Weekly Ranch Update - February 13
I don’t know about you, but we are thoroughly enjoying this little stretch of “false spring” we’re having here in Kansas. It was even over 70° on Monday, which is rare for February around here. Typically, February is cold and miserable, so I am not complaining about this beautiful weather one bit.
Since Monday was so nice, Lance, Colton, and Kinzie spent the afternoon riding horses. It took quite a while to get mud cleaned off and burrs out of tails before they could ride. Combing out manes and tails is usually my job, but this time they were such a mess that we all worked on them together. Kinzie was so excited when she realized Lance was taking them riding on a weekday. These are the moments they’ll remember. We are trying to be intentional about creating more of them.
I finally ordered all of my garden seeds this week. As I planned this year’s vegetable garden, I decided to focus on growing only what we know we will eat fresh or preserve. No big experiments, except for a few new varieties of winter squash we’ve never grown before.
Here’s what’s going in the garden this year:
Lots of tomatoes and peppers (my mom starts these for my sister and me every year)
Patterson onions (I ordered nearly 250 because they store so well)
Cabbage
Cucumbers
Zucchinni
Several varieties of winter squash and pumpkins
Plenty of garlic
Peas (we love these fresh from the garden; they rarely ever make it into the house)
Lettuce and spinach
We already have a nice patch of asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries, but I ordered 25 more strawberry plants to expand that area. And yes — there are lots of flower seeds coming, too. I promised Lance I would try to start more flowers from seed instead of spending a small fortune on plants in the spring. We’ll see how disciplined I stay.
I will still purchase herbs as plants, though. I’ve never had great luck starting those from seed.
If you need an easy way to organize and store extra garden seeds, try using a photo storage box. It works beautifully and is easy to carry out to the garden.
Over the years, we’ve slowly added fruit trees and bushes to our little orchard. They’re a bigger investment, so it has taken time to build it the way we want. This year, we’re adding four more blueberry bushes to the two we already have. If I can catch a sale on cherry trees, I’ll likely add a couple of those as well.
Learning how to properly prune fruit trees is on our list this year. If you have any good resources, send them my way.
Tuesday evening, Lance and Colton pregnancy tested Buttercup. Unfortunately, she is open — not bred. We’ll try to catch her on her next cycle and AI again. If she doesn’t settle, we may end up purchasing a Guernsey bull. Colton would love to raise purebred Guernseys, so that may be the direction we go. Guernsey cows can be harder to breed through AI, so it’s not entirely surprising. The last time, she didn’t settle with AI but caught right away with a bull.
I also made it into the soap studio this week. This season of life is full, and it’s taking longer than usual to restock after holiday sales. Lavender Peppermint goat milk soap was made this week. Next up should be Milk & Honey and Oatmeal Honey — though we all know plans don’t always go as expected around here.
If you’re waiting on a specific soap to be restocked, thank you for your patience. I’m working as quickly as I can to get everything poured, cut, and cured.
Friday is usually milk fridge clean-out day. Today I have a gallon of fresh Guernsey milk in the Instant Pot, turning into yogurt, and two gallons of cream warming on the counter to churn into butter. We are officially getting enough milk that butter can come off my grocery list.
Buttercup typically gives 4–4.5 gallons of milk per day. We use quite a bit ourselves, but that’s more than our family needs right now. She is also providing raw milk for four other families. If you’re local and looking for raw milk, we do have milk available on Tuesdays.
Over the weekend, I’m planning to try making gelato and caramels. And when Daisy calves in May, I may attempt cheese. We’ll see how brave I’m feeling.
So, what do you think of these weekly ranch and homestead updates? Do you enjoy them? Would you prefer something different? Let me know. I want to create content that’s actually worth your time.
And as always, thank you for supporting our little ranch. It truly means more than you know.
Sincerely,
Jada
