Hello all! It's been a very trying several months since we last wrote. Let's see if I can sum up the homestead happenings.
We were very happy to have food in the greenhouse all winter this year. It was a very warm and strange winter, but we can't complain when beets, carrots, greens, even a few tomatoes and eggplant were with us until January. We tried covering the greenhouse with plastic this year - just gave her a blanket of 6mil over the roof and secured with 1x4s along the sides. We have to think this and the additional water barrels (total of 3 now) helped, but it's hard to tell when Mother Nature is being so cooperative.
In contrast, the cold spring, and several medical issues, have kept us from getting the summer gardens completely in this year. We finally do have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, some squash, and melons in - not where we had planned, but they are doing okay. Raised beds are going in to make the gardens a little easier to manage with the limitations now faced. Oh, and how can I forget, the zucchini was started early this year in the greenhouse - so the Zucchini Times are coming sooner than usual!
We are still working on the house - added four new windows and will be beefing up insulation on half the house this summer. We are adding a woodstove this year to see if we can get enough heat to keep the geothermal down. We are selling our Harman Pellet Stove if anyone needs one - just send us an email. It's a good stove, we just want to reduce the electric draw in winter.
The dogs are all doing well - Bella will always be the 'baby.' She cries anytime one of us takes Jet or Oskar (her mom and dad) away somewhere. What ever would she have done if we had sold her? I promise to follow with some pictures soon. I do have to say - for those of you who do not know - the name of our homestead, Dharma Dogs Farm, came from our first German Shepherd Danny and I had together. His name was Storm, and our world revolved around him. So, when we decided to name this little half acre homestead, Dharma Dogs reflected the movement we were trying to make (the right path) and our love of our dog :) Little did we know then, that we would end up with a whole pack! Even so, we don't sell the dogs, only a few puppies from an unexpected litter. As much as we would love to do German Shepherd rescue, we don't have the land we would need to be fair to the dogs. We're just trying to live a peaceful existence, providing for ourselves as best we can, and sharing with all of you to build a community of like-minded friends - just like many of you :)
We hope you all are healthy, safe, happy, and excited to have the Zucchini Times so near! :)
Peace,
michele
