Outdoor/Garden Update

Here are a few things that we have recently finished and are working on at our little homestead:

The biggest project would definitely be our fire pit!  Jason and I (mostly Jason, but I did help!!) spent last weekend cutting, moving, and placing sod around our sandy fire pit.  We are so happy with the result!  It looks so much better.  You can read about it and see lots of pictures here :)

Where did all the sod come from for the fire pit you ask?  From our garden expansion!

      

Originally, we were going to expand our garden in the back (south), but after thinking and talking about it, we decided to extend it to the west so that we could see it from our living room and deck.  We aren't completely sure what we're going to use the space for yet this year, but I planted a row of hops (fingers crossed!) and another row of beans so far.  We're also throwing around the idea of planting winter wheat in the fall.

     

Speaking of the garden, we let our grass grow an extra week (sorry neighbors! :) so that we could use the grass clippings to try and cut back on some of the weeds.  The weeds haven't been too bad in the area of the garden that we've been using every year, but they're awful in our new area (what used to be our perennial area).  So far I've cleaned up and put grass around our potatoes, some of our raspberries, and pole beans.  It looks sooooo much better!

     

We also had our first harvest!!!  This is the true sign that summer is coming - when we have our first rhubarb harvest! 

Of course I had to whip up a rhubarb crisp with all that delicious rhubarb!!  Hands down the best dessert ever!

     

Another thing Jason crossed off of our to-do list was installing an automatic chicken door.  We've been wanting to install one, but weren't sure which one to get.  I'm in a couple chicken groups on FB and there was a thread were people were raving about the AdorStor Chicken Door.  Y'all, we are so happy with this door!  It's battery operated so we don't have to worry if the power goes out, and automatically opens at dusk and closes at dark.  This will give us so much more freedom - especially in the winter when it's dark at 5:30 pm.

     

One project I worked on a bit over the weekend was cleaning up this area in our yard:

      

I raked out all of dead leaves, started pulling the weeds, and we will be getting rid of that little playhouse soon.  It's been overtaken by wild raspberry bushes which I will trim back once they ripen and we harvest them.  But, I don't know what to do with this area.  It has so much potential!  A sitting area?  A play area for the kids?  Should we put a picnic table in there or maybe a little bistro set?  Hmmm.....any ideas/suggestions!?

And that, my friends, are just a few things we've been up to recently.  Our to-do list is never ending :)  But, Jason and I are taking a break from chores this weekend for a little getaway to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary.  Looking forward to a weekend with my love - amazing music, great food, and lots of cocktails :)

~ Sara :)