The other night, Ray the boys and I went for a stroll after dinner.
It was Ray’s birthday and we had eaten our customary meal for that day: lasagna followed by cheesecake.
The lasagna was delicious! I made sauce humming “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” while chopping herbs from our garden.
I also tried a new recipe for the cheesecake this year and decided that it was a good thing I forgot to get cream cheese at the store. Delicious and healthier to boot!
So since we had all eaten way too much of the fabulous meal (patting myself on the back), we decided to go for a walk around the homestead.
First, Ray pulled out the rest of the looper infested broccoli to feed to the chickens. I was pleased to see the globe amaranth growing and the marigolds finally starting to bloom.
The chickens attacked the broccoli with such impressive zeal that one of them had to perch atop the largest plant in order to get any.
One of them glared at me as if to say, “Is that all you have?” Spoiled rotten they are.
Next, we walked through the swale, taking in the progress all of the trees had made since we planted them. Most of the oaks are thriving.
One walnut tree, the hardy almond as well as two of the chestnuts are all alive…though just barely. Below is the walnut. Note, the leaves are growing at the base of the tree.
We noticed a couple of these tree/shrubs growing throughout the pasture. We’re not sure what they are so we snapped some pictures and we’ll do some research in the hopes of finding out.
As we finished our walk, we were struck again by the beauty of the swales. Beauty at the way they held water that, without them, would have run straight off our property, further eroding the soil. And beauty that it would be 5, 10, 15 years into the future.
A stroll through the homestead
A cool summer’s night
We saw all the beauty
We smiled at the sight
a pinch of homestead 