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March was our busiest month yet on the homestead and it was filled with so many highs and lows. This lifestyle is exhausting, but so hugely satisfying. I’m definitely sleeping soundly at night! A farm isn’t built in a day, but we’re making progress in the right direction, little by little. Here’s what we accomplished this month:
+ I started more seeds under the grow lights. (I bought these trays – thanks for the tip, Torrie!) In other seed starting news, with the busyness of everyday life, I didn’t keep a close enough eye on my brassicas and they suddenly started looking a little leggy. I swear it happened overnight! I watched a few videos on Youtube on how to fix the problem, so I hope I caught it in time. I just planted them in the garden, so now I’m at the “pray and see what happens” part of gardening.
+ I amended my garden soil with a mix of bone meal and fish meal.
+ The first batch of baby chicks arrived and it was our biggest order yet: 150 broilers (+3 extra) and 15 hens (+1 extra). Sadly, we had a rocky start and within the first four days, we lost eleven chicks. We’ve never seen so much premature death and it was discouraging and sad. Thankfully, by day five, the rest really hit their stride and look healthy and strong. Praying for smooth sailing from here on out.
+ We continued work on the new woodshed and it’s slowly coming along. We have a big job ahead of us to fill it up before next winter!
+ I sowed peas, beets and spinach and transplanted the brassicas.
+ I just about finished up the new chicken tractors. (I have to troubleshoot one door and then I’ll be done.) Our birds are all pasture raised and this new set-up will be a lot easier to move everyday. It should give them a little extra breathing room too.
+ We moved the lady pigs to one specific area so they could till it up in preparation for planting. Thinking smarter not harder! By the end of the month, the weather was warm enough for me to start “mob seeding” behind the pigs as they move paddocks each week. The idea is to seed heavily a mixture of brassicas, clover and legumes, letting them grow untouched for at least 21 days. When the pigs are returned to that paddock later on, they can enjoy foraging, which simultaneously improves soil health and helps with feed costs too! Super pumped to see how this plays out.
+ We discovered the power of diatomaceous earth for helping with mites. A life saver!
+ In other pig news, we measured the girls again for a weight estimate. Both gained about 25 pounds since last month. They won’t be headed to the butcher until late June, so I think they’re progressing right on target.
+ I turned the soil in the in-ground garden beds with my new favorite tool: the broadfork! Man, I love that thing! So easy and a great workout too. We also broke ground on a brand new bed.
+ I started edging around the “cottage garden” flower beds to hopefully help with grass intrusion. (It was a huge problem last year.) I used another cool tool for this project. I’m hoping to plant a ton of flowers this year and help out our pollinators!
+ Lots of big bulk ordering occurred. The price of feed has been going up and up and up, so we’re locking in a price now by ordering what we’ll need through processing day. I ordered the next batch of chicks to arrive at the beginning of June. We also ordered a truckload of compost, which I hope will be enough for all of these beds!
+ Lastly, we also started the process of creating a “food forest” around our apple tree orchard. I love this permaculture idea and think it will take advantage of unused space as well as being beneficial for the trees. We’re going with the lasagna method to create the rows of beds.
Wow! You’ve been so busy! What are chicken tractors?
The third picture shows our tractors. Our broilers live in them as they grow and we move the structures to fresh pasture everyday. It’s a great method because the birds get to live in sunshine and fresh air, they eat all of the bugs in the field and their manure fertilizes the land at the same time.
I love hearing what you’re doing. You’re about 5 years ahead of us in farm plans. We bought 30 acres at the beginning of covid and now have to settle on what to do with it. My area, the garden and small orchard, has struggled with my last pregnancy though
30 acres is amazing! And props to you for even attempting to garden while pregnant – I can imagine how difficult that would be!
I don’t even understand half of the things you are doing! You must spend so much time researching and learning, and I find that so inspiring.
Did your kids ever watch the animated Curious George show where he visits the country and gets called a “city kid” by a friend? The two phrases I say almost daily are: “I have no idea what I’m doing!” and “I’m just a city kid!” HA!
Everything sounds great except for the deceased chicks 🙁
It was so sad, but also a regular part of life, I guess. In some ways, modern society has been so sheltered from that reality. I know I have!
Way to go!! You have been busy. We did some garden prep work this past weekend but can’t really plant anything for another week or so because we get too much spring rain and the seed will rot before they germinate. Potatoes, onions and peas are the first plantings. I have an old potato fork and it does wonders for gently turning soil. You chicken tractor is huge… Awesome!!!
Do you have any tips for growing onions? I just got my transplants!