Crafting

 

Crafting. I've still been doing some of it. All this stuff, plus 3 custom hand embroidered backpacks (like these) that I forgot to take a pic of.  Crafting is definitely a love, but seems to be put on the back burner as I focus on the gardens. In a way I hate to practically abandon my sewing machine, but at the same time, it feels good to get dirty in the garden.  It's the rhythm of the season.  Before long, it will be winter again and the sewing machine will be back out. So for now, I will just enjoy getting dirt behind these fingernails.

A good day.

It's time to get dressed up and hang out with some of our favorite littles. It's going to be a good day.

Broody Success

 

We marked eggs (which I love the series of pics, you can see what a serious job this was...he marked "A" on all), let her sit and after 21 days, look what we found. I'd love to get better/more pics, but of course we're leaving. They are in good hands with one of our favorite neighbors though.

Clearing pasture.

Last year, you couldn't even walk through this jungle of an overgrown mess. I'm trying to keep the goats at it, making it walkable, perhaps even back to pasture again someday?

One thing for sure, my littles do love their goats. Feeling is mutual, I might say.

Gardening 2015

Here's the last two gardening posts of the year.
Gardening 2015: Take One
Take two.
Take three.

These last couple weeks, it feels like all I have done is this gardening thing. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it. But, tennis elbow for the first time tells me my goals may be too lofty to do alone.  I did enlist my kids to help more than ever, though. They are at a stage when their help is actually starting to help. 

So, here was my garden May 23rd, 2015.


And here's my garden today. It's officially all planted. There's no more room. I totally worked smarter and harder thus far. 7 loads of manure in the fall. 8 grain sized bags of leaves I bagged last fall to mulch and two truckloads of grass clippings. My husband helped with getting the manure, but the rest was my littles and me. The only areas that aren't mulched are the areas that were directly sowed. Just waiting for the stuff to come up before I mulch.  Just about all this stuff?  Planted from seed.  My littles and I started these seeds in the cold of March. Look where they are now.

Some of the seeds we started were even saved from years prior. How's that for self sufficiency?!

 This year, I set up a pea house. When the peas are grown, hopefully this will be a fun place to play.

And the random compost surprise growing...

 The orchard looks promising and my husband helped me increase our blueberry bushes. I think we have 16 now.  I started to put some pine needles as mulch (they love the acidic), but haven't finished yet.

 

 I'm usually a bit embarrassed that I haven't measured up when I post these garden posts, but I do feel a wee bit proud thus far. I'm at 21 pounds of harvest processed/gobbled up thus far in the year. Hopefully my yield this year will be higher than last year's with all this soil improvement and mulching.

As Audra was wandering and singing in the garden with me...

Adrian was working.

 What a great place to watch the sun set.

Barn Cat

Oh that barn cat, Zip.  You know, the random one who just showed up a couple weeks ago?  Well, he's settled himself in nicely.  Inside.  We clearly fail at keeping barn cats in the barn. I think Zip is thankful for our shortcomings.

Thrifted.

 The entire Little House on the Prairie set, three pairs of speedo goggles, a cow bell and a wooden corral for all of Adrian's mini cows. $5.35

A metal waterning can. A headband for our forth of July birthday girl. A hoe smaller then mine, but larger than our tiny one, wood game, brand new, not out of the package farming stencils. $5.00