Time Off

We didn't do any gardening or farm work this weekend. We had family visiting from out of town and enjoyed a weekend of petting kittens, looking at chicks, feeding chickens weeds and grass, and shooting the guns the family brought with them. We set up some targets behind our barn and shot things like potatoes, paper plates, and old thick book, a metal canister, and some metal targets they brought with them. It was fun learning how to shoot, and I did pretty well for a beginner, if I do say so myself!

More Chicks

We brought home 12 more chicken babies today. A neighbor family eats a lot (and I mean a LOT) of eggs and agreed to purchase all their eggs from us when the chickens start laying. That will basically help supplement the cost of feed. It’s not like we’ll make a ton of money, but it will be nice to share our bounty with some friends.

Blossoms

Farm Boy had me close my eyes and led me over to where we planted the beginning of our orchard; three apple trees. He asked me to open my eyes and the smallest apple tree had a small group of blossoms! I was so surprised! I have no idea when apple trees normally blossom, or if our other two will blossom, or even if these blossoms will turn into apples, but it was nice to see them doing so well!

Mother's Day

I had a fantastic Mother’s Day this year! Farm Boy helped get dinner ready in the afternoon, so that when it was dinner time we didn’t have to do much. He sent me outside with the hammock , a book, and some juice that he bought for me that he knows I like while he got dinner together. Then he brought all the rest of the Farm Girls outside carrying a blanket, dinner, and some napkins and we had a little picnic in the shade by the hammock area/fire pit. The Farm Girls had a blast playing on the hammock together while we enjoyed the sound of bumble bees buzzing in the thousands of blossoms of the trees lining our back yard. It was a gorgeous day and a great way to relax and enjoy my family on Mother’s Day!

So Many Weeds!

Spent time weeding the garden areas and also some other areas around the property. Last summer I was pregnant all summer and Farm Boy had just had two back surgeries, so everything got kind of out of control. We didn’t do much yard work or upkeep. So we’re trying to catch up this year. It means we have lots to do to keep us busy!

Moving along

Well, we haven’t had any more signs of an intruder, so we have foregone the animal traps for now.

The chickens are getting along fine and enjoying their time eating up all the tall weeds in their yard. It’s only a matter of time before they have eaten everything in their yard and we’ll need to start feeding them weeds from around the yard and gardens. It will be a good motivation to spend time weeding regularly! They’ve also started eating table scraps, mostly just leftover produce and breads/grains. They especially love plain cooked white rice!

More Plants

We brought home 300 more strawberry plants today! We will be planting those tomorrow. Also brought home three apple trees, of three different varieties for cross pollination. Those  are going in the ground tonight. We’re slowly on our way!

We also had a problem with the lawn tractor. A wire became wound around one of the mowing blades and broke a belt or something. Farm Boy is working on it…

Planting

Started planting! Spent two hours outside caring for the raspberries we transplanted, and doing a little planting. So far we planted 4 rows of carrots, two rows of broccoli, and two rows of onions. Still have a ton more to do!

Update on the intruder: The animal pushed all the rocks out and dug a bigger hole. The Farm Boy will be making a rudimentary snare to see what he can find…

Intruder!

Some kind of animal dug under the fence into the chicken yard overnight! We filled it in with rocks, and we’ll see what it looks like in the morning.