Gardening · Homesteading

April On The Homestead

March was a blur for me. It was buying, selling, and moving homes. I got so little done. But April I started the month overwhelmed, and slowly found my way.

It started rainy, and ended rainy. And in the middle we actually had some nice, if very windy, days. It feels odd to leave the island, now that we are back. Sometimes I do have to go off island, but all I want is to be back home. With the first week all rain, I spent that time unpacking, as fast as I could.

One of the frustrating parts of moving is not having appliances hooked up. At least I had a washer. Hand drying…well, while I can do it, I don’t exactly miss it. It’s easier in summer to say the least.

On the sunny days we started noticing the many tiny lizards, which are native, and in most areas are threatened by development. Each corner outside, even in the fields, has its own lizard. At the end of the month we spied one tiny baby lizard as well. Noted also were natives snakes (they are not poisonous) and many, many fat worms.

Alistaire and a lizard skin we found. The little feet are the best part.

We finally found the missing blue box of cords, and we got our solar panels back into work. I had missed it, feeling guilty while charging phones off the wall.

With the greenhouse set to be so far from the house, we upgraded the main deck box and picked up a new one (by Keter, similar to this one). The old one will be at the greenhouse, with one panel and one of the deep-cycle batteries, so we can run the fans off of it. It’s also nice, because unlike the Rubbermaid one we used the past 3-4 years, this one is rated for multiple adults to sit on top of it. Being near the house, that is a bonus. The “wood” is also paintable (we picked it up at Costco).

Epic Tomatoes, you say? Hard to pass up that kind of title!

The beehives were put out in April, finding a level spot was the first part. We brought our handcrafted wooden bench with us from the old house. It gets the hives off the ground and is more stable than cement blocks.

Stinging Nettles, something I can find easily here, especially by the well head. Once we picked what wanted, they got cut down, as the field was over grown.

In the final week of April, the giant maple tree awoke for spring. Near it is where we put in the compost center, and the temporary home for archery practice.

Madrona Tree in bloom. Many of the madrona trees have a blight, but they still flower amazingly.

Near the house, I noticed a few small and sad trees. I pruned the three trees, and fertilized them, something I have to think had not been ever done. The reward is one is a Lilac, which just started opening. With some care, I hope it takes off and grows strong.

Native Lupine, growing wild. It grows in sunny areas, especially in ditches.

And if anything, April was the month of learning to build fences.

To keep these little friends out. And their cousins, the deer.

Other items done? We got in fenced mini-beds for blueberries and golden raspberries, cleaned up the patio garden and planted herbs. Got in a small tomato bed. Started the work for the new location for the greenhouse, and measured out the first “big” bed down low, in the fields. We got a lot accomplished in our first full month on the homestead. Even if it feels I did nothing at times.