Can you believe we’ve been digging our roots into this homestead for five years already? I’m returning for intermittent blogging after taking a couple years off. And I wanted to let you all in the garden gate and show you how things have grown.
Modern homesteads are about some degree of self-sufficiency, so our space has always been intended to offset our food supply. The heart of our homestead is our intensive food production: the raised beds and chicken coop.
Weeds and bolted veggies go to the chickens, the chicken bedding goes into the compost, the finished compost goes into the beds. This system allows us to replenish the beds with excellent soil on a regular basis. My lettuces this year are biggest I’ve ever grown!
Our fruit trees were planted well before our last moving boxes were unpacked and they are all officially fruiting! Urban spaces are tight, so I planted trees that gave us a good variety of the fruits we love best: figs, plums, Asian pears, European pears (including an espalier), apricots, apples, and persimmons.
The everbearing strawberries, everbearing raspberries, low-bush and high-bush blueberries, and black currants keep the kids grazing from summer through fall. Our harvests are enough for fresh eating and canning, but I still supplement our freezer stash with local u-pick farms. Raspberries run the entire eastside of our backyard, which makes a delicious green wall.
Our space is packed with edibles, but it needed more ornamental plants to make it really sing. I’ve added more seasonal flowers, conifers for winter interest, and cool grasses. These plants support beneficial insects and wildlife, but they also make an edible garden beautiful year round.
Juniper’s class raised chicks last year and we added them to our flock when they were too big for the classroom. Pearl, our 10+ year old hen, finally passed away a couple winters ago (can you believe it!). We currently get an average of 3-4 eggs a day, which helps offset our family’s protein needs.
The patio has evolved into something really special. I began by designing a simple, rustic, modern pergola last summer. It gives more definition to the space as an outdoor gathering area. The structure supports four hardy kiwi vines, which will eventually provide seasonal shade and fall fruit (we’re using a shade sail on top until the vines grow in).
Recently I scored a vintage fireplace that makes the space feel complete. I feel like our backyard is more than just food production – it’s also beautiful and cozy and peaceful and all the things I dreamed it would be.
Although the kids make their way through all parts of the homestead, I am glad I left a big central area just for them. It’s a nature-based play area designed to be flexible – log stumps, teepee built with pruned fruit tree branches, movable sand table (freebie), “bridge” pallet, kiddie pool when the weather is warm…
These are all simple, free items that can be changed or repurposed over time. Like gardens, children grow and change over time. Their play spaces should be just as adaptable to change.
I hope your homesteads are growing by leaps and bounds too! I would love to hear what projects you are tackling this summer and how your homesteads are evolving.
