Friday, July 18, 2025

Chickens = Potato Chips

How are chickens like potato chips? You can't have just one. 😜 

Havenacre Homestead is way past just one chicken. We have Dixie, our Americana hen we got last year (from the original three!), four chicks were hatched from the faulty incubator (two of them are hens), and five chicks are from my dad's connections- three lavender orpingtons and two brown leghorns. Of the five, there are at least three roosters. 

So... It didn't take much arm twisting to pick up a few more chicks when they were half price at TSC. 😅

Seven made their way home with me- 2 buff orpington, 1 easter egger, 2 Americana, 1 buff cochin, and 1 partridge cochin. They've settled in nicely in the garage! The only downside is the other chickens just transitioned out of chick feed... Now we need to buy more feed. 🤷‍♀️

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Adventures of Laura and Emily (and Jaron): Portland, Maine Edition

One of my dear college friends and I always go on a trip together each summer. Since Jaron is portable we decided to go somewhere further away, Maine! We were gone for four nights. Jaron did pretty well with the flights; he slept for the majority. We traveled lightly with just one backpack for each of us (Jaron included). 

I opted to leave the car seat at home. Our itinerary included mostly walking and a little public transportation. Turns out you don't need a car seat for either of those! 

We took the ferry to Peaks Island.


Two Civil War regiments gathered on Peaks Island every summer for a reunion - the 5th and the 8th, and they were rivals. The 5th built a house for them to gather in, and not to be outdone, the 8th followed suit. Now, the 5th is a museum. The 8th is still a boarding house, just like it was in the old days,and that's where we stayed! The 8th Maine Regiment house.

Our room reminded me of Austenland. 

Here's part of our view at low tide: 

Brown seaweed! I could never find a picture of that online when I taught 8th grade biology so I always take a picture when I come across it. 

I wore Jaron everywhere we went, sometimes in the front and sometimes in the back. Laura graciously carried the diaper bag (along with water and snacks).


One day we went into Portland and took a trolley tour of Old Port/the highlights of Portland. One stop was the iconic lighthouse everyone goes to when they visit. 


Most days we bummed around the island,walking and taking in the sites. So many cute houses on the island, many with special names. Can I remember any of them? No. This was my favorite house to walk past though. 

Smoke tree!

True blue flowers! These hydrangeas were all over the island.

Jaron enjoyed the 5th regiment museum. 


About half of Peaks Island got seized by the US government/army during WWII. They turned the island into the first line of defense against sea invasion. They put two giant guns on top of the hill and called it Battery Steele. These were shot just twice- one of those times was in training. The guns have long been sold off, but the bunker remains. You can access it by road or through a minimal trail through wilderness. We inadvertently found that pathway. 😅


This picture was on a walk along the edge of the island/sea. Our house is in the background above Jaron's head. 

Ferry ride! 


Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Battle of the Thistles

We didn't take the time to put cardboard under the mulch of my medicinal garden and it's coming back to haunt me... Thistles are popping up all over the place! I saw in a YouTube video from a Michigan gardener that because of thistle's giant root system, you can't just cut them off or pull them out; they'll grow back thicker than before. The trick is to cut them just above the bottom leaves and then cover them with something heavy for three weeks (dandelions are the same way). The plant will put all its energy into staying alive and won't put up new shoots.

In my garden, there are too many to put boards over, although I'm trying. I thought about setting logs down, but the thistles are too big for most of my logs.


Then I remembered I have unused landscape blocks- heavy, decent width. Perfect.

I flipped some upside down because they had cracks in the edges that might let light through. 

Where was my little helper all this time? He wasn't content on a blanket so I tried putting him in the wheelbarrow. He tolerated it for just a few minutes. 😅 I'll keep searching for the magical solution. 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Ducks' New Digs

The ducks are getting too big to be crammed in the goat shed much longer. 

We wanted to put them in the trampoline, but they still need shelter from wind and rain. I had the idea to move the trampoline next to the shed and cut another hole in the side to let them back and forth. 

We strategically positioned the trampoline so the goats can't use it to jump out. And we reinforced the sides where the goats had bent it from rubbing against the metal. I guess chicken wire is a great scratching post. 🤷‍♀️

The hole is small, but it's big enough for the ducks. 

They figured out the door in no time!


Monday, July 14, 2025

Medicinal Herb Garden - Finally!

Not all my native plants made it to planting. They had a hard life though. Those that made it overwinter had to survive being munched on by goats. These are the ones that didn't make it.



G made a trip back to the nursery we bought them from and repurchased. 

The area of the planting has had the tarp over it since I posted about it last summer. Massive thistles grew around the edges, so I took a weed whacker to it.

I've heard it's nearly impossible to kill thistles and I guess they're right. Look at them growing under the tarp!


I weed whipped those too. 

I had made a map of where I wanted my plants based on height and width of the mature plants. I remember having to do that as an assignment for an ag class in highschool. I hadn't enjoyed that assignment, it took a lot of brain power at the time to take into consideration the sun and water requirements plus the color, flowering dates, not to mention the hight and width at maturity. My brain has a better capacity for those things now; it was a challenge, but not too difficult. 

I set the plants in place, then dug holes to fit the cubes. 

G mulched afterwards for me.

Looks pretty good! 

Friday, July 11, 2025

Dishwasher

This is such a tiny little thing, but it made my day and I had to share... 

The whole time I've lived in this house, the silverware container had been housed on the left side of the dishwasher in with the dishes. I thought that was where it belonged. It wasn't a tight fit and it would've been nice to have bigger dishes there, but oh well. 

Some visitors today helped us load the dishwasher and when I came back later to add more dishes, I discovered this: 

It fits in the door. 🤯

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Forgotten Flowers

I forgot I planted these flowers. 

Last year the deer ate them and I didn't get to enjoy them. This year, G has been throwing Jip's poop strategically at the edge of our property in an attempt to keep deer away and so far they've left these flowers alone. 

I also forgot I sprinkled flower seeds around the front yard. We haven't mowed and now they're making an appearance. 😅 

Found this volunteer raspberry plant north of our lilacs outside the goat pasture. No berries yet! Maybe it's a variety that only fruits on old stalks.

The asparagus patch I planted last year is doing great! They are the tallest of all of our patches on the homestead. Hopefully next year we can harvest some.