New Year, New Beginnings

Today we were in full swing here on the homestead. First thing this morning, we were out butchering chickens to clear out the large number of overdue hens and roosters that need to go into the freezer. The frigid temperatures only allowed us to harvest 6 chickens and a rooster (only 50 more to go!)

As I am fully dedicated to bringing cut flowers to market for the 2024 season, I also planted 40 tulips and sprinkled echinacea seeds around the flower garden area as well. I am excited to see how well they do and can't wait until I can start planting my stockpile of flower seeds in the spring. I munched on fresh spearmint leaves as I worked and pulled up nearly a dozen elephant ear bulbs to separate and replant in other areas. I fear we may be swimming in them by summer.

As we are in coastal North Carolina, our growing season was reclassified as 8b this year but with all the rain we've been getting, I think we should be recategorized as a rainforested swamp. It's been almost a week and the ground still hasn't soaked up all of the water yet. As much as I wanted to simply plant the vegetables in the ground this year, I think it might be more prudent to build some raised beds to get the plants up out of the water. Thankfully it is the middle of the winter so there are no mosquitoes to swarm us but I can only imagine how awful the spring and summer is going to be once they emerge from the depths of the Underworld.

This week we also had tragedy strike the homestead. I had my husky Nora out on a leash for a walk and the clasp on her collar malfunctioned leading to her tearing off for the chickencoop in the middle of a downpour. I believed all the chickens were inside and so I was completely in shock as I heard the sounds of a massacre. Nora bolted across the ditch into the field with a rooster in her mouth only to show up later covered in mud but content from her fill of chicken. I am now double checking the security of leash on collar when I take her out and she has since had a bath to wash away the grime of battle.

Here's to a new year and hopefully a successful 2024 with Backroads Nation Homestead,

-Samantha White