Summer has finally arrived on the homestead. How can I tell? Because the weeds are a foot tall and it's hot by 11 am! We have changed our schedule around. We were doing school in the morning and now we're doing it late morning to early afternoon. Why? Because we are trying to beat the heat. We now wake up at 7am and we go straight outside to do chores. They usually take about an hour and a half to two hours. Then, we break for breakfast for half an hour and go back outside to do a project. We've gotten a lot done this week! At 11, I do school with my youngest son until lunch and we take a lunch break until 1 pm. Next, I do school with my middle son. I do a short meeting with my oldest son because he's in high school so he usually does pretty much all his stuff on his own. Then the boys get free time and I work on indoor projects. After that I make supper usually around 5 ish and my husband comes home from work. Once it cools off we go out and do another project. Let's get to what we got done this week!

On the homestead, we purchased a few 4-foot walkthrough gates. We had plans of putting in three of them and we got two set in place. We also have begun butchering Cornish Crosses. We got half of them butchered, so that is a total of 12. We sold two of our older boer does. The layer chicks are beginning to get their feathers and I can't wait to get them moved into the chicken house. Because once the Cornish Cross is in the freezer we are going to remodel the old chicken tractor into a layer tractor and use the electric fence for predator protection to move the older layer hens and roosters around our pastor for pest control and fertilization. We also got our new Kune Kune pig, Hilda.

In the garden, we have succeeded in getting all of the tomatoes and peppers planted. Potatoes are coming up. I plan on hilling them this next week. The pumpkins and herbs have been moved over to the window. I hope to harden them off very soon. Working on weeds in the part of the garden that we are remodeling. I have a tarp down and if you want to see how that system works you can check out our Facebook page where I do weekly tips and tricks every Wednesday at 8 am. Also, I just thought I'd share with you that we are also going to be doing a theme this June on weeds. So the first week we're going to be doing Weeds on the Homestead, then Weeds in the Garden, and then Weeds in the Kitchen. I also hope to get a local homesteader that either I can visit or get on Zoom chat with and do a little field trip. So come and see us on our Facebook page!

In the kitchen, it started out a huge mess! We have been spending so much time outside, the kitchen has been neglected lately. I have never been one to enjoy doing dishes. But, I have dedicated it to the Lord, so it still gets done. But, we are just so busy! This week I had to clean the whole kitchen up so that I could get the Cornish Crosses butchered. I told you that we have started slaughtering the Cornish Cross. The way we've decided to store them for this year is in pieces. So, I'm taking apart each of the whole chickens and I'm categorizing them as legs, breast, thighs, and wings. I am pressure cooking the neck, back and carcass in my countertop pressure cooker with some carrots, onions, celery, peppercorns and some salt making some chicken stock. I strain the chicken stock and I pull all the pieces of meat off the bones that I will be pressure canning in pint jars for chicken lunch meat. Then I process the bones again in my pressure cooker with water carrots, celery, a little bit of paprika to make bone broth. Once we have enough to do a canner full, I will get out my big pressure canner and can up the bone broth and chicken broth in quarts. Last year we got 45 quarts of chicken broth and we still have yet to use it all.

Lord God, I ask you for the healing of our land. I ask you to bring calm, peace, stability, and bring Faith! Lord, bring your faith back to our country. For through you all things are possible in your name, Jesus Christ, I pray Amen

Pray, Just Plant!