Preparing for Spring with Patience

In a culture that pushes us to move quickly and expect instant results, preparing with patience can feel countercultural. But many of the most meaningful parts of life take time to build.

In this episode of Handmade Happiness, Thomas and Jessica Clark from The Lark Life reflect on the importance preparation and patience. We share updates on our outdoor projects and share the steps we are taking to prepare for spring.

Preparing with patience teaches us to value the process instead of rushing to the outcome.

If you enjoy conversations about homesteading, intentional living, slow family rhythms, and handmade skills, this episode will encourage you to embrace preparation as a beautiful and necessary part of the journey.

More resources, courses, and blog posts at TheLarkLife.com 

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Until next time, may you find joy in the simple things and beauty in the work of your hands.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there and welcome to Handmade Happiness. I'm Jessica.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

And I'm sleepy. No, that's okay. It's actually been a good day. It's been been a productive day. We've got some good news in the works and uh it's been a good day.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

So lots of lots of good stuff happening around here. So you'll have to uh just keep up with us on social media and you'll stay tuned. See all the things. But um so we are wrapping up our spring reset series series, little mini series. Um if you've missed the other two, so uh a couple weeks ago we talked about like spring resetting your budget, like looking at your finances and talking through some of that. Um and last week we talked about some spring cleaning that we did. Uh, and it wasn't uh like to do checklist of chores to get your house, you know, all clean. It was more about simplifying and some little steps that you could take to really have a big impact.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Creating margin and peace.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

I wanted to uh take a minute to brag on our 17-year-old.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Um, I got a notification on my phone the other day that she had installed a budgeting app. Well, because she's a working, she is a working woman now. Yeah, and uh so she had installed this budget app, and I asked her about it, and she was like, Yeah, figured it was time for me to start adulting. But she knows already because we've had this conversation, she needs to know where her money is going, and she needs to have a plan. So because we've talked about budget is not set is not rules performance. It's not what you can't do. Yeah, it's to give you to show you what you do have permission to do, right? And she knew that she needed to allow for certain expenses, and that way she would have a clear understanding of what she can do with her money.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

But she has some big goals that she's wanted to do with power.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

So it was a win.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I felt like it was a win.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

You're felt like we were winning. I was like, look at the look at us. Our kids are listening. I didn't say anything to her about it, she just downloaded it of her own accord because she knew she needed it.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

That's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

So good job, Bella.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Good stuff happening around uh Casa Clark. So um anyway, so today, as we wrap up the series, we're gonna be shifting outside, uh, talking you through some of the things that we're doing uh as far as our gardens and our livestock that we have here, just some other things that we're working on that are helping us prepare for spring. Um but where we are, we're in southern Missouri. Um six. So we I won't be planting, I won't be really planting in the garden. We'll do some cold weather stuff a little bit early, but our last frost date is April 15th. So we're still quite a ways out from that. Um, and so this all of this preparation that we're talking through comes with patience.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

It has to.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And so that's kind of what we're gonna be talking through. So we're gonna just be giving you some updates on some of the things that we are working on and working towards how we personally are preparing ourselves and our outdoor spaces for the coming season. That way, when the temperatures warm up and spring is here, we aren't running around frantically feeling like we're 10 steps behind.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I think that's been one of the I don't, I mean it's been difficult, but one of the things that happens a lot of times, I think, is that you want to run out and get all of the things going at once.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

I I really want to.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

I want to have the garden and we want to have the milk cow and we want to have a pig. Because every day we say things to ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

We already waited so long to get here.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

And we're still waiting. Yeah. But but that's life. That's that's life. And I think we've we've bought into this idea that like it's just all supposed to happen, and that's not how life really works.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, instant gratification is not reality. And so, like for us, we've talked all the time. We're about man, every time we scrape those plates in the trash, we're like, man, what if we had a if we had a pig? This could be we could turn this into bacon, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:17

It breaks my heart every time we eat a meal and kids are scraping food in the trash can because I'm like that's can.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

But if we had a pig right now, it would be an abject failure because we're we don't have our infrastructure in place for that.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

And so that's one of the things we're working on. Uh same with a milk cow. It's oh, it'd be so great to have a milk cow and get our own milk. But if we had a milk cow right now, she would wander off and join another herd somewhere because we don't even have a gate on her.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

She would get run over by somebody flying around the curve and then didn't see her.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

So again, there it's the patience is necessary because you want to execute all those things with excellence, right? So that when you do it, you have a good experience.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

And so that when you do it, it's not a burden and a problem. It's a blessing and something that is enriching your life, not well, case in point, like with our birds.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

We got our birds and we ended up through several hilarious mishaps. We ended up with a humongous amount of birds.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

And to be honest, it was kind of a pain in the butt. It was until we were able to slaughter that first batch or two. Like it was really kind of a pain because we were tripping over birds, we had so many of them, and we really weren't ready to have that size of a flock because we just didn't have the fencing, we ended up buying more fence, and it was just it was a thing, right? Whereas now we've settled in and it's it's a breeze. Yeah, but it's because we've built some of that infrastructure and uh we we have a plan, right? We have we have we're we're in that mindset to have what we have. Yeah, and and the same thing applies with any other animals. If we were to add things without putting up fences and getting barn stalls ready and things like that, it'd be a real nightmare.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

So let's I guess start there talking about some real specific infrastructure things. So let's talk about the barn and let's talk about fencing and specific things that we are going to be doing to make sure that that infrastructure is ready for all the things.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

We are about to kind of expand. We're gonna do chickens 2.0, I think, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Uh we're changing how we do right now. We have a three-stall barn. Um, and it's it's really ideal, I think, for the way we plan to do here and the size of operation that we have. Uh, but right now all of the poultry are housed in one side at night because we do have coyotes regularly. We hear them every night about 11 o'clock. We hear them out yipping in the fields and the woods. And um, but we're wanting to change some of that and add some infrastructure so that we can better contain the laying hens. Um, and there's no right or wrong way, there are some wrong ways, but some people are of the mindset that like your chickens should just have free, if they're really free range, they have to be free range. Um, some people keep their chickens in a pen the size of a you know a bedroom, and and uh and and again, as long as you're making sure that they're not in their own filth and and they're getting fed and watered, chickens are pretty dumb. So they don't they don't get bored, right? But so we're kind of gonna go with a hybrids scenario where they'll have some free range space, but also um they'll be doing a lot of compost turning for us, basically.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

And um and we're specifically talking about the laying hens, which is a smaller group of birds. Right now we have 14 laying hens. Yes. Um, that really, really like to wander and travel and get way too close to the road. And so we are gonna do some things. I I go out several times a day just to like corral everybody back to the safer area for them to be.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Um because they fly over the poultry net, electric or not. They they they'll jump over it, fly over it.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

So and our turkeys are joining them now.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, and the turkeys fly.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

And the turkeys fly. We've we haven't clipped anybody because we have them free ranging, and because we have predators, we don't want to limit their mobility.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

They need to be able to and they don't leave, like the turkeys, especially. They're they're hanging out because they're getting fed here.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

So, like earlier today, I saw that they were way out in the back corner, far too close to the road for my liking. Both of our turkeys and half of the laying hen flock. And as soon as I opened the back door, they heard me, and all of the chickens, it's like the food ladies, little velociraptors, they're just like full sprint to me. Yeah, and the turkeys used to full out sprint to me, but today they took off in full flight, and it was a little, I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't know they could that's a big bird. I didn't know they were doing that. And and we also have noticed they're it's taking them longer to reach a good size, um, largely in part to their activity level.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Um, they will get all on our our fenced into the fenced backyard and drive our dog bananas. Uh they will fly up and roost on top of the roof of the barn. Like they're just kind of everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

And so literally free range, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

They are about to be confined. Uh, one, so that I can help keep them safe. Um, and two, so that I can kind of confine their movement a little bit so that they're bulking up a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

And we think we may get some breeding out of them too, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

So we think we may end up with some make more conducive for those. It'll be better for them to nest and maybe have some turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

The flip side of that is I think we may end up giving our ducks basically just free range to go down to the pond. We've talked about that because the ducks they're um they're pretty good. They stay around.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Well, honestly, they don't they like to be around the barn. They have their little pool, they know where the food is, they can get to the shade when they want to, and they're pretty happy just right there in the barnyard. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah. Um we may just kind of let them kind of be. But again, all of that is serving the question is like, what are we wanting to do with these animals, right? And for the chickens, their job is to lay eggs, uh, turn compost for us, make manure. So we're going to help them do those things in a little more confined way, so that uh right now they're basically turning and manuring our whole mid-pasture thinly, right? Whereas if they're doing that within a little more confined space, number one, it'll be high enough they don't fly out of it. Uh, but also uh it'll just make it where we know this is the compost area, and we can go in there every however often and kind of rake all that out, and then we can put that to good use. Whereas right now, every the soil that they're on has to stay where it is. We can't reuse that that manured soil, right? So we're gonna put them in a space where we can be using their manure more effectively.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Um and so that's kind of the birds, also. Another thing along the lines of the birds, so we learned a lot uh from having 50 meat birds at one time this past summer. That was the most we've ever had at one time. And um, so we know that we're gonna need to build infrastructure, something a little bit different where they they are, we do want them to be mobile and scratching up all you know, they really help with the bug population and it makes a ton of bugs healthier, and uh we just we're gonna do some of those things they'll be more tractored a little bit differently, so they'll be so we're gonna build what we need so that before they even arrive, we're ready. Um, another thing, uh, when you have all of these baby birds show up, they're not ready to go outside yet. Now, we have planned everything a little bit better this year so that the timing and the temperature of things will be a little more innocent.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Naturally, a little warmer for us and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

But um, another thing that we are gonna be doing in that barn area, we're gonna be preparing some stalls for future animals. Right now, the open two stall part of our barn is full of firewood and hay that we've just been kind of using it for storage that we're gonna kind of clear some of those things out and actually build stalls for animals. But one of those I'm gonna specifically make sure that we have um some pretty fine gauge wire netting so that it can be a brooding space.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

For brooding space, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

For when you have 50 birds brooding at one time, you have the space to be able to do that where everything is able to be cleaner so that they stay healthier and so that they have the space to grow and it doesn't become a problem. Completely predator-free. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Yeah. And then the the next thing that we've talked about, uh, Waggus just for this conversation, uh, is our a pig. Um, we know that we want a pig, mostly because it's just so much more efficient. You're you have so much less going to waste, right? The even the carcasses of the chickens when you process, a lot of that can go to a pig because pigs don't care. They're omnivores, they're opportunists, and so they can be making use of that nutrition and and the things that we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Well, and they're very inexpensive to acquire, they grow very quickly, they produce a ton of meat for your family.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

And they turn into bacon and ham.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

And they eat all of your scraps and turn it into to bacon and ham and pork chops, and yeah, it's it's like the perfect little wand to help you feed your family.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

So and we're excited about getting a pig. Uh, we will, I think we'll do that this summer, right? I think I think the plan is for us to get a pig soon, here probably in the next month or two. But uh, but again, we've got to make some decisions as far as do we want to run hot wire, right? Because the way our our land is, it's it's more or less two large chunks divided by one medium chunk in the middle, and we have to decide do we want to contain this pig to uh a I mean, you know, with Joel Salatin talks about having them on uh you know 25th of an acre, right? And just moving them around on a daily or semi-weekly basis. So that requires infrastructure, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

We'll need a solar charged, a solar powered hot wire, and um but you also have to have a way to shade them and to water them.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

So we gotta build some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Um, so again, we're not there yet, and if we had a piglet now, it would be fine for about two weeks while it was a little piglet running around in the barn.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

And then we would have a problem.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Um, because pigs can be pretty destructive. They start rooting around, they start digging up things and getting into mischief, and uh, so we need to have a a way to contain it uh pretty firmly while it learns the boundaries, especially while it's young and is figuring out life on the farm.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Once they figure out that you're the food and the water and all like all good things come from you, and that they should just be happy in their little playpen, um, it gets a little easier. But until that point, it's like a puppy.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Oh yeah. And the same is true for you know, as we talk and think through, like we know the things that we have planned for the future, so a milk cow and some sheep. Well, again, those things not only do we have to deal with the fencing issue, but having again those structures where they have shade that can move with them and water that can move with them. And uh with our coyote problem, we probably have to have a safe enclosed space for our sheep at night. Like the cow will probably be fine, but the sheep, a little lamb.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

We would need to pin them at night for sure. Um a gate structure for that barn stall.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah, so there's there's definitely some things in the barn. Now, thankfully, uh one of the reasons one of the things that drew us here was that we already had an open barn structure, yeah, but it hasn't been used for livestock.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

No, so we don't need some reinforcing on the end of the room.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

We have to do some things to make it make it right for our needs, and then we can add bedding and all that good stuff. Yeah. So one other animal that we have talked about that we need to kind of prepare for because it's something that we for sure want to do this spring, have things up and going, is we want to go ahead and get uh bees. Yeah, we want to get some bees going. So uh that means I'm planning to build some swarm traps.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Um because my hope and goal is that I won't have to buy bees, but that I'll be able to catch um some swarms as they enter here. Swarm season, I think it's supposed to be around May, uh, between May and June. And so hopefully we'll be able to catch some really hardy native bees. Um, we saw plenty of honey bee activity in our fields last year when you know all the fields were full of the clover. And then, yeah, cleaning out this weekend we were outside, we already saw little honey bees starting to look for for things.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Our grass is really good. We were really pleasantly surprised when we came, we started looking at all the different the variety that we have growing in our fields, and it's a we have a really good mix of grasses and and medicinal plants and things, and we're super excited. But the bees like it too. We have a lot of clover, a lot of white clover, and and yeah, um the bees are happy.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

So I've got to get swarm traps built and then I've got to get some bee boxes built because you're wanted to do different ones this year.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Right. We do different things.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

I have always used the just conventional, you know, where you stack boxes on top of each other. Um, but I've been learning a lot about bees in the season that we didn't have them, and uh really am looking at more of a like a horizontal hive situation along hive for lots of different reasons that we'll talk about in another episode.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Um, but just making sure that we go ahead and start putting those things together. It takes time. When we got our first bees, I spent lots of days, evenings putting together frames and building boxes and all the things that we've got.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

And a lot of that was pre-cut for you. Like it was yeah, you just had to assemble it. These we're gonna have to build from scratch. So we're time to break out the tools.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

We're gonna be, yeah, time to break out the tools. So we're gonna be doing that, and that's kind of the on the infrastructure side of things. I think we've talked through some of that as far as animals go. Uh so you want to shift into garden or you have something else to add before we shift into the garden?

SPEAKER_01 19:31

No, I think that's good. And again, I we've talked about that, you know, we're ambitious in the sense that we're wanting to add a pig and a cow and bees and maybe sheep this year, right? Which is a lot. But we've had a lot of time to get prepared for some of those things. We have a lot of our infrastructure in place already. Um, I know it probably sounds like a lot what we're talking about, but really the barn's already there. It's just a matter of like putting a gate in front of that stall.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

The majority of the fencing is already there.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, we have to run like 10 T-posts, it's not a big deal. So um, so we're gonna do that, but we're also gonna just kind of pace ourselves, right? And we'll see kind of how what that gore that gets us. Beef prices are crazy high right now. It'd be great if they came down before we bought a milk cow.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

But if you have a milk cow or you know someone who has a milk cow that they want to part with, go to thelarklife.com slash donate a dexter.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That doesn't, it's not a real webpage, but it could be.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

But you could reach out to Hello at the Lark Life and let me know.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Email us, let us know. We'd be glad to take your dexter off your hands.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Um, because beef prices are crazy expensive, which again is part of why we're looking at things like lamb and pigs, because they're much more affordable to get started with. Um, so we'll see. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

And now to your your favorite topic.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Oh, the garden.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

The garden.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

The garden. So again, this is one of those things we're doing a lot of prep so that we can have a successful garden. Um so some of that we've already talked about starting seeds. And so I have started some of the cooler weather seeds. I've started um some peppers, some tomatoes now that we're into March. Um those take longer to get ready to like to be established and big enough to go out into the garden. And so we have some of those things started so that come mid-April, early May, we can get some of those things.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, we're working towards right now, we're working on bringing in, we're gonna have to bring in some soil, yeah. Uh local topsoil, right? But um, we just we don't have a way to efficiently get what we need for the raised beds um from our own land. And it's it's just it's all yeah, but

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Our soil here is really soft and rich, but it's very rocky.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Um so we have been we've put a a base layer of that in the very bottom of the raised beds that we have. We were given a whole truckload of free wood chips, so we put some of that in. When we gathered leaves, we put some of those. So we have like a good base of like the native soil and leaves and mulch, but we need to really top the beds off with good topsoil and then good compost to give it the nutrients that it needs to um talking about wood chips, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

So just uh helpful hint. A lot of tree companies, when they cut trees, they throw these trees into their ginormous, beautiful asplin wood chippers or whatever it is that they're using, right? Um, a lot of times they have to pay to dump that. So there are services that you can find that will let you uh you can basically sign up on a list, or you can even just call these tree companies direct and offer to let them offload their chips uh at your place. So I literally drove past a truck on the freeway, what, about two months ago, called the number and told the guy, hey, if you ever need to dump wood chips, give me a call, I'm out, here's where I'm at. And he said, Okay, well, about a month ago, not even a month, about two weeks ago, he called me and was like, Hey, I'm in your area and I've got 12 yards of wood chips. Do you still want them? And I was like, heck yeah, we still want them. Come dump them on the end of the driveway.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

All the wood chips, bring them all.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah, because the wood chips, again, you can use it for bedding, you can use it for walkways, you can use it for mulch, you can, you know, compost, whatever. And so I said, Yes, please bring it to me. We'll figure it out, right? And so they came and brought a whole dump truckload of stuff. For free.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Now, um, I will say, when we first got here, that was our plan all along. Yeah, and there are companies here that do tree services.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

But a lot of people here use wood chips.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Keep those wood chips because they turn around and sell them.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

They sell them, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Um, so it took us a while to find the right connection, but now this I mean we've already gotten the one load, and he's already called us again um about a possible other load. So there once you just have to keep working and make those connections.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, put the feelers out.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah, make those connections to find it. So, yeah, so we're we have to fill our raised beds with good material for actually growing things. Um, because right now they won't grow anything. Um, and then I'm gonna talk about my weed barrier experiment that I so we are also planning to plant a significant amount of things out in the back of our property near where our shop and our barn are, just in the ground. Not in raised beds. Not in raised beds. So the raised beds are gonna be for like our carrots and our peas and green beans and tomatoes and things like that. Um, out back there, we'll put some um garlic in the ground and asparagus and corn and potatoes, all the squashes, the squashes and pumpkins and things that vine and grow everywhere that need that space, we're gonna put those out there. And my initial plan, so earlier in the winter, I went and like super cut off the grass till it was like dirt. I got like the lowest the mower would do it. I just I cut it all so that I was my hopes was that I was gonna be able to kill some of the grass this winter. And so then we got um some black weed barrier fabric, and I laid it out over the garden area that I had just completely killed the grass on and staked it in, and we get a pretty good amount of wind, and that corner takes a pretty good amount of wind, and so it you know the ground has been so soft, the ground is always soft, but it's been pretty soft, and so uh the wind would come just right and it would catch those strips. Yeah, every now and then it would pull up and it would pull up and I would run out and we'd tack it back down. Well, very recently we had some crazy wind, and I pull up to the house, and pretty much all of the weed cloth is all wrapped up in our barbed wire fence, and so I call the kids out to help me, and they're like we're trying to get it untangled from the barbed wire fence, and anyways, we got all of that pulled down, but I was so just fuddled. Yeah, when when I looked after we had dealt with that and I looked at the ground all winter, it's been covered, all like months it's been covered under the snow, under months it's been covered, it's been freezing cold, like everything is still pretty brown. We're starting to get little peaks of green here and there because uh we've had a few warmer days. The beautiful green patch that I covered is the most vibrant, beautiful green grass you've ever seen. And apparently, all I successfully did was grow the grass warm the earth so that the grass would just thrive under that cover.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

So it really did. It's it's just the prettiest green grass you ever seen.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

All of that to say, um, if you watched some of our very early videos, I had these grandiose ideas of this no-till garden. And I have decided that if I'm going to get anything to grow other than grass, we're gonna have to at least chop the grass up. I'm gonna have to till so my plan now is that part of our preparation for that space is that we're gonna till it up and we're gonna use some compost in that area, but I'm going to put that weed barrier back. I have a couple options. I have the black weed barrier still that we used, and I've also got some paper, um some weed paper that kind of over time biodegrades, right? And so my plan is we'll till it up, we'll cover it back up with that.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Once you've disrupted its life cycle, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

We can make holes to actually plant our things in. And in those specific holes, again, this compost is not cheap. Um, so I'm not gonna put it over the whole area. I'm gonna put it where I'm putting my plant.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Yeah, you're gonna compost it.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

And then we'll use all this beautiful free wood mulch that we have and cover the top of that weed barrier so that it's weighted down and so there's really no sun. And so again, that's how we're gonna start it this year. Hopefully, we can get some stuff to successfully grow back there. Hopefully, we can keep the deer from eating it all.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Yeah, that's a whole nother thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Um, and then we'll see where that leaves us for next year. And if next year we can then go back to my idea of the no-till because we've already kind of had this season where we've been cultivating that area and dealing with the grass and stuff, then well, we've talked there's other ways too, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Like obviously, we can't just come in and spray Roundup all over everything.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

No, of course.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Because that's not a great idea, right? But um, we've talked about burning some of it off, right? So, again, the idea is removing a lot of the living grass so that your plants get a hold and can hold, can hang on. Because our grass is pretty vibrant, uh, and to be honest, it is very if we don't remove a substantial amount of it, um, our plants won't stand a chance because that Kentucky bluegrass and and some of that other will come in.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

It's very vigorous, it's very vigorous, very vigorous.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

It makes good hay.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

So we're we're gonna be tilling up that space and kind of prepping it. Yeah. Um, because I do already have like so we've got garlic sprouting, and I didn't get it planted in the fall, but I can plant it now. Um and it's not too early. It'll it'll do well, and it's already starting to sprout, so I'm gonna just go throw those in the ground once we get it pulled up. We've got onions that are about ready to go out, and those will be a potatoes that are sprouting. Yeah, so we we've got some things that we'll go ahead and put in, and then the things that are very frost tender, we are just continuing to grow lights. Nurture those seeds indoors until we can get warm enough where we can move them out. So that's good. Yeah, so that's where we're at where we're doing what we're doing. So there's plenty to be done, but this is the part that's like it's not the pretty stuff or the fun stuff, but it's but it's gotta be done. An important foundational step to set you up for success.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

To be able to enjoy the the other part, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

So it's good. So that's what we're working on.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

And then uh what are we doing next week?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

So next week we are gonna be on spring break. Spring break, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Spring break.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

The next two weeks we will not be already. The next two weeks we will not be uh posting new episodes, but you can check in with us after that, after Easter, we will be back and ready to share uh a lot of new great content with you. Uh, this spring we are gonna be bringing you a lot of again, we we share a lot of like where we are, what we're doing right now, what's helping us, hoping that it will help you in the season that you're in. And so we will be going over all kinds of things with our garden, our animals, our uh food preservation things. I mean, we're there's just a lot of things to that we're gonna be able to share and yeah, especially once we start uh canning food. It's about to be rock and roll time. We got the market season is coming, and there's just there's a lot of of cool stuff happening. So yeah, so we'll be off for two weeks now.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

You're officially sold in stores now.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

I am officially sold in the stores. Yeah. So if you're local, you can find local means republic, Missouri. If you're local, we we have some stuff in the local Republic Market, Downtown Republic. Um, and so you can go and find my things on the shelf there. It's pretty exciting. And in just a couple weeks, by the time we resume from our little spring break, I will also be uh in a boutique in Joplin with all kinds of quilted apparel and quilted items, and so you can check me out at Unique Boutique, it's a pretty cool place.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

And of course, we always have stuff for sale on thelarklife.com of our good stuff, fabric and lots of new stuff coming.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

So I'm I'm made some really cute um fabric shoelaces that you'll want to have like one in every color because they're really cute. Um, and we've got beeswax wraps and bowl covers and bread bags, and in addition to all the stuff we've already been doing, we've got some well, and the new fabric lines that just came down area. Oh my gosh, they're so good.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Um I want shirts in every color.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

So if you haven't been on the website in a while, go go check that out because there's a lot of new things that have been added, and more new things will be added soon as we uh continue to put things into local retail stores.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

And just a side note if you're a local uh to the Springfield Republic area, um, you will probably spend more on shipping than it's worth. So if you find some stuff that you like, reach out to us at hello at the larklife.com.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Well, you can even just uh it's on the website, but you can just use the code LOCALPICKUP at checkout.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Oh yeah, we can arrange to get it too.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Put local pickup, it's going I I will take it to the local republic market and you can pick it up there in person and save yourself the shipping costs.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah, because that's dumb to pay six bucks for shipping when you live down the street.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Six nothing. It's like twelve, fifteen, twenty.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Depending on where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

So it's not cheap to mail things these days.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

It's good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

So yeah. So thank you guys for being here with us, for hearing kind of what we're up to. It's I always get excited when we talk about, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Bees.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Bees and garden.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Garden and your favorite things besides me, of course.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah. So thanks for thanks for joining with us. Thanks for sticking with us as we got this year kicked off, and we are excited for all that is to come in the spring. So we'll see you in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Enjoy your break.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Subscribe now to handmade happiness so you never miss an episode. And let's find the joy in making one handmade moment at a time.