Seeds Planted For Second Summer Garden

This week we planted bush green beans in three of our raised beds and two hills of cucumbers and four hills of yellow squash in another bed.  Now we are hoping for a late winter or at least a late killing frost. 

We still have tomatoes and peppers in the garden.  I have a plastic dishpan full of Jalapeno peppers to make sliced pickled peppers.  This is what I will be doing this afternoon.  The peppers don't have much heat but they will still be good sprinkled over peas or nachos this winter. 

I was told we have had too much rain this summer and that is why the peppers aren't hot.  I don't know about this but we have had more rain than usual so therefore it has been a lot of cloudy days and the ground has been wetter than it normally is here in Mississippi during the summertime. 

There are still a lot of blooms on the pepper plants so it may be that we will be able to harvest some of the peppers that will "set our fields on fire" after all.  It's plenty hot here today and has been the last few days and the sun has been shining down on the pepper plants.  It won't hurt to hope.

Someone called this week to offer us some Bantam roos.  We could have taken them and put them in the freezer but those little rascals are only big enough to "stink up the water". 

When we start our flocks again, I want some Coronation Sussex and Morans to raise some of the endangered breeds.  

We will be researching the birds we're interested in before buying again.  William doesn't care too much for the breeds but I do.  I research the breeds on the endangered list and those are the ones I try to buy. 

I can hardly wait to get started raising birds again.  It's most enjoyable sitting outside listening to all the noises each bird makes.   Hearing a hen sing takes me back to the days I was a very young child visiting my grandmother and when my parents had chickens.  It's such a pleasant memory and the singing hen is a happy sound.

Turkeys gobbling and guineas going wild because there's something strange in their area are two more sounds that I love.   Then there's the honking and hissing of the geese and the happy quacking of the ducks.  These sounds all make me happy.

We need to buy a few rabbits for meat.  And I would love to have some goats for milking but that's going to be a tough sell to William. 

I know we're not getting any younger and neither of us is in the best of health but we may as well enjoy our lives until the end.  I enjoy animals.  Maybe more than William but we are in this together.  He likes yard sales and flea markets and I like raising animals.  Share and share alike, I say.  :)

Thanks for coming by to see us and forgive me for the personal rambling but that is what is on my mind.....From mind to blog, I say.  Thanks and come again.

A Day Late And A Dollar Short Or It's Been A While.

Here I am again after several months of nothing posted.  We have some of the raised beds ready to plant bush green beans, a few hills of yellow squash and two or three hills of cucumbers for some late summer vegetables. 

It's still hot and humid here during the day but the nights are pleasant.  We still have a couple of months of summer temperatures so we're expecting great things of the new vegetables we're planting.

We will have to fight bugs and worms but that's nothing new for us.  A small container with warm water, dish detergent and a few drops of vegetable oil will take care of bugs and the worms.  It will also keep the insecticides off the veggies too.

We still have tomatoes, jalapenos and bell peppers in the garden at this time.  The jalapenos aren't hot this year.  Every once in a while we find one with a little heat to it.  I'm hoping they get hotter before the summer is over. 

A friend said the peppers aren't hot because we've had so much rain this summer.  That's a good thing because we've only had to water our garden two times the whole summer.

I'm missing the birds.  I would like to start another flock around the first of the year.  Once again we'll have roosters crowing, hens singing, guineas warning us of upcoming boogies, turkeys gobbling and clucking, geese honking and working with the guineas to be a live warning system and the ducks quacking as they waddle in line to the kiddie pool for another bath. 

I'd like to get some rabbits.  We could use two does and a buck.  There may come a time that's all we'd have to eat.  We never know what is going to happen next in this old life.  Rabbit stew is good for empty tummies.

I have a new computer so maybe I can keep my blog more updated.  Also, post pictures to go along with the posts.

There we have a quick catch up on what is going on here at Hunny Bunny Haven.  Thank you for coming by and I hope you come back soon. 

It's Summer Time In The South

Our garden finally decided to grow and produce.  We are getting to eat green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, bell pepper and jalapeno pepper.  So far we've only had two ripe tomatoes but there are quite a few green tomatoes on the vines and we are anticipating more ripe tomatoes soon.

William bought Big Bertha Bell peppers, Jalapeno, and Cayenne peppers.  Someone had mislabeled the Cayenne pepper plants so we have eight Jalapeno pepper plants and they are full of peppers.   I should be able to can a lot of sliced Jalapenos this summer.  They're good with peas and greens in the winter time and they're good on nachos.

The yellow squash have about "done their due" so we will be pulling up those plants and putting out more tomatoes in the next week or so. 

We have had enough veggies that we could share with some of the neighbors and that's a good thing.  The last few years our garden hasn't done as well as we hoped.  We did have enough to share a little but this year it's been much more abundant and for that I am thankful. 

We don't expect to feed the community on a few raised beds but it is good to have enough vegetables to share.  One of our neighbors is disabled as is her husband.  It brought a lot of joy to take her a sack of various vegetables one day this week. 

There you have the happenings around here.  Nothing like watching vegetables grow and eating them fresh from your backyard. 

Thank you for dropping by.  I will try to get some pictures to post in the next few days.  Time to dine. 

A Sad Time In Our Lives And Slow Start With The Gardening This Spring

I haven't posted to my blog in quite a while.  My Mom passed away on March 24th so it's not been a good spring for us.  She loved to garden and even when she was bound to wheelchair she still had large pots with tomatoes, cucumbers and squash planted in them.  She could work the vegetables by rolling her chair up to the planters to weed and water.

It's a hard time in my life.  I miss her very much.  People keep telling me that Mom had a long, good life (she was 88 years old) but I don't think we are ever ready to let a loved one go home. 

When I look outside at our garden I always think of Mom and her love of gardening.

Our weather has slowed the garden down this spring.  We had cool weather through the middle of May.  We got the seeds in the soil but some of them didn't come up and had to be replanted.  Those that did come up didn't want to grow. 

Now that the weather has warmed up a lot everything is growing but it's still behind what we usually have this time of the year.  No tomatoes yet, no squash yet and no cucumbers. 

The tomatoes are blooming, the squash has baby squash on them but the cucumbers......Well, I've about lost hope for them.  They are still about four inches tall and not growing much at all.

My biggest worry with the squash and cucumbers now are squash borers.  Since the temps have gotten warmer the borers will be out in full force.  I'm afraid all the work we've done and all the waiting we've done will be in vain. 

The green beans are running up the stakes but there's no blooms on them yet.  We usually visit my Louisiana Aunts and Uncles about this time of the year and we always take them fresh veggies.  Not so this year!

We sold all of our birds.  The only animals we have now is our little Shih Tzu, Sakura and the two cats, Tomomi and Fanchi. 

William is still having a lot of problems with his knee.  It was hard for him to do any work with the animals.  I'm hoping to get some more chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and guineas a little later on; then again we may never get animals again because we lost so many to predators. 

That's the update from Honey Bunny Haven.  I hope everyone is having a good spring growing season and will be able to harvest a lot of vegetables.

See you next time.  Bye for now!

Is Spring Just Around The Corner Or?

Are we just beginning to have winter here in our area.  We've had colder weather the last few days than we've had all winter along with some snow flurries that came and went yesterday.

My fingers are all itchy to dig in the dirt but with below freezing temps that's not feasible. 

There's only 17 days until the first calendar day of spring.  I hope that in the next 17 days we will begin to have days that are warmer and nights that are above freezing.  I'm craving a fresh fried green tomato, bacon and lettuce sandwich.  I don't think that's going to happen any time soon what with this cold weather lingering around here.

Some of the flowers and blooming shrubs are covered with blossoms.  The forsythia, purple leafed plum and daffodils are blooming.  These bring some brightness into the dreary days of winter and gives me hope of warmer days.

About the only thing going on around Hunny Bunny Haven at this time is waiting out winter and hoping for spring. 

I know we get spring before a lot of the country but it still seems like a long time since fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and squash were abundant.  Here's hoping the time is coming again soon.

That's all folks.  Only my plea for springtime to arrive and arrive soon.  Please come again. 

Men Can Be So Stubborn

William had surgery on his right knee last Wednesday (February 6th).  The surgery went very well and he has been up and going strong.  He has not had a lot of pain and has been up moving around a good bit.  Yesterday, we went to the flea market in Union because he thought he could do it.  We didn't get to stay long before he was ready to come home.  There was no place for him to sit with his knee elevated therefore he started having pain.  I'm happy that he's doing so well.

In the last post I told about being down to a duck and six geese.  A dog broke through a tin barrier to get to the birds.  He killed the duck and one of the geese.  The duck died in the attack and the goose died the next night.  We thought the goose was injured but she started moving around good and eating.  She wouldn't let William check her out so we didn't know the extent of her injuries.  We found out the next morning when we found her dead.

This made me angrier than I've been in a long time.  We keep our animals up including our dog and cats.  Other people let their animals run loose to destroy property that belongs to the community.  I don't get it!

There's been stormy weather here in Mississippi today.  A tornado touched down in Hattiesburg around the campus of USM.  Some injuries have been reported along with heavy damage.  Thankfully, no fatalities have been reported.  More of the stormy weather is expected through tomorrow night.

There's not much going on here at Hunny Bunny Haven other than me playing nurse for my sweet hubby. 

Thanks for coming by.  Please come back.

More Changes Here On The Homestead!

A lot is happening here on our homestead.  William is having a lot of trouble with his right knee.  He has an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on January 31st to find out what has to be done to fix his knee.  He has a tear in the meniscus, a cyst in his knee and bone damage in the knee.  We think he is looking at surgery.  It will be wonderful if we're wrong.  However, we don't think we will be wrong.  If we are mistaken, it will be a big surprise!

We've sold all our animals except for our six geese and one duck.  Trinity will be taking the duck.  We will keep the geese.  I can take care of them.  William doesn't want me in the pasture taking care of all the animals.  The ground gets so slippery when it's wet and here lately we've had a lot of rain.

It would be hard for me to care for the animals and both the flea market booths.  So far, the flea market booths are more profitable for us than the animals.

If William does have surgery we plan to purchase more animals after he recovers.  He also has arthritis in his knees so recovery could be slow. 

I know I sound pessimistic but I'm just trying to be prepared. 

I miss hearing the roosters crow, the guineas carrying on and the turkeys gobbling but change is part of life.  I still have the "honkers" to listen to!

We are still planning to have our garden.  Although, it will be much smaller than what we usually plant. 

I still call myself a homesteader.  There's a homesteader's heart beating inside my chest.

We can still call the place Hunny Bunny Haven because one of our young rabbits escaped and it (he/she) is still hopping around here.  It has survived over two months roaming around the yard and pasture. 

Maybe we can capture it before some varmint makes the bunny dinner!


There's some of the changes that have taken place here at Hunny Bunny Haven.

Thank you all for stopping in for a visit.  I hope you all will come back soon. :)

A Little Of This And A Lot Of That

You all can see I’m not very diligent. Time seems to get away from me these days. Christmas scooted right on in and William has been having a lot of trouble with his knee. He’s been going to see the doctor and having tests done to find out what is causing so much pain in his right knee. We are hoping to hear the results of the MRI on Monday. We are praying for a good report.

We’ve had a lot of rain in the last few weeks. Along with the rain came some rather cold weather. Because of the weather we haven’t been able to do much painting. William does have the storage building organized so we can get in there and repair, sand and paint the flea market items.

We’re going to try some homemade chalk paint. I hope it turns out to be all I’ve heard about it. What I’ve read about using chalk paint no priming is necessary. That will save time and money.

We have several items to paint. One is a jewelry box almost three feet tall. I think it will be beautiful when we get it refinished.


William found some chairs (along with the jewelry box) on the side of the road. The people were throwing all this away. We are going to refinish the chairs to go with a table we recently bought. The seats in the chairs are in very good condition. All that is needed is painting the chairs and putting them with the table to make a set.

We are planning to redo our garden area. We have eight raised beds. We haven’t had a successful harvest in the last few years. We are planning to take apart the beds and make two double rows using the Lasagna method of gardening. We’ve made two beds using this method and both times we had a great harvest.
I think this year we will plant some tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers along with the herb garden. We’ve tried to grow green beans, peas and several other vegetables which have failed.

I’m watching our farm market bulletin for some Coronation Sussex and some silkies for sale. I’d like to have silkies old enough to go broody this spring. They are wonderful little incubators.

The Sussex may not be old enough to lay this year but we still have our Easter Eggers that we can put their eggs under the silkies and sell some of them.

These are some of the plans we have for our homestead. I’m hoping the plans work out for us.

We will be busy. We’re opening another flea market booth in a town about fourteen miles south of us. One of us will be working every Saturday to run this booth.


There you have another long rambling post. There’s so much I want to say when I do get around to blogging. Thank you for dropping by. Please do come again.