Another month, another homesteading update! I am so excited to share with you what we have been up to the month of May.
If you’re looking for the highlights, this month I decided to try quite a few things that are out of my comfort zone. We experienced our first loss. I failed to get the garden started. And we found our future homestead land!!
Don’t forget to Pin this for later!
Dandelion Jelly
We had so many dandelions popping up in our backyard at the beginning of May. As I was scrolling through Pinterest I noticed a recipe for dandelion jelly. It definitely caught me off guard!
After further research, I realized how many amazing health benefits dandelions have. The leaves are better for you than spinach is and the yellow petals make amazing tea that can be turned to jelly. And to think that so many people put pesticides on their yards to kill them…
I spent a few hours picking the dandelions and then another few hours taking off the yellow flower petals needed for the jelly. Then we boiled them and added some pectin. Here’s the recipe I followed: https://www.almanac.com/recipe/dandelion-jelly
It was so tasty because the jelly tasted very herbal, or almost like a blend of essential oils. We can’t wait to make it again, but probably not till next year:/
Worm Bin
If you read our first update here in March then you know that we compost all the time! We have a compost bin that I add our scraps to every day and give a spin. But, we want to try worms as well for another composting method.
I found a Worm Bin 360 very cheap on Facebook Marketplace. We bought it and then ordered Red Wiggler Worms, the composting worms you need, on Amazon.
They arrived, we added to soil to the bin and some scraps. Before we knew it they were hard at work! I add a few scraps each week. Soon we’ll have to add another plastic layer to the bin. As the worms grow, they travel upwards and their poop gets left behind.
Soon we’ll have rich compost from the worms’ poop to use in our garden!
Landon’s Project
Landon always has a project going on and I am so thankful! He is so innovative, and this month he found a way to save the grass clippings with this hand made lawn mover catcher.
It is so helpful because we use the grass clippings in the coop to keep it fresh for the chickens!
Comforter
We found a brand new comforter set on Facebook Marketplace for a steal of a deal. Not super important to the homesteading update but it something we needed and the Lord provided…plus it’s floral so I can’t get enough of it!
Concrete
We finished the sidewalk to our front door! We had to patch up a few areas and pull some weeds, but it is ready to go! Now on to weeding the flower garden…
Planting The Veggie Garden
This was supposed to happen a few weeks ago; however, we were on vacation and then hosted family. Before I knew it, June was here and the garden was still inside!
I have been hardening off the plants, getting them ready for the new change of climate outside, and will begin planting the garden any day now. So, the update is getting pushed till June!
Chicks Free-Ranging
There was a lot of action on the chicken front this month. Unfortunately, we suffered our first casualties. When our family was visiting one of their GSP dogs snuck into the coop as the door was closing. Thankfully, he only got to two birds and they died almost instantly.
We were going to eat the meat the little bit of meat left on the birds but with all the craziness didn’t cook it fast enough. It was hard to throw it away, but it taught us how to get the meat off the dead bird and what it should look like.
Now, we are down from 28 birds (we only ordered 25!) to 26 birds. It is a blessing in disguise as it’s hard for chickens to remember their pecking order when you get past 25 birds and you should have a second coop. It will be slightly easier for our birds to manage their pecking order now.
While I cried when I saw my two dead chickens in the coop, I knew that I was growing through that moment. My motherly instincts want to keep these animals safe, as I have raised them from birth. But, on the homestead, you can’t become attached to your livestock. They serve a purpose.
This first death will be the first of many and it is preparing my heart for the hard, yet joyful, the road that homesteading truly is.
Brown & Water
Our two border collie’s Brook and Brown are both adventurous. Brooke, however, loves to play frisbee and will do anything to catch it out of the air and bring it back to you. She’ll even jump into ice-cold water without a moment’s hesitation.
Brown on the other hand doesn’t enjoy frisbee. He’d rather be off exploring on his own. He’s very curious. While he watches Brook jump into the water all the time, it has taken some time for him to warm up to the idea of swimming.
After spending a weekend with family fishing a shallow trout river we could really see Brown starting to warm up to the idea swimming. All the other dogs were chasing balls and frisbees in the water and Brown had no choice but to be a part of the action!
He’s swimming after he takes a few moments to slowly get in the water. We hope that as summer warms up and the heat gets to him, he realizes how fun the water is and keeps swimming more and more!
Getting The Land!
Last but certainly not least is our adventure to find the land we want to move to and spend our days homesteading on for the rest of our lives, Lord-willing. We originally were going to wait a few years but our plans changed. We prayerfully decided that now seems like a perfect time to start looking for a place to homestead permanently before we become too attached at our current home.
At the beginning of May, the stay-at-home order in Michigan was finally lifted for the real estate scene. We were able to travel to the UP and look at one piece of land we had our hearts set on.
It was outside of Ishpeming in the Marquette area and very rural. When we arrived, there were trees blocking the tiny drive.
As we hiked the land we realized it was not at all what the pictures showed. The land was swampy in quite a few areas and a huge breeding ground for mosquitoes. The place where we pictured building our house next to a gorgeous lake was closer to the state line than originally described. The area was much more wooded than was described where we pictured pasture for our animals. And, it wasn’t a trout stream to the lake.
Basically, it was really only land good for hunting and it would have been nearly impossible to create a homestead.
Disappointed, we went back to the realtor and confirmed it was a no go. She offered to show us one more property she was selling on Lake Michigamme.
This property had a small cabin already but it wasn’t on the lake. It was on a small pod area from it and the rest of the area was completely wooded. We talked it out to see if we could make it work, but again it just wasn’t what we were picturing.
After those properties, we knew we had to act fast. We weren’t sure the next time we would be up the UP and we had to get home that night to feed the animals. Landon remembered one other property that we saw on Zillow that might be a good fit. However, there were definitely a few things we didn’t like about it.
We decided to just go for it. We drove across the UP to just south of Houghton and saw the property. As we walked around the area, we were amazed. It was better than we imagined!
The land was perfect. It was wooded and had pasture. There were a few ponds and a trout stream. There was also a newly renovated barn and some other rundown buildings.
We drove home and called the realtor immediately telling her we wanted to purchase it. Now we have an accepted offer and were in the process of officially owning it!
P.S. we’re going to turn the barn into our home!
We are so excited and can’t wait to share more in the next update!
If you’d like to support us, we could certainly use a lot of prayer at this time. And leave a comment encouraging us with something you enjoy, it would mean so much! (:
-The Adventuring Alberts
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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I’ve never heard of dandelion jelly before, but it sounds interesting. I’m sorry to hear you lost some of your chickens. It’s always interesting to follow along with someone’s homesteading journey and see all the fun things they are growing. 🙂
It’s super good! And thank you Lecy…its always an adventure! (:
I’m excited for you that you found a hopefully permanent place to settle down for homesteading. That barn will be a really neat home. It sounds like your month was a really great learning experience all-around!
Thanks so much Stephanie, it truly was! (:
How exciting that you found a gorgeous piece of property! We got a lot of dandelions in our lawn this year, and I really love the idea of using them, instead of just mowing them down. It’s sad to hear about your chickens. I think if I ever had a homestead, it would have to be vegetarian! I couldn’t bear to go through that.
Glad I could share the idea with you! And thanks Kait, it was hard but it taught us a lot!
How exciting that you’ve got the land and things set for the future! It’s hard to hear about the chickens. I don’t think I would be able to handle homestead life because of things like that! You are definitely strong 🙂
I appreciate that Becky! We just keep doing the best we can!
[…] And if you missed last months update, here it is: Our Homesteading Journey – May 2020 Update […]