INTRODUCTION
Homestead Roots Newsletter - 5/16/2024

May is marching on! Here we are half-way through the month. This is definitely one of those months that just sort of disappears. It is a very busy month for us and I know it is for many others as well. The garden is in full swing as we transition into more of a summer season of growing. Enjoy this weeks newsletter!

HOMESTEAD UPDATE
Work Rhythm, Selling Goats, Broken Sprayer

A lot of our focus these days has been on the garden as we finish some projects there and just maintain that large project. Managing time between the homestead in the garden can be a challenge but we often seem to find a natural rhythm that just makes sense. The garden is the financial life force of the whole system so when it needs attention it is important that we make that happen. We've worked hard to make the homestead function pretty smoothly without us and it seems that work is paying off as there just isn't much day to day work besides feeding, collecting eggs and managing water.

A couple of fun items. I managed to get out fishing with a friend over the weekend and brought home some really yummy walleye! What a great meal that was! The kids have been super into rock hunting and have been finding some pretty agates and Elias has even been cutting some of them open which is pretty cool. The kids also had their end of the year piano recital. It is always a blessing to hear how much they have improved over the year.

We did sell a yearling wether to a nice family looking for a companion goat. It is always good to know you have found a good home for an animal you can't keep. We also think we found a home for our oldest goat. She is a bit of a crabby old lady these days and so we hesitated to sell her to another homestead. We met a man who is looking for a butcher animal which might end up working out. It will of course be sad to see her go but eventually all animals reach the end of their working life. We still have one other doe and her kid for sale.

I went to start my spraying in the orchard today only to discover my spray wand is broken. So that is no good. Of course timing is everything so while I wait for Amazon to deliver me a new one we will just have to hope the pests sleep in. Equipment is so important and taking care of that equipment while time consuming is a big deal. I believe my wand had some pressurized water in it over the winter that froze and broke it.😞 

MARKET GARDENING
New Crops and Irrigation is DONE

Today we harvested two new crops for the season in Asian Greens and Arugula. We love and our customers love our standard salad mix but for me it just lacks a little substance and I know it is lower in nutrition than some other greens as well. So we worked to add in a few more diverse greens this year to offer more nutrient dense options.

Elsewhere in the garden I was able to finally complete my irrigation project. WHEW! The third time was the charm. I ended up borrowing a pex crimper and doing the whole project in pex. It was one of those A-HA, moments where you question why you didn't just do it this way from the beginning. I choose what I perceived was the easier cheaper option and of course it was neither easier or cheaper! UGH. All that said, I am super happy with where we are. We have 4 timers set up to turn on the different zones at different times throughout the day. This should help us ensure we are getting water to our veggies to keep them growing and healthy even as things get dry this summer.

We are going to be starting to trellis up our tomatoes this week. If you remember we planted them pretty early. I am going to be really curious to see the timing of when we get fruit and if it is actually earlier than normal. The plants are well acclimated and everyone is growing but I just don't know if the risk is worth it.

We are in the process now of transitioning our early spring tunnel from greens and radishes and turnips to cucumbers, zucchini, egg plant and peppers.

CLOSING WORDS
What is the Future of Food?

Who would have thought food, the substances that fuel us would become such an ambiguous and challenging topic. At it's core food can be so, so, simple and yet we as humans have overcomplicated it beyond belief. Food didn't really need to be overcomplicated. The systems of old all seemed to work fairly well. Yes, before we understood bacteria and germs we had some pretty serious food born illness issues but if you look in the nearer term like the 40s and 50s, food was working pretty well to nourish our population.

In the name of convenience and of course the almighty dollar we created a whole new industry around food. Specifically around processed food and convenience foods. And then once pandora was out of the box things just went downhill from there. We now live in a world with mile long ingredient lists that contain more man made chemicals than real food.

And while food has gotten more convenient it certainly hasn't had a positive outcome on our health. We are sicker than we've ever been, yes we live longer but is it a good life?

The answer of course is to flee from these processed foods and just get back to the basics of eating whole, real foods. Foods that are grown or raised by us or someone we know. Vegetables that are grown in good organic soil.

I remember a guy in a men's group once asking the group how we manage to avoid eating garbage foods at night. As the kids go to bed and hunger starts to creep in, those snack foods start to sound really good. I suggested the novel idea that maybe he just shouldn't buy the snack foods! If they aren't in the house that sure makes it easier to say no! While this felt like a simple concept to me, to him it was a huge novel idea. He blamed the snacks on his kids, and I suggested maybe they weren't great for the kids either. HA! Anyway, the truth is that the easiest way to stay healthy and eat the way God intended us to eat is to just stay away from anything packaged.

The basics of food should still be the foundation of what we eat. Just keep it simple and you will solve a multitude of issues. Use your dollars to fund those that are growing good nourishing food and lets take some market share back from the processed foods guys!