June 2024 On The Homestead
It’s officially summer! June is always a great time on the homestead; the school year comes to an end, temperatures are mild, and everything is thriving. Below you’ll find June 2024 on the homestead!
FYI these homestead recaps tend to be photo heavy, and may contain affiliate links.
Clean Up & Projects
What little time I did have to spend working on the property, was spent with general upkeep. Hours spent mowing, and weed-whacking every other week.
Like I mentioned last month, I love the electric Echo products!
The wood chip path I made in the spring looks great, and makes it so easy to walk through the food forest without risking stepping on plants. If you look close enough, you can see a bunny hopping away.
All the beautiful wild flowers popping up makes me happy. I’ve been trying to let as many grow as possible with keeping a little handle on it.
Love making flower boutiques from our garden
I love all my plants; especially when they’re free, or they seem hopeless. This Japanese maple was given to us free from my cousin during the season it shouldn’t be transplanted, then sat in a truck for far too long. The first year it looked like it was dead, but I gave it a little love and time. It’s so happy & healthy now! And it looks like I got a bonus plant with it.
In The Garden
Like I mentioned I love all the wildflowers popping up. My goals are to have a great big pollinator garden, medicinal garden, herb garden, and tea garden.
Last year I started a few borage & calendula plants from seed, to my pleasant surprise they self seeded themselves in a few different spots on the property. A few borage seeds even made it to the food forest.
St. John’s Wort blooming
I am truly so proud of how well my cool-season crops did this year. Last year we got nothing compared to what we’ve been able to harvest this year. Everything just seemed to work out; the timing I started the seeds, the weather cooperating, fenced plants in to keep animals out, and then everything was so happy in the no-till garden bed I made. Instead of the containers like last year.
Two of our fruit trees have fruit growing; first year for the plum, and granny smith apple tree has about 20 cute tiny apples. The blueberry bushes have a few berries growing, but the wild animals have been getting to them.
We’ve been able to pick so many delicious homegrown food this month. Some we were able to preserve, and others we ate right away. Cool-season crops such as sugar snap peas, lettuce, kale, beets, and the last of the radishes. Tons of herbs; cilantro, parsley, lemon balm, raspberry leaves, oregano, sage, chives, thyme, and green onions.
And our favorite of the month was picking strawberries, and raspberries. Thanks to the bees pollinating in the spring, we were able to harvest so many berries. We made syrup, ate fresh berries, and froze tons.
Animals On The Homestead
The animals are happy it’s summer break. We are home most of the time, so lots of outdoor time and lounging.
The chickens are all enjoying summer.
We had two chickens go broody again this month, and then disappear. We haven’t given up on them yet, but won’t be surprised if they don’t come back either. We’ve looked everywhere and they stopped coming for food/water. The first one’s been gone about 3 weeks, the second about 2 weeks. Sad part of homesteading.
Tell me you have chickens, without telling me
In The Kitchen
It’s the time of year where we eat a lot of lighter/easier meals; salads, BBQ foods, and sandwiches.
I made some homemade chive blossom vinegar to add to foods. It taste amazing, and was so easy to make.
One of my go-to meals each week is rice, and stir fry. It’s very easy to make! I’ll use either ground beef or chicken, and whatever veggies I have on hand(onions, garlic, broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, and carrots). The “sauce” I make with it is usually whatever I want to throw in it. Brown sugar, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, coconut milk, curry, ginger, basil, oregano, ect. It’s gobbled right up.
I love drinking teas, and have been able to dry/freeze more of my own herbs for tea. Sage, mint, lemon balm, and oregano just recently. Then the chives were chopped, and froze for later use. Every household should be growing some of their own herbs, so easy, delicious and so much cheaper.
It’s been amazing eating my homegrown lettuce for the past couple months
Life & What I’m Loving
Visited our old stomping grounds, the creek we used to live near was one of our frequent summer spots. Hoping to find a similar area over here we can enjoy on summer days.
Left picture 2021, right picture 2024
The kids got out of school on the 17th, and we had a lot of stuff on the school calendar. I received an Apple Award for my volunteer work at the school, which was an honor to receive. Mason finished his classes up at the beginning of the month. Piper’s month was jam packed; field trip to the local state park, field day, Kindergarten field trip, and her first PPL presentation. PPL is something all the students at her elementary school participate in, they choose a topic and present it in front of the class. It helps prepare them for public speaking. The school year ended with kindergarten graduation.
The beginning of summer break was spent gnome hunting, hiking, park playdates, the children’s museum, a movie in the park, spa days at home, getting ready for our trip(see below), and a birthday party in July.
We love spa time in our house, as you can see!
We ended the month with a family vacation to Idaho, and Silverwood Theme Park. My mom, my aunt and all their kids/grandkids, there was a total of 11 of us. The rented cabin was very spacious, and on such a beautiful piece of land. Silverwood was a lot of fun, but hot & crowded. We had so much fun on the rides, and eating food.
Perfect way to start the day, coffee and Priest River!
I could stay here, and never leave!
Hope your summer is going good! What is one highlight from your June, I’d love to know in the comments below or send me message. See you soon for a July update.
