Memorial Day Weekend Visit

Jake and his dad are out working cattle today. I am working on my second garden area.  I am a human roto-tiller.  We worked up the ground with the tractor, which left me with gigantic chunks of dirt the size of soccer balls.  Together both gardens are about the size of a basketball court.

I don't know what's up with the sports references.  I have been trying to motivate to go on a brisk walk, so I guess I'm currently exercise minded.

So, I've been diligently chopping up dirt and I got a few things planted: corn, 2 kinds of cucumbers, 2 kinds of winter squash, zucchini and my tomato plants are in the ground.  Progress!  Now comes patience, the hard part.

Also, mom and dad came to visit this weekend.  We played yard games, including cornhole.

Larry grilled lots of delicious food.

And bonded with Moye.

Some friends came over and Dad regaled them with stories.

The chickens showed off how much they love to roost.

And a good time was had by all!

Projects & An Update On The Ladies

Well, things have been busy here.  Jake is busy tearing holes in his parents house:

 (Putting in new windows)

And tearing holes in their yard as well:

(Digging out the existing pond)

Digging out the pond to make it bigger, better and more accessible.  Although, the ground here can get a little....muddy.

It took a little work, but eventually Jake and Larry got the Excavator out of the mud and everything is peachy! So don't worry!

Anyway, in my last post, not only did I blatantly lie to you, dear reader (I did not write my promised post yesterday) I also listed our various projects here on the farm.  

I am working on mass production of 'natural' bird houses made of scrap wood and tree bark to sell at a craft fair or two.  This project has a limited time frame; Larry said the bark really comes off the tree well up until June, and then there isn't enough moisture or something so it's not as easy to peel off.  Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what the finished product looks like:

Cute and earthy, huh? 

And, Jake has been helping me (read, doing the majority of the work) line the interior of the Jeep with Herculiner - some tough stuff that should make it scratch and rust resistant.

And, while all this is going on, I am fighting a losing battle to the weeds and grass in the garden.  All the while the chickies are growing up.  We expect some eggs by late July!  But Larry has a feeling that Brownie may be a Rooster....only time will tell.

 Buttercup

 Becky, the Barred Plymouth Rock

 The two white ones I've named Thelma & Louise.  They are fearless females, let me tell you.

 A blurry Blue Amerucauna - Billie and, wait, is that a ROOSTER in the background??! I paid good money for FEMALES, what kind of crap is this???? (If Brownie really is a Hen, man do we feel bad for questioning her femininity.)

 Oh, there's Becky again. I love her. She's soft.

And speaking of soft, fluffly, silky, meaty, juicy feathery creatures....slurp slurp... NO, BETSY!!! Bad dog! She came very close to snacking on one the other day.  I am no longer allowed to hold Buttercup in my chicken-lovin' arms without fear of her being eaten alive....Don't worry, it won't happen again.

Lizzie Has Been Busy...

Well, folks, sorry for the long time, no post! As an unemployed person, some days I feel like I have a lot going on....

Continuous job hunting
Weeding the massive garden
Caring for chickens
And new projects - Herculining the back of the Jeep and making bird houses out of tree bark to hawk at craft fairs and making "vintage, weathered" signs, also for hawking on the street.

Pictures of these projects and more, tomorrow!

Gettin' Dirty

Grab some coffee and let's talk - The chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea. Discuss.

We aren't growing chickpeas, but we ARE growing these things:

This plant I am most excited about. What, you don't know what that is? It's OBVIOUS. Potato plant. DUH.

Onions! Ignore that industrious grass - it's all I can do to get the little buggers out of there...oh, and also ignore that little dandylion weed in the bottom corner, and the other dead grass, and the not-so-straight rows....you know what? Gardening IS hard. Everyone told me it would be. Sometimes I feel a little crazy....like,

"Oh, god, the carrots aren't up yet and I planted them a month ago! I have to buy new seeds and start over! Aaahhhh! Will it be too late? Will it be too hot to replant them? What if they don't grow? I AM A FAILURE AHHHHH!!!!"

Or....

"Oh my lord heavens to Betsy!!!! The spinach isn't looking good! Nothing is growing where I planted the squash!!! IS THAT A WEED OR A CARROT???!! SHOULD I PICK IT AHHHHHHHAHHHH!!!!!!"

Gardening is crazy, man. What an emotional roller coaster.

Haha.

Ok, here's the success stories!

'Pinach.

Self-explanatory.

Again, duh. Peas!!

The carrots did grow and I was distressed about them! PHEW.

"Get outta here beej!"

Why do doggies like to lay in gardens?

"They JellyBean is neither Jelly nor a bean. Discuss."

Happy Gardener, signing off.

Teaser!

Please enjoy this video as a precursor to tomorrow's post.

Googly-Eye Gardener

Thank God my anxiety never reached this level.

"It probably won't happen, because it's impossible, but WHAT IF IT DID."

Your welcome.

The Low Water Crossing

The weather has been pretty crappy the last day or two, but I guess it's still better than Wyoming spring, right! Haha, I mean, really, they'll probably get a foot of snow next week. Suckers!

Anyway, Jake and I just got "done" (meaning, I am done for now) putting out mineral and setting up trail cams.  The mineral is to help their antlers grow really big for the hunters this fall and the trail cams are to get really cute pictures like this:

Adorable!

Anyway, Jake wanted to set up across what is known on the farm as The Low Water Crossing. Let's refer to it as TLWC for now just because it's fun.

TLWC and the Jeep have met on several occasions.  The first time things didn't go so well.  We had to be pulled out.  Then, after some scouting and reconnaissance, the second attempt was successful.

So today, it's a little muddy, and as we pulled up to the crossing, I had my doubts.  But we made it! Yay! Success! We dumped the mineral next to a tree, set up the camera and went on our way to another location to entice some more deer.  The next camera is going to be set up on the other side of TLWC, and, well, get ready for some awesome Jeep-in-action photos!

Did we make it? Can you tell? What's your guess?

The answer is no. I am assuming as I type here in our warm room, that Jake and Larry are pulling it out with the tractor.  We could REALLY use a wench. Santa, are you reading this??

Jake and I walked back to the house a little while ago, and it was a nice jaunt. He found an old wheel from a train - the road leading down to TLWC used to be a train track, so there's all sorts of fun things buried in the ground out there!

And, we saw some wildlife tracks!

Those tracks on the left are wild turkeys! On the right is a wild and crazy dog named Betsy, most likely.  I like to imagine the turkey and Betsy walking side by side in the sun, sharing laughs (probably at the expense of the chickens).

Well, off to see to the safe return of my beloved vehicle...

Shoe-Dumping and Wiggly Things

I had to share a quick story, and it might make you cringe.

Fair warning!

I was busy changing loads of laundry and the basement is finished, but there are known creatures that live down there, so I always want to wear shoes when I come from upstairs.  Like, one time, ok several times, I was downstairs and saw the biggest spider I've ever seen (aside from a mutant in North Carolina, but I am not going to recall that here). I screamed, ran upstairs, told Jake and his parents and then endured 20 minutes of laughter directed at me.  Now we feed those spiders to the chickens. It's very gratifying.

Anyway, I was going downstairs to change some laundry. I have some cute 'slippers' that I had been sliding on and off so my feet wouldn't step on any giant spiders without protection. On goes a slipper. Hm...the bottom of this is cold. Weird. Must be a draft. On goes the other. HMMMMM the bottom of this is NOT COLD. Continued down the stairs.  Something squiggled.

OHMYGODWHATISINMYSHOE!!!!!!!!!!!! Scream, dump out shoe, see large roach, scream, run upstairs. Endure more laughter.

The worst part - I was barefoot, i.e. no socks and the bug was partially squished. Into the chicken coop it went.

Next time - digging for worms and how to squish a tick on Wild Indoors with Liz!

Spring on the Farm!

This weekend was finally NICE the whole time! No rain! We went to the greenhouse and Linda bought wave petunias for the yard and we also got some marigolds for around the edge of the garden.  I also remembered some fun settings on my digital camera, so I hope these pictures aren't too annoying, but I had a good time playing around with them.

Here's a marigold on the edge of the biggest garden ever:

Notice the coloring. I warned you - more faux-artsy photos to follow!

And speaking of the garden, all sorts of things are popping up! Grass, weeds, dandelions, oh and beans, onions, spinach, TONS of lettuce, and watermelons. Although, it must have been really windy when I was planting watermelon seeds, because there is a watermelon plant by the swing in the front yard, mixed in with the onions, over in the grass....pretty much everywhere but their specified garden row.

I also started a lot from seed indoors:

 Peppers

Tomatoes

And basil, tarragon (only 1 plant is growing), parsley and more onions.

Yesterday evening it was so nice out, I decided to capture a few more images from the house here...

 Betsy

 Fritz

Jake shooting his bow.

Linda's Bleeding Hearts flowers.

A view from the driveway looking out over parts of the farm.

Cows drinking from the pond in the last picture.

Larry walking back from doing chores.

Today is another beautiful day! I've got to get out and pull some more grass from the garden and see what other things I can plant....Jake left for turkey hunting, hopefully he gets one! Then we'll have "free range" turkey for dinner!

A Final Post on Chickens (for awhile....)

We finished the chicken coop and the little chickies are living happily outside! Now all we have left is to build the run so they can peck around at the grass and worms. Today is sunny and warm, and I would love for them to play on the grass, but with three dogs and three cats roaming the farm, it's probably best to wait until the run is finished. Here are some pictures of the final product:

Jake's mom bought me the Hen House sign - the red matches perfectly! We also added a window so we could look in and see how they are doing, and so they could get some more sunlight.

We brought the chicks out from the house and Jake, ever so delicately, dumped them in their new home. Literallly.

They got used to it pretty quickly.

Jake's dog, BJ, really liked them. He was shaking with anticipation! Really, his whole body was shaking because he wanted to get one so bad.

Jake is off to go Turkey hunting now, and I might join him. (Probably not.) Have a great Monday everyone!