garden + homestead update {july 2015}

so you may remember that i had big - big dreams for my garden this summer. well, it is interesting when real life happens and how much work just one or two of your {other} big visions take...

this summer we've focused our extra time and energy on a few home projects and our lovely little chickens.

this means i haven't moved our garden beds to a sunnier spot yet. nor have i planted them. i'm dedicating more of my food growth/prep time to canning and using up {or putting up} what our great CSA brings us. we were early adopters of one of our local CSAs and man after a few years of working out what to supply they are bringing the veggies I tell you!

so as to what we've actually done this summer with our garden plans... our coop is perfect! my husband out did himself this time and i love how it has turned out. we even cleared a little portion of our back yard to place the girls back in a mostly shady area that we think they really enjoy {think low branches for roosting and pine needles for scratching}. we are into a great little routine with our girls and they've decided that i am the source of food and my husband is the source of loud, unpredictable noises - such as mowing the lawn, or general wood-maker/saw sounds. it is pretty great. i love the chickens just as much as i thought i would.

we have a few finishing touches to put on the coop + run. so i'll just have to promise a super tour sometime soon.

as for what's next... i'm thinking about canning up local tomatoes, hoping for the time to make roasted red pepper ketchup and then maybe even making a year's worth of salsa.

how about you, enjoying summer's bounty? what are you growing? canning?


*I'm happy to also note that I just added this blog post to the {Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #10} click ::here:: to check out some of the great posts featured on this link up!