March 22

 Rhubarb

 Blackberry Cane

 The girls out enjoying this unseasonably warm weather.

 The apple trees trying to blossom.  Did I mention it's March?

 Pears in bud.

 Currants in bud.  (really unusual for them to bud at the same time as the fruit trees)

 Daffodils flowering about 6 weeks early.

A close up of the vinca vine in our woodland garden.

Autumn Air

Wow. It's been really gorgeous here lately. The air is fresh and crisp, but the sun still so warm and it makes me want to spend every moment outside enjoying the beauty of Fall.

We've been spending some of that outside time putting the garden to bed. I have never really done a great job at cleaning the gardens up before winter, but this year I am determined. We've been weeding and pruning and getting things all set so that in the Spring the planting can be done earlier and with less work. My crew has been tons of help.

First mate....Badger

Hen....awww...look at those l'il boots...

One of the boys favorite things to do is to gather eggs. It's so fun when the girls first start laying. We are getting about three eggs a day, but it should be about a dozen a day when they are fully developed. Hurray! This flock has been especially fun to raise. I don't know if it's because the boys are older or if the "work" part of tending to them just seems easier because we are more used to it. I find myself looking forward to going out and seeing them. Millie, my furry companion, willingly runs alongside me while I get feed and water.

Recently we've been having some trouble with a few of them flying over the eight foot fence....and at night if we are not quick enough to put them in the hen house we find them roosting in the trees.

Can you see the three hens in the apple tree? They are about 10 feet up. It seems cool and interesting, because well...who knew that a chicken could actually fly that well?....but then you realize how hard it is to get them down once they've hunkered down for the night and how unsafe from raccoons they'd be in the trees....and it just becomes kind of....annoying.....ha!

We've finished with the grape harvest this year and are totally cutting back the vines in anticipation of building a new trellis (pergola?) for them. They are much overgrown, but still the harvest has been so abundant that I've had a hard time feeling like I want to prune them. The grapes grow on second year growth see....so if you prune them way back...then the following year there will be no fruit. But....it must be done...so today I started trimming away. It's actually sort of fun. Figuring out the entangled mass and where it's roots are. Finding all sorts of life in the vines. Spiders. Crazy big beetles with horns. Birds. Poison Ivy. Ok, so that last one isn't so fun. But so far, we've managed to avoid it. :)

See how established the vines are? The base of that vine is about four inches in diameter. I wonder how long these Concords have grown here. I wonder who used to gather them? Who planted them and pruned them each year until they were big enough to be trellised?

Tree Shadow Farm used to be an actual farm. A farm that stayed in the family for a long while. The great grandson of the original owner lives across the street from us now. He has fond memories of this place because his grandparents lived here and he spent lots of time in the house and yard and woods. He told me that his favorite memory was once when he stopped by after school, his grandma was in the garden and when he went up to her she started swatting at something with the rake. He said that he was totally surprised (and afraid!) to see a wolverine, right there in the garden. And he said, his grandma (in her 70's) fought it off with that rake and chased it until it took off into the woods.

I'm glad we don't have wolverines anymore. We have seen turkeys. And deer. And raccoons. And we have also seen this wild animal lurking about.....

Ha ha! Can you believe it? I found this picture when organizing some photos. Millie was the cutest puppy ever! Now, she's kind of just...a big furry ox! She still tries to climb into my lap though when I'm sitting on the floor, which I think is hilarious. She obviously doesn't realize how huge she is. I'm really glad we have her though and she is an amazingly smart and (mostly) obedient dog. And she makes these Autumn nights cozier, since she's mostly just a big furry foot warmer. :)

September!

Ah, sweet, sweet autumnal air. How I've missed you and how very glad I am that you have once again returned. I love September. So very much. (October and November too.) Autumn is definitely my favorite season and J's too. It's so crisp and feels like Change is in the air, you know?

Anyway, I apologize for not blogging more, but not only does Fall call me outdoors to linger and play....it also is harvest time! So we've been very busy digging potatoes and picking pears and grapes. I made the first batch of grape juice just today and finished putting up the rest of the tomatoes for the year. It's going to be a busy few weeks as we also get started with the cider making. The apples are not so good this year, but we hope to be able to still use them for cider.

Fall also means eggs! The hens are just old enough to start laying and I'm soooo glad! Cricket found the first egg and he was so proud. It must have been an Auracana egg, because of the color....a lovely grey-green.

We've also been growing and harvesting food for the chickens. (Badger's idea) I think sunflower seeds are so lovely when they grew. They are all lined up just perfectly and to me it shows the wonderful design of our Creator.

Fall also inspires me to knit. I finished a hat that I was making for myself, but as usual it looks much better on J. Ha ha.

The man just looks good in anything. *sigh* Maybe it's his smile.

Anyway...I'm off to start bedtimes with the little crew. Then I've got a date with that scruffily dog of ours. Fall also means burs. Ugh. Anyone wanna give the girl a haircut?

Harvest

This past weekend we harvested more things growing on this beautiful land we've been given.

Black-eyed Susans growing near the house....

We picked pears. So many pears this year! Hurray! These few bags were barely a third of what was on the tree! I'm hoping to can them sliced, and also make pear sauce and pear butter. Pear butter on fresh biscuits. Yum!

We brought the onions in now that they are finished curing and the boys helped clean them up for storage.
I was reminded while watching them about a valuable lesson an older lady friend of mine once taught me. She told me that we are like onions. We have lots of layers. And that we should never compare ourselves and our struggles and daily learnings to others and what they are going through, because it is very likely we are not on the same layer. We are not all at the same layer in our learning and growing. But take heart, the Lord is gentle and good and he peels us away only as we are willing and most importantly He sustains us through it! I am glad to be in His gentle hand and I pray that I am always willing to go to the next layer so that I can love and serve others in a deeper more useful way. That is my prayer for you too, friends. :)

off to spend some time with my J....

g'night.

-r

A Saturday at Home

This past week we spent mending from a cold. It was a quiet week. By Friday we were feeling much better but the mancubs still seemed tired. This is how they spent part of Saturday afternoon. Watching Wallace & Grommit.

Saturday was a quiet day too. But we were able to enjoy some time outside and just be together. We are such homebodies. :) But J and I love being home with the boys, spending time outside in the garden, or playing soccer, digging in the sandbox, or climbing trees. We also got some things done that really needed some attention. J put the nestboxes in for the laying hens. Soon! Soon! they will be laying eggs! I can't wait!
This year we purchased some Auracanas. They are a breed of chicken that lay colored eggs. The shell can be pink or green or blue. They are quite beautiful, and the birds themselves are interesting, coming in all colors and even different shapes. The one above, is one of our Auracana roosters. His name is Blacktail, and I think he is a real beauty.

These birds are meat birds. A few from our second batch. We'll only keep them for another few days and then they'll go to our friends to finish growing on their land. Aren't they getting big?

This time of year is so interesting to me. I love harvesting things from the garden. Saturday morning we harvested some of our sweet corn. It was too pathetic to take a picture of, the ears being quite small and some even misshapen. I consoled myself by taking a picture of this instead.

Grandpa Ott's morning glory

The pears seem to being doing well this year, and seem to be ripening earlier than usual. I am thinking about trying to "juice" some in our cider press. I love having a pear tree, but don't really have many ideas for using them. I'm afraid that the chickens get more of them than we do. Any ideas of what to use them for?

I know I'm strange, but I realized as I was taking a picture of this, that every year I take a picture of the tomatoes that I grow. How weird is that? I guess I just think they are really beautiful. Love apples.

I was able to get three quarts of tomato sauce for the freezer and use some to make eggplant parmesan. I have dreams of growing enough tomatoes to freeze for use throughout the year. Bushels and bushels of them. Enough to make homemade salsa, and pizza sauce and marinara for the whole year! Ha ha! Perhaps when the boys are older....or maybe not. Maybe that's what the farmer's market is for. What a land of plenty we live in.

Three Day Weekend

The past few days have been full, and during it all I'm finding myself with a heavy, pondering spirit. My heart is still hurting for my friend who lost her mom this past week.....and of course something like that makes me think about life. It's strange how time just keeps going. I'm more aware of that now than when I was young. I might be grieving, hurting, or unwell, and I still have little bodies to feed and little spirits to guide. Life just doesn't wait for hurts sometimes. Somehow though, it is more okay now to hurt and still carry on. I can't really explain it, but I think it's just that I know that God is taking care of things for me. And I trust Him to do His best even in a really hard circumstance.

This weekend we were really busy with life. :) It was butchering weekend. Remember the chickens that we raised? They turned out really well this year. See?

Hmmmm.....delicious!

and

Today, Owl and I made sun tea.

I also made currant blackberry jam. And strawberry jam too. (the honey sweetened freezer jam style) This year I opted for freezer jam because I am trying to spend less time on preparing food, so that I can actually be in the garden more! (and outside playing too)

And today, J had the day off, so I went to see my new friend with the goats. I'm so excited to be getting fresh, raw goat's milk!!! And even more excited to be bartering for it. Any little way that I can help provide for us so my J doesn't have to work so hard is awesome! I am exchanging fresh baked goods (from freshly milled organic flour) for milk. Her place is so beautiful and she has so many things growing there. She is also going to give me some of my own kefir grains so I can learn how to make my own kefir. Hurray!

homemade whole wheat rolls

It was so good to have J home on a weekday today. He originally took the day off because we thought we'd be busy butchering all weekend, but our friends homemade chicken plucker made the job so much easier and faster!!! They made the contraption out of a washing machine drum and other parts. It is really amazing....or perhaps I just think that because last year I was the one who plucked them. (well, we all did really) Last year one chicken took about an hour to pluck by hand. Yeah. Not fun. This year it took about 2 minutes. :) We put in another order for chicks today. There is also some talk about getting a few turkeys. Wouldn't that be fun?

Today I took pictures....

Aren't they sweet?  Two days old now....

There are quite a few of them this time around.  30 meat birds...to be shared with our friends.  We are going to brood them for the first three weeks.  Then they will be raised on our friends' land.  Then we butcher them together.  Yeah....it's not as bad as it sounds....and it's important to know where your food is coming from.  An assortment of 12 laying hens.  Some of them are Auracanas....like the two darker colored ones in the picture below.  Aren't they beautiful?  The brown striped one actually has blue eyes!  They are such pretty hens and they lay blue green eggs.  
I love this little black one.  She is really friendly and will come right up to any of the boys.  She also is the first one to the feeder when it is replenished.  I like this picture because she fits right into one of the slots in the egg carton.  :)

It's been really hot here lately.  We've been doing alot of this.......
This picture is just funny.  So I thought I'd show it to you.  Nothin' like a doggie kiss.

Here are two pictures of Hen and I in our jammies. 


We are tired.  So there have been plenty of mornings lately where we have been hanging out in our jammies till lunch.  We've been reading a lot and building legos and planting potatoes.  Today I started priming the kitchen.  It's taking me awhile since I am tired and painting ceilings is not the job for a tired person.  But I am determined to finish in a timely fashion.  So here I go.....a little painting before bed.

The Postman Called at 6am Today....

To deliver our baby chicks.   :)  All 48 of them.  And silly old me didn't even get one picture.  Oi!  And now it's dark and the sweet little things are all tucked in for the night. Actually, they are all locked up...safe and sound....because we don't like providing the raccoons with treats around here.

Anyway....I promise to get you some pictures tomorrow.  They are so sweet and little.  And even though this is our fourth time raising day old chicks the boys are still totally infatuated with their fluffy cuteness.  And little Hen is so curious about them.  :)

In other news the dry wall is finished!  And I have plans to prime the walls tomorrow, Lord willing.  Off to spend some time with my J.  G'night.