Town House Homestead Tuesday

I have been missing for over a month. Well, as far as blogging that is. As far as getting outside and getting work done not so. We are at the beginning of year three in our home and it seems like all we've done is work to upgrade Ms. Beldon. 

The painting of the shed is basically done, but still needs a bit of touch up. For now, however, it is in almost brand new condition and being used for garden supplies and tools. Also some wood to burn. The cement blocks are getting painted and I have planted Pansies in them. I have hanging baskets of Nasturtium on both side of the doors now too. 

Ms. Beldon's bees didn't survive winter, so we are taking the time to create a good pollination garden. Lots of earth to clear and treat along with adding vegetable and flower plants. We were short about four bags of stones to finish the walk, but that will come in the next few days. The stepping stones are of my grand children's feet and hands. It is looking quite nice and more thought out.

My garlic came up well, but needed a lot of TLC as far as weeding. It took my broken body a couple of mornings to get it done and the straw down, but it has grown now to about twenty four inches tall. I am looking forward to scape's and hopefully some good size bulbs. I have just run out of last years harvest and purchases. 

I have container tomatoes growing as well as tomatoes in the ground. Probably too many, but I have people who will help eat them and they can be frozen or canned in many ways.

I have squash varieties that I have been transplanting into buckets. There will be ten total for squash and as they die off I will plant more. Already getting what looks like blossoms. Next will be peppers transplanted into buckets. I have planted some peppers in the ground at the front of the house also. 

I am trying my hand at Glass Gem popcorn. Only three seedlings survived the wind and rain, but they are healthy and I can hope.

The sunflowers are doing almost too well. They need to because Hunter found a way to dig under the fence to get at them. We used some of the old screens from the old windows to deter him, and so far so good. They blow back and forth with any wind, hit the stakes, and then blow back and lean on the fence. It startles him so he's getting the message.

These are two of the varieties of Iris we planted two years ago. They are having a grand time in the sun. This year we were gifted purple ones and they are being planted around the yard, and there will  be many added to this garden. 

We were also gifted several large clumps of Hosta. Most of them we put in the ground as clumps and we will thin them over the years as the gardens grow. We separated one large clump and planted them around the back and sides of the compost bin. Just to beautify it a bit. Until last week they were closed in because guess who thought he should dig them too. Yes, Hunter.

But Hunter isn't the only issue as far as my garden goes. Along with the ground hogs, mama deer has been leaving her baby along the fence during the day which is about ten feet from my garden. So far she has not eaten anything and I am putting pinwheels up and will leave Hunter to bark at it, so maybe mom changes her mind about leaving it there. Gardening sure has it's challenges, and all of this before we even talk about insects. 

It wouldn't be my post if I didn't include a picture of Hunter. I had a lot of choices including a video of him stealing a set of keys and the owner chasing him around the yard for them. He is such a proud thief, but this one is the best. It's the reason we have furniture covers, wear clothes several times before washing and the stack of towels that are in and out of the washer and dryer. He is forty six pounds of pure energy and he is not quite my best friend. I have so much more work to do with him. He forgets all that he is taught and it's start from the beginning every day, but they say it will come. I will keep trying. To think I wanted chickens too. One animal is enough. Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit. Have a great week, love one another, and share your bounty. Until next time. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

For a few weeks now I have been trying to decide if I should start another blog to cover the different side of my life here at the townhouse. The major reason that I have decided not to is time. I'm very busy managing three on line stores and selling on different venues too, so after long discussions and deliberations I'm starting a new feature on "The Craft Zone" and calling it "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday". I think it's more than appropriate since the art of farming, raising animals, sewing and living a sustainable life, is in reality a craft. I have so many stories that I can post about under this title so here it goes. 

Yes it's a townhouse apartment. Not the best living situation for a want to be farm girl and not the best neighbors, but we are making it work. The rules are strict, but not for everyone as we have discovered. I'm going to do what I can and if they ask me to remove things, I will. I understand their rules and yes I've seen the critters that they say are no good, but they even spray to kill the bees. Living here is not forever. We live in the back section of the campus and enjoy a forever green wooded area. Actually it's a gorge and earthquake fault, but this is what I enjoyed with my coffee this morning. 

We have some very large raccoons who visit also, but there are wild turkeys and so many beautiful birds. This makes the day wonderful for me.

Last week there were so many sales on strawberries and I picked up two pounds to dehydrate. I am always looking for healthier snacks and these came out so good.

Eggs were $1 a dozen and I had been interested in making these peppered pickled eggs. I found the recipe here on pinterest. http://pharmacist.hubpages.com/hub/spicypickledeggs. I made them yesterday and harvested the seeds from the peppers I used. In two weeks I can taste them.

I was being a rebel when I started this sweet potato. We have such poor light in the townhouse that I never expected it to do anything. Well, to my surprise it did. I pinched the leaves off, and put them in water to root. They rooted so quickly that they had to go in a pot or I had to throw them away. One daughter bought me the planter and another gave me the bag of soil and I was on my way to growing sweet potatoes in a container.

I have strategically placed it on our small four foot square deck and stairs at the back door and put a solar light in it to make it look nice. They are growing well and are larger now. So far it's passing property inspections and I haven't been asked to remove it. There's more growing and more to be planted and more to write about, but for now I"ll leave it for the next post. It's not all thrifting, selling, sewing and fabric crafting here and "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday" is proof that there's plenty to enjoy in life for this townhouse farm girl.