Transplanting seedlings and some good old fun on the farm.

How is it the weeks just drag by, but the weekends are over in the blink of an eye? I accomplished nothing I set out to accomplish this weekend, but did accomplish a few tasks that I had no intention of even doing this weekend. So that being said... I guess it was a productive weekend?...

Our goal for this weekend was to have a burn. Our ground is very wet so it seemed ideal to do our first burn of the year. Mother Nature saw otherwise, she kept teasing us with wind. It would get windy and then it would stop, sometime on Sunday morning we decided to just put off till next weekend. Wind and fire only amount to one thing, bad news. We have allot to burn, so we really need a full day of no wind to accomplish what we need to accomplish. Hopefully next weekend Mother Nature will play nice.

In the mean time I was able to begin my transplanting.

Our seedlings are sprouting way quicker than I had anticipated. That is great, because I think we are going to have an early start date this year for gardening. I know I am already twitching to get my hands in the dirt. I am already dreaming of warm days, and eating tomatoes just pulled from the vine. Nothing thrills me more than having a freezer full of fruits and vegetables from our own garden. Or a pantry filled with homemade jams, pickles, and applesauce.

A few members of this family decided not to work, but instead play. I can't blame them, being a kid living on a hobby farm must be the best thing ever.

Ademan tore it up in his Fisher Price off road buggy...

LeiLei and I played soccer, which is her new favorite outside game.

JayJay only wanted to ride around with dad on the tractor. It did slow down his production, but thats life with little kids.

The girls helped daddy down in the enchanted forest. I am sure they were on the lookout for trolls... That is all I hear about right now, trolls, troll bridges, all things troll... Life with four year olds makes me scratch my head at times...

Even the neighbors dog came over for some family time... We love you Shep Dog!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. If you did not accomplish what you set out to, guess what... It is o.k... Nobody ever does!

Grunter and HeeHaw had a great weekend, oh and so did we!

We had such a beautiful Spring weekend, the kind of weekend that you do not want to end. We tried to spend the entire weekend outside just soaking up the sun. Here on the farm, or as I like to call it 'Lazy Acres' even our animals were in on the enjoying the sun theme for the weekend.

I love life on the farm. I must admit we are only a few minutes from a pretty big city and any real farmer would probably laugh at me for even calling this a farm. That being said I love living the 'city~farm' life. How many people can say they can be at the symphony or fine dining twenty minutes after they leave their home. Then come back home to goats and pigs, I love it!!!

Our piggies which we have had for about a year have made themselves at home. Grunter and Pigglet are quite good friends.

Actually this weekend we discovered that Grunter and our little Pygmy Goat HeeHaw are quite good buddies.

We (hubby mostly) spent the weekend mulching goat poop and tilling my garden. We mulch our goat poop to throw into our garden soil. It is not glamorous but what it does to the garden is pure magic. It is like gold around here! 

I did do a bit of work and next weekend will be my reward for the work I did. I spent my time making a gigantic burn pile. Next weekend will be having the bonfire of all bonfires. Even with all of the commotion around here my animals were unfazed.

I hope you had an energizing Spring weekend, like we did!

Our other kids

 For about a week now, we have had a sheep (technically a ewe) with a limp. This is not the first time we have had a health issue with a barn animal, but it still amazes me how worried I become over a barn animal. Of course you become upset when your cat or dog is ill, but your ewe? All of our barn animals think they are lap dogs, they are as attached to us as we are to them. My husband always teases me about building a house over the barn like they do in Europe.  That way we would have quick easy access to them in case of an emergency. There have been times, when I have considered it.

Let me introduce you to the family...

Our 6 Cats

Cut and Fill

 

 

Leo

 

 

Clementine

 

 

 Rosie

 

Momma

 

Our 4 Dogs

 

Buddy

 

 

Daisy

 

 

Sammie

 





Bella

 

Our 6 goats



HeeHaw

 

 

Blazer

 





Butters

 

Snowflake

 

Dipper

 

Our two Ewes

 

Curly

 

 

Snowball



Two Pigs

Piglet

 

 

Porky

 

Don't forget our two resident Peacocks

 

 We are so fortunate to be raising our family in this setting. I look forward to the many life lessons our farm will teach both us and our children.

 





Autumn Decorating

How do you decorate your home for Autumn? I am not big on Halloween decorations, I put up a few for our kids, but not many. Let me show you what I have done so far...

Like the empty picture frames? I plan on filling them when I take them down for the Christmas decorations.

You may have noticed that my decorations are up high. Well with a two year old a three year old and a four year old they have to be.

Hope that inspires you to put a few Autumn decorations up.

Happy Friday!

Laundry

I just want to say thank you...

 

I have received so many uplifting, loving messages in the past few days. I can say that at this point in my life, I am doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing. It feels so good to be able to say that! I wish the world were a little smaller so I could personally hug and have a cup of tea with all of my friends and family. For now I hope you all know that I love you!

 

It is our first cool day of the season, so I have been in the house cleaning. I know, its a glamorous life I live!

 

One of the items on my to do list for the weekend was to make another batch of laundry soap. My mom gave me this recipe about three years ago, and we have been making it ever since. It takes just a few minutes, to make a batch that will last at least four months (for us). It is also a huge money saver, I spend between $12 and $15 on the four ingredients. I do on average a load of laundry every day. So it runs us about 8 cents a load. Pretty good, huh?

 

Ingredients

 

1 (4lb box) of Super Washing Soda

 

 

1 (4lb box) of Baking Soda

 

 

1 (4lb box) of Borax

 

 

3 bars of Kirk's Castile Soap

 

 

 We place the three bars of soap in the food processor to make it as fine as possible. After you have ground the bar soap mix it with the Borax, Baking Soda, and Washing soda. That's it, your done!

 

We have a front load HE machine, what we did learn is that with front load machines you do need to remove the "liquid only" tray. If you do not remove the tray it will clog, and back up into the tray. We use an old ice cream scoop for measuring out the soap. We use 1/2 a scoop, which is probably about two tablespoons.

 

 

Have fun washing!

 

Well, I finally got around to canning my salsa

Well, I finally got around to canning my pickles and salsa.

I do not know why I always think I will end up with jars and jars of salsa. Who knew, that 12 cups of diced veggies would equal 4 mason jars.. Oh well, at least I have another 100 tomatoes in the garden. Now If only mother nature cooperates and keeps the frost away.

Tomorrows project...

I can almost taste my cobbler already! Oh, and yes the box was much fuller, but I apparently have some peach thieves in my home.

Have a great night!

Our farm

It is a nice quiet afternoon here on our five acre mini farm. I have begun my third batch of pickles for the season. They are just beginning their two day journey from vine to jar.  With little kids I cant even begin to can enough pickles and jam, but I try!

I will be doing a batch of salsa for "putting up" later this afternoon. I must admit I am dragging my feet on that one right now. Right now it is just bunch of produce just sitting on the counter.

The cats are all napping in there hiding spots.

The dogs are trying to absorb the last bit of warm weather before fall.

The goats, well they are doing what they do best. Making me laugh!

The pigs, well pigs just don't do much. But they are cute.

And last but not least the sheep have been very chatty today. Making quite a bit of noise.