Saturday on the Homestead: February 1

I wanted to start a new tradition on my blog to update our happenings on the homestead.  So just about every Saturday I'll put a new post up.  I know I love to read about the farms and homesteaders I keep up with, even though I don't know most of them personally.

Speaking of which, next week there will be a post on who we are here at Serenity Springs to introduce ourselves to those who don't know us well.

The past couple of weeks, I have been busy starting seeds indoors.  We have 2 four-foot grow lights and also a small greenhouse with one shelf of lights so far, all in our kitchen! :)  Grow lights are awesome!  We have a basil plant over a foot tall we have eating off of for a couple of months now.  Click to see the grow light we used for our basil plant

So far we have started a few pepper plants of different varieties seeded, including sweetheart red peppers, peter peppers, and red pepper douce d'espagne, all of which will be new varieties for us this year.  Also going are a few tomatoes, several of which we started with seed I saved last year (so proud of myself for acquiring that skill!)

The big theme for this year will be HERBS!  Last year, the only herbs we grew were lemon balm, marshmallow, hyssop (a little), catnip (also a little), stevia, chives, parsley, basil, and dill.  I think that's it, but I may have missed a couple.  This year, that is hopefully going to increase several fold, including a try at growing my own goji berries.

 I have some cilantro, oregano, lemon basil, chives, wild lettuce, marjoram, thyme, parsley and cinnamon basil started in pots to try to grow in our back room that gets southern light.  Hopefully, at least some of them will do well. 

Then in our garden, we are expanding the room allotted for herbs.  I already have some clary sage sprouted, and some feverfew, motherwort, and lobelia seeded, but not sprouted yet.  We had a seed trading party this week, so I have TONS of new seeds to start! 

On the horizon is acquiring meat chickens, 2 geese for Amber to raise, at least a couple of new ducks of a different breed than we already have, and incubating a new batch or two of chickens.  Our chickens recently ended their laying strike (we have at least 20 hens that lay, but were only getting one egg each day for a couple of months).  Now we are back up to 6-10 every day! 

Josh and Amber are going with their Uncle Alan to cut wood today to help build our store of firewood back up.  With all of this cold weather, we have been using TONS of wood.  But we are ever so thankful for our wood stove.  It keeps us marvelously warm when it is cold outside.

That's about it for today.  I haven't felt well the past day or so, so I don't think I will be overly productive today.  If I do anything, it will be to.....plant more seeds!

Blessings and have a good weekend!
Debbie, Home at Serenity Springs