Last time we posted the blog, we were a little late. There’s actually a reason for that. I had gone away on a business trip for work and didn’t get back to the homestead until Thursday, the day the blog was supposed to be posted. The funny thing is that I had actually written the blog before I left. The problem was that I forgot to send Addy all the photos that went with it. So, my bad.
The blog ended up being posted a little later than usual, and I really appreciate everyone who clicked on it out of schedule and took the time to read it anyway. Thank you for continuing to follow along with our adventures, even when life occasionally throws our schedule off track.
Now, on to this update.
It is officially peak gardening season here in New Brunswick, and that has been taking up a lot of our time lately. According to some old wives’ tales, we’re not actually supposed to plant heat-loving crops until after the first full moon in June. This year, that full moon doesn’t arrive until June 29th, which feels incredibly late considering our growing season is only a little over one hundred days long. As much as I like to roll my eyes at old gardening folklore, I have to admit there may be something to it. The evenings have remained surprisingly cool, although thankfully we’ve stayed above about eight degrees overnight for the last couple of weeks. More importantly, we haven’t had any frost warnings, which has been a huge relief because we’ve planted almost everything out into the garden.
At this point, the only major things left to plant are the tomatoes and hot peppers. Even the cucumbers have made it outside. The high tunnel is still a work in progress. We’ve cleaned the beds out, tackled a mountain of weeds, and are slowly getting everything prepared so we can finally put the plastic on. It is going to happen this year. We’ve just had a lot of competing priorities lately, and some projects have naturally moved a little slower than planned.
Most of our gardening efforts lately have focused on building and filling new beds. When I say “we,” I should probably give credit where credit is due. Addy has spent a tremendous amount of time building garden beds this spring. A year and a half ago, he brought home a trailer load of reclaimed wood from a local farm that was moving. They had old beams and boards from a barn that they no longer wanted, and we’ve slowly been finding ways to put that wood to good use around the homestead.
The result has been some really nice raised beds throughout the garden. One of those beds became our new strawberry patch. It’s not a tall raised bed, only about seven inches high, but it’s enough to provide structure and good soil depth. We planted our bare-root strawberries, and for the most part they’re doing really well. We lost a few plants that simply didn’t survive waiting in their little snail wrap as long as they had to, but most of them have taken off nicely. I’ll probably pick up another ten plants at some point just to fill in the empty spaces and create a fuller bed.
Addy also built some vertical pallet-style growing boxes where we planted basil, parsley, and cilantro. They’re looking fantastic so far. The weather has been helping us too. We’ve had a really nice balance of sunshine and rain every few days, which means less watering and happier plants.
We also planted cucumbers in buckets this year. We picked up some inexpensive buckets from the ReStore, drilled drainage holes in the bottoms, filled them with composted goat bedding and manure, topped them with soil, and planted three cucumber seedlings in each bucket. The plan is to trellis them and eventually move the buckets into the high tunnel once it’s completed.
Elsewhere in the garden, we’ve planted shelling peas, snow peas, beets, golden beets, and radishes. There are still a few empty spots waiting for inspiration, but overall things are filling in nicely.
One thing I’m especially excited about is the asparagus. For years it has felt like we were just patiently waiting while it established itself. This year, it has really taken off. The plants are growing tall and turning into those familiar fern-like tops, and it even looks like some of them may produce seed this year. We’re still letting everything grow out and build root strength because our goal is a really productive asparagus patch in the future. Hopefully next year is the year we finally get a proper harvest.
Not everything in the garden has been perfect, unfortunately. Our honeyberries were absolutely loaded with flowers this spring, and I had high hopes for a good harvest. Then we got hit with that late frost near the end of May. Since then, I haven’t seen much evidence that any berries survived. It looks like we may be skipping honeyberries this year.
Thankfully, the raspberries and blackberries seem completely unfazed. Both are covered in flowers right now, and I’m already looking forward to harvesting them later this summer. Half will probably end up in the freezer, and the rest will disappear into desserts and fresh eating. The mulberry trees also gave me a bit of a scare this spring. They were so slow to wake up that I started wondering if they had made it through the winter at all. Eventually, though, they leafed out and are looking healthy again. It seems the strange weather simply delayed their usual schedule.
Overall, the garden is still very much a work in progress, but this year feels different. The beds are coming together. The plants are growing. The projects are slowly moving forward. For the first time this season, it feels less like we’re preparing for the garden and more like we’re finally growing one.
Unfortunately, not every update from the homestead has been a happy one. While I was away on my work trip and Addy was holding down the fort, we had a disappointing ending to one of the things we had been most excited about this spring.
If you remember from the last couple of blog posts, we had two turkey hens that had gone broody and were sharing a nest. One day, while I was away, Addy went outside and immediately noticed something was different. All four turkeys were wandering around near the front of the chicken run. At first, he got excited, thinking maybe the eggs had finally hatched and there would be a little parade of turkey poults following the hens around the yard.
There weren’t.
He walked over to the nest expecting to find eggshells, evidence of hatching, or maybe some clue as to what had happened. But there was nothing there. No eggs. No shells. No feathers. No signs of a predator attack. Nothing.
To this day, we really don’t know what happened. What we do know is that after all those weeks of dedicated nest sitting, neither of our turkey hens ended up becoming mothers this year. It’s disappointing because we were really looking forward to seeing turkey poults raised naturally by the hens. Maybe next year.
The quail, on the other hand, are doing great. Well… mostly.
One day on my lunch break, I came downstairs and let the dogs out for their usual bathroom break. The kitchen window looks out over the garden, the goat area, and the poultry yard, so I often stand there for a minute and check on everything. I was looking out at the garden, thinking about how nice it was all starting to look, when I caught a little flash of movement out of the corner of my eye.
Something small darted behind a bucket.
I looked again and thought, “Wait a second. That looked suspiciously quail-sized.”
So I threw on my boots and headed outside.
Sure enough, quail were running around loose in the garden.
I scooped up five of them and started carrying them back toward their enclosure. As I rounded the corner, I spotted a few more. Then I noticed a couple inside the chicken run. Then a few more near the chicken coop door.
At that point, I had a sinking feeling.
I walked into the chicken coop and immediately saw the problem.
The door to their enclosure was open.
Quails were scattered all over the chicken coop floor.
So began what can only be described as a quail roundup. I wandered around the yard, the chicken run, and the coop, collecting quail two or three at a time and returning them to their temporary home. Thankfully, they were surprisingly cooperative. Normally, quail are known for being pretty flighty and difficult to catch, but these little guys were remarkably calm about the whole thing.
The best part? We didn’t lose a single one!
All nineteen quail were accounted for and safely returned home. Whatever happened, we got lucky. The experience did move a larger quail enclosure much higher on our project list, though.
Speaking of the ever-growing to-do list, one of our biggest projects this year has been the milking room. Originally, my vision for the project was pretty simple. I wanted a roof on some posts. Something I could stand under while milking goats in the rain without getting soaked.
That was my entire plan.
Addy, however, had bigger ideas.
Instead of a simple shelter, he has slowly been building what is essentially a proper little goat milking shed, and I have to admit I’ve really come to appreciate the extra effort. Recently, he finished installing the tin roof and even added a clear roof panel so natural light can come in while I’m working. The sides are still mostly open, but progress continues every week. Lately, he’s been working on the doors, or gates, depending on what you want to call them. Right now, the lower sections are installed, and even that is already making a huge difference.
Once the milk room is finished, the next major project on the list will probably be the high tunnel. After that, the quail need a larger enclosure. And then who knows. Like most homesteaders, our project list never really gets shorter. Things break. New ideas appear. Projects evolve. And occasionally I come home with new animals that somehow require entirely new infrastructure.
As for the goats themselves, they’re doing really well. Most of the kids are approaching weaning age now. The boys, however, are definitely entering their teenage phase. They’re getting bigger, bolder, and considerably more annoying. Before long, the remaining bucklings will be moving in with their dad in the buck area.
The milking routine itself continues to improve. They’re still goats, so everyone seems convinced that it’s always their turn next. Sometimes they wait patiently. Sometimes they shove their way forward, looking for extra grain even after they’ve already been milked. But overall, we’re settling into a routine.
With just four goats in milk, we’re consistently getting just under a gallon of milk every single day. I can admit I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t end up with five goats in milk this year like we originally planned, but when I look at the amount of milk we’re getting from just four girls, it’s hard to complain too much.
One weekend after I got back from my work trip, Addy and I did a little thrift shopping. Addy had somehow won a gift card, so we headed over to Seed the Need on Main Street in Fredericton and had a look around. I found a couple of shirts, a pair of really nice sandals, and my favourite find of the day: a four-quart slow cooker.
I’ve been trying to find better ways to preserve all this goat milk. One thing I’ve wanted to make more often is yogurt. The slow cooker solved that problem beautifully. I heated the milk, cooled it down, mixed in a yogurt starter, wrapped the ceramic crock in towels, and let it sit overnight.
And it worked.
Really, really well.
I successfully turned half a gallon of goat milk into yogurt.
Homemade yogurt is thinner than store-bought yogurt, so I also picked up a yogurt strainer that allows me to make a thicker Greek-style yogurt by removing some of the whey. The next batch I’m planning to split in half, leaving some drinkable and straining the rest.
I also experimented with another way to preserve milk. I made a huge batch of homemade chocolate pudding and poured it into popsicle moulds.
They were delicious.
Well, according to everyone except Addy.
His complaint was that they were “too chocolatey.”
In a chocolate popsicle.
I would like the record to show that the entire point of a chocolate popsicle is, in fact, to taste like chocolate.
Apparently, he disagrees. LOL
One thing Addy has been particularly proud of lately is his kimchi. This time of year, the organic farm where he works has an abundance of crops that aren’t pretty enough for the market or the farm boxes; in this particular case, it was bok choy. He managed to bring home an entire five-gallon tote full of baby bok choy.
Most people would probably look at that and wonder what they were supposed to do with it all. Addy saw kimchi.
Addy generally makes stir-fry with it, but wanted something more, and he remembered someone making Kimchi with it instead of using the more traditional cabbage.
Though he mixed up the salt for the sugar, it was a bit salty. I labelled the mason jar of salt to help avoid that in the future. Next time, he promised he’ll use the right one. Adding more sugar and mixing seemed to help cut the saltyness, so maybe there’s hope! Salt, Sugar, Soy sauce (makes it vegan instead of fish sauce), sesame seed oil, radishes, baby bok choy, red onions, ginger, 2 cloves of garlic minced!! Multiplied by… a lot! He’s already got the corrected second batch sitting on the counter, fermenting.
According to Addy, it’s absolutely delicious.
According to me, it smells like something may have gone wrong.
But apparently that’s part of the charm.
To be fair, it does look really good, and he’s become quite proud of his homemade batches. It’s another way we’re learning to preserve food from the garden and from the farm, and it’s nice seeing ingredients that might otherwise have gone to waste turned into something useful. So, good job, Addy!! Even if I still hold my breath a little when I open the jar. Next are radishes!!
Of course, it wasn’t all chores and garden work over the last couple of weeks.
One of the highlights for us was getting to attend East Coast Comic Con in Moncton. We were there alongside members of the 501st Garrison, while Addy and I represented the New Brunswick Jedi Council. Every once in a while, we get to dust off the costumes and spend a day in a galaxy far, far away.
For the event, I dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Addy wore his Baylan Skoll costume from Ahsoka. I actually sewed most of his outfit myself, and despite spending countless hours working on it, I still occasionally have to stop and think about the character’s name.
Because chores don’t magically disappear just because Comic Con is happening, we didn’t make it to Moncton until after lunchtime. Still, we made the most of it. We spent time chatting with fellow Star Wars fans, met some really great people, took photos with attendees, and helped out with teardown at the end of the event. Afterward, our group went out for dinner together before everyone headed their separate ways. Then it was time for the drive home.
It made for a very long day, especially after fitting it in around normal homestead chores, but it was absolutely worth it.
We also got the chance to spend some time with family recently, which is something we always appreciate. One evening, we headed over to my sister Crystal’s place to celebrate Maya’s 14th birthday. It’s hard to believe she’s already fourteen.
For her birthday dinner, Maya requested a full-on holiday-style supper. Crystal put together ham, asparagus, stuffing, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and all the comfort food you could want. It was absolutely delicious.
And then there was the cake.
Kristel had made a homemade Dairy Queen-style ice cream cake complete with the fudge layer and the crunchy cookie crumble layer in the middle.
Honestly, I think it might have been even better than the real thing.
After cake and visiting, it was time to make the drive home so we could get back in time to put all the animals to bed. That’s one thing about homestead life—eventually, everybody expects you to come home and do your job.
And that’s pretty much the highlight reel from the last couple of weeks here on the Funny Farm.
Between getting back from my work trip, diving headfirst into gardening season, building new raised beds, planting strawberries, watching the asparagus finally start to look established, chasing escaped quail around the yard, working on the milk room, processing gallons of goat milk, experimenting with yogurt and cheese, attending East Coast Comic Con, and celebrating Maya’s birthday with family, we’ve certainly managed to keep ourselves busy.
Some projects are moving along exactly as planned, some are taking a little longer than we’d hoped, and a few things—like our mystery turkey nest—didn’t quite work out the way we imagined. That’s homesteading, though. There’s always another project waiting, another animal needing attention, another weather forecast to watch, and another lesson to learn.
Even with the occasional disappointment, it’s hard not to feel excited this time of year. The gardens are growing, the animals are healthy, the milk room is slowly taking shape, and every day seems to bring something new. The long winter feels like it’s finally behind us, and all the work we’ve been putting in over the last few months is starting to show.
As always, thank you so much for making it all the way to the bottom. It means a lot that so many of you continue to follow along with our adventures, celebrate the successes, laugh at the mishaps, and cheer us on as we continue figuring out this homesteading life one project at a time.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Have you ever made yogurt, kimchi, or another fermented food at home? And for the gardeners out there, what’s growing particularly well in your garden this year?
Until next time, take care, enjoy the sunshine, and we’ll see you again soon from the FunnyFarm.