The ranch journal

Small moments from our family homestead

Projects, animals, gardens and the stories we want to remember.

Projects · Summer 2026

A little hut built with our own hands

Homestead projects rarely begin with a perfect plan. This one began because the goats needed a dependable place to get out of the weather.

We measured, cut, adjusted and made decisions as we went. The finished hut is simple, sturdy and ours, a good reminder that progress on a homestead often arrives one board and one family workday at a time.

The wooden goat hut built at DiamondTrail Ranch — The goat hut we built at home

Garden · Summer 2026

From the garden to our kitchen

There is something special about carrying food inside that our family watched grow from a seed. The harvest is never perfect, and every season teaches us something different.

Green beans filled bowls and baskets, cucumbers came in by the armful and the tomatoes arrived in every shape, color and size. It was a real family harvest, not a staged photograph, and that makes it worth remembering.

Green beans harvested from the family garden — Green beans from our garden

Cucumbers harvested from the family garden — A bowl of cucumbers

Tomatoes harvested from the family garden — Last year’s tomato harvest

Garden · Behind the harvest

The setups behind what eventually grows

Before there is a basket of vegetables, there is usually a work area covered in pots, soil and handwritten labels. We experiment with practical garden setups, use ground cover where it helps and try cuttings even when we know not every one will take.

These photographs show the less-polished middle of the process: one of our black ground-cover garden areas, a table full of mulberry cuttings and chickens working around the banana area where we use composted horse manure to help build the soil. This is what learning in real time looks like for our family.

Some of those experiments have grown well beyond the worktable. Our dwarf everbearing mulberry bushes have filled out, and one pepper plant has become especially prolific. They are the finished side of all those quieter planting, watering and propagation days.

A DiamondTrail Ranch garden area prepared with black ground cover — One of our black ground-cover garden setups

Mulberry cuttings and young plants arranged on a work table — Mulberry cuttings on the work table

Mulberry cuttings planted in small pots at DiamondTrail Ranch — Trying another round of mulberry cuttings

DiamondTrail Ranch chickens working around banana plants in a garden area enriched with composted horse manure — Chickens in the banana area where compost helps us build the soil

Several dwarf everbearing mulberry bushes growing at DiamondTrail Ranch — Some of our dwarf everbearing mulberry bushes

A prolific pepper plant covered with peppers in the DiamondTrail Ranch garden — One of our prolific pepper plants

Animals · Life lately

The animals who make this place home

Our days have a rhythm shaped by feed buckets, water hoses, gates and the familiar sounds of animals waiting for breakfast.

Dolly has raised babies here. Arnold arrived as a tiny Kune Kune pig. Bean found the best chair in the barn. Mini joined the family as our Mini Zebu cow. The chickens and ducks fill the yard with movement. Some animals stay with us for years and others become treasured memories, but each one becomes part of the family story in a different way.

Dolly with her two goat kids — Dolly and her babies

Arnold the Kune Kune pig as a baby — Arnold as a baby

Bean the barn cat resting on a chair — Bean the barn cat

Mini the Mini Zebu cow at DiamondTrail Ranch — Mini, our Mini Zebu cow

Several DiamondTrail Ranch animals sharing the pasture beneath the trees — A quiet afternoon with several animals sharing the pasture

Chickens · The everyday flock

A yard full of personalities

Our chicken flock is a colorful mix of hens and roosters, each with a different way of moving through the day. Sometimes they gather in one busy circle when there is something interesting to scratch through. Other times they spread across the grass, taking their time and following whatever catches their attention.

These ordinary flock moments are a big part of the rhythm of our Florida homestead, and the life we share on YouTube.

Visit our chicken starter page Watch our poultry playlist ↗

The colorful DiamondTrail Ranch chicken flock gathered together in the yard — Our flock gathered together

DiamondTrail Ranch hens and roosters roaming across green grass — Hens and roosters roaming the grass

Ducks · Chores that feed the garden

What we call liquid gold

Ducks are joyful, but they are not tidy. We still keep a large duck pen and a big bathing waterer that gets emptied, scrubbed and refilled regularly. Keeping the hose close and making the waterer easy to reach turns a messy job into a repeatable family chore.

Instead of treating every bucket of used duck water as waste, we sometimes carry it to appropriate established plants and orchard areas, what we jokingly call “liquid gold.” It is one small example of how the animal side and the garden side of our homestead connect.

Our family practice, not a universal recipe: Used animal water can vary in strength and cleanliness. We keep it away from edible plant surfaces, avoid creating standing water and use judgment based on the plant, weather and condition of the water.

Explore our duck starter page Watch the flock on YouTube ↗

The large duck waterer at DiamondTrail Ranch after being scrubbed and refilled — Scrubbed, refilled and ready for the flock

The large duck waterer emptied and ready to be scrubbed — The not-so-glamorous part of duck chores

Buckets of used duck water on a garden cart at DiamondTrail Ranch — Moving used duck water toward appropriate plant areas

Orchard · A new season

Watching the orchard come back

Earlier this year, freezing weather left nearly all of our banana plants looking dead above the roots. We protected them during the freezing hours, waited instead of giving up on them and watched the surviving roots begin pushing fresh growth.

Now the banana row is coming back strong. Nearby, one of our Barbados cherry trees is filling out too. Along with new buds on cuttings, pomegranates and fresh loquat growth, these plants keep reminding us that an orchard often asks for patience before it shows its progress.

New banana leaf growing after a freeze at DiamondTrail Ranch — The first new growth after the freeze

New leaves growing on a plant cutting — A cutting beginning to grow

The DiamondTrail Ranch banana row growing back strongly from surviving roots after winter freeze damage — Our banana row coming back strong

One of the Barbados cherry trees growing at DiamondTrail Ranch in Florida — One of our Barbados cherry trees

A pomegranate tree growing in the DiamondTrail Ranch orchard — One of our pomegranate trees

The loquat tree growing in the DiamondTrail Ranch orchard — Our loquat tree putting on fresh growth

A note about our journal: These are stories from our own family’s experience, not professional animal, agricultural, medical, legal or emergency advice.