05 May, 2011

Spring time!

We planted some rhubarb last fall and it is coming along nicely!  I think this is the first rhubarb that we have ever got to grow out of all that we have planted over the years.
 We planted 4 fruit trees.  2 Jonathan apple and 2 cherry.  I wanted apple and that was the only two the store had at the time and DD requested the cherries.  I think she is the only one in the house that really likes to eat fresh cherries.  I do like cherry pie though! We have planted many other trees in the past.  The goats killed the only apple tree that actually produced last year.  My 2 pear trees we planted last spring did great last year so I am hoping they do even better this year. The peach trees and cherry tree that we planted a few years ago have not done well at all.  So I am hoping that a better location will help these trees.
 I am totally amazed that my tulips bloomed at all this year since the cable guy stomped all over them when he was splicing our lines.  (Why he HAD to splice them just to add connectors I have no idea!)
 The baby chicks are getting big.  They have been out in the coop for over a week now and they have been getting let out everyday.
 We were also given two ducks.  One is a Khaki Campbell and I am not sure what the other one is.  So far they have not taken off out of our pen but their wings were clipped before we put them out there.  Since we added two new ducks we will be sending at least one...possibly both...of our worthless male ducks off to see Alaina the Camp Counselor...where they will then head off to freezer camp.  We also added two Auburn Turkey peeps to our list of animals.  So, we are kind of on animal overload so the useless ones kind of have to go.  The one is going for sure since it keeps biting the kids.  But the other duck we have had since we first started into chickens like 8 years ago so it is kind of sentimental to keep him because he has outlived ALL other livestock that has came here.  So we are on the fence about sending him off to camp.  Half the kids voted to get rid of him though because THEY wanted females ducks for the eggs.  We think duck eggs are the best to bake with because they have such a rich taste and my oldest DS prefers them for scrambled eggs.
 The goaties eating some pine limbs.  With all of the wind and storms we have had the neighbors trees have taken a beatin' so we cleaned up some of the branches that broke and gave them to the goats.  They love them!  (And I hope the neighbor appreciates that we cleaned up their property and does not get mad because they were not home when we did it.  There was a LOT of downed branches.  Some were even to big for DH to lift over the fence.)

 Last fall, just before the frost, we got a bunch of horse manure off of the neighbor and put it in the back of the  property between the electric fence and the property line and divided up our hostas and planted them.  They have done BEAUTIFULLY!  I now have around 76 or 77 hosta plants growing back there!  I am hoping to divide them up again this fall and then hopefully sell half of them next year.
 Here you can see how big the hostas really are.

 Amber and Lily get along really good with Pinkie Pie now.  We have not had any problems at all with them.  Do my older goats look pregnant???  Oh, I hope they are!  I am looking forward to having some fresh milk again but, I still have 3 full months to wait.
 Baby girl LOVES being outside!  It is so muddy that she just comes back in covered from head to toe with mud!  She even ran outside yesterday AFTER she was all dressed for church and completely made a mess of herself because she fell!  Sigh....   She will dart out the door as soon as she sees it open.  My 8 and 6 yo have even taught her how to climb out the living room window.....oh the joys of motherhood!!
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1 comment:

katlupe said...

Your blog is excellent! I love the photos of your children, goats and plants. It is such a wholesome life for raising children!