Homestead Update 4/9/2018: Cover Crops, Wild Greens, and Easter Eggs

Brown eggs make the best Easter eggs!

The past couple months have been the most consistently cold spring that I can remember. And while I’m pretty happy that the weather hasn’t done its usual one-week-long “Oh it’s winter but SURPRISE now it’s summer and you get no spring!” thing, I am starting to wonder if the tomato seedlings crowding each other out in our seed-starting trays are going to get planted anytime soon. Sure, the temps this week will be climbing, but there’s another frost coming!

At any rate, there’s still plenty happening on our little homestead:

Spring crops

Despite the sub-freezing temperatures every night, some of my spring crops are starting to bravely show their leaves. My square foot garden has tiny lettuce, arugula, and radishes coming up. The perennial plants, like yarrow, dandelion, and clover, are doing famously.

Cover crops

Nature hates bare earth, and even though mulch doesn’t really count, it does look pretty drab. So a few weeks ago, Zach planted some “cover crops” right into the mulch: winter peas, vetch, and oats. These fill in the spaces between some of the trees, and hopefully will provide food for both wild birds and the chickens. We fenced the chickens off from the cover crops so the plants would have a chance to get established. After a couple weeks, the seeds finally germinated and we are seeing tiny sprouts! I have a feeling that once the weather warms up, this area will explode with life. 

We also planted several comfrey plants a few weeks ago, but have yet to see any green. 

Me showing off the cover crop beds

Wild greens

Like our cultivated perennials, wild greens are popping up everywhere. I’ve begun snacking on dandelion flowers when I’m out and about, and I want to gather some greens soon to try making pesto. We’ve also discovered tons of stinging nettles in the nearby woods, which I hadn’t seen there before. After touching a leave to confirm its identity (and having an itching, stinging welt the rest of the day), we covertly dug up one small plant and transplanted it into our side yard. When cooked or dried, stinging nettles lose their sting and are a tasty addition to lasagna. We’re waiting for the nettles to get bigger before we forage them, but I’ll let you know how our wild-greens cooking goes!

Zach planting some foraged nettle

Easter eggs

As you can see by the cover photo, I don’t think I’ll ever dye white eggs again— Easter eggs look so much cooler when you start with brown (and bluish-green) eggs. Thank you, chickies!

The chickies really like sunny days.

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