I'm back, dear Reader....

So I've been *ahem* gently reminded that there are people out there that want to know what is going on....so for the next few hours I am working on uploading pictures and trying to remember from the blurr that is my life what has been going on....I am going to try to separate it into days so be sure to scroll down, and maybe even onto the next page to work your way up to this week (I won't be so ambitious as to say 'today') You will need to actually just need to view all of March as I've updated all of the posts with pictures and at this point it two pages of posts.  Have fun reading! 

Sunset as seen from the end of my driveway on my way to work.

What happens when someone borrows your camera

The boy has taken to "borrowing" my camera to take pictures.  He says he's helping with my picture of the day project. His favorite subject lately has been Iona.  Tonight at work, I turned on my camera to find this picture:

Iona's smile

And more picture of Iona:

New Day Olds

It seems so many of my posts start with "New additions to the Homestead..." this month is no different.  Today, Boy and I drove up to the Meyer Hatchery to pick up our new chickies.  He has 4 white silkies that will be shown in the Fancy Poultry division of 4H and then they will be our incubators (as they tend to go broody easily.)  They are straight run so we don't know yet if we have boys or girls.  But the names we've come up with for them are: Sugar, Marshmellow, Snowflake and Stuff'n'Fluff.

Also added to the brood (these are all female-they say)
2 Speckled Sussex
2 Silver Laced Wyandottes
2 Buff Orpingtons
4 Americaunas

Yes, I tend to do everything in pairs...it's called "Noah Homesteading". :)

And you....

And you....we shall call.....FLOWER

How does your garden grow?

Instead of having the seedlings in the cellar where, frankly, I don't like going, I cleaned off the shelves in the laundry/mudroom and Man hung the shoplights from W'ville for me.  The seedlings for the most part are doing really well.  We put flags with numbers and the numbers are on the seed package so we can see what is not germinating, what's doing well, etc.  We only have 2 sets that are not doing all that well.  The cantaloupe and one of the pumpkins.  The ones in the picture that you see doing so well are the two types of cucumbers and 4 varieties of tomatoes.

The vines are coming to life so they need to get in the ground SOON!

Spring flowers

Today after gym class, Boy and I went back to the house in W'ville and dug up about 1/2 of my strawberry plants and crocuses to replant at the farm.  Dirty work, but it's finally warm enough to do this stuff.

Now these amazing pictures were taken.by.my.9.year.old!!!!

No, I did NOT do any photo editing.  This is right out of the camera.

This one is not edited, just cropped.

More New Additions..

Today we went and picked up 4 full grown Muscovy ducks. 1 Drake (boy) and 3 hens.  The plan was for ducks to be much later this summer, but there is a move afoot to make Muscovy ownership outlawed after March 31st.  I had to get them before the end of the month so I could be "grandmothered" into the regulations.  If you have them before 3/31 you can keep them for food production.  There is a large group of unhappy duck owners that are already working to get the regulation reversed, but in the meantime.....

The drake is the big one on the left.  He was not happy coming home.  He wouldn't fit in the dog cage with the hens so the breeder just zip tied his legs together and plopped him in the trunk.  Then further indignities, he had to be pulled to the coop on the wagon.still.zip.tied.

The one in the middle has one blue eye and one brown eye.  Then the tan one is a rare color of Muscovy.

The Muscovy's are for "Slug Patrol".  We have a problem with Moles.  The guy at the feed store told me the best way to get rid of moles is to get rid of the slugs as that's what they prefer to eat.  Muscovies LOVE slugs.  They are unique duck in that they don't need a pond/lake.  And they do not quack.  The drake hisses and the hens wimper.  They aren't the cutest things on the farm, but they'll do their job.  Plus I've heard the eggs are great for baking and they are the leanest meat of the ducks.

The tiller guy that came out last fall, is coming tomorrow to re-till the garden spot for me.  He emailed to let me know he would be in the area the day before so I spent the day hauling out only half of the spent litter from the hen house.  I still have about half to do, but managed to pull 28 wheelbarrel loads of sawdust mixed with chicken poo and dumped it into the garden.  It was so pretty today and our first really warm day this spring.  I actually got a bit of pink on my face.

The winter was hard on the hens, but now we are on the other side.  They've been out free ranging for the past week and it looks like their "people pox" as my future DIL says "chicken pox on chickens" are finally gone and Lacey whose right eye has not been seen since early January actually opened her eye today.  The swelling is finally gone.  It's still milky looking and she swivels her head all the way round to see, but improvement.  The sunshine and fresh air has upped egg production and we are getting between 13-15 eggs a day now.  I took the light out of the coop and took the plastic off the windows.

Ah, spring!  OH, and happy St. Patrick's Day!  I have corned beef in the crockpot cooking and cabbage waiting to be cooked.

Iona out in the pasture

Craziness - Photo Heavy Post

So welcome to Daylight Saving Time Monday.  Now I realize that we get an hour less of sleep now, but today I didn't get any....why you ask?  Well besides sleep just being a hobby (ha)....a crop duster kept buzzing our house as he worked the fields around us. 

Now when I say he was buzzing the house...I mean..he.was.THIS.close!

Yes, hello, that is my car, glad you cleared the barn....um...aren't you supposed to be doing the field.over.there??

Coming over Man's Shop

Over the chicken coop.  Then hens were running in circles trying to get away from the "hawk".  In case you were wondering, yes the bird house is still standing....just missing the roof.

Over the house

Can you see me now?

That's Boy's Playset in the left side of the photo.

So, I realize that this is a very photo intensive post...but really, I needed to show proof. 

It's not because of lack of sleep! 

Could I really make this stuff up?

Trying to get back into the swing of things.  So much "not niceness" going on makes it hard, but life on a farm does mean that you don't get berevement time, sick time, or vacation time.

Boy and I planted 576 cells of seeds over the past two weekends.  We now have itty bitty plants coming up.  Now I need to get the light table set up in the cellar to get us through the next month.  We planted 18 cells of each plant, and I have 3 more trays of 72 to do this weekend. 

What is planted/sprouted now...
9 kinds of tomatoes
tomatillos
3 kinds of peppers
2 kinds of cucumbers
brussell sprouts
cabbage
acorn squash
watermelon
cantaloupe
celery
peanuts
huckleberries
pumpkins
cauliflower
broccoli

I've picked up (for a great price) 5 blueberry bushes (3 varieties)
1 red raspberry bush
1 black raspberry bush
1 blackberry bush
1 Niagra grape vine
2 red grape vines (can't think of the name right now)

I have a concord grape vine on order waiting for shipment, also 2 more (different varieties-for a total of 3) red raspberries

We're having a thaw here, so I'm hoping to get over to W'ville and dig my strawberries, blackberries, asparagus, mulberry, hastas, peonies, and elephant ears.  We also have to finish moving everything out this month. SIGH  I hate moving.

But back to the farm....over the weekend, my closest friend and I went to the Home and Garden show.  I bought horseradish root and rubarb, and seed potatoes.

Heavy Heart

Pastor Dave went home to be with his Savior on Saturday night.  We have a heavy heart, yet know that he is where we wish we were.  Pray for his wife and family.

We are still praying hard for the othe requests on the list.  Especially Kim as she received less than positive news.

I thought I might have some good news to share, but God had other plans for me as well.

Home and Garden Show

One of my closest friends and future relative (as our kids have decided they are getting married someday) invited me to go to the home and garden show.  We had such a great time.  So much to look at and now so many more ideas to try!!

I know that my readers enjoy odd random pictures, so here's one of a giraffe at the home show.

In a diamond shirt and striped pants, no less!

Ministry and 4H

Boy is doing 4H for the first time this year.  One project he is doing is a cookie project that is a "county project".  Our county has a few project just for our fair.  This is one of them.  He needs to make 6 different batches of cookies (all different types:ie drop, rolled, bar, no bake) and then come up with a menu to go with the recipe, figure out the cost of the recipe and then also the cost per cookie.  Then there is the taste testing.

Today he made a batch of Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They turned out very nice.  It was also an opportunity to minister.  As I mentioned yesterday, we have many folks in our lives having health issues.  So today, I made dinner for two of our friends' families and Boy made dessert. We went to visit with Samuel and then went to Children's Hospital to take food to the young lady with the broken legs family.  Boy does have a sweet compasionate, empathetic heart that I hope he never outgrows.

JUST PRAY!

Many, MANY friends are dealing with SERIOUS health issues in our circle.  I'm tempted to say...all we can do is pray, but the truth is the BEST thing to do is pray!  So please join us in praying for the following:

• Praise: Sam is home from his lung surgery.  We went to see him yesterday.  He's in pretty good spirits.  Praying for recovery and strength  before his next round of chemo.
• Laura: 16 year old friend that broke both leg femurs and will be having surgery...right now to insert rods.
• Pastor Dave:  Very very ill.  Sent home from Cleveland clinic to be cared for by the family, church and hospice.
• Brother In Love Dave:  Had his kidney removed yesterday with cancer.  Praying it hasn't spread.
• Kim: Also awaiting results after surgery to remove cancer.

Please pray for them and two more that I'm not able to mention here.

Here's some HAPPY pictures of Boy and Sam.