This Week at the Farmhouse | Ushering in Spring

It's so good to hear the peepers and know that spring is finally here. I'm staying busy this week with a few projects. I'm going to start some seeds. I'm using a tool that I've never used before. It's a soil blocker and I'm just moistening the soil. The soil has to be pretty moist. You want it to be able to hold its shape once you give it a good squeeze so it really packs into the block maker. Once I fill it with soil I'm going to make some blocks and then I can plant my seeds. It's very easy to use and very eco-friendly and I really enjoy using it. Now that I've planted those seeds to get a good start I need to go back through my seed collection and look at the things that are going to go in the ground when the ground is warm. Yesterday when I was at the garden center I just kept looking at everything and going oh I need that but then I probably don't. I don't know what I have and so it made sense to come home and go through the seed collection and make a list. For starters as I was putting things away yesterday I realized I already have three packs of bean seeds. I don't need any more beans. I have plenty of winter squash. I really don't need any more winter squash but I could tell just by looking at the container I do not have any peas and peas go in the ground early so I really need some peas. So let's take a seed inventory let's make a list and then when I go to the garden center I'm not bringing home everything I don't need. Is it just me or do you do this too? I store my seeds in these photo holders. They work very well for me for holding seeds and as you can see the peas are definitely empty. The container contains seeds for vegetables and the second one is for flowers both annual and perennial. I'm now armed for the list. Next time I visit the garden center I'll know exactly what I have. Does that mean that I won't be bringing home anything I don't need? Probably not but I won't be bringing home things that I already have. I was excited as a school girl going to Disney. I could not sleep knowing that this organic compost was on the way. It's an unseasonably warm day here in Michigan and I just thought it's a great time to get outside and get some things done. We just had that compost delivered this week and I definitely want to get it covered. We have some rain coming this afternoon. I have another pile of soil out that we removed from one of the projects that we're doing here and put it out by the pumpkin garden and I'd like to get that covered. I have to see what kind of tarps I have. If I have enough to cover it I really hope I do and I want to take a look at the pumpkin garden. I've been trying to get the soil ready so that we don't have a lot of weeds to contend with when it gets time to start planting and the wind that we've had has really torn that up so I'm going to make an assessment of that and maybe get some things done in there today and then I have one more chore I'd like to get started on out here today so I thought I'd bring you along and enjoy some outside time here Definitely covered. It's definitely not pretty but it will do and there's already a few drops of rain starting so we picked a good time to get out here and get this one covered up and get it done. Now we're going to move over to the pumpkin garden. This pile of soil is already growing weeds. This is just topsoil that was moved from another part of our yard that we were working on. So covering it with a tarp is going to do two things for me. First of all it's going to keep it dry so that when I want to use the soil I'm not trying to move heavy wet soil. Additionally the tarp as the temperature is warm is just going to keep the weeds from growing. The temperature is going to heat up and cook or bake any grass weeds or seeds giving me a clean sterile soil. Over here in the pumpkin garden there is a chair. There is a piece of plastic completely missing and in the back corner the tarp has been torn apart and there's grass growing. I extended the pumpkin garden by double last year and so I did a few extra things to help with the soil this spring. I added some chicken bedding that was fertilized. I mowed over everything that was left there and then I brought in piles of leaves to compost over the winter. But now that these tarps have blown I'm getting some weeds growing and we still have a little ways before we can plant. So the sun beating down on the tarps will be really helpful in preventing any weeds from growing in the future. So let's work out here and try against the wind to get all these tarps laid back down and this covered as best we can in order to stop and prevent any weeds from growing. And just in time a friend comes along and makes spreading the tarp and the stones so much easier and actually it's true what they say, two hands make light work. The next project on the list is to replace our post box. Not the post box itself but the pole. It had broken off and we needed a strong sturdy pole. So we've dug a new hole, planted the post, cemented it and it's level. But what do you do with leftover concrete? Throw it away? No. In the midst of other projects that are going on today I decided to add one more to the mix. This is the bird feeding station. At least it's one of them. And from the window in the house I can look out here and I can see the birds and it's just lovely watching all the wildlife be attracted to this area. And it's in a very natural area of a wetland. From this window I can look out and enjoy the birds and the squirrels and anything else that runs along through here. But these shepherd's hooks that I use tend to fall over when the ground gets wet. The bird feeders are heavy and they're also make the feeders a little low to the ground which kind of makes some birds uncomfortable. So I decided that I have some leftover timber and some leftover concrete and just for a few minutes worth of work I think we can make something special for the birds. And now for the post box. These holes were actually created by some carpenter bees and some wasp. Not fun for the mail carrier. This mailbox has seen its better days but I think we can get a few more years out of it with a little bit of TLC.