Back Home Gardening

01/21/2026

We harvested the last of the carrots today From the garden. The first thing LouAnne said was “I just bought 2 big bags of carrots“ Well 4 gallons of carrots from the garden later and it Looks like we will be eating a lot of carrots.

02/18/2024

Our first batch of homemade sauerkraut. I am not a fan of sauerkraut but it has been fun hearing the “ballerping”sound it has been making on our counter for the past 2weeks. I was brave today and tried some for dinner. It was surprisingly good. 3 large cabbages made 6 quarts of sauerkraut. It will last us awhile because the kids won’t touch it.

02/02/2024

Some progress on my starts. The lettuce and onions are doing great. The cilantro and basil are struggling a little. I have reduced the watering on the basil and turned the heating pads off. I think they were getting a little too warm.

02/02/2024

02/02/2024

I just couldn’t wait. It was 57degrees and the sun was shining. With snow and rain in the forecast. I am preparing the beds so that I can apply a layer of compost that the chickens are finishing up. Two rows down seven more to go!!
Gardening is the best way to get things off your mind. I even got a little sun burn.

01/09/2024

And so it begins. I like to start onions early and louanne wanted some herbs to cook with.

04/04/2023

Getting ready for spring planting. Now we have to wait for this 8-10 inches of snow we got today to melt.

03/02/2023

This is what the beds look like after a thin layer of compost has been added. I do this in The spring and fall. Notice our friend “Polly” in the background?

03/02/2023

Joel is loading up "Polly" with finished compost so that we can spread it on our garden beds. We call our cart Polly because when we got it the box said “contents one polli dump cart”
I love working with my kids especially when they have bought into the idea that gardening is fun.

03/02/2023

This is how I prepare my garden in the spring and the fall. We add a thin layer of home made compost to each bed. Over the past 7-8 years I have noticed the soil in the beds is deep and full of organic matter. I haven’t tilled for approximately 10 years. I am sold on the no till method of gardening

03/02/2023

This is an area of our chicken enclosure where we throw all our table scraps lawn clippings and garden waste. In the winter it looks nasty and soggy it is really deep this time of year so I went out today to see what it was like under all the sogginess. This is what I found. Beautiful broken down compost that I can add directly to my garden this year.

03/02/2023

One of my greatest joys is working in the garden with my kids. This past year Joel was really into gardening which made it fun for both of us.