Having moved to north central Florida over a year ago, The Silly Couple is ready to step up our homesteading plans. There’s something to be said about taking your time. And, having family and friends living back in St. Pete, it took us awhile to adjust and really get used to managing 5.5 acres. We’re not trying to make excuses for our slow start either -we’ve been extraordinarily slow. But, it’s time to hit the accelerator and get this homestead up and running.
With that in mind, we’re making some bold 2022 homesteading plans. We want everyone reading to hold us accountable to these plans. Over the course of this year, we’ll be posting weekly to share updates, along with our successes and many failures. Without further ado, let’s get into the plans.
The Garden Bed to Rule Them All
OK, maybe it’s not going to be that grand. But, we’ve taken time last year to dig up the area behind our little 2-car garage. It gets a lot of great sun throughout the day, and is conveniently located next to our best watering hose. This makes it the ideal spot for a garden bed.
Ideally, we’ll be laying out solid plans on exactly what we want to put in this bed. But, regardless of how well we follow that, we’re starting out the year by treating the dirt as much as we can. That’s where the first challenge comes in -it’s dirt, not soil. We do have a good deal of compost ready to add and some bags of garden soil to add to the top, but we’ve got some work to do over the next few months before we hit spring.
In that time, we hope to turn what is now a sad square of dirt into a fertile soil. Once done, we’re going to be diligent about fertilizing and watering the soil. More important, we’re going to be spraying all the plants with an organic pest control option (essential oils and cayenne pepper). We’ll also do some companion planting to attract pollinators and predators of those nasty bugs that would otherwise eat our plants. And, if this isn’t enough, we’ll look at taking more drastic actions.
Regardless, our goal this year is to grow spinach, a variety of peppers, zucchini, green beans, potatoes (those will be in a separate spot), and all the herbs we’d want. We’ll get a full list of this and how we’re going about it in a future post. But for now…rest assured we have an ambitious garden plan.
Honey Bees Joining the Homestead
Another big part of our homesteading plans is honey bees. Last year, one of our smaller garden beds included catnip, basil, tomatoes, and some companion plants to attract pollinators. This year, we intend to repurpose that bed to have just herbs (including basil again), and a variety of great pollination plans. Victoria is in charge of the details on that, so like above, we’ll provide more detail in a separate post on bee preparations.
For now, however, our big plan is to get a single bee super and populate it with a thriving colony. Being brand new to beekeeping, our hope is that we can successfully keep these bees alive long enough to give us honey within a year. Of course, we have to order the bees, which we plan to do before the month of January is up. Once done, we can expect bees to arrive in April, when we’ll be working to transition them to their permanent hive here on the homestead.
Let’s Start a Fruit Orchard
Oranges, lemons, limes…these are just a few of the trees we plan to bring onto the homestead. And, in 2022, we plan to finally make this happen. Last year, Joseph got his dad to come up and help cut down a single tree to clear the way for a solid orchard area. We’ll be able to add the citrus trees to the mix, and hopefully some other fruits as well.
Oh, and saying it’s an orchard would be a misnomer we suppose. In addition to the trees, we also plan to look into strawberries, blueberries, and perhaps some other berries too. Our goal is to get these all planted in 2022. And, our homesteading plans include a pretty smart layout (let us have this one). Because you see, our bees are going to be placed strategically between that little garden, the berry bushes, and the new trees. If that ain’t synergy, we don’t know what is!
Adding Goats to the Mix
I don’t want to jinx it, but another big part of our homesteading plans is to add dairy goats to the mix. Specifically, we are interested in getting ourselves Nigerian Dwarf Goats. And, we got a message from our friends over at Belle Meadow Farm that we might have the opportunity to do just that. Joseph is actively talking with someone who has a goat in milk and two doelings born on New Years Day.
But, we shouldn’t count our eggs before they hatch. So, let’s not assume this is confirmed until it is. Regardless, we’re looking to get at least a couple of doelings this year. In other words, if we can get ourselves a doe already in milk, that would be a huge bonus.
Other Homesteading Plans
While a garden, orchard, bees, and goats may seem like a lot, we’re not stopping there. One of the next things we’ll likely look at doing is increasing the size of our chicken flock. We’ve discussed this for some time and we think it’s worth taking the plunge on. Rather than buy an incubator and hope we have good hatching rates, we’re going to build a new proper brooder (so we can reuse it in the future) and buy some new chicks. This time around, we’ll better document the process and share with you all every step of the way.
On top of this, we may have some more construction plans on the table. We’re uncertain of any potential obstacles with permitting, but if we get goats and decide we want to expand the operation, we’ll want to build a full goat barn. Regardless, we’ll also be looking to add additional fencing. And, towards the end of the year, we might be adding a couple of bucks to our Nigerian dwarf goat herd. Ultimately, Joseph is just looking forward to the day where he can make an omelet that looks this pretty 100% from home-grown ingredients.
No promises on this last part, but I’m sure we’re also leaving some things out. Regardless, we are committed to making 2022 the year our homesteading plans really kickoff in full force. So, whether you’re looking to laugh at us as we stumble along the way or you’re interested in learning how to escape the grind of city life and join us in a country homesteading adventure, make sure to check back every Wednesday for updates.
Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.