Spring is Here

 Well it seems spring has arrived here in North Carolina, and it has come in warm. After the winter we had it is welcome to be sure. We have also passed the pollening (as we call it around here; waves of yellow and green over everything) so our sinuses are much better for it. With spring here we have started our outside adventures in earnest. I started the garden clean- up and Ms. TD has been dutifully working on her flowers as well as a new birding area. We also made a trip to the farmer's market in Raleigh this past weekend and I picked up some tomato and pepper plants as my seedlings have not done well at all ( a first for me) and some herbs, and found Pluto of Pluto's Inc., the best Caribbean jerk sauces and spices (met the man himself; check him out https://www.facebook.com/plutobliss/. He said he is getting his website redone.) I took some photos earlier in March for a post but didn't get it finished so we'll start with those. 

The girls have started producing a lot of eggs again. 

Bee doing bee things on the peach tree.

Cabbage plant that made it through winter.

My soil block that I make for my seedlings. Seeds seem to do better this way instead of the store- bought dirt. For some reason mine didn't this year. I get good bag dirt from Miracle Grow and some Black Cow, run them over a hardware cloth to remove any small sticks. 

Chips left over from screening.

Good clean dirt for the blocks.

Now to catch up from this past weekend. Tomato and peppers in this bed.

I like to plant basil with the tomatoes. Now I need to find some marigolds, which is surprising as we always seem to have volunteers everywhere. 

Onion starts I ordered seem to be settling in well. 

Some of Ms. TD's flowers.

Here's a little garden gnome we picked up at the farmer's market. My mother used to have them scattered throughout her gardens and landscaping. 

WOF of the Week. This is from the March photos. We have our biggest supporters watching us work. 

Ice Storm 2026

 Well here we are in 2026 and our first ice storm of the year. We sit here on Sunday after a night of freezing rain, waiting for when our power goes out. Still have it so far but a second wave is heading our way. Fingers crossed but we have the generator on standby. 

I've been planning the 2026 garden in my head the past few weeks. I even purchased a copy of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog. Covers everything you would ever want. I have received a few other catalogs in the mail; Gurney's, Park Seed, Totally Tomatoes. Now to finish that planning and grow a good garden this year. The way prices are here in the USA, I think better diversity will be better. 

I hope everything is going well on your end. 

WOF of the Week. Nap time during the ice. 

Christmas 2025

 From April to December. That's my blogging for you. No excuses this time.

Christmas has visited our home this year. Both of our sons, a girlfriend and my in-laws made a visit today for presents and way too much food. Dogs were happy as well as Santa left some new toys. Not much to post this evening and no photos so I'll do that for tomorrow. Got to catch up on the blog and stay off the socials. 

Happens Around the Farm- April

 It's been a while since my last post so it is a catch-up. 2025 has been busy for us in the family and around the homestead. Ms. Dirt has a new position within the company she works for. She will have more freedom without the constant worry of people under her. She also will be traveling more so me, the WOFs and chickens will be holding down the house. My job remains the same and I do enjoy it. with my short commute and freedom to get things done is a bonus. 

We have started in earnest on the garden and Ms. Dirt has been planting flowers with a vengeance. Let's take a quick tour. 

Sadly we had to put one of our chickens down yesterday. She wasn't doing well for a while but in the end she wasn't eating or moving. It was Madge, the official leader of the flock and the first to always greet me. We now have six and the girls all seem to be doing good. We have three more coming in June. 

Flowers around the coop. I swear I'll get this thing done soon. A lot of projects to do around the house. 

Raised bed garden tour. We planted peas about a month ago but the majority were planted out today from seed we started. We did have a few picked up from our greenhouse adventures. 

First time in a while that we've grown lettuce. About time to cut some for salads. in the very back are carrots and mint plants in between. 

Aforementioned peas. They are starting to set. 

New tomato plants in the ground. 

These are onions that I left in the beds last year. They started to sprout again in the fall so I re- planted them and up they came this spring. 

Mini peaches on the mini tree.

Pears coming on good. Need to find a good recipe for using these this fall. 

Front flowers are all Ms. Dirt. I'm not sure what all is out here. 

WOF of the Week.

We had a birthday this past week. Lady Matilda (Tilly, Tilly Moo, Tilly Loo Magoo, Tilster, Mooster) turned five!!! Happy Birthday Tilly!

Until next time, which hopefully won't be too long. 

September is Full

 It is September and it is full. Full of things to do. I haven't posted in a while so there are some updates to come. 

Garden has suffered so much that we pretty much gave up. Last post was about all the rain we had in July up to that point. We it kept raining. We recorded the 9th hottest July on record and 11th wettest. Then August rolled in and the rains continued. Tropical storm Debby came by and sat on us for two days, delivering another 5" to 6" of rain. The high temperatures came back with temps hovering around 95. Safe to say July and August were terrible. September started off fine then another system came in and dumped 7" of rain on us in a day. As of right now, September is full. We are full for the rest of the year. 

Flowers have been enjoying the rain and temperatures. Chickens being chickens. But the best is that the fire ants have come back with a vengeance. We poured killer on all of the nests we could find before the big rain. Now those are gone but we have as many or if not more new ones now. They have been non- existent most of the year. If you don't have them, count yourself lucky. They sting and hurt. 

We have a big event coming up this coming weekend in Benson, NC. Mule Days brings about 60,000 visitors to a town of 4,000 over three days. We'll be there watching the parade and eating foods we shouldn't. 

Online business is slow but it usually is this time of year. We got our LLC a few months ago and plan on changing some things up and really concentrating on the business. We also looked at a building in Benson that is currently empty. It is large but needs a lot of work. I will have this in another post. On to the photos. 

Like I said, the flowers are doing good. Especially the marigolds. we have talked numerous times about becoming marigold farmers. 

Chickens love their worms. 

Here's a before and after of the fire ant nest. I ran my shoe over it before the second photo. Trust me, they are there.

Marigold in the garden beds. I was also able to save some onions and the peppers are hanging on.

Last but not least we had to trade in the original WOFmobile. She had many miles on here for a truck and was starting to give me problems as I was fixing her. So the next WOF2 is our new ride for years to come. She is a bit bigger than the old one. 

WOF of the Week. I am apparently the weakest link when someone has food.