May 2025 On The Homestead
Our month of May was decent; packed with activities, we did a lot on the homestead, and a lot happened in our lives. I’m really looking forward to summer break! Check out May 2025 on the homestead below.
FYI these homestead recaps tend to be photo heavy, and may contain affiliate links.
CLEAN UP & PROJECTS
May was another busy month on the homestead; garden work, animal care, and general clean up.
I’ve been allowing the bees to get comfortable in their new home/habitat, so I haven’t done much in the food forest the past month. Just watering plants, weed-whacking the path, and allowing the wild flowers to grow crazy. It’s been a great resource for the bees.
I’ve spent many many hours building garden spaces, getting things planted/moved, and of course keeping animals out of my plants.
I’ve been dealing with a ton of pests this year; SOO many slugs this year, the deer (thankfully they only ate some of the leaves on the fruit trees), bunnies, voles, and the chickens free-ranging. Even though they have 4 acres to roam, they LOVE to scratch up and eat my garden.
So, I spend a lot of time putting up barriers.
I’m putting a variety of squash in the weed barrier fabric row, hoping to have a better harvest than last year!
Sunflower, corn, tomato and pepper area!
IN THE GARDEN
We’re so excited to see what the garden produces for us this year. I’ve already been able to harvest and preserve some herbs. And see so many beautiful flowers pop up in May!
While I was at Lowes I picked up a couple plant starts that the slugs decimated. AND I finally found a California Lilac that I’ve been meaning to add to my garden, the bees LOVE them!
Plant look alike, left is Mullein and right(two plants) is Foxgloves. One is edible & the other is toxic! So, important to know how to identify.
Looks like it’ll be another good year for strawberries?!
animals on the homestead
Cat, and dogs are happy! It’s the time of year where they can go in and out all day. Chase and hunts things, or just lay outside.
Beekeeping is going great as well! It’s been fun learning about the bees and inspecting the hives. Both queens and colonies are very strong.
Both my 7 year old and myself are very at ease with them. I do however sometimes worry if they’re getting enough pollen/nectar/water, or is too much rain getting into the hive, or too windy, or pests/diseases, or a bear. But then I appreciate that I don’t have to deal with everyday, like I do other livestock/pets.
A chicken waterer with rocks works WONDERFUL for a bee waterer, I’ve learned!
We’ve had a lot going on with the chickens in May. Unfortunately, we lost two of our older ladies. It’s tough watching them get older or sick, we can only do so much for them. The first one passed away in my arms, and the second one died a couple days later in her sleep. RIP in Ducky & Gloria, you’ll be missed!
We also had some life on the farm, in the middle of loosing our two chickens, one of our hens was broody. She was laying on some eggs, and after 21 days one hatched. We kept waiting for more to hatch, but unfortunately none made it. So, we bought 6 chicks from the farm store.
Below is the baby she hatched(a little black and white cutie), she’s such a good mama and accepted all the babies. It’s been a great experience having babies hatch on the farm, and seeing a hen raise them.
Excited & happy to get chicks!
in the kitchen
Dried & preserved more herbs from the garden. Made more berry preserves, and a homemade vanilla lemon cake with the preserves in the middle. Topped with some sprinkles, and flower petals.
life & what i’m loving
We didn’t have the best month, we had lot going on, and counted down the days until the month passed. My Ford Explorer aka Exploder spent some more time in the shop. My youngest’ teacher unexpectedly went on paid leave and it’s been tough.
We did have some good times though, went on more hikes in the area. Went to the zoo a couple times. Went fishing, saw Lilo & Stitch – which was cute!
I reactivated my IPSY Subscription Box in May for a little treat for myself each month, I upgraded to the BoxyCharm because I wanted full size items instead of samples. Everything was great that came in the box, and I REALLY love the Airplane Mode Eau de Perfume – it smells amazing! and the Glow Recipe Hue Drops – it feels great on the skin and gives it the perfect color.
I wrapped the month up with a paint night. It was a lot of fun, and the painting didn’t turn out so bad. I used to really enjoy art growing up, so it’s been fun bringing it back into my life.
Hope your May was good as well, and enjoying the month of June, so far!
