Projects & Plans

 NEW Raised Garden 

This, by far, was our biggest project of the year. We have expanded our growing area by more than 1,000 sq ft.. which means this garden is quite literally bigger than the apartment we lived in during our home renovations! It's going to be an absolute game changer for our growing abilities on the homestead. The hardest part was most definitely the fencing, but we finally completed it in August. You can learn more about this project by clicking here!

Beekeeping Journey Begins!

This year we were

Replacing old, deteriorating raised beds

Chicken Coop Renovations

We were thankful to inherit an old chicken coop when we purchased the property from our family. We decided to name the coop "Chez Poulet" (English translation: The Chicken House!) as a nod to my time living in France and job as a world language teacher! After extensive research and a full assessment of the existing coop we created a list of "must-dos" and "wanna dos". We prioritized completing safety, weather-proofing projects and then sprinkled in some fun aesthetics for the interior prior to our chickens move-in date.

In 2024 we :
- Designed & Constructed a brand new enclosed run to the south side of the coop.

- Cleaned out, Renovated and Decorated the interior of the coop

-Installed an automatic chicken door.

-Replaced the existing leaking shingle roof with a brand new metal roof.

Greenhouse 

We decided to invest in and construct a small hobby greenhouse last year. It will help us extend our growing season with container plants and even grow some fun plants and flowers that otherwise wouldn't tolerate our climate. 

You can check out our hobby greenhouse by clicking here! 

Backyard Overhaul

We have a lot of plans for the space behind our home and we officially started making progress towards our goals this year. We completely removed the grass and installed a new crushed stone patio complete with firepit, grill space, living room and dining room areas! 

You can check out the patio install progress by clicking here!

Raised Bed Garden 

We decided to have some trees removed on the West side of the raised beds as they were providing too much shade on a large portion of the garden. This largely impacted last years harvest so we knew we had to have them removed as early as possible in the season. We hate to cut down trees, truly, but it was and is necessary to have sufficient sunlight for our garden - so down they went! We arranged for the tree company to leave the cut trees on the property, which saved us a considerable amount of money and also provided us with a large amount of firewood to use next season!  Waste not!

You can follow our progress on these beds by clicking here.

2023 was full of research/education, land evaluation, and preparation. Plus, of course, moving back into the house and settling in after reveal day!

 Growing anything on a new property requires a lot of research and attention specifically relating to wind, drainage, soil make-up/health, sun patterns, and more! We spent a LOT of time evaluating the areas that we plan to use as gardens and discovered that our soil is super rocky, clay material and completely overgrown in poison ivy, bittersweet, etc. This meant our gardens would primarily, if not entirely, be made up of raised beds moving forward. With all this knowledge, I began reading more about raised bed gardening and then mapping out our short and long term goals for the property. 

We also found lots of "treasure" throughout the property as we began to clear it. We found an old wagon wheel, a cast iron tub and sink, an old wood burning stove, a couple bonus raised beds, old garden tools and more! We have been brainstorming ways to recycle these items (like using old milk buckets as planters around the property!) and have also taken inventory of the wild growing perennials that we can save and relocate as we clear the land.

We also fixed up an old swing, cleaned out a little garden shed, and did some simple landscaping in the existing gardens around the house. Our largest project of 2023 by far was clearing out and reviving an existing raised garden bed area. We cleaned up and filled the beds, installed a perimeter fence, and added a white rock ground cover around the beds. We had a pretty successful first growing season and where we failed, we learned a whole lot!

 The potential for our property is truly incredible, and while sometimes I find myself overwhelmed with the amount of work we have ahead of us.. the vision of what it will be keeps us going every single day. This year, the dream officially became a plan with detailed goals.

 We will get there, one day and one project at a time!