Spring has sprung on the farm!

Spring officially arrived sometime on Friday, March 20th. On the first full day of spring we had beautiful sunny skies and temps in the 50's. It was a lovely day to be outside working in the garden and soaking up the sun. I gave Kelsey Anna free reign with the camera for awhile to take pictures of "spring". This is her portfolio.

The photographer.

Here are 2 pictures of our Red Flowering Currant. The Hummingbirds LOVE these and I can't wait to start seeing those tiny little birds around. I've had one come to the feeder 2x but the feeder wasn't ready. So I brought it in and scrubbed it up and will put it back out today.

Mina is enjoying the sunshine.

Here is our first sprout in the garden...radish. We have several sprouting and also have spinach coming up.

Here is Butter waiting for a tree branch to munch on.

I had to put this somewhat blurry picture in because it shows very well how big Butter is getting. I'm afraid she won't fit through the very small opening in the barn very much longer. We will have to widen it for her.

Here we have the gentleman rooster with his brood.

Killick would like to get his paws on that rooster. :)

Kelsey found these tiny little mushrooms growing up through the cracks in the deck.

Dandelions are definitely a sign of spring. We've had them coming around for several weeks now.

Last but not least, Charissa and one of her many frogs she catches on a daily basis. She is REALLY into frogs right now. We make her release them back to the pond but she just loves catching frogs.

First Egg in New Flock

The smallest egg in the picture is from the new flock.

On Tuesday when locking up the chickens we found the first egg from the new flock!! I'm so excited because once they are all laying this should more than double my egg production!!! My customers will be so happy!!!

Goats, Roosters, Gardening and Winter

Winter is still upon us. I'm home with a very sick boy today and watching big fat flakes of snow fall from the sky. I think we've gotten about 2 inches so far this morning, completely unexpected. I planted peas, spinach, radishes and carrots last week. And now I have 2+ inches of snow on the ground. We've had the strangest winter. Snow is not typical for us and this winter I think we've gotten well over 2 feet of snow total. Very strange.

Butter with her bulging belly.

Butter has 7 weeks to go until her due date. She is looking mighty pregnant, my guess is at least twins but wouldn't be surprised to see triplets. This is what Firefly looked like a month before kidding last year and she had triplets. I've been comparing Butter to her. So we'll see what Butter looks like at a month before kidding.



I still don't know if Brie is pregnant, probably won't until late May or even due date. If she didn't take then we'll breed her early this fall.


The rooster is looking mighty handsome these days and keeps the ladies in line. We actually have 2 roosters and I'm ready to put them in the freezer. I've decided I don't really like roosters. I wish I had some chicken tractors to put some hens in with him so we could incubate eggs. In a chicken tractor I don't have to walk around him and worry about him becoming mean. The new flock of 23 hens should start laying eggs any day now. I keep looking for that first egg, I'm surprised it hasn't been arrived yet.

Kelsey and I are busy planning our seed purchases. She has taken an interest in herbs and has been reading lots about herbs and their medicinal uses. She is finding it fascinating. This is our list of sees to buy:
Purple Coneflower (echinacea)
Chamomile
Thyme
Dill
Chives
Cilantro
Catnip
Lavender
Rosemary
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans (our favorite)
Beets
Broccoli
Golden Bantam sweet corn
Early Pink Popcorn (first time with this)
Yellow squash
Zucchini
Potatoes
Onions

These seeds we have already:
Gold Nugget Cherry Tomato (start inside this week)
carrots sunflower seeds
Acorn Squash
Lemon Cucumber
Pickling Cucumber
Slicing Cucumber
Small Sugar Pumpkin
Cabbage
Spinach
Peas
Radishes

We have big plans, I just hope the snow stops coming and we have a decent spring for planting and a warm summer. I also have plans to take the lawn on the east side of the house (in the snow picture it's the big open space down the middle) and till it all up this spring for more garden. I'm feeling very ambitious but with the economy the way it is one cannot be too prepared.

gardening

Red Flowering Currant

Spring is in the air!

Last Saturday, FEBRUARY 28th, I planted the first of my garden! I had heard talk around town about people planting peas by mid-February and so I got my seeds out and did some research and found several things that say "as soon as the soil is workable". So we prepped the 2 raised beds we have, one is covered with a tent, and started to plant.

In the bare bed we planted radishes, spinach and peas. The peas will climb the green trellis to the right. We planted only one or 2 rows so that we can do some successive planting.

In the tented bed we planted carrots. When I created this bed I didn't plan well and forgot to leave a way to work the bed. So I had to improvise and I have a small little path down the middle. This tent is where I am going to experiment with some peppers this summer. They need HOT and this tent will get hot during the summer. I really would love some red peppers.
It is still cold and I've never planted this early but I'm really excited to try this. The spinach package even says 40 degrees is great for germination. I'm going to see what else I can plant under the tent right now as it has been getting into the 60's under that tent during the day.
Happy Spring!


Don't forget to "spring forward" this weekend! I'm looking forward to the longer evenings to work outside!