Something’s always happening on the farm!  It’s such a creative place to be.  While family was visiting a few months ago, we got a solar dehydrator built by our friend Matt.  It’s been something i’ve wanted for awhile, so i was so excited that he tackled this project!  o

I have been using it to dry all my herbs for teas, tinctures and salves, and we’re experimenting with drying bananas and poha berries (ground cherries).  It’s so wonderful to have so much space, since before i was using my oven!  

We spent a couple of months early in the year redesigning our central garden area.  After some research i decided that cinder blocks would be best for raised beds…they stand up the best to our wet weather here, and they are pretty cost effective.  So now we are doing our spring planting and it has been so fun!  We’ve got lots of green beans, cherry tomatoes and herbs…Young plants that are growing are cucumbers, tomatillos, cherokee purple tomatoes, watermelon, turmeric and ginger.  We are excited for the harvest!

I’m loving all our herbs…i’m just finding more and more to do with them, and drinking tea made with mamaki, tulsi basil, lemongrass and hibiscus has kept me well through a few colds that were going around!  Also, having culinary herbs right by our kitchen steps has been lovely.  Basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro, etc.  All just perfect editions to every meal!

And how can i not include our new little chicks?  We have had them for only 4 days now, and are raising them up to be our new flock of egg layers.  The group includes barred rock, black sex link, gold sex link, rhode island reds, white leghorn, and 2 buff orpington roosters…we are giving them lots of love, and they are giving us hours of entertainment!  

We are also due to have one goat give birth in about a week…We are nervous and excited!  We’ve been keeping our goats milking for a long time now, and we’ve come to depend on our fresh goat milk for our health and enjoyment.  We love our goats!

So we are keeping busy as always, and enjoying farm life.  More updates to come on some other projects we’ve been working on!