The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.... I am a slacker. I procrastinate to no end. That is why it has been roughly 2 months since my last post. Unfortunately blogging is not my only procrastination. I hate laundry too. There is A LOT of clean laundry upstairs and in the basket next to the couch that NEEEEEDS to get put away TODAY. But I will probably procrastinate until at least Wednesday to put it away and by then there will be at least 2 more loads waiting to be folded. Did I mention I hate laundry.
Anyway...this will be a not so small overview of whats been going on in the last couple months to catch everyone up on my so interesting life.
Our farm is growing. We added 2 Shetland sheep. A ewe and a ram who we've named Bo and Peep. They are both yearlings and we are hoping Peep will have a lamb or two next spring. We actually got them quite cheap from a Craigslist ad. We were told that the previous owners didn't have as much time as they'd like to take care of them and they just wanted them to go quickly. About 2 weeks ago Ryan called a local sheep farmer to see if he would come shear Bo and Peep for us. I had never seen a sheep sheared before. It was really neat to watch. We have two bags of wool that I'm not really sure what I'll do with. I'd like to learn to spin someday
Anyway...this will be a not so small overview of whats been going on in the last couple months to catch everyone up on my so interesting life.
Our farm is growing. We added 2 Shetland sheep. A ewe and a ram who we've named Bo and Peep. They are both yearlings and we are hoping Peep will have a lamb or two next spring. We actually got them quite cheap from a Craigslist ad. We were told that the previous owners didn't have as much time as they'd like to take care of them and they just wanted them to go quickly. About 2 weeks ago Ryan called a local sheep farmer to see if he would come shear Bo and Peep for us. I had never seen a sheep sheared before. It was really neat to watch. We have two bags of wool that I'm not really sure what I'll do with. I'd like to learn to spin someday
but just don't have the time to attempt it right now.
Our chickens and other various poultry are twitterpated (or broody if you want to be technical). It started with the turkey in May. She lost all of her eggs to a predator the week before they were supposed to hatch. Most likely a coyote. Then one banty chicken started sitting on a few eggs in one of the nesting boxes and within a week there was at least one chicken sitting on eggs in all the nesting boxes. 2 chickens were even sharing a box together. I thought we'd have 100 new baby chicks by the time they were done. Sadly only 4 baby chicks made it out of their shells and only 2 of those made it past the first few days. However, there is still one hen sitting on 2 eggs in the non-functioning utility sink in the garage. Yesterday when I went in the hay mow to throw down hay for the sheep I found a nest of about 8 eggs that I believe another hen is sitting on and last Thursday our "missing" guinea hen reappeared with 16 babies as well.
Last weekend we inherited 2 ponies from my mom. They were my little sister and brother's but they have upgraded to horses. Meet May and Flicka.
My garden is doing really well this year. We've had a lot of rain so its been difficult at best for me to keep up with the weeds. Ryan occasionally picks up large rolls of paper from paper companies and they put rubber mats down in the trailer so the rolls don't get wet. Ryan's company just throws them away but they've been holding onto them for me. I cut the mats in half and lay them down my rows to help cut down on the weeds. The garden actually hasn't looked this good since the first year I moved here when it was much smaller. The only thing that didn't come up was my row of sweet peas. I used some leftover seeds that were probably two years old so that may explain it. My pumpkin and cucumber plants are really healthy looking this year and I actually have beets and kohlrabi up too. The beans really need fence up so they can climb but with all the rain yesterday we just didn't get to it. Hopefully we can do it next weekend before we leave for vacation. My tomato plants are doing fantastic as well and already have some good sized tomatoes hanging from them. I'm hoping to branch out beyond diced tomatoes this year and can some homemade spaghetti sauce.
Our chickens and other various poultry are twitterpated (or broody if you want to be technical). It started with the turkey in May. She lost all of her eggs to a predator the week before they were supposed to hatch. Most likely a coyote. Then one banty chicken started sitting on a few eggs in one of the nesting boxes and within a week there was at least one chicken sitting on eggs in all the nesting boxes. 2 chickens were even sharing a box together. I thought we'd have 100 new baby chicks by the time they were done. Sadly only 4 baby chicks made it out of their shells and only 2 of those made it past the first few days. However, there is still one hen sitting on 2 eggs in the non-functioning utility sink in the garage. Yesterday when I went in the hay mow to throw down hay for the sheep I found a nest of about 8 eggs that I believe another hen is sitting on and last Thursday our "missing" guinea hen reappeared with 16 babies as well.
Last weekend we inherited 2 ponies from my mom. They were my little sister and brother's but they have upgraded to horses. Meet May and Flicka.
My garden is doing really well this year. We've had a lot of rain so its been difficult at best for me to keep up with the weeds. Ryan occasionally picks up large rolls of paper from paper companies and they put rubber mats down in the trailer so the rolls don't get wet. Ryan's company just throws them away but they've been holding onto them for me. I cut the mats in half and lay them down my rows to help cut down on the weeds. The garden actually hasn't looked this good since the first year I moved here when it was much smaller. The only thing that didn't come up was my row of sweet peas. I used some leftover seeds that were probably two years old so that may explain it. My pumpkin and cucumber plants are really healthy looking this year and I actually have beets and kohlrabi up too. The beans really need fence up so they can climb but with all the rain yesterday we just didn't get to it. Hopefully we can do it next weekend before we leave for vacation. My tomato plants are doing fantastic as well and already have some good sized tomatoes hanging from them. I'm hoping to branch out beyond diced tomatoes this year and can some homemade spaghetti sauce.
Ryan has been working hard to get all our firewood cut, split, and stacked for winter. When Landon is here he loves to help too! Usually we do it in early spring while the ground is still frozen but the spring thaw came early this year and we didn't get the chance. I'm pretty confident Ryan has just about all of it cut and split now. It just needs to be stacked.
Landon and Sawyer are enjoying the warmer weather and are outside daily. They play hard and by the end of the day they pass out just about anywhere.
Danica is growing like a weed. She is still a quiet content little girl. She loves to play in her exersaucer. She's forever chewing on her fingers and I think I see the top of a tooth just under the skin on her bottom gum. At her 4 month check up she was 14lbs 9oz and 25 inches long. Bigger than both Landon and Sawyer at their 4 month checkups. I just love all her baby rolls.
She and Landon have quite the bond. I think he would be happy to sit and talk baby talk to her for hours.
Well for those of you who enjoy reading this blog...again I'm sorry for the delay. Watch in a few weeks for a new blog. We leave this Saturday for our annual Trucker's Vacation. We're headed to Summer Haven RV Resort in Bemidji, MN. Hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July!
