The Humble Homestead - Garden update!

Well it has been quite the busy summer so far. We never sign up for too many things since we don't enjoy running around a whole lot, but somehow we have still been crazy busy. I would love to say the garden has taken off and we are enjoying the fruits of our labor… but it's been a struggle. Not a fail!! There are some nice tomato plants, basil, and a cucumber plant that is taking its sweet time to grow. The herb garden has some cilantro, jalapeno and tomato plants. Although not at all the abundance we were hoping for, we are happy to have some plants we started ourselves. We have learned a lot though and the garden will just get better and better each year. We already have quite a few things we learned and are planning to do for next year.

First thing I learned; having five kids is a lot of work. Who would have thought?? But for real. We spend so much time outside in the summer and somehow the inside of the house still looks like a bomb went off, like what? Who did this?? Then there are all the meals. It feels like as soon as we clean up from one meal, we have started cooking the next! We make most of our snacks from scratch as well so our kitchen consistently looks like I'm trying to run a low budget restaurant (I'm not sure it would pass any health codes). The baby loves being outside, but does not appreciate sitting still, so I am always walking him around everywhere in the stroller since he can't walk yet, and he loves it.

Which brings us to the garden. It is always going to come after the kids (playing catch, street hockey, watching their dog/horse shows, tracing them with chalk, etc.) and since it isn't quite established yet, it is taking some more babying then I may have the patience for. Our day is over in a second and I am left exhausted, in the best possible way, inevitably not much beyond some basic tidying gets done once the kids are in bed since I'm burnt out so I never get to the garden at this time either. Im also getting ready for my night shift spending “quality” time with the baby who seems to be more nocturnal then I would like. The kids are still optimistic that the garden will come around but in the mean time they are having a blast running around the neighborhood with friends, horseback riding, golfing, visiting the town pool, summer reading program and much much more!

Second thing; Our dirt needs some work. We never got around to adding compost this year and will definitely need to get that going for next year. We made a banana peel fertilizer and got one other organic fertilizer from the store. These seemed to have helped but maybe “too little too late”.. For some reason we can't get our lettuce and carrots to grow from seed so I'm thinking there isn't enough nutrients in our soil so this needs to be addressed for next year as well. But that hasn't stopped us from throwing the third round of seeds in to see if we can get anything. We did finally get some radishes to grow! One radish split six ways won't feed us for the long run, but we sure were excited about it. I have already made a connection to get some horse manure to cover the garden beds over the winter. I've heard it needs to be older manure so I will be digging to the bottom of the pile. Hoping to recruit some of the kids for this unpleasant job, but I'm thinking that won't go over well. So I guess I will just be the town's crazy horse poop lady, I'm ok with that title, could be worse! Hoping to also get another compost of some sort to add to the mix in the spring as well.

Third; WATER!! It has been painfully dry around here this summer. We have tried to keep watering the garden as much as we can but I don't believe it has been enough. We don't have a hose that reaches the garden so we transfer the water in some watering cans. While I do appreciate the workout it gives me, it is quite time consuming so I may not get as much water to the garden as I would like. The kids have some small watering cans and do enjoy helping out with this chore. For next year we will most likely be investing in a longer, better hose system.

One fun thing the garden brought about this year was a plant identifying app on my phone. I planted a lot of seeds and wanted to make sure we were only pulling weeds. It has been super helpful and also we had a few surprises. Some random tomato plants in the herb garden had us all laughing! While most were weeds, it did help save some plants. The kids have really enjoyed going around with it and identifying random plants. We even discovered a mulberry tree in our backyard! We harvested it twice so far and the fruit was delicious, and it totally counts towards our garden harvest even though we have done nothing to grow it or keep it alive.

Something we have decided to do this year since we aren't getting much from our own garden is to get out to the local farmers markets more and base what we eat around what we can find there. Supporting the local farmers is something we are passionate about. We aren't always able to do this, so when we can, we really enjoy it. We have met so many wonderful people in the process along with getting delicious produce, meats and other handmade items. I've also learned a lot from them. Most of the time they are very willing to share their experiences, tips and tricks with me. I'm still hoping for some VIP garden tours but I haven't gotten the guts to ask yet.

In conclusion.. Our garden won't make it into any magazines, but it's ours and we have been working hard on it and learning a lot! It will only get better from here. I'm thinking the kids curriculum this next school year will be homestead based so they can really get it all figured out for me! Kids will always come first in any homesteading decisions, they will only be this age once and I won't be missing out on anything!

~ The optimistic gardening Mom