Sunday, June 17, 2012

Are You Sure It's Still June?--a Trailer Park Homestead update

So I guess I'm not really a stay-at-home-mom any more.  I posed the question the other day on a forum I participate on of what the definitely of a work-at-home-mom is, and according to everyone that responded, I'm actually one of those people now.  That certainly explains why I'm so busy all the time!  And, of course, even being completely overextended, I added a couple new major projects to my life recently, without taking anything away (I still have pounds to lose, kids to raise and educate, food to grow, money to make, and a house to keep up, after all!), so....yeah.  One of these days I'll go into my new life plan in a blog post, but I've come to the realization that there is no good reason I can't earn a decent income even though I'll never work another job in my life! 

In the meantime, here's what's growing on at the Trailer Park Homestead:
My 7 year old finally noticed the berries on the bushes are starting to ripen, a fact that the little ones and I have known about for several days, but we've been keeping them....harvested.  My little man is getting so big!
Funny how domestic carrot flowers look exactly like wild carrot flowers (aka Queen Anne's Lace).  It makes me wonder if domestic carrot seed would have the same medicinal properties as its wild counterpart.  I'm not going to experiment to find out though!
The back bed is looking pretty bare now that we gave up on the full grown broccoli and the spinach that bolted in this heat.  Once the current heatwave calms back down (95 on Tuesday!), I'll probably plant some carrots and shallots in those spots.
The dill that was sent to me by Kevin's Simpler Times Homestead stands tall and proud next to the mints that keep trying to take over my herb garden (who'da thunk it).
Almost exactly a year ago, a tree was felled from this spot.  I decided to help them out in getting rid of the remaining stump by burying it in compost and planting stuff on top of it.  Now, it is a watermelon mound.  I'll just have to keep the watermelon vines tendrils heading toward my yard, not the neighbors, since this is basically right on the line.  I don't really think they'd mind, but I don't want their ginormous dog-beasts tearing them up or pooping on them.
My tomatoes are getting so close to being yummy, but for now I still have to get my tomatoes from the farmers market. *sad face*
Here I have an alternating pattern of tomato, zucchini, tomato, zucchini, tomato.  For some reason, the plants on the left are doing great and the ones on the right seem to be hanging on to dear life (watering differences maybe?  I guess I'll have to pay more attention when the kids are playing in the sprinkler!).  After last year's nightmare with squash vine borers completely taking out my zucchini, pumpkins, and blue hubbard squash, I decided to try to do something preventative this year.  I've read that foil around the base of vulnerable plants somehow deters the evil moths from laying their eggs on the plants, so I figured that was worth trying out.  The zucchini on the left is already starting to get flower buds, so hopefully I'll get a good zucchini crop this year.  Either that, or I'll have to start parking on random streets around my village and leave the doors unlocked in the hopes that someone will fill my van with zucchini!
The snap peas are not liking this heat.  If we have another freakishly mild winter this year, I might plant my peas as early as mid-February next year so I can get a decent crop before it gets too hot!  As it is, I'm trying to discourage the kids from getting into them at this point, so I can let the remaining peas go to seed so I can try again in the fall.

3 comments:

  1. We have five baby tomatoes on our plants right now, something I'm so excited about it isn't even amusing anymore. And our beets! OMG for the first time in ten years of trying I think I might get real beets out of my garden! (Happy dance!)

    I have a 10' row of beans and another of peas, and so far I've got beautiful plants and no flowers. I'm beginning to wonder if all I'm going to get is greens. :( We want fresh peas. We keep going out there and peeking to see if there's even ONE flower.

    The herb bed is looking amazing, thanks to various friends and family who have donated herbs to us. Yesterday I got a huge chunk of well-matured chives, complete with flowers, which I transplanted with joy. Oh that smell on my fingers...

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  2. hey- just stopped by and your homestead is looking great! (don't let the michigan wilt discourage you; things will perk up once the heat lifts). we are loving seattle and our chickens- stop by the blog some time and say hello :) take care- julie bass

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  3. Hi, I'm following from Cafemom. Your blog looks great.

    Hope you'll take some time to check out my two blogs. They can be found at http://www.povblog.net and http://www.frazzledfran.blogspot.com

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