Getting the Garden Ready

Yippee!! It’s time to get the garden ready to plant. It’s great this coincides with cleaning out the barn since not only does it mean we’re going to have goat kids, it means fertilizer for the garden. So, now that the fertilizer, AKA goat poop, is spread out it’s time to till it in before the next chance of rain comes along. It was 70 degrees today and pretty windy. This helped the garden dry up enough for us to be able to work in it with the tractor, but there were still a few spots that were almost too wet.

First, detach the brush hog.

Then, attach the tiller.

This will be the sixth year we have worked this garden spot. We have added barnyard and wood ashes each year. Most of the soil is in great condition for gardening. There are still some rocky areas that seem to grow more and more rocks every year. There is one patch that has a lot more clay than the rest. I think this is where the septic tank was put in, since this patch is just different.

We have developed a good routine for getting the tilling done pretty quickly. It has it’s challenges since Frank has to back the tractor into towards the fence then till as he come back out. With our storage sheds and relatively small space between the house and the fence, we don’t have a lot of room to just go back and forth. But Frank has figured out a good routine and makes short order of this chore.

So, now I have my garden plan. 

I have dug out the seeds I need for my first wave of seedlings. 

So, another day’s chores are almost complete. Just like any other day. Morning chores; off to work at school while Frank does more daily chores around the house; after I get home we: till the garden; feed the animals and milk One Stripe; cook dinner; write a blog post; make butter while we read a novel together; say our prayers and call it another good day. The Lord is good and we are very blessed. Count your many blessings each and every day. Each day is given to you to use to the best of your ability. Make it count. 


Until next time – Fern

P.S. Even though it was not forecast, we had a nice freeze at 28 degrees last night. That is perfect timing. Freshly tilled ground with all of those nice bugs and eggs exposed to the freezing weather. This increases my hopes for the garden this year even more!