On the Farm

 Our chicks hatched last week. All six eggs.  5 barred rocks and one red that might be part barred rock.

 Drinking from the hose and filling buckets.

 Feeding the piggies.

This is the life. :)

Sisters and piggies!!  Beautiful morning for chores.

Happy Birthday to My Littlest Farm Girl

 Happy Birthday to my two year old!!  I can't believe she is two.  Crazy how time flies.

 Didn't even practice blowing out candles. 

 Using the hose and helping with farm chores.

Notice the top on the dog food.  Many reasons for that. lol

 Such a cutie.

 Oh, look at that, one of the many reasons.  lol

Next Year's Garden Area, Duck, and Grass. (not in that order, either)

 I have one female duck that has decided to set.  Less eggs, but one setting is better than all of them setting. She is so sweet too.  Makes little duckling noises when I'm around here.

 This is what the grass looks like here after the sheep and the ducks have been over it.  Very very nice.

 Right half of the future garden area.

 left half, behind the posts and goes to where the fencing behind the pigs are and across to the right. Nice big area. That will keep me pretty busy I think.  I'm going to plant a cover crop on it that will be seeded after the pigs and ducks tear it up and fertilize it.

Pigs!!!

We have pigs and I think I'm going to try to talk Steve into calling them Twig and Berry or Barry (hey, we could be nice about it ya know). lol If you don't already know, you'll understand in a minute. :P The black one is a Large Black/blue butt cross (hamp/yorky cross) and the spotted is a tamworth/berkshire cross.  We have landed!!

 The Large Blacks are a very laid back breed I am finding out.  Leslie from the farm that I got them from just raves about their personality and temperament. These are two boars by the way, less stressful not to cut them, plus they grow a bit faster. This will really show us the temperament of both breeds for future reference if we want to get into breeding down the road.

 He's thinking about it.

 Checking out their digs.

 Fighting over water.

And..uh...Berry/Barry? showing us his one and only descended berry.

2015 Garden

 I realized today that I haven't harvested from my own garden since 2009!! Crazy!  I've started plenty of gardens over the years, but had to move several times right in the middle of the season or at least before a good harvest.  So, plenty of people have had the benefit of my gardens except for me.  Well, its about time!

 This year I have just a small plot to use, but next year the bigger plot will be ready.  I will take pictures probably this weekend when I move the pigs into that area. :)

 Here is my first hot pepper.  It is a Tunisian Baklouti Pepper. Not sure how to use it yet.  I'm sure we will figure it out.

 My first time growing celery.  I need to read about tying it and do that soon.

My favorite cherry tomato, Isis candy ,yum. May I have some tomatoes in my salad in the next week.

 Oregano and Tam Jalapenos.

 My beautiful comfrey.   I need to make more salve soon.

 My first experience with ground cherries. I will report how it goes.

 

Our raspberry patch.  More picking to do.

 

This is as much as the kids would let me pick.  They ate at least one of these cups between the two of them.

 Big Mama and Emerald eating their supplements.  This was before the fantastic sheep shelter Steve and I built together.  (my farmer in crime by the way)

 Daphne in with the ducks keeping them safe.  This is the awesome Premier1 temp electric fence.

 Another view.  I have the incubator going, which reminds me I need to candle eggs tonight with the girls and see what to keep and what to throw out.  So we should have ducklings in 3 weeks and chicks in two weeks.

Me and my girl Daphne. :)

Moved onto the Farm and Finally Updating

For those of you who wanted to see sheep in a car, here they are:

 My hair got sniffed and nibbled on several times during the ride.  I put a small piece of stock panel behind the front seats to keep the sheep in the back and put two layers of plastic under them with plenty of hay that they nibbled the whole way and then they started chewing their cud and I knew they were pretty comfortable.  Not the best way to transport sheep, but it works if you don't have access to a trailer or truck. :)

So, I'm finally here on the farm, its been so busy helping get the house ready, moving in slowly besides taking care of the animals.  It will be easier as time goes on, but were still in the moving in process because its the growing season.