Please do not mind our adjusted blog title as it just for this post. Or perhaps it may give you a smile or chuckle. When looking back over how long it has actually been since I have completed a blog post, those exact words bounced around my head as my fingers began to commence typing. There is no real way to document all that has taken place since the last time I took to blogging. If I tried, this would be quiet the lengthy read. Bear with me if I seem a little confused as a lot of this blog will be pieced together from farm notes and photos. While it likely still be my longest blog yet, I do hope you enjoy this year in review, of sorts, blog about what in the world did go on at Bain Home Gardens over the last eight months.
April
When April made its arrival, the farm was bustling, despite my surgery in January. This was largely in part due to planting that was done late Fall. For instance, we harvested our first round of garlic scapes and used them in as many dishes as we could. The bonus of two crops from one planting makes me wonder why anyone who could plant hardneck varieties wouldn’t. Ironically, the veggies we paired our scapes with are also ones that yield two different crops from one planting. Carrots are used on our homestead for the tops and the roots. Either we wash and dehydrate the tops to use in soups and stews throughout the year or we feed them to the rabbits. Our onions also pull double duty as we dehydrate them or use fresh in sautés. Having these items growing early, by planting in the fall, meant that we were harvesting homegrown goodies while we waited for our summer crops, which had just been planted, to thrive. Harvest of spinach, chard, mint and radishes kept us content as we watched the first tomatoes and squash babies arrive on their mother plants. Nectarines, peaches, pears, grapefruit and tangelos were all teaming with life. Would it be false hope or would we actually harvest bountiful fruit from our orchard for a change?
Rabbit babies were born to Sweet Pea on the 12th. Their sire was Peter, our Flemish Giant. Sweet Pea and Cher continue to display great mothering skills as they care for their young. These babies would go to the flea market with us later in the year. Their sell would help to make up for the inability to attend famers markets this summer.
Chicks were also chirping inside the Bain home. The Barred rock eggs we secured along with those of our own hatched in the broader giving us 14 little adorable chicks. They were all so stinkin’ cute… and I do mean STINKIN’! We fell in love with one or two in particular who had very curious personalities. We used a new plate warmer verses the bulb this go round and we really do enjoy the peace of mind this tool offers over the bulb. You can find a video on our unboxing and use of it here.
May
May was a real blur. One reason being that the second surgery would be on the 17th. We decided to do the surgery sooner than later since the previous surgery created more of a discrepancy in leg length, making rehabilitation more challenging. Still the farm does go on. So there was a need to do much in preparation. Blackberries were coming in faster than we could harvest and process them. As a result, the native wildlife was able to benefit. We were able to harvest enough to dehydrate for teas and other uses in the future. We sampled some of the elephant garlic heads to get an idea of how close to harvest we really were. They were very large and we were able to harvest seeds for next season. More garlic scapes came in along with beautiful perennial flowers bringing in butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. It really was beautiful outdoors but the heat came just as swiftly as the season did! As we rushed to harvest beet and radishes before they would become woody and bitter we also fought off the horrible amount of gnats and mosquitoes that seem to have made permanent residence on our farm. Cherry tomatoes were fully coming into blush. They teased us greatly. Little did we know it wouldn’t be until June before we would taste the first one. In the mean time we were pleased to enjoy ground cherries. They held up very well despite the early heat wave and became quite productive.
The biggest task we had on hand was butchering and processing several roosters that had become a bit of a nuisance to the hens and us. That was done expediently and they sit now in our freezer.
After surgery there was little I could do besides point and direct. The family really had their hands full managing me (nurses make the worse patients) and the farm! I had ignorantly started two fermenting projects – ginger bug and sourdough starter – that needed attention. To my own defense, I will add that it felt like one of those now or never moments. If I don’t do it now, I never will! Dramatic? True. Factual? Yes! So I did. Thanks to willing friends I was able to make it to my physical therapy appointments several times a week, my follow ups as well. It almost seemed impossible to manage it all but we made it work. We did loose a couple of the chicks for unknown reasons and several of our winter squash transplants, however, we thank God above things went as smoothly as they did!
May brought in the nectarine harvest which was the most disappointing event ever. Pest and disease wiped out what would have been our most bountiful crop yet. Unfortunately, the same pests and disease affect one stone fruit affect all of them. So chances of us harvesting any peaches were slim as well. I will keep you in the same suspense we experienced! Sorry – not sorry!
June
June brought in our first tomato and eggplant harvests of the season. Overwintered peppers also yielded their first fruits making this the earliest we have ever harvested peppers on our farm! Fennel and the garlic bulb harvest was completed. Large heads of both made me feel like I had done something right despite not being able to do much myself on the farm for the year.
Grapes, both table and muscadine, were coming into their color. The chickens did break out and came downhill to sample them. We think they enjoyed them since they took quite a few clusters. The mint went absolutely WILD and we loved it! The smell, intoxicating and so relaxing filled the air on breezy days. The bees loved the flowers and often were very territorial of them. We would have to wait to do any harvesting until they had moved on to the bee balm or sunflowers.
Bread making with our sourdough starter and soda making with our ginger bug proved to be very rewarding. I immediately noticed the shelf life on the sourdough bread to be longer than that of the standard white bread. That alone was enough incentive for me to continue making it. Thank goodness for that lactic acid bacteria!
July
July was so hot. I think I remember reading that the summer 2024 of was the hottest on record for our region. This was not surprising as many of the crops suffered as a result. Keeping the animals cool and happy was our next challenge. We mottled through it – all sweaty hands on deck!
An exciting development was the invasion of the Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars in our high tunnel! Fennel that we had been allowing to go to seed for saving was absolutely full of caterpillars! Later in the month our daughter spent quite a bit of time gently catching and releasing the young butterflies. It brought all of us such joy to aid these graceful creatures.
The first harvest of figs came in heavy as well. We didn’t harvest as we should and lost quite a few, unfortunately. We did, however, make a few jars of jam and experiment with fig and onion focaccia bread. It was the best! We are looking forward to the 2025 harvest to make this tasty bread again!
Our first ever table grape harvest would be this month. It was a very nice harvest! We were able to make quite a few jars of jam and of course we ate plenty of them fresh as well. This would not be the first, first harvest of we would have this 2024 growing season! Later in the month we harvested our first edible peach! It seems it was a rather late harvest for our peaches but given what we had seen with our nectarines, we were happy to get to eat even one! This peach would be our second, first harvest of 2024. In fact, in typing this year in review blog, I’ve realized just what an epic year we actually had on the farm this year! Despite two major surgeries and financial set backs we have truly been blessed! So much so that I literally just had to take a moment to say a prayer of thanks.
August
August was beyond hot. Sweat, shower repeat was the tone of the entire summer. By now I was moving more independently and had gained a little more freedom with my family. So I opted to get up early with my handy dandy Brian and do as much as I could be for tiredness or heat, whichever came first, set in. This month we lost our beloved Barry, the sole Barred Rock cockerel from our March hatch. We believe it was the heat coupled with the fact that he may have not been drinking as he should to avoid the bigger chickens in his flock. It was very sad. These things happen so quickly that watching the flock and our rabbits like hawks became our go to over the next month or so. At least until the temperatures were not so harsh we would be outside several time throughout the day refreshing waterers and adding ice as needed. I had become a little paranoid! You, of course, understand why.
We finally got around to processing the garlic we had harvested months earlier. It all went into the freezer in food saver bags until we were ready to begin dehydrating for spice blends. It was rather poetic as the garlic we would be planting for summer 2025 harvest arrived in the mail. Around the same time we were able to harvest a good bit of our muscadines at once. These were used to flavor sodas and kombucha and we actually just juiced some to drink. Hoping for another bountiful year next season as wine in on the to-do-list!
The goldenrod flourished this year more than it ever has and as a result huge weedlike stalks of it towered over raised beds and inground beds all over the farm. We decided to harvest it early this year. We would leave only a few plants to come back to and harvest the flowers from later. The leaves were harvested, washed and then dried and stored away for the dreaded cold and flu season.
Planting was rather interesting as we replanted squash and cucumbers for Fall harvest. We also were planting brassicas for Winter and Spring harvest. When you are growing year round, it does all tend to run together!
Our third, first harvest was pears! Our two pear trees, though young are doing very well and one of them yielded us 5 pears for the 2024 growing season! We were beyond excited and pleased. These, like our muscadines were used to flavor sodas and kombucha.
August would give us one more surprise before she left. In speaking with a friend outdoors I happened to look up and realize that one of our three lemon trees actually had fruit on it! When did that happen? When did it even flower?! Well! At first we only observed one. As we moved around the tree we quickly saw there were more! Would this be they year that we FINALLY HARVESTED OUR OWN LEMONS?! Here is a video of our discovery.
September
September was a pretty chill month. The most interesting thing was the arrival of two new kitties. Two boys just randomly appeared on our farm. They appeared to have been cared for. They were just a tad hungry and in need of human attention. We believe that someone dropped them off as we are outside frequently and hadn’t seen them previously. In addition to that, our cats are very territorial and tolerate no uninvited guests. We ended up keeping them both. We reached out to the community for assistance and we were donated a cat tower, litter box and other supplies. We named them Timothy & Paul. Paul has a more laid back disposition. He is very curious and very verbal. We enjoy conversing with him as it seems he is very well aware of what is being said. Timothy is much more wild and stubborn. Paul earned a spot indoors while Timothy gained respect from the outdoor cats and now fits right in!
As for produce, there was very little being harvested during this sort of transition month into the fall garden. The peppers did not get the memo. We did not complain as we enjoyed using thing in various dishes.
It was around this time that we found our citrus trees full of bird poop! It was interesting as we seldom see birds on the trees themselves. Further examination revealed it was actually a worm! This little guy is another variety of swallow tail caterpillar our farm has been blessed to observe. These caterpillars which will eventually become the Giant Swallowtail butterfly, partial to citrus leaves. As you may notice in the photos, there will be evidence of munching but they will not decimate them a healthy tree. takes around 9 -18 to fully grow from egg to chrysalis stage, depending on temperature and food availability. Once in the chrysalis, it will then transform into a butterfly within a week or two. Ah, the circle of life is absolutely amazing! We feel privileged that these beautiful butterflies visit our farm and utilize its organic produce as their personal nursery each year. We hope to continue to plant more native flowers that will encourage these visits year after year.
October
October was a fun month. The weather was really all over the place with large gaps between the highs and the lows. The cooler nights decreased pest pressure which was a welcomed assist! There were not many cooler nights, in fact the fall garden now began to yield squash, cucumbers, green beans and lettuce. I’ve determined that fall harvested green beans are definitely the tastiest. Next year we will plan to plant them in the high tunnel to extend our harvest just a few weeks longer. We also harvested quite a bit of our arugula along with other greens for fresh salads throughout the month. One of our hold our peppers, Datil, finally gave their first harvest of bright orange peppers! These peppers are habanero hot and are absolutely gorgeous. We froze most of our harvest to use for food preservation projects during the winter months.
October also was the kick off of our fall microgreens session. We always find ourselves very impressed by the incredible ways our members utilizer their weekly deliveries! This session was no exception!
The girls really appreciated the break in the extreme temperatures and as a result they rewarded us with plenty of butt nuggets. We did not offer an egg subscription this year due to my recovery but the girls didn’t get the memo! Our customers surely loved the abundance as we did!
The biggest event of October was our annual CNG inspection. For the first time we used community members to do our inspection and it worked out far better than I expected. I feel like this option is a great way to increase community awareness of what CNG is and for the community to get to know our farm and practices up close and personal. It is one thing to read about a farm and how they handle things on a daily basis but it is something else entirely to see in person. We find also that many visitors love to offer some type of assistance in the form of farm labor in exchange for education on where their food is actually coming from. We call that a win-win!
The chickens were not included in our recertification this go round. This does not mean that we are not still caring for them organically. No! They still eat the same USDA Certified Organic feed. However, their runs and coops currently require some maintenance and even more expansion. Chicken math is a real tough subject! We hope to get this done while the temperatures are cooler over the winter.
November
This month we had the privilege of inspecting fellow CNG farmers Hawkins Homestead Farm. We always enjoy visiting with other CNG farms. The education and edification we experience as we grow each others knowledge and encourage each other to continue the road less traveled is priceless! Let’s faces it, there are certain issues only other organic farmers are truly going to understand!
This month we did mate a few of our rabbits. The hope is that they will have they most adorable kits by the end of December. Spending time with the rabbits is very enjoyable this time of year. Their winter fur is so luscious and fluffy! It makes them so cuddly and I honestly wish that they looked this way all year long! It does mean that we must line them up for more spa days during the winter months as their manure can get entangled in the fur easily. Caring for long hair rabbits is more labor intensive. However, any rabbit can require time and effort. If your are privileged to adopt one of our buns, please know that we firmly believe in education and not watering down the facts – rabbits are not easy pets! They can, however, be the best cuddle buddies if, you, the owner, do what is needed. We have been making notes here and there on the details of owning a rabbit. As time allows, this endeavor is under construction to give our readers a complete a guide to owning a rabbit. Stay tunned for that.
December
If you have traveled this far through the past into the present with us then you are truly vested into our blog. For that we thank you!
This month is always an exciting one for us because it is our wedding anniversary. We prefer to call it our familiversary, as it was the beginning of the beautiful chaos we call family! This month on the 11th we celebrated 25 years of togetherness. It has been quite the journey! Just looking at the past 8 months is wild! Now, multiply that by 25! We are beyond thankful and privileged that out of all the other hearts on the planet our hearts found each other and in time began to and continue to beat in concert.
The month has only increased our joy as we have two more first harvests – fourth, first harvest of tangelo oranges & fifth, first harvest of lemons! It has been well worth the wait. While we are STILL waiting on the remaining lemons to turn fully, we have enjoyed the thrill of climbing the ladder and harvesting our very own lemons. This variety was gifted to us from a friend who really enjoys growing plants from saved seeds. When we got these lemon trees they were small enough to fit into a solo cup! It is hard to believe!
We have one more potential first harvest on the horizon – grapefruit. These will be small as the tree is small itself. Currently there are three fruits hanging and slowly turning yellow. Will they mature before 2025? Well they have 7 days. Literally, time will tell! It is our hope that this is only the beginning of a long history of the Bain Orchard growing in all her glory with citrus, stone fruit and apples, for years to come.
When I finally set my heart to get this blog done, I had no idea how it would go. Now I must say that this has been quite the interesting blog to type. There were a lot of other exciting events on the farm that I realize I am leaving out. That is okay, as they are etched on my heart. There were also quite a few sad occasions. How we focus on these events will determine our joy and peace. Perception is everything! Please remember that it is our God-given right is to be joyful. How we maintain that joy, how we feed and water it, that is up to you and I. Today and forever I chose joy. I pray you do as well.
As I finalize the conclusion of this blog, this year is, in fact, ending as well. Let’s have a joyful 2025 growing season, taking all our learning from 2024 and the years before along with us. After all, knowledge is the best kind of baggage. As the past gives way to the present which shines hope on the future, please do not forget to get those hands into the dirt and grow. Love and blessings – from our family to yours.