Early May on the Homestead

Hello, friends.  I hope your week has been a good one.  Last week, I used our broccoli in pad thai for a dinner, and opened a jar of our pear sauce with honey.  I dried all laundry on the line.  Our crowder peas were used for another dinner, and frozen kale, baked sweet potatoes, and a beet was used in apple beet salad.  I finally caught up on canning broth for a few days, using 9 gallon bags of veggie scraps, which made a bit of room in the freezer.  In case you're interested in our adventure in converting the bus to an RV, and missed it, I posted about it for the first time last week.  There will be other posts whenever there is news to share and I have time to create one.   https://abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2023/05/our-new-skoolie-adventure.html

I requested two books from the library, and picked them up while I was nearby.  When I walked in, I was surprised to see an incubator holding guinea eggs on the counter.  They told me they have a live feed, and expect the eggs to hatch around May 28th.  I pulled some plant based ground beef from the freezer, which has things in it I can't have, and doled it out in the pups dinners.  J tilled up a row for tomatoes.  I transplanted tomatoes from the little starter cubes to larger pots, and we started hardening off the larger ones I had transplanted prior.  All were fed with the nettle and comfrey tea that was started two or three weeks ago.  A batch of suet was made for the birds.  With three different wired ribbons that were thrifted, I made a spring mailbox bow.  

One day, I headed to Burlington with friends, and had a thrifting day.  I'm happy with what I found, which included a wicker laundry basket, heavy pottery dog bowl made in England, two canisters to turn into compost crocks, some sewing supplies, and a wood and fabric laundry hamper.  One of the friends recommended a Thai restaurant for lunch, and I was delighted to find they had steamed vegetables (mostly broccoli, a favorite) and brown rice.  I'm always happy to find a place I can eat out safely.  Asparagus and lambs quarter were harvested.  The ends and skins of aloe were blended with water, and used to feed some outdoor plants.  

Our anniversary was over the weekend.  On Saturday, we headed to the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill.  They were having their spring plant sale, and we picked up osage orange, robin's plantain and golden alexander.  They all got planted on Sunday.  We met friends at the local wine bar Saturday night, and enjoyed catching up with them.  Twelve of the potatoes in the grow bags are up.   J replanted some of the other bags with potatoes I'd saved.  The peas have got a number of pods.  Two more rows of strings were added to their trellis.  I pulled the first pea pod, and added the peas to our salad.  While gathering eggs, I found a rat snake in the chicken coop.  J grabbed it with a feed bag, and we relocated it to the edge of a huge field, where it should find plenty of mice.  J had intended to grill our dinner Sunday, but found out something, likely a squirrel or rat, chewed the hose to the propane tank.  Ah well, it's good to roll with whatever life brings your way.  Have a great week, friends!