If you don't know this about us already. We raise our own chickens for meat and have been doing so for 4 years now. It is something we jumped into with ZERO experience and we are so glad we did. One of the least expensive ways to start raising your own homegrown quality protein. With the least amount of barriers to entry, I believe everyone with even a little bit of land should be raising themselves a handful of broilers (aka meat chickens). It takes just 8 weeks to raise them up from these little baby chicks you see here, to being 6-8 lbs butcher ready birds. I'll keep you guys posted on how this year goes! We are raising 90 broilers and 3 turkeys this year. My first time ever trying turkeys! Have questions about raising chickens for meat? Pop them in the chat below.

It’s that time of year that the projects start up! Which means I’ve had photos from customers rolling in and I love it! These customers are currently building the Iris. Our 12’ x 16’ timber frame style greenhouse. This build is very popular because it is such a showstopper! This project takes 2 people about 5 days to build and cost around $4500 CAD to complete. You can grab the building plans for the Iris here: https://thehillsidemarket.com/collections/garden-projects/products/the-iris Plus, on now, grab any 2 or more project plans and automatically magically save 15% ✨ If you have questions about this project comment here or tag me in your post! Don’t forget to send me your project photos ✌️

There is still a lot of snow here, but lots of work to do before outdoor gardening begins. We did a heavy pruning on the 6 Saskatoon bushes. They were very over grown probably 18 feet tall, we took them down to 5.5 feet and took out all the old gnarly branches. Next up front yeah shrubs

I am looking at the logistics of planning my garden - I will be building some raised beds and the focal point will be a Petunia greenhouse. 😍 Ideal placement would be to put the greenhouse on the north side of the garden , so the greenhouse doesn't shade the garden more than the trees do. But the slope of the room would then to the north and not maximize the sun energy. Has anyone moved the door to the other side of the greenhouse? I'd love to see pictures. I think it would be a super cute cottage feel to it. But the door would need to be shorter? haha - good thing I'm 5'. Leaving the door to the tall side would be inconvenient as we have Saskatoon shrubs on that side. I would also be building this on an existing garden bed that is SOOO soft, I need to find a way to pack the soil in that section. the other thought, is build it on the south side of the garden, and plan more shade crops in the closer beds. But there would be some trees to deal with. The septic field is east of the garden, so we can't expand too much that way. The trees to the north of the garden as Saskatoons, there is a shed behind the trees now, and it's a down hill path there. We have a steep hill that starts at the tree line behind the house, it's a little gentler near the garden, but after the sad it's steep. I do need to come up with a plan, as I start building my beds in the next few weeks, and need to know where I am putting this.

Things are growing around here and I mean that literally and figuratively. Tomatoes in the basement AND we're almost at 300 members in this community. If you know someone who wants to grow more of their own food, stress less about grocery bills, or finally tackle that build they've been putting off, send them our way. The more the merrier. Now. About those tomatoes. 🌱 They're officially sprouting in my basement. Meanwhile it's still below zero outside and winter still has the audacity to exist. This is the part of seed starting I love. It's wintery and miserable outside yet inside there is... life. So let's talk seed starting. I want to know where you're at: 👉 Are you starting seeds this year? 👉 What are you growing? 👉 What's tripped you up before? Leggy seedlings, damping off, timing, space? 👉 Or are you skipping seed starting altogether? What's holding you back? (No judgment, I want to help you save time and money if I can!) Also, we're going live in 30 MINUTES to talk about building your first project. If you've been sitting on a build idea and don't know where to start, come hang out. Bring your questions. See you there! https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/share?slt=1AVwTtk4bGmrHtzOTgHOd7PRYK6Lff1l3O4Q2y6jVN-0Pybwscix9z-LeOquSBdgdoRWefgo3n1WzovzsOepr6R8hVKdJyOsqmPfI