Homestead Happenings 24.6

Homestead Happenings is a weekly-ish update about what’s going on at The Northfarthing.

Here on The Northfarthing, we are in full go mode.

Last Saturday, we prepped the kids to be outside all day. I had a hopeful list of stuff to get done and a realistic expectation of what could get done.

And we totally blew my expectations out of the water!

What I expected to take at the very least all day but most likely into the next day took us about 6 hours.

I wanted to try a new intensive planting/kitchen garden style. So the top beds were dedicated to this project.

In four 4’x12′ beds, we planted approximately 300 plants plus seeds for peas, carrots, lettuce, and spinach.

I am pretty sure I used more plants this way than in my traditional rows I’ve done in the past. We planted 4 beds very tightly and added 4 beds to the mix while we were at it. We still have 11 beds open for all sorts of stuff – squashes, potatoes, flower, sweet potatoes….so many plans.

We also planted snapdragons which according to my kids “I started too many” which I didn’t know was a thing but also I started over 200 so it’s possible. We had to tuck them around under the elderberries because a whole bed couldn’t hold them. Which means we get to enjoy their beauty in more than one place.

Over the week, it was cool and rainy. I started up our penultimate trays of starts for the season – squashes, tomatoes, things that didn’t start well before or I need more of since I used up more than I thought. I still need to do melons and more marigolds and a few odds and ends.

I truly can’t believe we open the farm stand in a month. I’m so excited and nervous and like what have we gotten ourselves into and also this isn’t new because we sell plants every year.

It’s my favorite part of the year – when everything feels exciting and fresh and every single tulip is reported to me by at least 3 excited children. And we can get the kids excited about pulling weeds but having a contest for them. And when we all only want to be outside so the house and laundry and dishes are all back burner and no one complains about the same leftovers on repeat for days.

And this week the temps are up so we’re brewing compost tea to keep thirsty plants drinking only the best.

We planted about 15 pounds of potatoes today, weeded the strawberries and raspberries, cut some more stuff down and out of the way, the kids ran wire for the raspberries, plus watering, hauling, all the things.

OH! And I found my first sprouted carrots! I am so over the moon about this. I mean the odds were high because of ALL the carrot seeds I started but these buggers have not proven to be easy to grow so here’s hoping for more sprouts.