Fence expansion phase 1 complete

A few weekends ago we expanded the goat's pen to include the area below the grapevines. In the past this was a weed fest that Ashley had to mow. Now we'll have natural mowers!

I'm proud of myself for learning how to wire a t-post to the fence :o)

This piece of equipment made stretching the fence possible (and even more enjoyable for our boys, especially our middle son--whose brain is shaped like a Bobcat!). 

Fence complete. Goats in their new place. Ashley and Levi outfitted the maple trees' trunks with drainage pipes to protect their bark. 

Here's the view from the upstairs. Love our land!

Kale Kielbasa Pasta

Although we didn't have an abundant kale crop like last year, we have enjoyed having some of this delicious superfood this spring. One of my new favorite ways to use kale is in a pasta dish I made up.

Kale Kielbasa Pasta

A loose recipe~

Ingredients:

1 box of pasta

8 oz smoked sausage

1/2 onion

1 bunch of kale

prepared pesto

1. Cook pasta. Drain and set aside.

2. Dice/cube sausage (I used 1/2 package of Hillshire Farms' smoked sausage).

3. Dice 1/2 onion (about 1/4-1/2 cup).

4. Saute sausage over medium heat until lightly browned. Add in onion and saute until soft. 

5. Chop up one bunch of kale (as much as you want).

6. Add kale to sausage mixture and saute until softened (sometimes I cover the pan and let the steam do its magic). 

7. Add cooked sausage and kale to pasta. 

8. Stir in 1/2 cup prepared pesto (I make my own)--add more or less to taste. Stir all ingredients well. 

Enjoy! This feeds our family of two adults and three boys (under the age of 6) with leftovers for me the next day. 

The kale is sharing real estate with the cilantro (that is probably on its way out).

On my previous post I showed a picture of the raised bed side of our garden. We kept the larger half of the garden as a regular bed. Growing on this side from left to right: potatoes, green beans, okra (of course!!), cucumbers, corn and onions. 

Ashley has been busy today expanding the goats' front pen. Waylon and Ziggy have been escaping lately (uh-oh....and eating MY lettuce!!) so we know they need more to eat. Ashley wants less to mow so this expansion is a win-win. The new and improved goat pen will cover the area below the grapevines and will come over to the road beside the garden. 

Last weekend Ashley and I spent the weekend in Beaufort, SC, at a cousins' engagement party (that turned out to be a wedding). It was nice to have time to ourselves and talk. Being in  Beaufort was a perfect location because there are so many houses of our style down there (it makes perfect sense that Moser Design Group, the architects who drew our plans, are based there). While we love our house, we also love the idea of building another house in the future. Now that we've been at Okra Hill for three years, we know a lot more about what we want and what works for us--plus, we loved building this house. Of course, there are NO plans to sell/move anytime soon, but it's fun to think about! For now, though, there's plenty of work to do!

Glorious peas!

Peas, peas, peas! Oh how we love our fresh English peas! We've had mixed success with growing peas in the past but this year's crop is doing great. And don't all these raised beds in the garden look nice? That coupled with the relocated sod from our side yard makes the garden an extra nice place to hang out.

 In front of the peas are tomatoes, kale (on its way out), spinach and lettuce, and carrots. YUM!

Green is my favorite color. And the color of a green pea is just perfect!

And we also have raspberries! Last year the raspberries did next to nothing while the blackberries went crazy. Well, the raspberries decided this year to get the party started first. The boys and I had a few today. 

But not to be outdone, the blackberries are coming along. I'm starting my war against the stink bugs already--they were on the peas last week and they're still around, waiting to stink up the blackberries. Ugh!

Our blueberries and grapevines are coming along, too. 

Ah, it's so nice to be in the spring/summer growing season again!

Extra extra! Extra large egg!

Our chickens laid a huge egg the other day.  

Mason and I cooked it for breakfast.  

And it was delicious!

You won't find eggs this size at the grocery store! One egg was gracious plenty for Mason and Tyler (and a few bites for me).  Thankful for our chickens, who are a year old now.  

Spring arrives!

I couldn't be happier that today is the first day of spring.  The weather in South Carolina has been so spastic this winter that the clear blue skies of this afternoon definitely lifts spirits.  

And with spring comes the start of our spring garden.  The garden peas are well on their way. 

The beets, lettuce and spinach are starting to poke through. 

Our blackberry vines are covered in small green leaves.  

The blueberries are budding out.  

And my favorite spring flower adds sunshine even on cloudy days.  Happy spring, y'all!

Muscadine Haircuts (Pruning)

It's that time of year again- when the woolly muscadine vines get haircuts.  I like this job because it neatens up our little vineyard. 

I follow the general rule of keeping a single cordon and then pruning the spurs back to two to three buds. This will help our vines produce good crop of grapes in late summer.  

This year I'm being more methodical and making a wreath (or two) from each section of vines. Here's my first one today. By making the wreaths as I go along, the vines are more pliable and easier to weave.

I finally finished this project yesterday afternoon (it took me about a week because I have to work in spurts between taking care of the boys and doing other things around the house). 

Yesterday I had a rough day with feeling overwhelmed with learning how to mother a kindergartener in school, parent a 19 month-old who has some slight developmental delays, and make sure the middle boy doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Everything felt like it was piling up--but when I went out to my vines and pruned them back, pulling out the long scraggly vines, I found some peace. I'm thankful I can work with my hands and mediate on life. 

Over and over I thought of the Bible verses about "I am the vine" so I looked up John 15. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. " (NIV).

I've made 15 or so wreaths, varying in size between 14 inches and 20 inches. I'm planning to give my sons' teachers wreaths as end-of-the-year presents. And I'd like to sell the others to folks around here. 

In other news at Okra Hill, Ashley has plowed up the remains of our winter garden (collards, kale) because it took a beating from the cold-cold weather. 

Part of our spring garden is in the ground. That's a later post because we have some big changes to half of the garden. Happy last day of February! Bring on spring!

Snow comes to Okra Hill!

When our house was being built during the winter of 2010/2011, our area of South Carolina had several snow days.  Since then there haven't been any so when it snowed this week, we were all excited.  Around three inches fell- just the right amount to make Okra Hill look like a winter wonderland without being troublesome. 

I think the girls were perplexed by the white stuff. 

Waylon and Ziggy weren't quite sure what to do either!

I grew up in the NC foothills where we had snows most winters.  I don't miss the power going out or having to walk up our (steep) driveway when the snow made it impossible to drive.  But I have missed sharing a snow day with my boys.  

They all had a big time with it, although I think Tyler was disapointed his red car didn't have better 4x4 capabilities.  

Within a day the roads were clear and dry. Nothing could be finer than living in South Carolina (at least when it comes to fairly mild winters!).  

Eggs in God's Eye

We went to North Carolina this weekend to see my parents and came back home to find nests full of eggs. Mama gave me one of her God's eye baskets to use to collect eggs. It is the perfect size.  

I've recently started storing my eggs on the counter (or rather, in the back part of my pantry) after reading about the perfection of homegrown eggs. You can learn more about why this works here: http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/06/handling-and-storing-eggs.html. Because our chickens produce an average of 4 dozen eggs a week (I sell 3 of those to other mamas at our preschool), freeing up my fridge has been a good thing. I still wash and refrigerate the eggs that are overly dirty. 

Parsley fest 2014

Last week our South Carolina chickens experienced a frigid cold front. The lowest temp was around 8 degrees and considering today's balmy 60, that was a shock!

The girls survived just fine thanks to a light Ashley added in their coop for warmth and my going out repeatedly to thaw their waterer.  What really amazes me is they trucked right along with egg production.  

Our parsley, however, did not fare as well. So this afternoon I cut back the frostbitten sections. The girls loved this green snack (and they also enjoyed cilantro). 

We will see how or if the parsley comes back.  I hope it does because it's one of my favorite garnishes. 

Raised beds for part of the garden

Ashley is working on a new layout for our garden that will incorporate raised beds. He's using unfinished HardiPlank boards for the sides because they're made of concrete and should last for a while. 

The boys love helping their daddy. 

The hens are curious about what's happening in their neighborhood...

More progress...

I thought the older two boys were out helping in the garden but really, they had convinced Daddy to build them a place for water...in the winter. They can't get enough of mud and puddles!

Our little guy is 17 months old now. He hasn't chosen to walk yet (working on getting the strength to do that) but he does a great job standing. I think the hens think so, too!

We all love our chickens. Although they slacked off a little on their egg laying a month ago, they've picked back up, laying 6-8 eggs a day. I sell some eggs to other moms at our preschool. In the spring, we may get more chickens because the demand for our eggs continues to grow.