Hope

Sunshine brings hope.

Sunshine brings rainbows.

Rain brings rainbows.

I hope for sunshine!

Surprise- New Babies on the Farrm!

Welcome our latest addition to the Farrm! This is Perri.

Iron Man told us Tuesday that we were getting a surprise. I never imagined that he would bring home a PUPPY! The kids are in heaven and they all sleep on the floor by her crate at night!

Other than a little weeding, we have not accomplished much in the garden this week. It is cold, 50-60 degrees, and rainy, and I'm just going to wait to put anything else in the ground for a while.

But we are having a great time with Perri and the chicks!

Nick Names

Nick names are fun, and for internet security reasons Iron Man prefers that I not use the kids real names. So I have decided to introduce them by choosing a character from Literature that I feel represents their unique personalities. I have already introduced "Little Sister", from Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter.

May I now introduce "Anne with an E".

When I started labor with my 2nd daughter, my first daughter and I were watching Anne of Green Gables. Then daughter #2 was born and she had this great red hair! Years later we read the series by L.M. Montgomery and love Anne's spunk, tenacity, talents and integrity.

Our "Anne with an E" has been blessed with spunk, tenacity, MANY talents and integrity and I'm sure in future posts you will catch me singing her praises!

Allergy Season! Kindergarden- Week 6

These are before and after shots of the work the kids did in the Salad Garden for week 5. The girls transplanted dill, alyssum and calendula and one boy took over bull dozer duty and cleaned out the center after we had taken out what we wanted to save. The kids did a great job!!



Unfortunately, the garden was not finished, because my job of going behind the kids and taking care of the detail work was rudely interrupted by my sinus cavity which decided to go to war with the natural world! The battle was progressing quite nicely by Friday afternoon but I had to surrender Friday night and was in prison all day Saturday as Iron Man mowed the grass for 4 hours! I decided to try some allergy medicine, which I haven't done for 20 years, and that was a BIG mistake. It stopped the dripping and sneezing but not the stuffiness. So a friend suggested I take another medication that works well for her and now, Monday, I am dizzy, fuzzy headed and dry mouthed and I think that a dripping, itching, sneezing mess is preferable. Lesson for the day: don't give in to peer pressure-- JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!

KinderGardens - Treasure Hunt -Week 5

Cleaning up the Salad garden didn't sound very fun to the Farrm kids at first, but then it turned into a TREASURE HUNT!

The first treasure was quite a surprise, a dehydrated mouse is not what one typically expects to come across while transplanting alyssum! But the girls all took it in stride and wondered what else they could find!

Now an earthworm IS a treasure to find in the garden. These wigglers are welcome! They will help keep the soil healthy for the dill she transplanted along the east side of the salad garden.

But these yucky bugs are NOT welcome: this is a crane fly larvae! One hen really loved this morsel! She wasn't about to share!

And finally, this scary looking undesirable was a surprise to Little Sister as she was digging up Calendula. "Eww, it's a grub!" But we don't know what kind. Can anyone identify it?

Stop and Smell the Lilacs!

"Whenever I hear,

the song of a bird,

or walk by our lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me!"

Roses are beautiful, but can be disappointing when they were cultivated for color and not for fragrance.

But LILACS! They never disappoint!

They are fresh and fragrant as the day is long, and you can enjoy their fragrance by merely walking by. But I suggest, as a way to express your gratitude and get an immediate blessing: Stop and smell the lilacs!

Today was Mother Hen's Day!

Little White Auracauna hen has 3 chicks and they are ready to leave the nest!
Of course they will stay tucked right up under momma hens wing for a few more weeks, but they do get to move in to their new home: an A frame chicken tractor.
They have a carpet of lush grass, food and water, and are protected from hawks, eagles and jealous hens.

So you ask, "What about the half dozen or so eggs that she was sitting on?"

I will tell you.

Remember the black hen I reported was crowding in the nesting box with her? Well, she took up the job and VOILA within a half hour Iron Man discovered that one of the eggs was "cheeping" rather loudly and upon investigation saw the chick through tears in the lining! He was so excited he brought the egg to us and we showed all the kids! We put it back quickly so I didn't get a great picture. But now we have two very happy hens, fulfilling the measure of their creation!

What's for Breakfast?

The mammoth egg Little Sister displayed a couple days ago looked like this inside!


Until it was scrambled and served with fried potatoes and sauteed mushrooms!

Grand Baby Introductions

This is my FIRST Grand baby! I'm not sure if I want to call her "string bean","cayenne pepper" or "baby grand"!
She certainly rules all our hearts with her captivating personality!

I just love these pictures, which were taken a year apart.
(Just shy of 1yo and 2yo, You would never know she is that young from the length of her hair!)

Garden Reminiscence

I found a photo of the Calendula I wrote about in the last post from last year's garden and started to reminisce.








Then I couldn't help but show off my "bumper crop" of zucchini and tomatoes as well! "Baby Zucc" is my second GRAND CHILD!

Salad Garden (Before) and Kinder Garden- Botany Lesson- Week 4

Here is the project for this weekend: The Salad Garden. This is my 3rd garden to introduce to you, actually it was the first one to be constructed 5 years ago, along with "The Vegetable Garden" and then came last year's addition of the "Tyrannosaur Paddock".


In late February we had a week of AWESOME weather here in the great NorthWest, and I responded to the call of mother Nature and weeded, amended and planted this garden. Look closely and you will see that, although it looks like a jumble of weeds, there is actually a treasure trove of VOLUNTEERS that are just aching to be reassigned to a straight row in my garden!













In the background there are two oreganos, a dying rosemary ( I think moles have been disturbing the root system), tarragon on left, and the chives I transplanted there in Feb.

I planted peas (twice) at the base of the ladder, they have finally started growing this week. (Note to self: wait next year)

And in the melee on the garden floor are hundreds of Calendula! That is a lovely yellow, edible daisy-like flower which blooms all summer and fall, and which will likely end up in the compost. But also mixed in there is Dill and lettuce, spinach and alyssum and I will move them to a more desirable location.

I don't think I have mentioned yet that we Homeschool, and today's lesson is going to be BOTANY!

Introducing: The Ladies

Isn't this fun!!

Wanna come help clean out the coop?
(I Didn't think so.)

Baby Chicks!

Yesterday as I was out feeding the chickens, I went to collect eggs and noticed there were two hens crowding into the box where the incubating eggs are kept. "Silly hens," I said as I pried the black Austrolorpe off the nest. Just then I heard tiny "cheeps" and felt a wave of pride as if I had laid the eggs myself!!.

THREE chicks by this morning's count and they are all Coco Maran!

I don't want to fall prey to counting my chicks BEFORE they hatch, I will not actually count the eggs that were laid in the same nest with the ones we intended to hatch out, but there will be quite a few "mixed-breeds" if some do.

Also notice the noises the hens make as I disturb their "brooding torpor"! Cracks me up!!

Some eggs!

This kid found quite the treasure while doing chores today!

These are all CHICKEN eggs! All I can say is "ouch!" We get a really large white egg every now and then and I'm pretty sure it is Ancona who lays it. (I call her Anne for short, after my Grandmother Anne who is certainly rolling over in her grave to know there is a chicken named after her!!)

Little blonde chickie here is still hamming it up for the camera as you can see. I liken her to Little Sister from one of our favorite books "Laddie" by Gene Stratton-Porter.

If you have never read it I cannot recommend it higher, read it out loud to your whole family--no matter what ages they are. It is a delight and a thrill and an inspiration to anyone who loves good old fashioned values and family life on a farm. Then you will see why this daughter of mine is "Little Sister".

Two Special Things- Kinder Garden- Transplanting - Week 3

This post includes two spectacular feats.

One is having this awesome kid in the garden!

The other is the plant she is transplanting!

Thing one: The awesome girlie. She would rather spend the whole day in the kitchen cooking and baking with Julia Childs than out in the garden. She will watch Julia's old TV show and then create Chocolate Mousse, and French Omelets with sauteed mushrooms ("don't crowd the mushrooms") and anything that strikes her fancy, no matter how difficult it seems. She would rather clean the kitchen than come outside and get dirty with us. (and I can't say that I don't love to come in after a long day in the garden and have dinner ready and the kitchen clean) She mixes up the cooking and cleaning with regular visits to the piano. From Chopin to the Theme song from the movie UP, she can't go more than 20 minutes or so with out either practicing Liebestraum by Listz or simply banging out a fan fare like you would hear before an award is given. I was very happy to have her on board and helping our gardening project, and look! I think she had FUN!

Thing two: The tomato plant. Last year I learned how to save seeds, and this year will be the completion of the experiment. Last year I grew 9 varieties of tomatoes, and I chose 3 of my favorites to save. One I called the "Tie Dyed" tomato, because it was a large orange and red swirled beauty with a flavor that I think is unsurpassed. Because I had technical difficulties in tagging my plants last year, I lost track of what was what. So I just called it the Tie dyed tomato until I researched it and found it was really a "Pineapple" tomato--which makes no sense to me. Oh well, I'll call it what I want. The second type of seed I saved is the "Garden Peach". This is a little yellow cutie which is just a bit fuzzy. It is a superb salad tomato, as it hold it's shape nicely. And the third is some big red thing that I have no way of knowing the name, because again, I lost my labels last year. So, I am excited to report that I obtained 99.9% germination, and if the fruit is as wonderful as last year's I will be jubilant! (BTW- if you live near me, I have some extra starts to share. And if you live far away, I could mail you seeds.)

"Little Sister" at work- and play.

Today we were planting Sweet Meat squash seeds in the garden. They are a large winter squash with white skin and orange insides. This kid in the garden was full of ginger as she posed for the pictures...this was her way of having fun!

She dug a hole, (or at least tried to dig part of a hole) and then scampered quickly away when she heard the dogs barking because she had to "investigate".

Hours later, when Iron Man came home, he filled a wheelbarrow with homemade "black gold" from the compost bin and filled the hole. I then mounded and shaped the hill, planted the seeds I had in my pocket for the past 4 hours, and watered it well. As you can tell, this crop is going to be a joint effort.

Hangin' Out in the garden

UPDATE:

I'm pretty sure this might be classified as "Fun in the Garden". Two of the girls stayed to play in the dirt and enjoy the sunshine even after the work was done. Now, I'm sure the glory of the sunshine (which you must understand is a rarity here in the Northwest) and the opportunity to get dirty with mom's okay was the real motivation, but I am confident we are moving in the right direction...

"Back Off!"

Well here she is in all her glory! I should take the video camera out and record the noise she make as she tells me to "Back off"! It is just so funny!

Also included here is some more of the flock. In the middle is the "other" rooster I was talking about last post. He is a Brahama. Also shown: Black Australorpe, Red Star, Buff Orpington, Silver Spangled Cochins, White Leghorn, Blue Andalusian, and Barred rock.

We have had neighbors give us chickens when they have moved so our flock is quite diversified. Our Iron Man Financier is also know around here as " The Chicken Whisperer". He will say it's because he has a lot of money invested in the chicken' fences and feed, but his family knows that he also enjoys the relaxing sounds of hens cackling and bokking and clucking and watching them and their funny ways of walking, running and taking dust baths!

Mr. and Mrs. Coco Maran

These are Coco Marans. They lay a chocolate brown colored egg and are a rare breed. I have 3 hens and a rooster and separated them this spring to see if I could get them to make Coco Maran chickies. I think one of the reasons why they must be rare is that the rooster is not the most "Cocky" of roosters. Meaning, he doesn't do his job very well. Other roosters we have had are very protective of the flock, tell them when hawks are flying by, and even find bugs and food for them and then call the hens over to eat. This dude eats all the food he finds like he is a hen, and is constantly getting beat up by the other rooster we have. Well, we'll, see if he has any fertility in him if the eggs hatch. Right now they are being incubated by a rather persnickety White Auracauna hen-- she is serious about her job! I lost count as to how many days until they hatch, but that's okay, when we se the chicks, then it was time!

"Vegetable Garden"

Now a visit back to the "Vegetable Garden". A few weeks after tilling, the kids have planted (from left to right) green beans against the barn, potatoes (in the section with mounds), they dug rows preparatory to planting carrots, and they transplanted brussels sprouts along the back.( Where you see Berlious) The mass of yellow profusion is one of last year's brussels sprouts that I let go to see and now I will likely never have to buy seed again!! This one plant will produce thousands of seeds. (fingers crossed)

Now we just need some warmer weather and we can watch them all grow!

Animal Intro

On to more Introductions! We have "The 50 Ladies" who keep us well stocked with eggs.

There are the "Boxer Dogs" Roxy and Ajax who secure the perimeter for us.

We also have 5 goats, they eat. Hey, that is a very important job! (So my teenage son tells me)

And the Queen of the Barn, Berlious. (Remember The Aristocats?) We found her while camping, she used to be a wild kitten but it didn't take more than a week to have a great hunter and lovable kitty all rolled into a furry grey package with 'green eyes'.