Our Memorial Day weekend was spent working around the swales and vineyard.
We spent all day Saturday spreading mulch in the vineyard. Nine yards of mulch spread by hand with a little help from the skid steer.
Ray spent Sunday fixing up the trellis in the vineyard. We’ve decided to trellis every post and plant more vining plants.
When I look at it, I can imagine the green beauty it will be with the quickly growing hops and blackberries and the annual peas and beans.
I’ve sadly neglected reporting on, or even looking at the three trees we planted our first year on the homestead.
Last year, we put IrriPans around the trees both to keep down the weeds and to direct the rain.
While we are not likely to get fruit this year, I’m pleased at how well our apple tree is doing.
Our mulberry trees are also thriving and have the start of a few berries.
Since it had rained and would be raining again for the next few days, Joe and I spread some of the custom seed mix I put together a few weeks ago.
Joe took his job very seriously, putting all of his energy into flinging the dirt, eggshell and seed mix all over the swales…and all over himself.
The boys followed chickens around while Ray changed the bedding and cleaned out the coop.
At first, Jake was a little reluctant to try to pick them up.
But after watching Joe a few times, he was ready to hold one too.
Then he got bored chasing chickens, and went off to throw mud clods in the puddles that had formed in the test pond.
Joe sat and watched, holding his favorite chicken.
He’d named her Yellow for her yellow eyes and yellow feathers.
The younger birds are growing fast. A few already have their combs coming in and they are all starting to gain confidence when confronted by the crotchety old hens.
They are even co-mingling on a regular basis now.
Once the coop was cleaned, the chickens fed and the playpen moved onto fresh grass, we walked around the swales ticking off everything we had accomplished.
We’d spread 9 yards of mulch in the vineyard.
We’d weeded the strawberry patch and some of the kitchen garden.
We’d changed out the chickens.
We’d dug a bit more in the test pond.
We’d planted more raspberries in the swale, as well as a few other herbs and veggies a friend had given us.
Watching the boys run and play, we felt a sense of accomplishment in seeing the fruits of our labor.
The work we had done over the long holiday weekend paled in comparison to witnessing the excitement our boys felt in running in the swales, helping to spread seeds and helping catch the chickens.
There always seems to be more projects we want to start and more seeds we want to sow. There are times we feel stressed or discouraged at all that we’ve left undone.
But seeing the boys enjoy everything we have built humbles us and makes us realize that the most important job we have is growing two little boys and nurturing their joy in the land.
The sun sets slowly
A soft glow blankets the land
Happily, we smile
a pinch of homestead 
