Garden 2018...the Beginning...

My garden is planted about as late as it's ever been, this year!  A long week of rain and other "more important things" are my excuses!

Last evening I rototilled, and tonight I planted.

I planted a row of zinnias, a bed of sunflowers, and found two packs of seeds in my garden shed from 2014.  This is the year of experimentation...will they germinate or not?

This is my lima bean row, guarded fiercely by my two helpers.

One of these helpers is about to cause trouble.  Can you guess which one?

First, she tried to eat the lima beans as fast as I dropped them into the rows...

Then she found a piece of wood and decided to play keep away with her mother...

You can imagine the state of the garden when they were finished!

I found several volunteer dill plants growing along the edge of the garden, so I left them to grow...

My tomatoes have actually been planted for a couple of weeks.  I have blight in my soil, so each year I mulch heavily with straw, to keep the soil from splashing up onto the leaves when it rains.  I also spray them with liquid copper.  I hope they do ok this year, because I planted them, mulched them and then it began to rain, before I got them sprayed!

My cucumbers, Burpless #26, don't look too happy.  They didn't appreciate all the rain either, and turned a little yellow and sickly looking.  But now that we've had several days of sunshine, I see a blossom!  Fingers crossed!  My pickle shelf is getting empty...

And last but not least...

Totally unrelated, but located  next to my garden, are our two new additions...

Kari and Whitney are leghorn pullets, given to me by Kari's daughter Avalea.  She and her fellow classmates at our local CTC hatched them and raised them to eight weeks of age before finding them new homes.   Last evening I went inside to check on them and I found them huddled together in the nesting boxes.  Aren't they sweet?

They're still extremely shy, and they're not allowed out of the shed yet.  I want to protect them from hawks and other dangers as much as possible until they're bigger.  I've also reinforced the fence to keep out foxes and other predators.

Hopefully they'll be joined before too long by some other hens, to keep them company.  (and to keep us in eggs!!)

Waiting For Breakfast...

There are so many creatures around here depending on us for their breakfasts...

These two heifers in the corner hutch saw me coming.  They're anticipating hay, grain and silage...

The chickens get excited when I fill their water tub, knowing that something else is coming soon...

Murphy saw me toss some stale bagels into the chicken pen yesterday, and she's been keeping vigil...thinking that somehow, sometime, she'll get one. Shy of digging under the fence...which she tried...grrrrr...she's going to be waiting a long time...

The puppies have been staying in the warm barn overnight, and they can hardly contain themselves when they see someone in the morning. Anticipation of freedom and breakfast and attention has them so excited...

How do you anticipate your breakfast?

Puppy Love...

Day 11

We just can't help it...

They're eating like little piggies...and growing like weeds...

Look at their tiny, perfect little feet!

We're in love!

...And Then There Were 9...

We have tried numerous times over the past few years to have our black lab Murphy bred, without success.  As a result, although she hasn't been spayed, we were pretty unconcerned about her becoming pregnant on her own.  Well not on her own, but you know...promiscuously!

Over the past several months we have occasionally seen a male German Shorthaired Pointer roaming the neighborhood.  The last time I saw him was July 1st, which would coincide with what happened here last night...

Murphy is now the proud mama to nine adorable puppies!  Three are brown, and six are black.  They look mostly like labs at this stage, but several have some white on their bellies, and we assume they will change their looks as they get a little older.

Let the fun begin!

Friday's Hunt...

What a week it's been!

We've had some of the most beautiful weather of the summer this week...several days of temps in the 70's with very low humidity and a nice breeze all day long!  So very unusual for this area this time of year, and I wish I could have captured it to save for later.  Today felt much more like typical June weather...hot and muggy, with threatening thunderstorms.

I'm linking up again with Teresa at Eden Hills, for Friday's Hunt.

This week's prompts are...

"Week's favorite"...

Do you remember this bird's nest that was in my hanging baskets? Now the eggs have hatched in both baskets, and we have nine baby House Finches!  I hear the parents outside my kitchen window all day long.  The dads perch on the chains to the hanging baskets, keeping watch for any movement near the porch door.  As soon as they see us, off they fly...

"Starts with X"...

I chose the uneXpected this week.

We have a strip of stones beside our porch, and the weeds have to be kept after.  This spring, however, I saw something growing that looked suspiciously like Petunias. I left them grow, and a few days ago this opened! I haven't planted white petunias in years, so it's a mystery to me where they came from!

Another uneXpected surprise was this, when I walked into the house tonight...

Caught in the middle of a big yawn...Murphy does NOT belong in the house. The kids had some fun with her on this very hot, muggy day, so we took a few pictures and sent her back outside where she's I'm MUCH happier.

The last prompt is "Wet...or Water"...

It's been a dry week, so I don't have any rain pictures to show you...and the storms that are predicted for tonight haven't come yet...so I'll show you what happens when you turn on the hose and wash down the walls of the house with water...which is what I spent an hour or so doing yesterday morning...

Everything feels so fresh and clean again!  This part of the house faces west and south, and when the wind blows, the dust collects on the siding, and after while it gets...just yucky. I took the hose and a scrub brush with soapy water, and cleaned it thoroughly.  What a good feeling it is.  It might only stay this clean for a short time, but...

I hope you have a great rest of your weekend!

Friday's Hunt #13...

It's Friday, but it's felt like Saturday all day long...

Eric is home from college for Easter break, and Jenna doesn't have school either.  Yay!  It's not very often that all four of us are under the same roof.

This week's prompts for Friday's Hunt are...

1.  Starts with "M"...

What who else but Murphy...

Murphy is no stranger to my blog.  She's our eight year old black lab...with a personality like no other.  When she was born to Snickers...our yellow lab, Jenna chose her right away as the puppy we were going to keep. She tried our patience for the first two years of her rambunctious life, chewing on everything from shoes to rocking chairs to picnic tables.  But we can't imagine what it would be like to not have her around!

2.  Week's Favorite...

Of course it has something to do with flowers!  The pussy willows that I had on my porch were going to seed, and I was in need of some brightening up, so I went to my neighbor and traded her a loaf of homemade bread for some forsythia...

3.  Bird or Wings...

I was putzin' around in the garden this morning, and the chickens were ever so curious...

Lots more happened today, but I'll save that for another post on another day.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Spring Fence Check...

Ah, spring!

The windows are open, the birds are singing, and the cows are itching to be out in the meadow!  It's almost time, but the meadow grass needs a little longer to grow nice and thick so they'll not rip it up with their sharp hooves, and they'll actually have a meal rather than just a snack.

Last night Jim took the backs off the calf hutches...

The little heifers were so excited!  One of them actually ran and jumped out over the wire in the back and sprinted around the garden for a few minutes until she was corralled again.  This morning I snuck behind them and snapped a picture while they were busy eating their breakfast...

Now, they're all four laying out enjoying the warm sunshine.

This morning after breakfast, while Jim headed out to fill in some ground hog holes at the other farm, I did the spring fence check around the meadow.

Most of it was in fine shape, with a few minor exceptions.  We run two strands of wire around the meadow, for extra security, and the lower strand was too close to the ground here.  So...I decided to test the "rubber boot" theory...

You know...the one that says if you have on rubber boots, you won't get shocked?  Well...it worked!  I pulled it up about 6"-8" with my toe, and it's good to go...

One strand of wire had slipped over the fiberglass fence post and was touching this old metal post, so I used my sweatshirt sleeve to grab the fiberglass post (they're full of tiny, almost invisible sharp pieces!) and bent it around behind the wire.  Now it's keeping the wire off the metal, which would cause a short...

The meadow is greening up nicely...

The west side of the meadow was in pretty good shape too.  Eventually some of the wires will need replaced, but for now they're ok.  There was a big piece of plastic that had blown across the fields and was tangled in the fence...it went into the trash...

As I was finishing up, I came across some "mystery" prints in the dirt near the waterway.  Hmm...could it be a bear print?

Probably not.

I think I found the culprit...

Yup.  It must've been Murphy!

On with this beautiful day!  There won't be enough hours in it, I'm guessing.

I'm linking up with Good Fences today.  Thanks, TexWisGirl for hosting!

Fall 2015...

My camera and I took a walk this afternoon...

My camera can't do the leaves justice...they're so much brighter than they look here.  I think the bright yellows (which I have no pictures of) and the bright red/oranges are my favorites.  And oh, don't forget the dark reds.

Last weekend my sister and I traveled to a cross country meet about one hour north of here, and the drive was spectacular!  I'm so glad to live where we see the change of seasons.  Every year, without fail, we see God's beauty!

Yesterday's rain, along with the wind that has continued today, has brought a lot of the leaves to the ground...

Jim no longer picks corn, so an Amish neighbor asked if he could use our corn crib for a few loads of his corn.  He'll sell it later out of the crib.  It's nice to see it in use again...

The barley that Jim seeded is growing nicely...

And last but not least, my shadow, Murphy, followed me everywhere this afternoon.  When I went to visit a neighbor, she patiently waited for me along the edge of the soybean field...

What a loyal friend!

Barn Door Project...

Wouldn't life be boring if there was never anything that needed to be done? Nothing in need of repair?

This time it was the big barn doors that needed to be repaired.  Any time a round bale, hay wagon, load of hay or sawdust or who knows what needs to be put upstairs in the barn, these big doors swing open.  They're extremely heavy, and are used often.  Time, weather, and hard use take their toll.  The doors are on top of the barn hill on the north side, and when it's windy they can take a beating.  We prop them with big metal posts to help anchor them shut.

Tuesday morning, the Amish crew rolled in at 6:00 am on the dot, as promised...

They took off the damaged wood and cut new tongue and groove boards to size...

Several of the big hinges needed replaced and the ones they brought along weren't large enough.  Here, Jim and the foreman are discussing what needs to be done.  We ended up finding some hinges at an antique store nearby that did the trick...

Murphy guarded the lunches.  All. Day. Long.  (pardon her very un-ladylike pose)

All finished...

Now the doors need a coat or two of paint, and they'll be good to go!