From mid August 2020 through the end of 2021, the homestead has been in something of a tizzy.
While the virus pandemic has been the major focus for much of the world, not so much here. Kris became ill with what turned out to be a spinal infection which required surgery to clear. While the surgery went okay, the damage was significant. So going into 2022, she is still mostly in a hospital bed and gets around a bit with a wheelchair. It has taken a while, but she is now able to transfer from bed to her chair, and from her chair into and out of our car with some assistance. Getting to the garden isn’t likely to happen any time soon.
We did not attempt any efforts to work the garden and minimally any thing else.
I had a total knee replacement, last fall and preparing to have the other knee replaced mid March if all goes to plan. So with all that, we are not sure what we will be able to accomplish for 2022.
Besides dealing with health issues, one of the other big events was the arrival of our Woodmizer LT15 sawmill. We have been waiting on this for a long time. It took months from when we ordered the mill before it shipped, and took multiple shipments to get everything delivered. Then several months to get it all assembled. Actual assembly wasn’t too bad, but the mill is pretty heavy and more than my small Kubota is able to lift, so it took a while for it all to come together. First log on the mill was an oak.
Garden
Plans for the garden this year probably not too elaborate. I plan on removing the deep bedding from the chicken coop and spreading on top of the soil with help from the chickens. Once spread out, I’ll wait for it to get rained on, then cover with a silage tarp until mid or late April, then remove the tarp, put in the weed fabric and plant. The hoop trellises and raised beds I have mostly got last years growth of weeds removed, but still a ways to go.
Early on, spring peas, some lettuce, mustard and onions will go into the raised beds.
Orchard
If you follow any of our YouTube videos, you will have seen an area where we have had pigs clearing out brush and weeds. They did a great job at that, but trees are no match for them. While a neighbor was having some road work done, I was able to get his bulldozer guy to stop in and knock down a few trees and lay them out for logging. We have most of those logs cut and moved to the sawmill. Hoping to finish clearing that area, get it fenced in and planted.
Poultry
Currently, we have ducks, guinea fowl, chickens, and a goose. We lost a couple geese and a few ducks to early evening owl attacks last year. Our turkeys either went walkabout or carryout, not too sure. I think some predator may have got them, but no evidence of it. Lost 2 guinea fowl last year out of our original 8. Pretty sure hawks got them, as they also managed to get a few of our chickens. So, we plan to get more geese, more ducks, and hatch out more chickens. Probably some more turkeys, but we will have to wait and see how that goes.