My vow to you

My vow to you is that I will make more of an effort into keeping this thing up to date.

We got 2 apple and 2 pear trees that we planted. We found a nest of baby bunnies. I found a bird nest that has 6 babies in it. 2 are huge, 4 are tiny. I can't figure out why, unless some other bird laid it's eggs in the nest.

Our next big project is building the chicken coop. I can't wait for chickens. We will also be getting 2 lambs as soon as we can catch the sheep guy at home. Tough thing right now since he is often out making hay. Speaking of hay, we have a dude coming to make hay for us in our field. He is coming sometime this week. I will take pictures.

The garden is growing like mad. We have to get new watermelon plants. We think all the rain we had killed them off. I would like the get some cantelope plants, too while we are at it. Still have some pumpkin and cucumbers to plant.

Dewey goes to the vet farmer today for a "well baby" check. He will get some shots. I can't wait to see how much he weighs. When we had him there...4 weeks ago I think it was, he weighed 10lbs. He has been growing like a weed.

Poor homeless children

The kids had so much fun playing in the mud after it rained hard last Thursday. I was tempted to join in.
Hadley's feet

Herbs

My Mom, brother, his girlfriend, Hadley and I went to the Herb and Garden Festival at the Landis Valley Farm Museum this weekend. We had such a great time. I got all kinds of edible, good smelling goodies. I think the kids will have a lot of fun smelling and tasting the plants I got.

Lavender-I use in cooking and to make Lavender sugar(sooo good)
Spearmint-Many uses, I am going to make tea with mine and maybe some cookies
Chocolate Mint-Smells divine, can't wait to taste it in some recipies I've found
Lemon Balm-Cooking
Chamomile-Hope to use this for tea
Dill-Many, many cooking uses. Also, hope to try my hand at pickles. I love the way this smells
Thyme-Your run of the mill thyme. Lots of use in cooking
Lavender Thyme-I love lavender so when I saw some lavender thyme I had to get some. Smells good. Can't wait to try it out
Lemon Thyme-Saw some dessert recipes I wanted to try that called for this
Elfin Thyme-might be my favorite. I love the name. How perfect for a fairy/herb garden
Lime Basil-I've been in a lime funk lately so I thought I would give this a whirl
Spicy Globe Basil-Smells so wonderful
Par-Cel-This is a funny little herb(?). It looks just like parsley but it tastes just like celery. It will make a great garnish
Oregano-You've all heard of it. Great for tomato dishes
Patchouli-Smell reminds me of hippies. Great earthy smell. I'll find something to do with it

Non-herbs
Nicotiania-the flowering tobacco plant. Attracts hummingbirds
Elephant Ear-I think they are nifty
Moon Vine-Flowers open in the evening and stay open overnight
Clematis-I got one called "Josephine"
Nasturtium-I was intriged by this one. You can eat the flowers. I got one called "Strawberries and Cream"

I also got a baby stone shroom from some hippies. I think it is cool.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Corby told everyone that would listen about Clint removing the tree stump with his truck. Last night Corby found a rope with a hook at the end of it and decided to move some of his own stumps. Clint found him and started cracking up, then he took pictures. This was after Corby was throwing dirt clumps at the car. When Clint told him to stop Corby told him that "the big one went in there" as he pointed at the open car window. Clint walked away so Corby wouldn't see him laughing.


We made some butter yesterday. It took a long time. Next time I am going to use the blender. It was fun though. We used the buttermilk to make pancakes this morning. It was all gooood.

What?!

We are getting cable(tv and internet) on Friday. We haven't had cable for over a year. I fear I will be over-stimulated if I turn on the TV. Thank goodness there is so much to do outside.

Hadley earns her keep

Yesterday we worked a little bit on Hadley's room. We took down paneling, decided we would take out the flooring after we painted and fixed the outlets. Hadley took charge and made sure we did it all right. We hope to get the spackling done today and maybe even start painting.





Right before a big sneeze. It was dusty.

We also got a good chunk of the garden planted. I would show a picture but there isn't much to see at this time. We still need to plant Potatoes and Rhubarb. Tomatoes and Peppers will wait until after next weekend when the threat of a freeze is next to nil. I am going today to get lettuce and sweet potatoes.

Tiller and a screen door

Today was an uber productive day. This morning we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. There was a lot of food. We had burgers, fries and free Rita's Ice samples. We also checked out the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art. They were having a Native Plant sale. We did not get anything but it was fun to check out.

After coming home we planned what/where things would go in our garden. Once we decided we went in search of plants. When I have a cold case built I will start my own from seeds, but we are getting started late this year. We found a place called "Smuckers". It is an Amish farm with massive greenhouses. There were so many people there. It was awesome. We got Tomatoes(1 kind for everyday use, 1 kind for making sauce), Seed Potatoes(2 kinds), Green bean seeds (stringless and purple), Pea seeds, Neck Pumpkins, 2 kinds of Watermelon, Celery, Broccoli, Seed Onions, Corn seeds, Carrot seeds, Rhubarb, and Green Peppers. We need to get Sweet Potatoes, Lettuce and Herbs. I'll get my Herbs next week at the Herb Festival.

Bonus: I found this screen door in our barn. The actual screen part needed to be replaced but the door was perfect. Our one door did not have a screen door. This one was a perfect fit(probably went there before). I got some screen at the hardware store yesterday. We repaired it today and hung it. I love it.

We did a lot of yard work today. All of the trees and shrubs need to be trimmed, lots of weeding to be done. Clint is cutting down 3 trees that had massive wicked thorns on them. We didn't want the kids to run into one and loose an eye. Sidenote: I almost said that last sentence in front of One-Eyed-Don. We had to remove one of the stumps where a tree formaly stood. That was a ton of fun. Clint pulled it out with his truck and some rope. For some odd reason the whole process scared Corb. Tree hugging hippy.

Clint finally got to use his tiller today. He was proud. I think his head might bust from the testosterone overload. The kids liked watching him till from the porch. Garden planting will begin tomorrow. Freeze warning for tonight.

More bugs

The pink moth is called a Rosy Maple Moth. It is found in Red and Silver Maples. I decided to check out our Silver Maple to see if I could find a caterpillar to keep in a jar so we could watch it morph into a moth. Instead, I found these gross looking things. They freak me out. They are Wheel Bug Nymphs. I learned that by checking out a very cool site What's that Bug? They are good bugs to have in a garden, they eat pest bugs. But, their bite is rumored to be worse than that of a bee or wasp. Yikes. I made Clint kill them.



I know you've been waiting for it, so have I. I did it. I did a load of wash and hung it on my washline. I put it out almost all the way. I just had to see what it would look like. It was awesome. I can't wait to hang diapers out.

Pretty in Pink

We are loving the farm life. I can't even really express it into words, just loving it. We feel like we can finally breath. I bought eggs from the Amish farm up the ways a bit for 90 cents a dozen. The suckers are huge! We have an organic farm 3 miles away that I got our meat from for this week. They give tours of the farm. Clint and I want to take the kids one day. I also got milk there. It came in , get this, a glass jug. You get a 2 dollar "refund" towards your next purchase of milk for bringing the jug back. I may just have to keep one though.

This Saturday my Mom is coming up so we can check out the farmers market a few miles away. There is also a Cherry Blossom festival in town that we want to go to. We hope to get our garden ready for planting this weekend and maybe work on Hadley's room. It is fugly right now, but we will make it right purty.

I found this moth(?) on our trash can this morning. I never knew a moth could be so pretty. I can't wait for the kids to wake up so I can show them. I wonder what kind it is? I am going to look it up.

Heating

Earlier this week we were informed by the bank that we are getting our mortgage from that we need to install central heat in the farm, preferably before closing(in 4 weeks). We are annoyed by this. The first thing Clint asked them was if the coal stove being the only source of heat was going to be a problem. The guy told Clint no, as long as we can get insurance they don't care. Turns out the dumbass didn't know what he was talking about. Even more annoying, they can't tell us what will be enough heating, just that what we have isn't enough. We got an estimate from our former neighbour who just got his HVAC degree. His estimate is 10-12K dollars. We are still going to get the farm, this is just a huge pain in the ass.

Picture

YAY! Today posting pictures works. Here are 2 shots of the farm. The first is of the barn from the lane. Behind the barn our land goes down to the tree line, and to the left off the picture.

The second picture would be what you can see if you look out of the double sliding doors in the living room. Again, our land goes down to the tree line. There is part of the garden, a shed and way out there is the Amish phone boooth. Sadley, they are taking the little phone booth.

Just 5 weeks until we move to the farm. Corb asks daily "We moving to the farm today?". 4 weeks until we move in with my parents for a week or so, that should be interesting. The electric pump should be going in for the well today up at the farm. Tuesday the radon mitigation system should be going in and April 5th the UV light should be put in the well. I can't get the picture's to work or I would post some pictures of the farm.