Spring on the Montana Homestead
Spring has arrived on our homestead! Normally this time of year the ground would still be covered in snow and we wouldn’t have green grass and flowers coming up for at least another month. But spring arrived early this year! We’ve been busy with projects around the homestead and getting in lots of hikes to enjoy the fresh spring air in the mountains.
As the first sign of green grasses started pushing their way through the soil last month, our honey bees began flying from the hives in search of food since it was so warm outside. We had to feed them extra fondant since there was nothing blooming at the time. We’re thrilled to see them flying around since that means both our hives survived the winter! We will be adding several new hives by the end of the month.
Now that some of the trees are starting to blossom, the bees have a food source. We were so excited when we saw one of our honey bees land on the garden fence and had pollen covered legs!
One day as I was walking to our mailbox to ship some packages from our Etsy shop, I heard a loud buzzing sound. I looked up and saw that the elm trees all had small flower buds on their branches and the honey bees had discovered this sweet treat!
Our chickens are also loving this warm spring weather. They’re especially loving that the snow has melted and they can lounge in the warm sun and take dust baths all day long!
Now that the weather is warming up, the chickens are all laying more consistently. I just love going out to the coop to collect the eggs and see all the different sizes and shapes of eggs our girls lay!
The mobile chicken coop is still parked in the middle of the garden since we aren’t quite ready to plant in our garden for another two weeks. We fenced off the perennial section of the garden so the chickens couldn’t eat the strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus as they start to grow this spring. Little A was so excited when I told her the strawberry plants had started coming up. She went out and started looking for berries, so I had to try and explain to a three year old that she had to have patience and wait at least another month or more for berries!
The garlic I planted in the garden in the fall started to sprout last month. To prevent the chickens from eating it all, I laid a piece of chicken wire over top the garden bed and put some bricks on the edge of the wire to hold it down. The garlic just grows up through the holes in the fencing so it works pretty good!
The other big excitement on the homestead this spring is the arrival of baby chicks! We currently have 30 chicks in our brooder in the garage (more on our brooder set up in another post coming soon!) About half of them will be egg laying hens and the other half are meat birds being raised as roasters to feed our family for the next year.
It is amazing just how fast these little fluff balls grow! We have a mix of one to two week old chicks in the brooder. This little chick on top of the feeder has the most feathers so far and loves to show off her flying talents for the other chicks!
We have another brooder ready for the arrival of a couple Bourbon Red Turkeys in the next week. We’re also going to start planting some seeds in flats in the greenhouse to get a head start on our growing season. After being cooped up in the house all winter, it is so wonderful to be outdoors working on projects around the homestead!
What’s happening on your homestead this spring?
Wow! Isn’t it great to get an early spring! We are having early spring here as well, and while we don’t have bees, we do have chickens, and it is wonderful to have them begin to lay eggs again. Happy spring and Easter to you 🙂
I enjoy reading your blog. I have a lot going on at my place. We just bought last fall, so I have a lot of Spring work ahead of me getting 3 garden beds ready (herb garden, squash garden and everything else), and starting seeds in the recently rebuilt pit greenhouse. I already have spinach, mixed lettuce and chard growing and cucumbers, tomatoes and broccolini started. I have 2 of my 3 Nigerian Dwarf due (one the beginning of April, the other the end). My quail are increasing their egg production. The boyfriend boycotted my chicken dreams and since he’s the one that rebuilt the greenhouse, I figured I could agree to that. I also have an English Angora rabbit who’s needs her fiber harvested (she has a neutered mini rex buddy). I’m learning to spin but it’s taking me awhile to carve out the time. Oh, we have 3 rescue dogs and live in Colorado Springs.