I figured this would be as good a place as any to document the growth of my little chicken farm in the middle of Flanders.
I'm in my early twenties, and I was born in Texas to a Vietnamese refugee and an Irish-Romanian from Missouri. I spent half my time growing up in a suburb in San Antonio and the other half in a trailer in Cibolo before moving to Helotes and attending school at an Ag/4H school. There, I was a part of the Dance Team and friends with many children who grew up hunting, fishing, and farming. I myself grew up with chickens on my paternal grandparents' property. About two or three years ago I met a nice Belgian boy online, and the rest was history.
Three years, an ocean, and some animals later, I find myself running a small homestead with my husband and our flock, as well as two collies and two snakes.
This year is my experiment year. I'll be documenting gardening, chicken rearing, and the little dramas of an urban homestead.
Yesterday was a cleaning day, as Midsummer is upon us. It was overcast most of the day, and the fear of rain prevented work in the corn field and potato patch I currently have going. i recently found a couple Hungarian Blue poppies growing wild on our property, which of course I've been eyeing for seed. Rare cultivars usually capture my attention, and the dramatic purple flowers will be excellent for my container garden.
I've been taking a swing at the Three Sisters method of gardening with the corn this year. It's a new method for me, as I grew up with exclusively corn fields and growing three plants in the same field is a little daunting. I've currently got Golden Bantam corn and Fin de Bagnole pole beans going, so it's just the squash/melons I have left. Weeds are threatening to take over the field though, I have to go out with my sprayer of vinegar and kill the majority of them. Normally i keep the weeds, but as we're living on my FiL's land he requires that we keep it mostly tidy.
As for our chickens? We bought a Black Sex link to replace a Barred Rock/d'Anvers mix we processed. I'm no stranger to processing but ol' Hildegard got to me. We have six chickens in all, a decent flock that's dual purpose. We had to section off our roo from the main flock though as he has a bad habit of plucking the pullets and hens when he tries to mate with them.
Today though is Midsummer. i'll be collecting the seed heads from the two poppy varieties on our property and planting the last of the produce as well as bagging the tomato blossoms to prevent cross-pollenation and promote heirloom preservation. Charentais melons are the last of the Three Sisters that need to be planted and I have radishes that need to go into the ground SOON. We won't be here in August (going Stateside to visit family) so I also have to figure out logistics for the biddies and the farm.
I'm in my early twenties, and I was born in Texas to a Vietnamese refugee and an Irish-Romanian from Missouri. I spent half my time growing up in a suburb in San Antonio and the other half in a trailer in Cibolo before moving to Helotes and attending school at an Ag/4H school. There, I was a part of the Dance Team and friends with many children who grew up hunting, fishing, and farming. I myself grew up with chickens on my paternal grandparents' property. About two or three years ago I met a nice Belgian boy online, and the rest was history.
Three years, an ocean, and some animals later, I find myself running a small homestead with my husband and our flock, as well as two collies and two snakes.
This year is my experiment year. I'll be documenting gardening, chicken rearing, and the little dramas of an urban homestead.
Yesterday was a cleaning day, as Midsummer is upon us. It was overcast most of the day, and the fear of rain prevented work in the corn field and potato patch I currently have going. i recently found a couple Hungarian Blue poppies growing wild on our property, which of course I've been eyeing for seed. Rare cultivars usually capture my attention, and the dramatic purple flowers will be excellent for my container garden.
I've been taking a swing at the Three Sisters method of gardening with the corn this year. It's a new method for me, as I grew up with exclusively corn fields and growing three plants in the same field is a little daunting. I've currently got Golden Bantam corn and Fin de Bagnole pole beans going, so it's just the squash/melons I have left. Weeds are threatening to take over the field though, I have to go out with my sprayer of vinegar and kill the majority of them. Normally i keep the weeds, but as we're living on my FiL's land he requires that we keep it mostly tidy.
As for our chickens? We bought a Black Sex link to replace a Barred Rock/d'Anvers mix we processed. I'm no stranger to processing but ol' Hildegard got to me. We have six chickens in all, a decent flock that's dual purpose. We had to section off our roo from the main flock though as he has a bad habit of plucking the pullets and hens when he tries to mate with them.
Today though is Midsummer. i'll be collecting the seed heads from the two poppy varieties on our property and planting the last of the produce as well as bagging the tomato blossoms to prevent cross-pollenation and promote heirloom preservation. Charentais melons are the last of the Three Sisters that need to be planted and I have radishes that need to go into the ground SOON. We won't be here in August (going Stateside to visit family) so I also have to figure out logistics for the biddies and the farm.
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