Six months in

This post is going to be very pic heavy because I believe the pictures can convey my message a lot better than any words I could come up with. We've been working really hard to try to tame the front and back yard. First let me give you a few reminders of what we started with when we moved in just over six months ago.

Now a few pictures of where we're at today.

We're no where near finished. In actuallity we'll never be finished. But I'd like to at least get it to the point where I'm not embarrassed by all the piles of junk and high weeds. :) We'll just keep plugging along and one day we'll be there.

Ohh Berries!

The emergence of the little green sprouts from the seeds we planted really kicked us into high gear. So we piled in the car and headed to Walley World. We've always planned to have lots of berries and we finally get to get started on them. Of course we can't do exactly like I want to right now because of finances but that doesn't mean that we can't have fresh berries this year.

I will eventually build the very nice strawberry patch that I have in mind (a three tiered circular brick bed of beautiful red berries) but for now we've started with two hanging pots of strawberries that look very nice on the front porch.

One of the hanging baskets of strawberry plants. Kevin had to lower it for me to be able to get a clear shot of it. 

We got the plants about two weeks ago and they had a couple of flowers on them. But now we're starting to get a few berries as well.

Not red yet, but I'll take it!

I also got two blackberry bushes. We're not quite sure yet where we're going to put them because we're planning on making some additions to the house so for now they got placed into a very large container and are dressing up the back porch.

We put both bushes into one large pot. That's Hannah's feet. She loves watching me taking pictures of everything.

We also got a couple of blueberry bushes and did the same thing. Two bushes into one very large pot and put it on the back porch.

The kids are already having visions of blueberry pancakes!

We're already getting some berries!!

Still mostly green but coming along nicely.

So that's our start on berries for the year. Although it's by no means the perfect setup for us it's at least a start. And we're very happy to have it!

Next post you'll get to see some of the work that we've been able to do in both the front and back yards. They've really come a long way in a short time.

It's Spring!

Well, Spring has finally sprung and things are getting moving on the homestead front once again. So after a long winter of looking out the window and longing to be able to do SOMETHING in the yard, we were excited about the warmer weather.

However, when it came my plate had become extremely full. With full time classes and working full time as well I had to watch 70, and even 80 degree weather, fall upon us and still not be able to work in the yard.

I decided I needed to make some choices about how I wanted to spend my time and what my priorities are. I decided that the two most important were work and the homestead so schooling had to go...for now. I may pick it back up later, we'll just have to see how the dice falls in the future.

So back on the home front, about three weeks ago we started a few seeds indoors in preparation of the garden. Hannah, Devin, Kevin and I gathered on the porch with the seeds and lots of potting soil and got to work. We planted cabbage, broccoli, bell peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers in containers.

And waited.

And waited.

Its amazing how long it takes for seeds to start poking their little green heads above the soil. Okay, so it was around a week. But, hey, when you're waiting on something and checking it every day it seems a lifetime. The kids had decided we did something wrong and they weren't going to sprout.

Until they did.

They started poking through and just kept growing. I know, you're thinking, "Where's the pics?!" I did have some but due to issues with the camera they were lost.

But I do have what they look like today! So without further ado, here's our start on our first garden on the homestead.

In here we have cabbage and eggplant planted by Devin and brocolli and bell pepper planted by Hannah.

Kevin planted these bell peppers after Hannah filled her pots.

Jalapeno plants! Gonna love the salsa when the time comes.

The tomato plants are coming along nicely!

Second pot of tomato plants. Hey, we like 'maters!

Second pot of jalapenos, Hannah insisted :) She loves it hot.

 So that's our start on the veggie garden for 2012. Next post - berries!