Homesteading…The Beginning

Planting a fruit tree

In the past, we have always had a garden.  We’ve been canning, freezing, and drying a lot of our own produce and fruit to use throughout the year.  I bake breads and other recipes to put in the freezer to eat during the winter, grow herbs, have been keeping bees for about 13 years now.  We’ve gotten fruit from my aunt and uncle and my parents to put up (freeze, jams, jellies, dry), when they had extra.  This year, we have decided to take it a step further and start our own little “homestead”.  I hope you will enjoy reading along and following us as we delve in to this adventure.

On the first day of Spring, March 21, what a great day to start… we started “the orchard.”  My parents had seven peach tree saplings that had sprouted a few years ago in their flowerbed from some pits they had thrown out after canning peaches.  We took them home and planted them in a small field in the front of our house.  That is when we had an idea.  “Let’s plant an orchard.”

March 22, my husband and I mapped out where we want the orchard and made a plan.  The plan is to plant 1 crab apple tree (Firecracker), 3 different varieties of dwarf apple trees (Honeycrisp, Red McIntosh, and Cortland), 2 varieties of dwarf cherry trees (Hardy North Star and Black Gold), 1 regular cherry tree (Danube), 2 Pawpaw trees (Taytwo),  2 dwarf pear trees (Bartlett and Karl’s Favorite), 1 plum tree (Pipestone Hardy), 1 dwarf plum tree (Mount Royal Hardy), and lastly, 1 Russian Quince.  Whew!  These trees are now all on order along with some berry bushes (current, gooseberry, blackberry, and raspberry).  In all we will have 21 trees and 19 bushes to plant.

March 23, on top of all that we decided to move the herb garden closer to the back door.  We mapped that out too.  It will be way more handy for cooking, but a lot of work transplanting.  There is a lot of wildlife here, so we started to move the fence today.

Digging a hole for a fence post

March 24,  we finished moving the fence for the herb garden and started removing sod.

Herb garden fence complete

March 25,  my husband and I started talking about what we are going to plant in the vegetable garden this year and what to add to the herb garden.

March 26,  I wrote out a tentative plan for the vegetable garden, more on that later.

March 27, we added sand and some leaf mulch from last year in the herb garden and tilled it in to help prepare the soil for planting.

Leaf mulch and sand in herb garden

So, the first week is over and we have enjoyed the time we have spent together making plans, planting trees, and preparing the herb garden.  Next, we need to put the plan in to action, plant more trees and prepare the vegetable garden for planting this year.

Follow our homesteading journey at Mama’s Homestead: http://www.mamashomestead.com/