Last month
THE LATEST
Firstly, thank you to all who have subscribed so far! I really appreciate you signing up and the folks who have followed the original blog. Your support means a lot!
This week’s publication is to catch you up on everything we’ve been up to.
Since winter finally decided to take a break, we’ve been getting outdoors more and digging in the dirt to grow our own produce. Two of my younger cats developed a taste for daily walks (unless it’s raining or too hot of course). And I’ve started a little potato project for the purpose of selling locally.
In terms of house renovations, we’re finally on the last bedroom of the house. Unfortunately, it’s taking a while due to water/moisture damage and some sizable cracks in the walls. We’re almost there - sometimes it’s tough to team up with our schedules being all over the place.
This Month
Learning How to Grow Potatoes
During last year’s potato harvest, I had an epiphany: what if I could grow potatoes and start off selling locally? That’s exactly what I’m doing! I’m not going too much further into the details as there’s some background work I need to do yet and making sure I have the yield to sell.
I’ve been exploring how to properly manage a potato patch. Below are some of the things I learned and put into practice:
Companion planting! This is a big one. If you’re only growing potatoes by themselves, you run the risk of bugs and diseases ruining your crop. Fun fact: a major blight had wiped out most of the potato farms out this way near Somerset. Very few farms (at least that I’ve seen) still produce potatoes.
So, what do you plant to help your little spuds?
Nasturtiums, marigolds, petunias, and yarrows - these are the 4 main flowers you’ll want as they attract the good bugs that prey on the bad bugs. I couldn’t find any yarrows, so I had to settle with the first 3.
Next: onions, lettuce, garlic, spinach, kale, peas, broccoli - now, there’s a whole lot more you can do, but I’ve managed to at least fit in the garlic, onions, spinach, lettuce, and kale. For those who are unfamiliar with this concept, pretty much every plant listed is best because of their shallow roots. They don’t pose hefty competition for space, so they’re perfect! Even if you start out with 2 of the 5 listed, you’re already off to a great start!
A helpful article that goes more in depth can be found here
I’m currently operating 2 patches since I had been given so many seed potatoes. Since the amount I had wouldn’t have fit in one patch, my sister basically said the unused garden bed next to it could be tilled.
It’s a lot of work I’m doing all by hand, with the exception of the tiller. You could say I’ve gotten a little taste of what farming was like before the Industrial Age!
Home Project
Restoring the Kitchen Garden
For those who are familiar with my previous blog, you’ll remember I posted about the kitchen garden out back. And if you’re new, you’ll like this update!
The previous owners had a kitchen garden out back. By the time we moved in, it had been completely taken over by grass. Last year, we started with rows and a squared off area. This year, my sister and I expanded it to what you see here. So far, we have a sizable area of spuds planted, along with lavender, some herbs, peppers, and a few surprise potatoes sprouted!
It’s nice to see this area looking functional now! No guesswork here!
To read about our gardening venture from last year, click the button below!
Meanwhile inside…
The Troublesome Back Room!
Probably the biggest work-in-progress to date!
My sister and dad have been going nonstop fixing up the final room of the house: the servant’s bedroom!
This room has been a challenge due to some unforeseen circumstances involving the condition of the room. But I’ll expound on that in a future newsletter post.
I don’t quite have all the photos I need yet for a substantial update. That’ll be another newsletter topic showing all the progress on the room.
For now, if you’re new to the blog, you can see all the other renovations we did over the past year:
In closing
Writing this blog is fun!
No really, I love writing about this little adventure! It’s new and different and who doesn’t want to see a historic home brought back to life? Restoring the character of this beautiful house has been a treat! And that’s the rewarding part: taking a blank slate and making it yours.
And there’s always something new and different to talk about here - especially since I’ve been managing a growing cat colony. Yep, a cat colony! It started as a few and blossomed into a whole bunch more!
The button below has the story of how the colony grew:
That’s it for now!
Thank you for coming along for the ride! Stay tuned as there will be more things to talk about!
See you in the next post!
~Gigi