Spring Rollcall: A different kind of Easter egg hunt
From the growth nubs on rhubarb (which really do look like pink eggs!) to walking around the property just spotting all the green shoots, new leaves, and even some flowers, this Easter Sunday I found all kinds of wonderful things that I like even more than Easter eggs.
Growth nubs in the rhubarb mound look like Easter eggs!
One of the big highlights was in the Apple Guild. Last year our old apple tree took a break and gave us only three apples. This year it’s covered in flower buds. It looks like it’s getting ready for a really big bloom. So as long as it doesn’t suddenly frost in the middle of that bloom, we might be in for a decent apple harvest this year.
I saw a few honeybees “scouting” these flower buds while I was taking photos. So encouraging to see bee scouts out and about. Thankfully they have hyacinths, honeyberry blooms, and dandelions for food right now.
Looking forward to that Apple harvest… That is… if we’re still living here!
With a sense of total déjà vu, we are once again strongly considering listing Stone’s Throw for sale. Last summer, we were unsuccessful in selling the property. We took it off the market over the winter while we were really busy with our off-season jobs.
Over the winter, we also researched the possibility of staying here and converting our outbuilding into a single level tiny home for me. Through a number of meetings with contractors and the city, we learned that this option is just out of reach for us financially
More recently, we inquired among friends and the regional regenerative agriculture community about whether there might be a young person or a couple who might be interested in purchasing a one-third share of the property, including a two-bedroom ground floor condo in the main house. There has been some interest in this possibility. However, each person we spoke with eventually ran into financial or other lifestyle considerations that made this impossible for them.
We are still open to hearing from people interested in this opportunity—which would be a way for us to continue on at the microfarm. It would also provide a path for the new co-owners to become homeowners with no down-payment and at a much lower cost than can be found for similar condo properties in the Gallatin Valley.
If we find no one who is genuinely interested in this possibility in the next week or two, we will relist in mid-April.
What’s that all Mean for the Food Forests?
Anyway, “uncertainty management” is the name of the game. What’s that all mean for the apple tree? Well, we may or may not personally be here to harvest the apples. But we hope, if there are new owners here, we hope they enjoy fresh apples and enough applesauce to last the whole winter!
Enjoy the Spring Rollcall images below. And if you’re curious about becoming the new owners of Stone’s Throw, either as co-owners with us or by purchasing the entire property outright, please reach out to us anytime.
Happy Spring!
Anika Hanisch and John Hosking
Grape Hyacinths right outside our front door, great for feeding bees this time of year.
Some of these strawberry leaves are from last year. They always save a few leaves so they can have a jumpstart on photosynthesizing first thing in spring. The smallest waxy looking leaves are new this year.
A mound of decorative oregano beginning to green up. This variety provides a ton of flowers at the end of the season and feeds the bees before they have to hole up for the winter. The dried flower sprigs are in the foreground. I need to cut those back, or those seeds will be EVERYWHERE after a hard wind.
This scene looks so drab, but there’s so much life if you know where to look. That’s new growth on this culinary sage plant. Some of last year’s leaves hang on through each winter too. They start photosynthesizing right away and help springboard the plant’s growth at the start of spring.
Another look at those rhubarb baby leaves.
This entire rhubarb mound is about three feet across! We call her Grandmother.
Chives have been growing for weeks. They’re about 8 to 10 inches tall now.
Had to look hard for this one. That’s lovage sending up its first shoots. This perennial dies back entirely every fall, and starts from the ground up every spring, but its growth and height increase each year. Last year the bamboo-like canes covered a three foot by three foot square and soared over six feet tall. That’s a LOT of lovage.
Comfrey emerging from the detritus. This pod spans about four feet across and provides ample mulch for other garden beds all growing season. Comfrey leaves are homegrown fertilizer.
The miniscule leaves of creeping thyme… doing what it loves, creeping over a rock surface.
Tarragon emerging at the base of last year’s dried out old growth.
Another moment with those apple tree flower buds. So happy!
That’s a LOT more garlic than I planted here! I will need to thin some of the surprise “volunteers” from this bed, or it will result in stunted bulbs. Garlic is a nutrient-hungry crop. The individual bulbs need some space between each other so everyone can get enough nutrition.
These Egyptian walking onions are already ready to harvest.
Nothing happier than seeing a busy bee this time of year. These honeyberry blooms have been feeding the bees for about two weeks. They bloomed over a month early this year, but that’s a really good thing for the poor hungry bees who woke up early because of our mild winter.
Oh those honeyberry blooms. This is the best Easter bouquet I can give you! Happy Spring!