Starting again, somewhat afresh…

When we returned home to the Blue Ridge last year, I knew I’d be starting a homestead all over again. That was challenging in every way, but I’m happy to say it’s starting to feel like home again. I was not thinking I’d have to start anew with the blog. But hey, when it rains…and it has been raining.

So shortly after getting back to blogging in the spring, it all melted down. The blog (wordpress) came down with a virus that required deleting and re-installing, which happens sometimes in computer world. However, only after it was deleted did I discover that the more recent backups were also corrupted. At first, it appeared to be all, every post and photo since 2007, totally, gone. That was a stunning couple of days, but what do you do? You accept and prepare to start again. But then after working with a geek-for-hire we were able to recover some of it. Which is worse? All gone, or a jumbled and half-missing collection?  Anyway, I’ve set forth with the jumbled and half-missing version, planning to pick some favorite recent posts and reconstruct them as this blog is also my personal garden and farm journal too. We’ll see how all that goes. Meanwhile, I’m going to jump right into the present and catch you up!   The veggie garden looks like a real garden thanks to a certain sweetheart! With all the time I’ve spent on bees and chickens, if it were just me working on this it would still be little more than a half-plowed yard! Starting to eat right out of the back yard goes a long way towards feeling at home. The garden has jumped right up because the soil was pretty good to start with, even if it was under thick sod. It’s fairly clayish, but with generous additions of garden compost from Maytime Composting as well as a sprinkling of their near magical worm castings it’s come a long way in a short time and we’ve been eating lettuce, kale, beans, potatoes, garlic, onions and even a couple of tiny red tomatoes and a few handfuls of strawberries.  I’m working on planting new trees. Here’s an Eastern Redbud (above) planted so that will hopefully fill a window with early spring blooms. The elderberries I planted seem happy in their spot by the creek (below) and are starting to bloom (above). They are “York” and “Nova” varieties, which tend to be more fruitful than the wild ones which grow at the other end of the creek. If I’m lucky, we will get a mix of selected and wild berries to make syrups and tinctures. Elderberry is amazing in warding off colds and viruses. Not to mention having some strong historical magic as the guardian of the land and something to plant first, and respectfully, when you are starting a new garden. Meanwhile, we have had a LOT of near daily rain. Such is life in the mountains. Was instantly thankful for raised beds in the garden – which may be built a little higher over time!  Did create a drainage channel  after this pic was taken for the garden that helped a great deal with that standing water, which is not good at all for a garden. But this photo was after a one-day 4″ rain and there’s not many gardens which wouldn’t have some deep puddles after that. The new chickens, raised from day-old chicks back in the spring, would appreciate a little dryer weather! Had to add a tarp to their chicken tractor/shelter (which has about a dozen design flaws to start with – we call it the frankentractor and let’s just say I learned lots of stuff NOT to do on the next one.  Due to all the rain I had to add a tarp which really cuts down on the cuteness factor, but hey, it works. There’s a stationary coop in the works but moving slowly. Thanks to helper Sebastian the post holes are dug but we had a setback when the carpenter helping me with the post setting and roof had to have surgery. Looks like I’ll get the chance to build Frankentractor 2.0 in the meantime as these birds are outgrowing the old one fast. And finally, I’m happy to report the bees are doing great so far, despite the rain. Bees can’t fly in the rain and they don’t like being stuck in the hive in the summer. We had a great springtime and they filled up box after box with delicious tulip poplar honey, which is a dark honey with a rich and complex flavor. My absolute favorite. Currently, in between showers they are doing their best to work Sourwood tree blooms — which is Appalachia’s unique and special honey, our tupelo! Will report soon on how that turns out. So that is the extra long catch up post that will hopefully get me going on the blog again. I would love to hear how your summer is going in the comments. Till next time, Leigh

—A Larrapin Garden…recently re-settled in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. Posts on this blog may be boom or bust depending on the season, but if you subscribe here you’ll get one weekly email—usually on Wednesdays—to let you know what’s new. You are also invited to get garden related miscellany at the Facebook page or on Twitter. The Pinterest boards (Pinterest should carry a  habit-forming warning label by the way) are here.