New Life on the Homestead

 Life has been going at a dead run these past few months.  If any of you are farmers, homesteaders or simply gardners, you can relate.  This latest event has given me cause to pause and enjoy new life.  A few days ago, our Millie girl gave birth to a calf.  She has been given the name of 'Junebug'.  

 

Needless to say, with Mama protecting her,

Devastating Tornado in the Ozarks

Living in the Ozarks, you have a constant mindfulness of how deadly storms can be.  It doesn't consume our way of life, but it plays a major role in how we live.  Our little farm happens to be located in Tornado Alley.  

Growing up here, we used to only have to be watchful of the storms in the spring.  Now, it is every storm, no matter what season.  

Every Ozarker has their own "tornado" story to tell, but I can tell you

April Showers Flooding the Ozarks

 

Here in the Ozark Mountains, we enjoy spring rains.  The pastures green up, the trees bud out and growing season gets in full swing.  If you've never experienced spring in the Ozarks, I must tell you that we are in what is called Tornado Alley and that name has already been proven true this week and daily threats are heading our way next week too, but I wanted to share with you pictures of our local creeks...

Welcome to Our Woods

 

If you've never been to the Ozark Mountains, let me give you glimpse of what spring time looks like around here.  Everywhere you look, the dogwoods are blooming.  This picture was taken as we walked across the pond bank.  They grow wild across the landscape and their lacy appearance as they cascade to the ground is breathtaking.     

Spring in the Ozark Mountains

There is nothing like living in the Ozark Mountains during Spring!  The environment is rich with so many native plants and trees all year round, especially ones that provide food, but spring is a wild flower and native flowering trees spectacular!  All through our woods are wild growing Dogwood and Redbud trees that signal winters demise and springs arrival.

We spent the day making a new herb bed.  I got some Stevia plants and let me tell you.....the leaves are too sweet to eat.  Its kind of odd to pick a leaf from one of these plants and have it taste like a spoon full of sugar

Where Does the Time Go?

It's almost the end of March and it seems like February was just yesterday!  Spring seems to come on SO fast, I can't figure out where all of our time goes.  Each morning my husband kindly asks what my day is looking like, and as I think about what still needs to be done, I get very overwhelmed.  Each day seems to be filled with at least two weeks worth of work.

In the greenhouse, there are literally hundreds of tomato and pepper plants that are calling to be re potted, thousands of seeds that need to be sown, and shelves that need to be built...

The Promise of Spring

 

This is what we woke up to!  We started our tomato and pepper seeds in an egg incubator......exactly seven days later.......they sprouted!  Tomato and pepper seeds need between 75 and 85 degrees to sprout and I've never been able to get them to sprout this early before, so I'm very excited.