Spring Has Sprung


This morning Pookie was up at the crack of dawn (as usual) and got an early start on cutting the grass on our 4 1/4 acres. I got up a bit later at the crack of mid-morning and made my way outside to hang for a while.

After he was finished, we took a stroll around the property to see how things were going. He showed me a ton of wild blackberries, figs on our newly planted fig tree, and the new growth on two of my elderberries, both of which I thought had died. The ancient pear tree on the back of our property has even stepped up this year and has a ton of pears on it. The thornless blackberry bush that he and my youngest gave me for Mother's Day has berries too.

Next we headed to the "corn field", which is in fact 5 rows of bi-color corn that our daughter requested we plant. The corn is up about 5 inches which is amazing since the ground here is mostly sand (we do live on an island) and straw from the duck house. The sunflowers that I planted along the edge are getting flower heads too, which I'm sure the chickens that are coming in about another week and a half will surely love as much as we will.

Out to the side, the kitchen garden beds that Pookie built us are coming along. We already have some baby squash, tomatoes, and sweet peas. The onions are finally starting to look like onions and not marbles, and the potato's in the potato box look pretty good. Most of the herbs that I planted in pots out there have come up, except for the Rosemary. Rosemary is being a stubborn lady for me and it looks like I will have to end up getting some plants to fill in the pot. Take that Rosemary.

As for our ducks, they are big, and beautiful, and a joy to watch. They are still in their pen that Pookie made for them that has access to a small corner of the front pond. I know that it is getting time to turn them loose so they can have the run of the property, but I have become so protective of them that I'm scared to turn them out. Hopefully they will be smart enough to return to their duck house in the evening so that I can tuck them in for the night (LOL).

The one year anniversary of when we moved to our new place here is coming up in August, and it will mark the first full year of trying our hand at becoming more self sufficient. We have made great strides so far with the duck enclosure, chicken coop (which is about finished), kitchen garden beds, some fruit trees and berry bushes. Pookie also has his garage in place so the motorcycle has finally come home from storage (YES!). Every day I thank the good Lord for letting us find this unique property smack dab in the middle of the Island.

My biggest tip for others out there that may be thinking about trying their hand at the whole "becoming more self sufficient" thing: READ. There is a ton of information out there, on the internet as well as in books. You may just discover how truly satisfying getting back to the old, healthy way of doing things really is.


~SueSue