Graduation Day

One yarn tassle

One homemade construction paper hat

One tiny little black robe

One adorable picture

=

One proud Momma!

Happy JK Graduation Sadie

(and thanks to the 2 wonderful teachers who took the time and put in the effort to make this possible)

Around the Farm

Seth looking for a peony to open.

The kids set up my toad house to

be ready if anyone wants to live there.

Old hay which means possible compost.

New Hay!

The wee ones are ready to go!

MOO

Cows come into the barnyard in the summertime when you call them or when they want salt.  Yes, they lick salt, I know some adults who would also probably like to lick salt!
My dad had a calf born a week ago that wasn't getting enough milk.  The mother had lots of milk to give but that was the problem.  Her udder was HUGE, so huge that the calf couldn't get his mouth around the teets.  So we had to put them in the barn to reduce the swelling of the udder and get the calf sucking so we could stop bottle feeding it.

In order to get the momma to come in we had to call in the whole herd.

Enjoy the outdoors!

Photo Friday

Farm Girl

Farmer's Work

So much work has been going on around the homestead that our heads are spinning and extremely tired by the end of the day.  Sadie is finishing up her first year of kindergarten and we have been busy with class trips, graduation ceremonies and just getting things finished up for her.

Fresh spinach and radishes - YUM!

The potatoes are doing great this year. 

 Of course with potatoes come potatoe bugs. 

These are the potatoe bug eggs. They are underneath the leaves.

The only way to kill them is too crush them and smear them flat.  I get really excited killing these because it means less potatoe bugs in the long run.

My flower beds are all starting to bloom.

Summer is officially here.

My peonies are starting to bloom too.

While momma is out in the garden Seth is in

 doing the dishes! haha, I wish!

The haying has got underway.  We have 4 fields

done with 5 more too go.

Here are the cattle coming into the barnyard. 

 I'll have some more photos of the cattle in another post.

It does seem that everything has to get done once the summer is upon us doesn't it? 

For Sale

One rather cranky chipmunk,

Likes to get into tight spots,

Likes to chew wires,

Isn't afraid of humans,

Likes to inhabit their homes,

Likes peanut butter and raisins enough to be lured by it,

Isn't smart enough to know what a trap is.

Luckily for this little guy we have children small enough to sway their parents into purchasing a live trap (bought at an auction sale this past weekend) so we could still be persuaded by their cuteness and innocence into wanting these chipmunks to be captured but set free.  I must admit I find them pretty darn cute too.

Eat your Veggies

Just a quick update on my vegetable garden.  The radishes are doing great and are as usual growing so quickly.  This is really nice to have in Ontario where the growing season is so short.  So like a new mother I am watching over my radishes numerous times a day making sure everything is alright.

This morning we finally got a 'bunch' of radishes!  It is so wonderful tasting that first vegetable from your garden, nothing compares to it.

Seth couldn't wait to start eating them but surprisingly Sadie didn't want to try any at all.  It might have been because Seth helped to 'harvest' the radishes while Sadie was at school.  I think I'll let her pick her own tomorrow.  Hopefully Seth leaves her some ;)

Renovations

'Nuff Said

It isn't easy being Green...

My partner recently told me that I need to start adding annuals to my flower beds because there wasn't enough colour.  First of all - you can have an opinion when you start picking weeds, and secondly - I just can't justify spending so much money on annuals when they are just going to die in the fall anyway. 

When he looks at the flower beds he sees green.  That's it nothing more.  When I look at my flower beds I see many different shades and colours of green.  I see the different shapes of each leaf of the perennials.  I see a family bunched together, working together to create a beautiful, colourful flower when they are ready to create it.  I also appreciate that flower so much more when it does bloom.

The path to my garden shed is absolutely beautiful for 2 weeks out of the year while the border is blooming but then it turns back into a lovely green bush to guide my way.

Along the side of my garden shed are the great green spears of the tiger lilies I have planted.  The only reason we go on this side of the garden shed is to put our veggie scraps in the compost.  I know this tiger lilies are really hardy and fill out which would be beautiful around the compost.

My partner sees green.  What do I see?  I see a multiple shades of green and multiple generations of gardeners.  This hosta came from my grandmothers house.  She has part of it, my mom has part of it and now I have part of it and am hoping that when Sadie gets old enough to be passing it on to her as well.

The day that I was cleaning up this flower bed it was SO windy.  These flowers are usually up quite high and pretty strong but the wind had them almost on the ground.

I don't think my flower beds are boring and green.  I see them as a work of art, everything placed just in the perfect spot and so many shades of green.

I am getting berry excited about my strawberry patch.  The berries are really doing well this year and in another couple weeks they should be ready to pick.  I just need to get rid of my chipmunks before they eat them all and hope the birds don't snack  on them either.

Photo Friday

The wonderful colours of a wash where wee ones live.

No Till Garden - I don't think so

The Potatoe Patch (one of them)

This is one section of my garden, there are six in total.  If you want to know the reason why my potatoe patch looks so good is because 1) the picture is taken from fairly far away to try and hide the weeds and 2) I used my little tiller.  There I said it, I till my garden.  I know there are many out there who believe in a no till garden and I have thought a lot about it but with my garden being new and made from a hay field there is just way too much top soil in it to not till.  Within 3 days there is grass everywhere.

My Tiller

Notice the fields in the background, that's what my garden looked like this spring.  So for this year and probably next I say YES to tilling.





This is another section of my garden that is starting to sprout some wonderful veggies, in a couple days my radishes will be ready to eat.

It was around plus 35 degrees C here today so while I tilled Seth played in the pool.  Then after an hour of tilling I joined him as well.  A kiddie pool can be refreshing for someone over 5 ft tall!

I planted parsley and mint this year and have garlic cloves from last year.  I used all in a spaghetti sauce I made last night.  I just couldn't wait to go out and pick fresh herbs, so yummy.



And of course like any good farmer from Ontario you have to have a rhubarb patch.  We actually destroyed our original because I kept running over it with the lawn mower, Oops!  So I took this transplant from my parents patch and put it in my garden.  I read in one of my books that you can make rhubarb wine so maybe once my patch gets big enough I'll try brewing some wine from it.  For now pies it is.

Happy gardening.

Back Again!

If you have been wondering where I have been these past few days that I haven't been posting it's because I am insanely busy!  With spring finally here and summer well on it's way the homestead is becoming very busy and the chore list keeps getting longer.

Not only are we renovating the living room, we are also renovating the outside of our house by building (from scratch) a covered porch screened in with a new door and window installed on the house.  We are tile draining a field this year as well, luckily we are not doing that job but hiring out however this still means that we have to schedule the farm work around that field.  This year we are buying laying hens as well as meat hens, which means renovating the chicken coop and building a new yard for them.  They come in 3 weeks!

My garden is also keeping me busy.  I have almost everything planted now.  I still need to plant some potatoes, sunflowers, and numerous gourds.


My partner and wee ones decided to help out by planting the pumpkins and gourds from seeds saved last year.  I find saved seeds are hit or miss, some take and some don't.  We plant our pumpkins and gourds in the manure pile in the barnyard, that way we don't have to look after them very much and they can 'run' wherever they want too. 

We roughly mark out where they are.

Seth got a cool little ax out of the deal.  It just happen to cut like that - totally by accident but he was thrilled!

I'm not sure how often I will be able to blog right now.  I really want to try and do it more often but honestly I am SO tired and wore out by the end of the day, which I am sure most of you can relate too.  So if anyone is actually following this blog or just checks in every now and then please be patient with me.  I will try and keep you updated as much as possible.