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This is our fourth installment in the monthly updates about the happenings on our own homestead. We started this series after getting requests from our friends and neighbors. If you have questions or requests for additional content, please reach out! We hope these posts help to show there is no one right way to homestead, only the way that’s right for you.

Watch “July Homestead Hangout” on YouTube >

Grow & Tend

In the patio garden and greenhouse things are going well. We were a little worried that the greenhouse would get too hot without proper ventilation, but the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber seem to be doing well. On the back 40, or our patio container garden, the tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash are all putting on fruit. We lost most of our cabbage during the heat wave last month, but one is heading up nicely.

After removing most of the potentially poisoned straw mulch last month, we had a great pea crop. But this month it was time to remove those plants. We replaced them with beans, another plant in the legume family. Honestly, I’m not sure how they are going to fair - it’s very possible they won’t thrive due to being late in the season and our questionable soil. Only time will tell. 

This month we decided to try an experiment to determine the damage to our soil. It’s called a bioassay. Since we are both scientists, the idea of being able to test our hypothesis was very appealing. It’s a simple process of taking soil samples and growing them alongside a control, which is a soil known to be free of herbicide. Stay tuned next month for the results. 

Food & Drink

Did you catch our “how to” video and article about making herbal infusions? These herbal brews are a great way to add some extra nutrition into your diet and really quench the thirst on a hot day. Iced tea is another wonderful option for summer. We buy our bulk herbs for infusions from Mountain Rose and Farmhouse Teas has a wonderful selection of blends for iced tea.

Outdoors & Wildlife

While most of the baby birds left the nest last month, our property is still alive with wildlife. This was captured both on and off the trail cameras. On one walk to check the cameras we came across two exciting signs: the site where a bird of prey (likely a Cooper’s Hawk) at a juvenile Robin and pile of bear scat.

Finding bear poop on the lawn might not excite everyone, but Kevin worked with nearly two decades caring for orphaned bear cubs and returning them to the wild. We know bears frequent our area, but we’ve only seen one other poop and a few tracks over the last two years. We didn’t catch the bear on our forest trail camera, but we did see him on the camera close to our front garden.

There were hundreds of other videos on both trail cams in July. Most of these videos were of the crow family. They frequently dropped their kids off at the wading pool while they foraged for food. We also solved the copper ring mystery on the trail cams. Recently we shared how we use copper tape to deter garden slugs. But something kept pulling the rings off the plants in our front garden perimeter. Many video clips showed the crows playing with the rings and Julie putting them back. In one you can even hear Julie asking them not to drop the rings on growing plants.

Other wildlife sightings included coyotes (including our limping lady), an opossum, and a chipmunk. But the most numerous mammals were deer of all ages and sizes. We even got some cell phone video of a mother and baby one morning while we were eating breakfast on the patio.

Many people might find it scary or frustrating to see these wild animals on their homestead. After spending so many years working with wildlife and in wild places, we know that the trees on our homestead pose a greater threat to us than the animals. By planning our gardens with wildlife in mind, we’ve been able to create healthy boundaries that allow us all to coexist in the same space without worrying about our garden getting eaten. It takes more time and money up front, but the reduced stress and headaches are so worth it.

Home & Construction

A couple months ago we mentioned that when we had our roof replaced it became apparent that our siding was in bad repair. The previous owner of our property had not taken good care of it and we are paying the price. We finally got the estimates and the news wasn’t good. The damage and cost to replace our siding was far and above anything we expected. Even though we don’t think this will be our forever-homestead, we want to care for it and do the right thing for the property and future owners.

This is heartbreaking news because it means other projects we were saving for (like our guest bedroom makeover, a real greenhouse, and chicken set-up) are going to have to wait. But when we get to those projects we will make them beautiful and functional without getting in over our heads financially.

Planning & Mindset

In July we visited Alderleaf Wilderness College and farm, which is owned by our good friends Jason and Kerry. We got some really great insights on camera. The first video and article in that series is available now, with more installments to come. 

This month is special for us because we eloped 15 years ago in July. Our friends and family could hardly believe it, but over a long weekend we flew to Las Vegas, rented a convertible, and got married on the Las Vegas strip. We believe that just like homesteading, there is no one right way to get married!

Sew & Craft

This month we didn’t do any sewing or crafting, but we are beginning to plan for fall and winter projects in this category. We are thinking of doing a mini course or workshop on making one of our most popular items, waxed canvas bags. Would you be interested in that? Let us know in the comments section below!