It has been a whirlwind of activity here on The Curious Road homestead this spring and summer. Just like the different seasons of growing, the activities we focus on at our homestead vary with the weather. Here are some exciting updates about our gardens, preserving food for the winter, and our two new family members!
Homestead Gardens
We got a good start on the short northern growing season with the greenhouse we built last fall. The large raised garden beds I built this spring are filled with life and we have been enjoying fresh fruit and veggies from our gardens. It is a lot of fun watching the plants grow up our cattle panel trellises.
I have been very happy with our gardens this year and continue to learn more as I go. I filled all of the raised beds with fruit and veggies and they are doing well. I planted sixty feet of raspberries and we have been enjoying a limited harvest from them this year. They should begin to flourish in the next several years. I put in six blueberry bushes that should begin to produce over the next several years as well.
That’s not all we have done with our gardens! Because we love berries so much, I also tilled up a large portion of our property. It has since been filled with seventy-five feet of strawberries and our corn. I also ended up putting in a perennial flower bed, an annual flower bed, and a small rose bed!
Gardening isn’t all about fruits, vegetables, and flowers! I created some rustic looking pathways throughout our gardens. These provide a nice surface to kneel on when tending to the gardens. The biggest garden project on the homestead was installing drip irrigation for everything. I now have valves scattered around the property that bring water to all of our crops. This is a huge improvement that I had originally wanted to wait for next year to do.
Canning at the Homestead
Anyone who has been through a northern Michigan winter knows that by January you are wondering if the snow will ever stop! It is essential to can some of the delicious reminders of summer to keep yourself from going crazy. I made enough of my strawberry jam and raspberry jam to last us until next summer! Soon it will be time to pick apples for applesauce! Depending on the tomato harvest I will also be canning some sauces, salsa, and plain old tomatoes.
New Homestead Family Members
Our whole family agrees that the most exciting update at The Curious Road is the addition of our two new family members. We welcomed home two Puli puppies this spring and summer. Phantom is our white Puli and he is nearly five months old. Shadow is our black Puli and he is only two and a half months old! Our curious pulik are a bundle of energy; I don’t get much sleep these days!
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