This Week in Review

This week in review is more like the last two weeks in review. We have been working hard and keeping busy here on the farm.  I have been enjoying JoAn's updates from the Philippines, I hope you have also. Their internet is down currently.

Here's what's been happening...

We have had  some company.  These were some of the children of a coast guard family who are driving cross-country to their new station in Kodiak Island, Alaska.  We had a good time.  The children enjoyed running, fishing and ATV riding in the back field.

I have been busy building a spiral rock herb bed.  It has involved a lot of lifting of big rocks, but I really like how it has turned out.  I got the idea from my fave gardening book, 'Gaia's Garden' That I cited previously.

The chicks and turkey poults, baby turkeys, are doing well for the most part.

They seem to be getting along pretty well together.  I need to get the turkeys out so that I can feed them a little turkey grower as they need some extra protein than the chicks.  They grow faster then.

We went to the eagle scout ceremony and graduation party for our friend the D-man.  He had worked really hard to complete his Eagle Scout rank.  His parents were very proud.  

This was their third son to attain that rank.  Way to go guys!  You da Boss!!

They had a very nice cupcake arrangement instead of a cake for his party.  This worked very well.

The kitchen in the old house is coming along nicely.  My DH has almost finished all the flooring.  He is tiling it.  It does look similar to the new farmhouse as we used the same cabinets and granite counter tops.  The flooring is different.

Elizabeth went out and did a photo shoot in the rain.  Everything looked so green and shimmery in the rain.

The pond was dancing in the rain.

The fields are turning green.  We plan to disc them up and plant them next week.

The biggest challenge the last couple weeks has been to keep the starlings out of my garden.  Starlings are small black birds that are not a native species and are deemed a nuisance.  They have been killing my tomato, eggplant, basil, and pepper plants.  I have been so frustrated.  I look out and they are biting off a big piece of the plants and then flying off with them.  I finally put posts around the garden and connected them with fish line around and above the garden.  This seems to be working OK.  I have only seen one in there since I did that.  I had to replant many of my tomato plants!  Hopefully, I will be able to harvest a crop this year.

Here is the finished herb bed.  I got the plants in yesterday.  I was a little scared to do it early as I was concerned that the birds would attack them also.  

All the herbs in my bed are perennials.  The rocks should confine their spread.  I am really excited to have this bed completed.  I will let you know how it works out.

My other project, was to build potato beds.  I put pallets together and then put about 5" of aged manure in them.

We put the potatoes in and then covered them with another 5" of dirt.

We put up the fourth side and screwed it in place.  The idea is to keep them covered and every time they grow up above the dirt a good piece you recover them.  They then will form potatoes all along the plant.  In the later summer, when it is time to harvest them, we will pull down the one side and just sift out the potatoes.  At least that is the theory.  I will let you know how that works out also!

We have been grateful to have our friends the Almonds over to help us with our outside work a couple days lately.  Their children are very hard workers and it seems a job is always easier if you have someone to share it with.  

The hammock is now set up and the temptation is to take a break and enjoy the view.  We frequently work until dusk, but we always pause to enjoy the sunset.

This week in review

This past weekend was our last speech and debate tournament of the season.  The last tournament is really large and is very competitive.  Thomas had varied results.

In the debate speaker award category Thomas placed tenth out of 114 competitors.  He was very pleased to get a gavel.  His debate partner Mikayla also got a gavel.

The guy here with Thomas  is an OSU law student.  He has been a mentor for him for several years.  He has been a good influence on him.  Our family has come to really appreciate Elliot.  Someday we will even vote for him when he runs for Congress!

Here is Thomas with his debate partner of two years.  They had a good run and won two tournaments and were in other semi-finals.  They worked well together and had a good influence on each other.

Here is Thomas with his hardware from the tournament.  He has a speaker's gavel, a sweepstakes medal and a first place plaque.  He had a very successful year!

I like this picture of DH and Thomas.  Thomas looks so much like his Dad.  

Thomas won first place in Impromptu Apologetics.  He did a great job!  He spent a lot of time studying Josh McDowell's book, 'More Than a Carpenter'.

Michelle took this picture.  There were millions of dandelion fluff balls to choose from.  Our yard needs to be mowed soooo bad, but it is just too wet.  Lots of dandelions here!!!

Here is another picture of our beautiful dandelions.  The moth liked them.  I saw a bird land on the stem of a dandelion.  It slowly bent over.  Then the bird flew to another dandelion stem and was able to hang onto it and while eating the fluff off another one.  It was such a tiny bird.  I am going to see if I can figure out what it was.  It was only slightly larger than a hummingbird.

The chicken coop is finished.  It only needs a chicken exit and ramp built as well as the nesting boxes installed.  Paul installed a window in it today.  It is very close to usable.  Now he is studying how to set up the electric fence.

The hens are doing well.  They roam all over the yard and sometimes into the neighbors yard.  They are not living there anymore so I guess it's ok.  We will be fencing them in soon too.
 

Here is one of the blueberry bushes we transplanted from the other house last fall.  It is looking well and has lots of blooms on it.  Yeah!!!

The garden is looking good.  The bare spots are where a robin dug at it.  You can tell because it pulled up the straw from underneath.

Here is the next bed I will be planting.  I am hoping my brother brings some of his beautiful aged manure very soon so I can finish the bed.  My tomatoes are overgrowing in the basement and need to be planted yesterday!

The shallots have all come up now and looking good.  The yellow color on some is merely from the reflected light of the sunset.  The plants are healthy.

The flag irises are starting to bloom.  They are really pretty. Mostly yellow and purple ones so far.

Over the winter, the herbs that Paul and I dug up and moved to the farm, all died.  It was very sad.  I was trying to figure out where I was going to get more and how to do it.  Then, when I was down in Amish country last time, one of my patients offered to section her herbs as they were so big so that I could have some starts.  It was such a blessing!  They look really healthy and all I need to do now is get that herb bed built so that I can plant them.  At least for now, they are happy in their barrel bottom.

I bought some rhubarb to plant in my apple tree guild.  They have done well and are happy while they wait for me to plant them.

Here is a sunset from the other evening.  It was so beautiful and then to have it reflected off the pond was twice as nice.  If you could see a larger view of this picture you would see the glow of the sunset lighting up the dandelions in the grass. Our Creator does such awesomely beautiful things.  I love our place here on the farm!!!

Planning the Farm

 I am feeling a little stressed.  I have so many decisions to make and not enough time to figure things out.  Our goal is to use our farm so that it is recreational and fun for our children and visitors yet is a still a small working farm.  We want to have a soccer field or kickball area as well as room to play volleyball and other sports.  We want the pond and fire pit to stay quiet and peaceful.

 So what changes do we need to make?  What trees need to come down and what should stay?  Where will we plant the orchard and where will the garden go?  What will stay grassy and what will we let grow into pasture?  Where should we put the fences?

 Did I mention that we are trying to transplant a lot of the smaller fruit trees and bushes from our yard?  As they come out they need to go somewhere.  Where to put them?????  The Junior Boss (aka Paul) wants to know by tomorrow morning.  He has dug some out and they need to go back into the ground!  How does one decide?  I know the basics.  They need sunshine and moisture, but not too much.

Michelle has raspberries on the brain.  Where can she plant hers?  We don't want them to near the chickens....  What about the blueberries.  They need to be separate as they require acidic soil.  I don't want to do this willy-nilly I need a plan!  and by tomorrow morning.  No pressure.  I have been thinking about this but I have trouble making decisions especially if I don't have any definite criteria to base the decision on.  Ask me about your sleep issues, and I can, after a few quick questions tell you what herbs you need to take to help.  But where to put the rhubarb?  I don't know.  I have so much input from the children, but they know less than I do.  Haha!  I need some experienced farmer to come along side and give us advice.  Any volunteers?

Keeping Busy While You Wait

 First, a confession.  I have not been doing a good job of taking pictures lately.  Therefore the photos in this post are merely representative of what has been going on!

We are working on cleaning up  the backyard which includes splitting wood, stacking and getting some ready to sell.  We won't need ALL this wood as we won't be using it to heat with.  There is only one wood-burning fireplace.  If anyone local needs firewood, give us a call, we'll be happy to deliver it for you.  It is all oak and maple.

 Today, Michelle got up early to bake pies for a local contest.   She was tired and discouraged when she didn't win.  They looked great and I am sure tasted delicious.  They were all GF.  Congratulations to our friend Joanne B for winning 2nd prize!

 We are busy sorting and discarding.  Large art projects, such as this are being photographed and discarded.  Elizabeth painted this window about a year ago.  We just don't have space to store everything in the new house.  Downsizing is a lot of work and is very stressful to my slow decision making brain, but in the end it will be freeing.

 Why this photo?  Because this weekend Paul is away at a christian camp helping to run the upper ropes courses and zip line for a group renting the facility.

 If our guests from last night see this.... don't be offended.  This picture represents hospitality.  We have been having company lately.  Last night we had some dear friends over to dinner.  They brought their 8 children who still live at home.  The 'children' (aka teenagers and young adults) had such a good time playing 'ultimate frisbee' and other games in the back field.  I was really proud of the children.  They all participated in making the meal.  T-Bob made the chili, JoAn made the pasta, corn on the cob, cornbread and salad, and Thomas made the apple crisp for desert.  It was such a pleasant evening.

 JoAn has been busy studying for her tax course.  I am really working to get all the school stuff organized and ready to go.  With all the delays I have to start school whether we are in the middle of moving or not.  Otherwise, school won't start until Thanksgiving.  The children haven't been too disappointed in having a later start, but it is time to get going!

One of our projects for today is to get the garden weeded and the plants that are finished cleared out.  I am still sorting and discarding clothes.  I need to get our homeschool notification in Monday, which means I need to fill in my list of proposed curriculum.  I think I will work on that during the OSU Buckeyes game.  Tomorrow is Grandparents Day!  Need to work on getting Sunday dinner prepped for tomorrow.  At least I know what I am going to make.  That is always the hardest part of the battle.

OK,  I am done talking about it and I am heading off to get it done.  Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow!

Successful Melons - Garden Update

We have never had success in growing any kind of melons in our garden. We have tried a number if times and always failed. Pretty sad. We added some more gardening beds this year and decided to give melons one more shot, as we had the extra room. It worked!!

The combination of very warm temperatures and regular rain ended up yielding us some very nice melons. This was the first cantaloupe we picked. It was huge, almost ten pounds. What is really nice is that we have about eight more cantaloupe still to pick. We also have a watermelon that will be ripe soon. Things that grow on vines, are doing great this year.

The melon was very sweet and delicious. I wish you all could have a taste, it was really good.

I will give a more complete garden update soon.

~Mom