With March comes plum blossoms!

March feels like it flew by! This is due in part, to my performing in a local production of The Sound of Music. (I was asked to step in as the role of the cranky Sister Berthe when the original actress had to drop out of the show.) It's been fun, although singing "Climb Every Mountain" on opening weekend - without any rehearsal at all - was a little nerve-wracking. But our sweet and talented Reverend Mother had laryngitis, so we did what we had to do to make the show go on!

But also, the weather this month has given me some dry periods to get some real homesteading done. For example, this month I added one-year asparagus roots to my asparagus bed. Sadly, the deer had destroyed most of the plants I put in a few years back; now there's a deer fence around this raised bed, so hopefully the asparagus will thrive! I also planted some bare root June-bearing strawberries in among those asparagus.

March is also when I plant potatoes; I planted more this year than ever before - but still in the grow bags I love. I've also sown Alaska peas and Little Snow Pea White in the garden. And I've slowly been cleaning up the garden beds, giving the chickens, little by little, the bolted kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts.

Bare root asparagus.

Planting potatoes in grow bags.

Speaking of chickens, our new flock is doing great. I butchered all the roosters but one beautiful barred roo; he died two days later. (It looked like he had a heart attack in his sleep.) But I was able to grab a teen rooster from a person in town who was unable to keep him. He's not very assertive yet and it took some time for the head hen to accept him, but I think he'll grow up into a gentle but protective guy. 

Our new rooster is a gangly teen.

I took a break from rabbit breeding this winter, but when I suddenly realized how old our mutt Fido was, I decided to mate him with Clydine to see if I could get a son from him that would have similar characteristics. Fido (and his now deceased doe, Fiona) were our original meat rabbits, and they had excellent genetics for the job. Fido's kits usually end up at 5 lbs. dressed - about a pound bigger than our New Zealand kits. Besides, Fido is a sweetie, and I love him; keeping some of his offspring would bring me joy. Clydine had the kits on the 29th, so we shall see how they look as they mature.

Fido and Clydine's kits.

 

Tigger, on watch for rodents in the greenhouse.

The amazing red wiggler worms in my garden!

Saved in March:

$20.28 if purchased organic or $19.50if purchased conventional.

Saved in 2024 so far:

$126.30 if buying organic and $106.23