The Blueberry Orchard

Photo Credit

One of the things that drew us to this land last fall was the blueberry orchard. It is so beautiful in every season, all the trees perfectly aligned in rows. We have over 100 trees and they are all dripping with round blue berries!



Billy and I have prayed to make money as a family laboring on our land and this weekend we will be the blueberry vendor at the Marksville Farmers Market!



I feel so blessed and so excited!!



All of the other produce is growing so well! For the most part it was all grown with total organic practices! Although I truly have SO much to learn, and those Louisiana bugs are KILLING ME!!!

Our Garden Then & Now

In the Beginning Was a Dream and A Plan:

Our dream birthed..........a jungle! Help I am lost among squash!

My volunteer Squash

(I threw these seeds out into compost because they would not sprout! HA)

Our SWEET Green Tomatoes!

Ladies, Start your SEEDS!!!

It is that time of year!! I am so excited to be gardening on our very own homestead this year!

Believe it or not, it is time to start some of your seeds.

I do not claim to be an expert gardener. I am simply sharing what we are doing in order to have a sustainable harvest this coming year.

You will need:

1. seeds - may I suggest purchasing heirloom seeds so that you can participate in harvesting seeds from your plants this year. This will save on costs next year! and you will have some to share. It is not that much more to buy heirloom seeds. Besides, the quality of the plant and the savings next year will be worth it. May I recommend http://www.rareseeds.com/. This site has provided us with good seed and good service.

2. Seed starting mix- I bought a bag of Jiffy seed starting mix at Home depot for about $4.

3. Small containers in which to start the seeds. Egg cartons work fine for us. I clean them out and keep them until it is time.

SEEDS TO START IN JANUARY:

tomatoes
potatoes

beets

broccoli

carrots

cauliflower

swiss chard

chinese cabbage

eggplant

lettuce (my favorite)

English peas

hot peppers

bell peppers

radishes

Ofcourse you want to plant only what you are going to eat.

May I also recommend the following books:

The Square foot garden, Mel Bartholomew

The Backyard Homestead, Carleen Madigan

I use these books on a regular basis for reference, how to, and ideas for my garden.

Things We Do....

God Loves Louisiana....wanna know how I know?

I went and picked fresh lettuce for our salad tonight. Seriously, where else can you do that? And look at this lettuce, that is some PURTY lettuce! Since it is going to freeze most of the week we did cover the garden with trashbags and we will be focusing on starting our seeds indoors.

Another thing we are working on is how to make this wood burning heater heat the whole house. Right now our living room is nice a toasty but my boys are freezing in the bedroom! (Just kidding E, we have the regular heat on too..;)








Here is Billy starting his first fire in our new home.

I love this place.... look the heater even has my name on it! AWE!