Happy May (Catch-up Post)!

Dear Friends,

My, oh my, it's been over a month since I last posted! I have been so busy in the garden I have had nary a chance to get in and work on my blog (those of you who are friends on Facebook have been more informed).

We bought chicks and ducklings the first of the month, and have been busy making movable pens for them, to keep them safe. One of our dogs killed two chicks, sadly, before we had them in a good place, and another chick died of natural causes. Life with animals can be hard!

We've been feeding the local hummingbirds and orioles, although now the honeysuckle is blooming at present, and they are having more fun enjoying a natural diet!

Turtles are on the move right now, and we have tried to save as many as we could safely pull over to help cross the roads. These two turtles were in our yard and road, so we played with them for a bit.

Phoebes are nesting in our front porch, so I've had to move the bird feeders where the other birds won't be dive-bombed every time they come for a snack.




We enjoyed going to (and performing at) the Spring Planting Festival at Baker Creek. Ken performed as Elvis, and the children sang a few songs as well. We were happy to meet John Denver's banjo player and writer of "Grandma's Feather Bed," Jim Connor.

I hope that you have had a lovely month of May, despite the crazy weather that seems to be happening all over the world!

Love,

Marqueta

Enjoying Nature, and More Projects!

 Dear Friends,

Thank you for all the kind birthday wishes. We have been enjoying seeing all the new growth in our yard, and along the roads nearby. I was excited to find two patches of May apples growing on our property the other day, as well as a little fern. Normally we would have to take a drive to the country for wildflower-viewing, so it's nice to have it all around us. Now we just have to drive a ways to do any shopping!

We have been planting lots of peas, radishes, carrots, favas, and salad greens in our garden, and hoping that they survive all the frosts we've been having lately!

 These are Thomas Laxton peas, which we learned were bred by a famous friend of Charles Darwin.

The children and I have been building a strawberry planter box out of pallets, in hopes of keeping the rabbits from eating them once they start growing. We're trying Ozark Beauty strawberries, which should do well, since they were bred in this area. Gardening is always an adventure! We also have put in lots of alpine strawberries that we started from seed purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co, where our three oldest daughters work. If you will be in the area for the Baker Creek Spring Planting Festival in May, the girls and Frankie will be performing a few songs and we would love to meet you!

May you have a wonderful day.
Love,
Marqueta

Birthday Time Again

Dear friends,

This past Sunday I became 90 divided by 2. We had church in the morning, and in the afternoon, my girls made me a beautiful cake with strawberries and magnolia blossoms on it. Magnolia blossoms are a little strong, but they're good medicine, so it was worth it!

Hyrum gave me a sweet hug and a tractor made out of Legos to help in the garden (we'll see how THAT goes!).

We had fun target-practicing in the woods on Saturday. and Mother Nature blessed me with gold in the form of finches, as well as dandelion blossoms all over the yard.

We also had our first asparagus harvest from the bed that planted years ago, so that was an especially wonderful treat.

I am so grateful to finally be here in land in the country, where we will be busy doing more projects than I can keep track of, until we make a real homestead out of our place. There are fences to install, chicken coops and other animal shelters to make, a greenhouse or two to figure out, ponds and other waterworks to dig, etc. etc.  My husband suffers from severe diabetic neuropathy, so thank goodness for wonderful people from our church who are willing to come lend a hand with tilling, clearing brush, etc. and neighbors that offer to help, as well!

Thank you to all my friends who read this blog. Your friendship means more than you know.

Love,

Marqueta

Spring Has Sprung!

 Dear Friends,

We have been watching in great anticipation as our magnolia tree began unfurling its fuzzy buds, wondering which kind it was. Now we know that it is a lovely, all-white Star variety, and we couldn't be happier! It is close enough to the house to be able to see the birds perched in its branches from our bedroom window upstairs.

Speaking of birds, we are now feeding a flock of nearly 100 goldfinches that have decided that ours is a wonderful place to eat thistle and sunflower seeds.

 They empty the feeders about every other day!

Violets are blooming in our woods, both the regular purple colour, as well as a bi-colored type that is very sweet.

 The seeds we have sown are now sprouting up and ready to be put in the ground. And we are clearing the ground just as quickly as we can!

 The neighbors' cow surprised us by having a wee calf the other day. We wondered why she was bawling all morning! Cows are very interesting creatures, even trying to eat plastic through the fence.



Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Marqueta

Working on the Garden and New Puppies

 Dear friends,

As you can see, we've been busy feeding the local goldfinch population! I've never had a single finch eat from a thistle sock before, but they've emptied out three in the last week, and I had to buy four more today! Did I mention it's expensive? But the little birds bring us so much joy with their singing, it is worth every penny.

We've been working outside when the weather permits, building raised beds and putting in some cold-hardy crops like lettuce, pak choy, arugula, and broad beans.  In the picture below you'll see three of my helpers digging a small pond for a memorial garden in the front. We are going to put lilies around it for our Victoria Lily, who died at birth ten years ago.

We'll be building a rose arbor as well, an fencing it all in so the deer don't come dine on them. We have lots of multiflora roses around the property, so I'm hoping the deer will eat them and leave our nice ones alone. We'll see how my theory pans out!

We picked up some "Craigslist Special" puppies that a person not far from us was giving away, to be future guard dogs on the homestead. We saw a bobcat the other day on the road by our house, and have heard coyotes howling nearby, so good guard dogs will be helpful once we get chickens.

I hope that you are having a wonderful March so far, and enjoying the greening of the spring (if it is where you are!).

Love,

Marqueta