A Time to grow...A time to reap!

Springbreak 2019, brought with it lots of help, 7 of our 10 grandkids were here and helped us get some projects crossed off the list!

Our little orchard is taking shape.  The planning stage is behind us, the trees have been selected and planted.  So now we sit and wait. We have 1 pear and 2 of our peach trees that survived last year full of buds which may give us a small yield this summer? By next year we might stand a decent chance of reaping the reward of our labors.  For now, we still plan to group the fruit-bearing plants and trees in the southeast garden area and the vegetables and herbs garden will be in the northwest garden area.  We'll have to see how the sun and the heat of the summer affect our plans and adjust accordingly.

The fruit orchard/berry patch has grown a bit and now contains:
6 apple trees, 2 cherries, 2 peach, 1 pear, 1 fig tree
5 blueberry bushes, 10 strawberry plants, 2 muscadine vines, 3 rhubarb plants,
15 raspberries, black and red mix, 1 goji berry bush and 1 elderberry

We've built 10 of our raised garden beds - 3' x 7' so far and we picked up 5 used cattle troughs for deeper raised garden beds.

With the promise of a big bonfire and cookout, we established the outline and beginning of a new firepit.  Hauling flagstones into a large circle is no easy task but it's coming together rather nicely with the help of our older (and stronger) grandkids!

We've also been busy cutting down trees and clearing brush for our new chicken coop and run.  That project has moved up on the list as we now have 8 chicks and 5 guineas living in our only finished bathroom to keep them warm while their feathers fill in.  3 of the chicks are a little over 4 weeks old, 3 are 3 1/5 weeks and 2 are just 2 weeks old.  The guineas are also 2+ weeks old.  They are growing pretty fast and already show they are full of spunk and have lots of character.  Pretty sure we have at least 3 roosters in the bunch so may have a couple of meat birds on our hands.  We are new at this poultry thing so we need a few more weeks to be sure our roosters are indeed roosters.  We will try keeping one rooster for the hens - gives us the ability to add to our flock for more eggs or more meat without having to buy fertilized eggs or more chicks.  After the coop is finished we'll get to work training our 2 Jack Russell dogs  NOT

to hunt or chase Chickens!  They are both pretty smart...we'll see who is smarter the dogs or us!  (Yeah, I'm betting on the dogs too!)

We have a larger waterer coming in a few days...till then we fill and refill our little one.  Thirsty little things!