Spring on the Homestead!

      We've been experiencing beautiful weather these past two weeks! I was out of sink and missed out on several good days to work last week, but I've been making up for it this week! And boy, my body is letting me know! There is just no substitute for gardening! It's a workout of it's own. I've also been walking on my road again after not getting to for so long. There are a lot of dogwood trees blooming and wild violets. They are all so pretty! This time of Spring, purple is the major color. All of my purple irises are in bloom! As well as the purple wisteria! It smells heavenly!

      I transplanted tomato and pepper plants and put them in the greenhouse. Tonight will be their first night there. I hope it won't be too cold cause peppers and tomatoes are hot weather crops. I believe the addition of the greenhouse will be such an advantage to the homestead, as soon as I learn how to utilize it properly. I am thankful for the thermometer Randy bought for the greenhouse that I can read from the house. It lets me know the temp of the greenhouse. I hope the greenhouse holds up under our diverse weather. So far, it has held up under strong winds.

      We got our bees this week! I am so happy to have bees again! Third times a charm, since this will be our third time with bees. Hopefully, since they survived where others did not, they will make it through anything! They are a very strong hive, many in numbers! They may even produce extra honey this year! Time will tell.

      We tilled up a new area for a garden this year. It's the spot where the boy goats were. It seems to be very fertile. I planted the Chinese cabbage there and also squash, zuchinni, and okra. I hope to plant beans and peas there too. So much to do; so little time! How's your gardening coming along? Are you there yet or just planning? I learn so much every year and try to implement new things that will make gardening just a little bit easier. Such as weed barriers. We have a tremendous battle with weeds! Or should I say grass? Try Bermuda grass! The worst kind for a garden! I am putting down cardboard again this year, as it seems to help with that. I'm also trying leaves to see how they will do. Again, time will tell. I hope ya'll are well! Have a nice day and thanks for reading! Blessings from Bama!

These cookies were cooked in the Sun Oven. They tasted O.K. but were a little hard. The oven still has a little rubber-like smell that made the cookies taste weird. I hope to get rid of that odor soon.

This tom was on our property! How fortunate I was to capture him in photo! He was chasing his hen. He eventually flew across the fence onto the neighbor's property, after her.

Purple tulips.

These eggs were also cooked in the Sun Oven. They are a little more done than I care for but made some delicious deviled eggs. I will adjust the cooking time when I cook these again.

Wisteria, red tips, and white dogwood trees.

The beautiful Keria in full bloom!

Wisteria right up next to a volunteer nectarine tree.

Wisteria next to the hen-house. The wisteria smells like perfume!

Two volunteer nectarine trees that went home with Guy.

We purchased this bush at a trade day. I was told it was a snowball bush. It never has balls, though. What is it?

The morning the new hive arrived.

Randy is cautiously undoing the strap.

The first of the bees. They seem to have adjusted to their new home.

A nice fertile spot for the cabbage.

Skylar has been moving wood closer to the pool. We hope to get the deck built this summer.

The area where I placed cardboard. I had to dig out a lot of blackberry brambles and some kind of thick hay-like grass with a tuber-like root. It took me all day just to do a small area!

Filling up the old pond with the blackberry brambles and weeds.

A couple days later and the bees are still doing good.

I have lots of purple irises.

Can you tell I like the wisteria? That is the wood Skylar is moving.

My cardboard is on that trailer.

Randy had to work on the fence the goats are dragging down. Now he's just petting them.

It was windy when I was transplanting my tomato plants today. The peat pots fell on some of them and broke the plants, but not in two. I planted those tomato plants in hopes they will be alright.

The rest are in here until I know it's O.K. to put them in the ground. The ground still feel sort of cold, so I'm waiting til next week to put these in.