The Farmer’s experience is something of wonder to me. As much as you learn as each growing season progresses you seem to always be grasping for more – more stability, more growth, more sustainability, more knowledge! Is it because the farmer is greedy and may never be satisfied? No. It is because Mother Nature is at a constant state of flux. She is always changing much to her own chagrin. As I watched the dime size hailstones fall fast & heavy, I flinched at the thought of the destruction happening before me, what’s more, to the crops growing in the fields around the area. Although just beginning, this growing season does not feel like any other. It is changed. New. So we must, too, be brand new.

New Crop Investments

My desire to grow as many types of vegetation often over shadows a need for said vegetation. I’ve attempted to become more balanced in this area, really meditating on new fruit trees, bushes and vines before making them a permanent addition to our homestead. Some choices are better than others. This year however we have made a conscious decision to add few more interesting items to our everchanging homestead.

• Seedless Grapes – After experiencing our very first harvest of table grapes in 2024 we learned quite a bit! First, and oddly enough, chickens like ripe grapes! Second, these grapes tend to last quite a while if stored properly. This was very refreshing to learn. Finally, grapes with seeds require more time to process into the various goods that our family utilizes them for. Please, don’t misunderstand, any homegrown food is going to be superior to the store brought. Still, time is a valuable commodity that, unfortunately, we can not grow in the garden. So we must manage the time we have wisely. Seedless grapes will help us to do just that. One less step in the process will free up energy and time for other endeavors. This years new grape selection is in the ground and growing well. If you missed our video with all the details, you may view that here.
• Goji Berry – With all its claim to fame, there is no wonder that we have added this incredible super food to our apothecary.
• Blueberry Bushes (Again) – Once upon a time, our homestead had three blueberry bushes. They grew. However, they didn’t thrive. They did produce a small fruit harvest but not large. We eventually moved them to what we thought would be a more appropriate location, which quickly became their graveyard. So here we go again. We only invested in two bushes this year. If they do well, we may install more in the upcoming seasons. While we will likely never have enough blueberries for the community (with our current space), we would like to eventually grow enough for our family’s needs.

New Flock Additions

We really had no plans to hatch any chicks out this year as our flock is already quite large for our family of five. However, we had so many inquiries about hatching eggs and chicks in lieu of the egg prices that we gave into the pressure. It actually wasn’t so much the pressure because who doesn’t love the cute, little, fluffy, adorable chicks!? 

We determined that we would do two hatches this spring with our barnyard mixes. The first hatch went really well coming in on the last two days of the month. This hatch was offered to our community. A sense of pride fills me knowing these chicks have been cared for with love and fed organically while in our care.

There are numerous stories online of potential chicken tenders entering big box stores to find chicks lethargic, dead, or worse – decomposing! It’s sad. We are thankful to have been able to acquire our initial flock from a trusted source. To be able to pay that forward a few years later is rewarding, to say the least. Eventually we plan on separating our flocks by breed. Much infrastructure is needed before that will be possible but it is in our future.

Harvests Remain The Same

March was full of leafy greens! We harvested so many collards for ourselves and our friends. Last count we have harvested around 12lbs from one the one row. It became the gift that kept on giving! Along with the collards, Swiss Chard has also been in good supply. We have noticed some issues with it though that has limited how much we have been able to eat ourselves or sell. It is the dreaded leaf spot! Fortunately, the flocks do not seem to mind and they have readily transformed these leaves into fertilizer for us.

Lettuce has also been in large supply for us. We love a homegrown salad! Here in zone nine, though, it’s rare to harvest lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers  simultaneously. Lettuce prefers cool temperatures while the other ingredients like it hot! This year, we are toying with some new varieties of lettuce in hopes of sorting this dilemma once and for all! If it results in year round lettuce for the family – all the better! If not, we have only used a few seeds and the rabbits happen to love bolting lettuce. Win-win!

Spring onions have literally sprung out of the ground. They are growing faster than we can use and it seems the community is not as interested in buying them this season. However it is still money in the farm piggy bank for a couple of reasons. First, we will process these green onions with other items from the farm to make a nice veggie broth that will be used in place of store bough broths. Money saved is as good as money earned these days. Second, we will get the dehydrator working for us to make some value added products. Our spice blends tend to be a hit at the farmers markets when we have the pleasure to attend. We also make use of the dehydrated chunks in our breads that we make for the market as well. Its nice to have the farm work for us for a change!

Asparagus has really preformed well this year. We have harvest a couple of handfuls and could have harvested more had I been paying closer attention. When will I learn!

New Knowledge & Familiar Sights

While our stone fruit trees are very early to awaken from winter slumber, others are not such morning plants. This month we did see the muscadine and table grape vines make their presence known with beautiful leave sprouting from the seemingly dead vines. The green leaves trimmed in pink are just the most darling thing.

Our fig tree, Iggy, also woke up. Oddly putting on a few random figs before any leaves! Perhaps it was in case Jesus walked by? Each year it seems that this tree doubles in size. I am beginning to wonder if we should have put it in a different location. We did attempt to clone Iggy by propagating cuttings over the fall. We did not have any success. We have to look into more techniques. I have researched air pruning and it seems to have good results. Of course, those result do not account for my forgetfulness and the chaos that is my life. We will see.

Wild black berries are EVERYWHERE! We enjoy seeing the bees explore the white delicate flowers. Those thorns however are NOT SO DELICATE! This year we will be cutting down many of the vines after they produce. We will then apply some vinegar and salt in the areas where no other produce is growing, to keep them from growing back. If they decide to, hopefully it will be after we get the landscape fabric and rocks down around the perimeter of our home.

In yet another case of “I did not know that” one of our pear trees has pears! Welp, guess it also establishes fruit early! The blossoms do have an marvelous aroma and they are pretty. However, they cannot out-scent the lemon blossoms! Just sitting under the lemon trees is an intoxicating experience! So much nicer than the chicken poo smell that permeates the hill on rainy days.

As quickly as it came, March was over. She left us we tons of work and high expectations! Would the blooms and blossoms actually yield? It will take months to see if our faith is miss placed. We only shared a little here. For a more detailed look at what is growing on, check out our Spring Garden Tour Video. Till then, grab your umbrella, here comes April with her showers…