Sometimes, when I write a blog, I want to only show the good, beautiful, happiness that is happening with the yard or the chickens. Don’t ask me why, maybe it’s just in my nature. However, it’s not the whole truth and I know that I enjoy reading of other urban homesteading struggles because those who share their struggles are telling the truth. There are days and sometimes even whole weeks that go by when everything seems to be falling nicely into place. Then, there are days (and sometimes even whole weeks) when nothing seems to fall into place. This past week has been one of those weeks. Mind you, nothing necessarily huge happened, just a few disappointments, but I want to share them just the same. Here is the truth…
Bees
We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our bees for months! They were slated to be delivered on or around May 10th from R. Weaver Apiaries. Then, I got an email which said…
Awwww Man! Stinkin’ drought! And…poor bees! No official word yet on when they might arrive, but I am hopeful it will be in the next 2-3 weeks that was also stated in the email.
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| Nothing buzzing about here…yet! |
Peanuts
We planted out the peanuts last week as part of our huge planting day. I thought it might get a little cold over night for the next few weeks, but wasn’t worried since we have lots of freeze cloth. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the cold that killed them…it was the wind! I was not anticipating gusting winds of up to 50mph to sweep through my backyard pretty much all week. The little guys didn’t stand a chance even though they’d been hardened off!
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| One of the super sad peanut plants along side the Replacements. This guy actually looks good compared to the plants that are literally laid out flat on the ground! |
14 Day Pantry Challenge
We started off strong and then…well…we failed! At least, in part. We were supposed to not eat out and not purchase any new items from any grocery store. Well, it is day 7 of our 14 Day Pantry Challenge
and I have to admit that Tool Lady and I have not cooked every one of our meals from our massive stores of food. Tool Lady purchased lunch one day and purchased lunch for her and I one day (a total of 3 meals).
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| Yummy Fried Rice I made for dinner this week with random veggies that were on the edge and some ginger from our CSA. Unfortunately, Tool Lady isn’t a huge fan of ginger! Who knew! I guess you learn something new everyday!!! |
Also, Fish Girl got sick earlier in the week. Historically speaking, the only thing that helps her feel better when she’s sick is lemonade and, of course, we didn’t have any lemonade in our freezers! So, I went out and purchased her 2 bottles of it. It made her happy, what else is there to say?
Luckily, if you look for it, there is an upside to everything…
Now, we grow food in our yard because we can, not because we have to. We enjoy the process and look forward to the healthy yumminess when it is ready to come off the vine or out of the ground. This doesn’t mean that we don’t get disappointed or frustrated, but it does give us the space to find some perspective.
~The bees delay will allow some of the wildflower seeds we planted last week to get some of their roots under them.
~I initially ordered way too many peanuts to plant in my yard and haven’t gotten around to roasting them yet. This means I have plenty more to stick in the ground while hope, hope, hoping we will get a good 120 warm/hot growing days. I already planted 2 new peanuts around the base of each “wounded” plant as back up in case each dies off completely.
~We have cooked all our other meals and are getting pretty creative (mac & cheese with BBQ shrimp on the side, grilled tuna steak and salad, spaghetti & meat sauce are among the highlights) and we are currently defrosting a whole 15lb turkey we stashed away last year around Thanksgiving. This will provide most of our meals for the next week (sandwiches, salads, burritos…)! We have 7 days left of our challenge and we are determined to succeed…at least partially!
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| Gimpy, Prim and the Original Five. Prim is beautiful! Can you see how small Gimpy is compared to her, though?!? |
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| Lemon Cucumbers…notice the new growth coming up in between the sadness?! |
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| Snap Peas…a few “burnt” leaves here and there…overall, they should be fine 🙂 |
Something is eating our strawberries. Not sure what it is yet, but it should stop. Now! The upside is that there are flowers which means we might actually get some strawberries this year!!!
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| Listen here, you bug, cut it out! These are our strawberries, not yours! |
Also, our mint is not acting very minty. From all of my experiences with mint, I have gathered that it can’t be killed and will take over everything if allowed to. Well, we have very little mint coming back this year and I have no idea why! I guess the upside is that, if we have some empty spaces, I just might have to go buy some more seeds!!!
Happy homesteading! Cheers!
Well, that’s hopeful! I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’ll get here soon!!!
We had a package of bees due last week but they were running behind shaking bees in Miss. as well. We got the bees this morning, so I plan on getting them hived this afternoon!