Building raised beds

Before Drew left he tilled up 3 long rows for strawberries. He didn't have time to build the boxes but he did get out all the boards so the boys and I could work on it. Well, today we finally built one! It didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped it would, but it will work. We are using salvaged lumber that was in the barn when we bought this place. Can't beat that!
The beds on the left are the ones Silas built with his Grammy. The next 3 are strawberry beds. You can see one is in the process of being laid out and one is done.
Here it is! Something is really weird on the right side. We used 12" 2x4's with the end cut like a tent stake so it would drive easier. We pounded those in as we went-flush with the tops of the boards-and then screwed the side boards into them. Some weren't pounded so straight and with the boards already a bit bowed, well, it's a little wibbly. Now, we have 2 more to build and we can plant strawberries! I wouldn't have wanted to do this without my 3 willing helpers.
This is me getting a board into place. Almost all of the boards needed to have the ends cut off so they would be straight.

Making one of many cuts. :) I am looking forward to making the next two. We made a few mistakes with the first one and now I think I have it figured out. The next two should go much faster.

Our greenhouse

Ann, over at His Grace To Me , asked me about our greenhouse and requested pictures. So, here are 2 pictures of our little greenhouse:


I really like it. Even on a chilly, dreary day, we can go in there and it's so nice. The air is fresh, things are green and growing and there is life long after the frost has gotten everything else. I am considering hanging my hammock chair in there this fall. :)



It is a metal framework that I believe was originally intended for some kind of carport thing. The previous owners stretched the plastic over and used it as a greenhouse. There are 7 raised beds inside with mulch on the walkways.

another opossum

This is our Barred Rock Pip. She is Levi's chicken and Drew's favorite. She is such a friendly chicken, following us around waiting for treats.
This is Raoul. He is quite old and doesn't get around very well anymore.
Last night I heard clucking when the chicken house should have been quiet. I had already been in bed and the boys were in bed also. I got up and that is when I heard the clucking. I called to Ukiah and Levi who bounded out of bed and ran out to the chicken house in their bare feet. Another opossum! This time it had a hold of Pip's tail feathers. Ukiah chased it off and up into a corner of the screened in part of the chicken yard. We weren't able to catch this one as easily as Drew had caught the last (by the tail). I didn't want to just grab it and I didn't want the boys to either. So I ran down to the workshop and got a big fishing net. Ukiah netted it and we put it into a big barrel. He spent the night in our workshop and was relocated in the morning. I wish I had pictures of the whole event to post. The boys sure are making some memories AND, Levi is getting much more diligent about locking up the chickens at night. :)

more chick pictures

The ones with the chipmunk stripes down their backs are Aracaunas. The white one is a white Silkie - they have blue beaks! The black one with his beak in the air is a Black Australorp. The black with white spot on the head is a Dominique. The golden is a NH Red. The little one in the middle, to the right of the Silkie is our Mystery chick!

Insect collecting

This is Ukiah's prize Luna moth along with a few others. We are working on labels.

The chicks are here

They arrived yesterday morning. 27 chicks! Silas made up a little countdown "calendar" when we placed our order over a month ago. It was so cute to watch him cross off each day. Levi got white Silkies, Silas got New Hampshire Reds, Ukiah got Aracaunas, I got Black Australorps and Drew got Dominiques. We also got a surprise exotic chick. :) A few have already been on an excursion outside to eat grass clippings and bugs - courtesy of the boys.

A visitor

This little bird must have hit one of our windows and decided to take a rest on the deck. Our deck is not a safe place for birds to rest so we moved it inside just long enough for it to recover. Isn't it beautiful? We think it is some kind of warbler.

Tomatoes!

Levi and I were out in the greenhouse today doing some weeding. I knew we had a lot of blossoms but Levi spotted some little tomatoes! We were so excited. This plant is an heirloom variety called Principe Borghese. It produces nice small tomatoes that are good for drying.

Ukiahs' insect collection

Ukiah is fulfilling a long-time desire to make an insect collection. We made a net, prepared a jar with plaster for killing the insects, fixed up some display boxes and ordered a few inexpensive supplies like pins and a spreading board. He already has quite a few specimens and works daily to get more. Here are several of his butterflies and moths on the spreading board:


We found a very large dragonfly today to add to the collection. We are using an older 4H entomology manual that we found online as a guide.

Mystery lily

At first I thought this was some type of unusual iris. After looking more closely at the foliage, I think it is a lily. They are so delicate and beautiful.

muffler repair

One of the things on my "to do"list was to repair the muffler. I needed to get the truck inspected and we didn't think it would pass in the condition it was in. So, yesterday I got out the cold-weld stuff my husband told me about and got to my task. It was actually kind of fun...and cooler under the truck. The dogs must have thought so too because they joined me. :)

I got out all my supplies. Read the instructions. I had everything except the gloves, but I needed to forge ahead. I figured I would just be careful not to touch it. So...mix Bottle A with Bottle B...stir for 3 minutes. Add powdered aggregate to achieve desired consistency. Hmmm. What consistency do I want for this job?? Start out thinner, add more if necessary. The kit included a short paint stirrer kind of thing. That is how I am going to apply it...I think. :) Here is what the muffler looked like before:
So I started applying it all around the edges to seal the crack. Then, I would press in the strips of fiberglass tape I had pre-cut. All the while trying to do this with that awkward paint paddle. Well, the stuff started heating up which took me by surprise so I figured it was going to begin to harden...I better hurry. Finally, I ditched the paint paddle and started using my fingers. Bad I know. I applied a coat on top of the fiberglass to keep it in place.

Here is what it looked like when I was finished:

Now...here is what happened. I let it cure all day and all night. I decided this morning I would take it in for the inspection. We looked at it before we left and it was solid just like the directions said it should be. When we were almost there - like I could see the mechanic's sign - I heard the muffler get really loud. Silas said "I think it came apart!" I had to agree. Just then I sensed the Lord prompting me that nothing happens without it going through Him first. Because of that, I could have peace. We proceeded to the garage even though part of me wanted to pull in somewhere and look. The mechanic inspected it right then and there, passed it! and only charged me $12! I am so thankful. We will take care of the muffler as soon as Drew gets back but until then, at least it is legal. :)

A tree frog

Yesterday morning I decided to walk down the lane to get the mail and the boys could ride along on their bikes. It was such a peaceful, warm morning. Then I heard "Mama, Mama! Look what we found!"


Since they were on their bikes they couldn't hold it the whole way back home so they handed it to me. I didn't want to hold it because I knew my dry, salty hands wouldn't be good for it so I carefully put it in my shirt pocket. lol As soon as we took some pictures, we let it go. Isn't it beautiful? The yellow under it back legs was so bright!

Listening for worms

The other evening, a very excited Ukiah came to me and said he could hear the worms popping up out of the ground. We've listened to a book on tape where a boy describes his wilderness adventure and Ukiah remembered that this boy said he could hear the worms after a rain. We'd recently had a lot of rain so he decided to listen. Imagine his surprise when he actually heard them! We gathered his brothers and all went to listen for worms. There were little popping sounds...sort of like Rice Krispies when you put the milk on. :)

Excitement in the frog pond

The other night, the trilling of toads in our frog pond was SO loud. I guess for those few nights it was a TOAD pond.

It wasn't quite sundown yet so we could still see very well. The boys very excitedly came to me and said "Come, come...you have to see all the toads! Can you hear them??" I had been hearing them and was enjoying the sounds of Spring.





The males were trilling in an effort to identify themselves to the females. Levi can trill perfectly -just like one! So when they would quiet down, he would get them going again. It makes me smile just to think of it.

Can you see the eggs trailing behind them?? It was so neat. There are loads of them in the pond now! All in all, we counted 20 toads and I'm sure there were more back under the rock ledges - we could hear them trilling. This went on for three nights and there are still a few out there waiting for mates I suppose.

Our little pond is in need of some repair and I had been thinking I would drain it, sand it and reseal it. But now it has become a tadpole pond and that job will have to wait. :)

Today's "catch"

Our family loves reptiles. Especially snakes. I think it is a requirement when raising children...especially boys. :) If you don't enjoy reptiles, this post may be a challenge for you.

Today was mowing day for the two oldest boys. Before they mow, they walk through the yards to make sure there isn't any wildlife that could get run over. They found one Three-toed Box turtle, one small alligator snapping turtle and a black rat snake that wasn't small.



Now that picture really does no justice to these creatures, but the boys wanted a picture of their "reptile zoo". Here are a few more - close up. :)


This is the Three-toed Box turtle. We identified it as a female because of the brownish color of her eyes. She ate worms right from the boys hands.


The snapper.

I wanted to add this one too because I laughed so much when I saw the expression on Levi's face! He said the turtle didn't smell so good.


This is the black rat snake. Ukiah saw a commotion ahead of him in the bushes while he was mowing. I was hanging laundry and saw it also. It turned out that there was Brown Thrasher on the ground in great distress, trying to lead an unwelcome visitor from it's nest. I initially thought it was Ukiah mowing that had the bird disturbed...but it was this snake. He spotted it slithering through the underbrush and leaped out to catch it. But that was not all for the day...no, we had another snake show up later. This one, same kind, was even larger.


This is the kind of stuff that makes boys just jiggle with delight!! I love it. :)

A laundry thought

I hung up several loads of laundry today. It is something I really enjoy. The quiet, good smells, warm breeze... Anyway, I had the thought that since the lines are so low the children could take over this chore. Hmmm...seems like a good idea...I should do that. It will help cultivate those important character qualities of thoroughness, perseverance and also help them to develop a sense of satisfaction with even the most simple yet tedious jobs. As I continued to hang up the boys clothes I began to reconsider. I will always have laundry to look after but it will not always be our boys clothes. I took a special joy today in shaking out and hanging those small shirts and pants - I won't always have them in my life. So, for now, I may enlist a young helper at times but I have to decided to keep the job to myself. :)

The BIG garden

Here is the main garden. In time, this will be transformed into mostly raised beds-excepting the corn, potatoes and green beans. But for now, it is a standard row garden with some raised beds mixed in. The beds are not in boxes but just heaped up. We are working compost into to all the beds which really takes time. I'm pretty happy with it though because just 2 months ago, it was plain pasture. Sod. I believe Drew said it is 75'x120'.

Right now, with all the rain we've had, it is laying heavy with water. The clay soil holds it in so much and it seems to take a long time to dry out. We are praying our corn and bean seeds don't rot. By the way, the little foil collars on the tomato plants are working! :)

Weeding the greenhouse

We've had several rainy days lately. We all wanted to get outside so we decided to spend some time in the greenhouse. The lettuce has gotten out of hand and really needs cut back or it is going to go to seed.

We have tomatoes, sweet peppers, and lettuce growing. We also have some volunteer kale, beets and some hot peppers from the previous owners. We let the chickweed grow over the winter so we could juice it with our carrots. It is good in salads too...just a little though...it is tart.

It was so nice to spend some time outside. The air in a greenhouse always smells so fresh and good. I have often thought of doing school out there on dreary days.

They're here!

The Indigo Buntings have arrived. Where we come from originally, these birds could be spotted once in awhile and it was an exciting treat. Today, we had a whole flock in our driveway including 7 males and at least that many females. They were all feeding on the ground.

Irises

They are so beautiful and they smell sooo good. My husband especially enjoys them. Over the years in his landscaping business, he has planted hundreds of irises for his customers. He really enjoyed the work and learned so much about flowering plants. I know he will enjoy these photos from home while he is away. (We love you and miss you Drew!)

I was expecting them to all be the standard purple for some reason, like this...




Here is a picture of one of our beds. You can see our greenhouse in the upper left corner...sort of. Over there is where Silas's beds are and the soon-to-be strawberry beds.



Once more began to open, this is what we saw: This peachy, sweet-smelling beauty!


And these crimson irises! More are coming every day.


One last photo:

"Foiling" the cutworms

We set our tomato plants out in the garden several days ago. 30 of them. The very next morning I found 2 of them snipped off right at the base. They were 2 of the 6 Cherokee Purple that I am so looking forward to. I dug around to see if I could unearth a cutworm, but I didn't find it. The next morning...2 more down. This time they were the Pineapple tomatoes. I was talking with the neighbor and she said to put foil around them. I was going to set cans down over the plants but thought this foil idea might work better. I'm not sure if she meant to do it like this, but so far it is working!

a growing puppy

Here is a recent picture of our puppy. She is growing so quickly and is always into something. She especially likes stealing laundry. :(

No doubt she is looking for her next flower bed adventure in this picture. She is still "puppy" or "puppy girl"...the name we gave her didn't stick. Any suggestions?

Another watercolor

This is a cardinal painted by Silas. The boys worked on their Nature Notebooks yesterday. Ukiah sketched a tiny Sassafras tree and Silas and Levi drew pictures of the irises. I will have a post about the irises soon...

Surprise in the garden

This is who I found in the garden early this morning. I was not pleased. I checked all the gates and fences and still cannot figure out how he got out of the barnyard pasture and into the garden. At first I thought he had just somehow escaped into the big pasture but as I walked closer I saw that he was actually IN the fenced in garden. His name is Hackey -he is a Hackney pony- and he doesn't like me very much. I opened the gate to the garden, said a prayer for help to catch him and you know what he did? He walked right up TO me! I was thanking God out loud. I got him by the halter and with the help of angels I am sure, walked him straight into his stall in the barn. That is where he is going to stay until I figure this mystery out. Here is the REALLY good news...he didn't do a bit of damage to the garden! All he did was leave some hoof prints and fertilizer behind. ;)