Harmony Family Farm

If you read my “The Beginning” post, you will remember that I said we bought a new construction. That means that the soil was scraped, there were no tress, most of our property was just compacted dirt that turned into rivers of mud every time it rained. The boys had an absolute blast! They would run outside and be completely covered in less than three seconds. This was a big reason we moved our family to the country. Boys can be boys, play in the dirt, get covered in mud, and have a childhood filled with freedom.

In all the homesteading blogs I read, there was always the same first step. Plant trees! You have to have trees! Texas had a really hot and really dry summer last year, but that absolutely did not stop us from getting a start on planting. We went to our local garden center and came home with eight trees. Ashes, oaks, maple, and a Chinese pistache. The ground was so dry and so hard that we ended up using an auger because it was pretty much impossible to dig with a shovel. It was that bad. The men of the house did all the work because I was only a few weeks postpartum and I wasn’t in a shape to be digging in the hot sun. I watched my guys planting from the front porch.

A front porch was one of my “must haves” when we were house hunting. There is nothing more quintessential than a large front porch with a couple rocking chairs. Since we had to leave our old rockers with our previous house, Robert gifted me with two beautiful wooden rockers. One of my favorite things in the whole world is sitting on the front porch with Robert, relaxing, drinking coffee, looking at our beautiful little property, chatting. Like I said before, a front porch is a “must have”.

Did I mention “front porch” enough? Haha!

Anyway, our little trees were planted, and they pretty much all got leaf scorch. Unsurprising considering how hot it was. This was a good thing though. It gave the trees the opportunity to establish their root systems well, without putting the energy into leaves. People who thought our trees would die because we planted them in the hottest part of the summer really underestimated our commitment to babying them. Later on, we were at Tractor Supply and they had a ton of fruit trees available! So we got two pomegranates, two pears, two peaches, two apples, and two blueberry bushes. The boys had a grand old time helping us plant! They love getting rides in the trailer.

As of now we added two plum trees, some crepe myrtles along the driveway, and a weeping willow in the back where the water runs down. If you’re wondering how it’s coming along, check it out!

In a future post, I will discuss in depth the steps we have taken so far to make our own little ecosystem. Robert has the greenest thumb I have ever seen and has become my resident expert on regenerative farming! See you next time!