Harvest Season Continues with Blueberries and Gardens Galore (7-20 to 25)
In the heart of the countryside, a week unfolds with a rhythm as predictable as the seasons themselves. Each day breaks with the sun, ushering in a symphony of farm chores designed to care for the land and its inhabitants.
The author's day starts with the animals, feeding them a mix of kitchen scraps and specialized feed, followed by collecting eggs from numerous nesting boxes. The chickens' bedding is refreshed with a blend of herbs like spearmint, rosemary, and oregano, fostering a healthy environment for these feathered friends.
Blueberry picking, a seasonal delight, is interwoven into the week. With the sun shining bright and the air ripe with the scent of summer, the author carefully harvests plump, dark berries, filling buckets with care to protect the fruit. This task is often shared with Makenna and the rest of the family, who lend a helping hand in the garden and arrange the produce for a photo.
The garden is a testament to the week's hard work. It's here that the author tends to vegetables, herbs, and flowers, ensuring they receive the necessary water and nutrients. Weeding the garden is a daily task, and the author is also on the lookout for pests like squash bugs and Japanese beetles. These unwelcome visitors are fed to the chicks, a sustainable solution to pest management.
Other farm chores include maintaining infrastructure such as cleaning animal housing, repairing fences, and managing waste. These tasks ensure the health of the farm ecosystem and smooth daily operations. The author also takes time to weed the garden every day, a crucial step in maintaining a productive and thriving homestead.
The week is punctuated by moments of leisure. Maddie can often be found working in her journal in the reading spot, while Tilly immerses herself in her scriptures. The author, too, finds solace in podcasts, listening to three during the blueberry-picking sessions.
Friday, the culmination of the week, sees the author picking a variety of produce from the garden - cucumbers, blueberries, pumpkins, radishes, beets, beans, different colored bell peppers, purple lettuce, corn on the cob, and tomatoes. It's a bountiful harvest that fills the author with pride, especially for the corn grown by someone (not specified).
However, the week is not without its challenges. Rain showers every afternoon and encounters with pests like squash bugs and Japanese beetles test the author's resolve. Two pumpkins in the garden were even eaten by deer, but the author remains undeterred, finding solutions and adapting to the ebb and flow of farm life.
In the evening, the author tucks the chickens and chicks in at 8:30, and gives one of the eaten pumpkins to the big chickens. As the sun sets, the week draws to a close, leaving the author grateful for the seeds given this year, the good weather, and the kids' work in the garden.
This detailed week on the farm is a testament to the balance between nature and nurture, work and leisure, and the communal spirit that binds the family together in their pursuit of a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.
[1] Farming for the Future: A Guide to Sustainable Agriculture (2020) [2] The Farm Sanctuary: A Compassionate Approach to Farming (2019) [4] The Urban Farmer: Growing Food in the City (2012) [5] The Farmer's Office: A Practical Guide to Farm Management (2017)
- The author's lifestyle on the farm combines daily farm chores such as caring for the animals, tending the garden, and managing the homestead, with moments of leisure like listening to podcasts and reading.
- The garden, rich with a variety of food-and-drink delights like cucumbers, blueberries, and tomatoes, is not only a testament to the author's hard work but also a key component of their food-and-drink situation.
- Gardening and cooking go hand in hand on the farm, with the author using fresh herbs like spearmint, rosemary, and oregano in the chickens' bedding and in homemade recipes, and the family often arranging the produce for a photo before enjoying the fruits of their labor.
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