It’s that time again, kids – time again for an update on what’s going on here at the Walbacz homestead!

Porch Plants and Front Bed

Our porch plants are doing fabulously, yay! We’ve gotten a few eggplants so far, lots of cherry tomatoes (which Toddler Homesteader loves to pick and eat most of), herbs for our own cooking as well as market baked goods, and even a few hot peppers.

I’m hoping to use some of our copious dill flowers soon for pickling. It figures that I get a ton of beautiful dill the year that I’ve struggled with cucumbers, but such is life, and such is the beauty of having many local farmers who can supply me with cukes while I wait for my late fruits.

Just about every tomato I planted is finally thriving. I truly thought many of them were done for in May and early June due to cold temps and late planting. Most of them, however, have blossoms, and many (especially the San Marzanos) are fruiting beautifully. Huzzah!

Back Veggie Plot

For the first time ever, all three of our Three Sisters plants (corn, beans, and winter squash) are thriving and doing what they’re meant to do. Corn is currently tasseling, beans are climbing and twining around robust corn stalks, and pumpkins and candy roasters are creating a nice, cool ground cover for all. I’m seeing a few squash fruits coming in, so here’s hoping for lots of sweet winter squash in our future, as well as tasty beans and corn!

Tomatoes I’ve already discussed. Beans are thriving in other areas of the plot, likely because they’re dealing with our depleted soil. Yay, adding nitrogen! Thanks, beans. We’re also getting a good number of zucchini and summer squash finally growing.

We may get one or two okra plants, but it appears we won’t be getting any bumper crops this year, alas. Peppers are hit or miss (mostly miss), so I’ll be happy with whatever we can get.

I threw a bunch of seeds – beans, flowers, and melons – into a small back plot that a friend of mind used last year, and it’s thriving! I’m excited to get more beans, blossoms, and maybe a few melons come later this summer.

Blackberries and Other Fabulous Fruits

We now have two rows of blackberries producing fruit, which has lately been giving us about a gallon every two days or so. We’re busy here using them for jams, jellies, wine, and baked goods, as well as inviting friends and neighbors to pick at their leisure. Toddler Homesteader helps, too, although most of the fruits end up in and around her mouth rather than the bucket, and I don’t blame her.

Our maypop(poppoppop)s are growing fruits now, hooray! We won’t see ripe ones for at least another month or so, but it’s pretty excellent to see those gorgeous flowers turning into tasty passionfruits.

We also have a new cool berry bush, thanks to a friend of ours, called an aronia, or chokeberry. Unlike the blackberries, these berries are rather astringent, even when ripe, so we’ve used them in combination with blackberries in jam, and plan to play with them in compotes and sauces in the future. I’m particularly interested in making wojape, a Dakota berry sauce used for all sorts of applications (e.g., fruit topping, meat sauce, etc.) from my Sioux chef book.

Pollinator Habitat

Many people who pass our house and don’t know us assume that we just don’t mow our lawn (out of laziness? Petulance? I don’t know). We’ve gotten several inquiries from random landscapers and a neighbor or two offering to mow our property, all to be politely turned down. For the first time ever a couple of months ago, a neighbor up the road looked at our yard, looked at me and asked, “You keeping your pollinators happy?” and I nearly jumped for joy.

Slowly, slowly, we’re converting the monoculture grass on the property into native flowers, trees, and other plants to attract bees and other pollinators, as well as keep the land happy and healthy and just plain gorgeous. Each year it looks less like a hot mess of unmowed grass, and more like a meadow. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s coming along.

The aronia bush, maypops, and milkweed are all in the front meadow, along with a smattering of daylilies, elderberry, wildflowers, and baby fruit trees. The back grass is kept down with a combination of chicken tractoring and mowing paths. Man oh man, do we have a lot of chicken poop nitrogen in that backyard!

And on that note, I leave you with a few days of July left. Stay cool, y’all, and happy homesteading!