solstice celebration! ❀

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