Last Month On The Homestead: March 2025

 Happy spring!  We've had all types of weather for this first week of April and it's exciting because it means gardening season is officially here!

While the garden remained under a blanket of snow for the majority of March, it has now all melted and I am ready to get to work!  Not much is up since our overnight temps are still quite chilly, but the few cloves of garlic that I planted in the fall (I think 20-25), a couple of kale plants returning from fall and the fruit trees are looking great.

March found us longing for spring-like days, even though we tried not to wish away the end of winter.  It's like that every year.  It's hard to not get excited about the changing in seasons, isn't it?  Especially when the new season brings us the promise of flowers and fruit trees and veggies.

We've managed to avoid mud season with our snow melting slowly and rain happening occasionally rather than big washouts.  So, although we had a handful of days of mud, it's not been bad at all.

Today we will have temps in the 60's and a sky full of sunshine.  Although we aren't ready to set up all of our deck furniture, I believe we will get the grill out and ready for cooking.

our garden in March

In The Garden

I'll be working on soil amending this month and then getting seeds for cold weather crops planted.  The majority of plants won't go in the ground until next month and the first of the asparagus should be up by then too.  

We did not get our fruit trees pruned last year so it's a goal I have for this coming fall/winter.  I'd like to especially prune our Asian pear tree because although it's a semi-dwarf, it's quite large at this point making it difficult to harvest all of its fruit.

I started new compost piles last year and it appears that they need more greens, so once I can add grass clippings, I'll be turning those to get them cooking.

March Sickness

I got very sick on March 23rd.  I'd received my second shingles vaccination early that day and boy did my body dislike it.  With the first shot I felt mild flu-like sickness for 3-4 days coupled with a moderate headache.  The second shot, however, was absolutely awful.  By the evening, I was so incredibly sick - severe headache, severe body aches, freezing cold, painfully swollen & hot arm where it was injected, and just feeling very very sick. 

I gradually began feeling better over the course of the week, but my arm remained swollen, hot and painful until Friday. And for some reason this has seemed to have riled up my allergies.  I haven't had issues with those in years.  The allergy issue has been so severe that it affected my left eye which ended up being swollen (not sure if the actual swelling is the eyeball or behind the eyeball), so now I've got prescription eye drops and am hoping they begin working soon.

I said to my husband "it had better work after going through all of that!"  I'm definitely glad that it's done.

In The Coop

The coop girls are doing great!  They have been so excited about the increased sunlight and the warmer temps.  We are now getting about 2 dozen eggs a week which is great considering the age of most of the girls in the flock.

Jackson

Jack, the cat who thinks he's a dog, turned 14 this month!  And the best part, of course, is that he still acts out in his immature ways which is refreshing.  Hopefully he continues to feel young enough to act silly for many more years.

He doesn't typically like people food.  He likes to smell it but has no interest in eating it.  Well, I roasted a turkey for my husband the other night for dinner and Jack was insistent on smelling it.  I put 2 little pieces of the meat next to him and he actually ate them.  He was so excited that he then got the zoomies and was racing all around the house.  Running, jumping, knocking things over, and just generally acting like a goofball.

He is very entertaining.

The Soap Business

We get asked frequently if we worry about our business with the current economic concerns.  I feel like I would be in denial to not be worried about our small business.  With the economy where it is and where it is headed along with the promise of higher costs to pretty much all of our ingredients and containers, it is certainly unsettling.  

Our farmer's market has been, for the most part, slower than normal, which is something we've seen happening over the past few years.  The traffic and, therefore, sales have been gradually decreasing which leads us to believe that this year will be no different.  What we don't know for this year, is how much it will drop.  Only time will tell. 

On a good note, our online store is holding firm.  We'll see how the months ahead go, but we are thrilled that although our store's growth has slowed, it continues to grow at this point.  We are so grateful for that!

For now, we continue making products and hold our breath each time we have to order something.  (slightly joking, but we do brace ourselves for larger than average increases)  

That's March on our homestead!  Hoping you are seeing signs of spring and able to get to work in your garden!