2025
2025
2025
New Raised Bed Garden Addition
This, by far, was our biggest project of the year. With this new area 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 all about this project by clicking here.
Our Beekeeping Journey Begins!
This year we officially started our beekeeping journey! It was absolutely incredible and we have NO regrets - okay maybe just one ... not starting with two hives! We have LOTS to look forward to in the future with our new little friends from harvesting honey to creating candles, balms and more! To read all about our journey this year from prepping for the bees to winterizing our hive, click here.
Replacing the old, deteriorating raised beds
Thankful as we were to have some raised beds already installed on the property, sadly they were completely deteriorating as of the fall of 2024. Then the winter, just about did them in!
Our first project this year was to replace the four beds with new, raised metal beds that will hopefully last us many years to come.
To read more about this project, click here!
2024
2025
2025
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 existing "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 project details by clicking here
2023
2025
2023
2023 was full of research/education, land evaluation, and preparation. Plus, of course, moving back into the house and settling in after reveal day was a highlight for sure!
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.