Catching Up!

A pair of ducks that showed up and hung around the other day.

April proved to be a very busy month! We finished cross fencing the pasture for the cows, so Amy and the beefers have been happily munching on the new spring grass. Justin caught a break in the weather, work and...work to fertilize the pastures as well. This has been sitting on the back burner since we moved, it feels good to have at least started on it!

This was also the month that I started getting some things in the ground. Yeah, I'm behind on my timeline, but I had an inkling this might happen so my pea variety has better tolerance for the weather here. Seriously, these guys were still trying until last Thanksgiving! I should have enough time to pull two crops out this year. Hopefully I can get caught up in this area soon, but I do have lots of help! Malina and I spent the whole day in the garden beds. She helped put the peas and strawberries in! She has since planted apple seeds in the backyard. We can always move them if they sprout. :)

Of apples, we have apple bloosoms this year!! Tip, spend the money and buy the older trees. :) We're all looking forward to apples of our own. Last year gave us one small pear, poor bee she traveled far to make that happen!

April is also the traditional chick month. I'd rather get mine earlier in the year so they aren't molting in the winter, but they were sold out of the Speckled Sussex until the end of April this year. So April 27th brought the arrival of these guys,

It was time to replace chickens and this past winter was hard on my flock. We decided to go with Speckled Sussex when the girls were free ranging, but I like their look and pullet size anyway so there didn't seem to be a reason to change. There are 25 of them right now, straight run, so not all will be around to see winter. I do have a reason for it, the last time I picked out chicks, there was one rooster out of almost 30! I also know that if I'd ordered hens I wouldn't have butchered them. This way is easier, and I'll get a rooster. LOL As a reward for spending so much money, we also recieved a free exotic. ;) It looks to be a White Crested Polish. Everyone is holding out for rabbits, but I think one of them will enter it in the fair this fall. Maybe once the feathers come in all the way, someone will change their mind.

Here's Bruce modeling the chicks for me. ;)

Speckled Sussex

White Crested Polish (????)

They are currently residing on the back porch, quickly out growing all the containers. I'll be moving them to a box on the floor soon. The cats are just waiting patiently. :)

Life has been interesting here to say the least. Plant starts in the windows, fleece drying in the Kitchen (the fleece more on that later), chicks on the back porch, buckets of beet pulp plumping for feed...it's a good thing I have a large kitchen! Depending on the time of day you catch us, it looks less like a room and more like a Mad Hatter processing plant. One more month and I can take a break...sort of.