BACK YARD PROJECT

I don't have any pics of the back yard right now. But I will describe it to you with old pics.

1. I moved these two empty garden boxes to the left of my back door. They are the beginning of my kitchen garden.

2. I started the expansion of the chicken yard. I am running wire from the middle of this chicken house...see the line just right of the window? The wire will run across the yard to the wild plum orchard and will have a gate in and a gate through to the old garden area.

3. I will temporarily run wire around the new kitchen garden until I get enough old wood fences. I will rebuild and shorten old wood fences into a 4 ft tall garden fence to keep Bull out.

4. I brought in 1600 lb of top soil which is going to be mixed with compost and a custom blend of compost and green sand. I will fill some pots with this and also the beds.

5. I picked up my mom and we went to Covington Gardens in Rowlett and purchased bedding plants. Wow even at Home Depot, the stock was limited. I don't know if this is because the supply is limited or because they are tightening their belts.

Here is what I bought:




Bok Choy, dill, basil-purple and sweet, chives, jalepenos, sweet green and red peppers, and 12 kinds of tomatos including grape, yellow, yellow cherry, and several more.

While getting my things out of the barn I found these two old wood boards that I had attached old tools to to make them look cool:

Saturday work

This doesn't look like much but it represents about 60 miles of travel and a lot of sweat. It took 2 truckloads just to fill the pond at the end of my driveway. I have a long way to go. I think I will have a dump truck load brought in.







I have decided to move the garden beds and put them right by my back door and put up a small fence around the kitchen garden just to keep out the dog.

also I will be running 50ft of wire across the back yard and adding a gate to make a large chicken yard. Between the kitchen garden and the chicken yard will be a run of grass that Bull has access to to patrol.

We removed the platic sheeting from the chicken house as it was making the leaking worse.

This morning as the sun comes up at almost 8am! I will be picking up the front yard, cleaning off the front porch, cleaning house and doing laundry. I have one bunny cage to clean out and litter boxes to clean out.

I bought two packages of strawberries and will be "building" berry buckets today.

I also took a big step and bought a package of asparagus and will be starting my first asparagus bed. I hope you all are enjoying spring.

JOHN THE RABBIT WHISPERER

John worked with this bunny until it fell asleep on it's back. He did this for both black bunnies.

SPRING IS HERE

Yes in one week it is almost time to mow! The grass is getting green. The temps are staying above 45....it is soooo cool.

I checked my 1 little garden patch and the broccoli is thriving and green and so are the collards. My garlic is growing and all 70 of my sweet onions are growing. the lettuce not so good nor the spinach. I planted swiss chard tonight but only had about 15 minutes to do that and fill the bird feeders and let out the hound. No pictures for now.

But boy is it time to spring clean....inside and outside.

WHERE DO YOU KEEP YOUR TREASURES?

Am I the only one who has a treasure collection? Until today I kept mine on one shelf behind my recliner where I use my computer. But it has grown too big.

Today I decided to move them into an empty corner cabinet in my room. The process of rearanging them will be tedious but fun. Each item will have it's special place but I won't know where it is until it gets there. It is only partially filled.




When I look at my collection I am amazed that it is so eclectic. There are as many reasons that each item is special as there are items.




Pictures of my family are a given. They make me either smile or cry. My Little Ponys...well how can they not be special? Hotwheels...just because they are cool.

Then there are the tons of treasures found by my grand children right here on the farm. To some they may simply be a piece of old broken glass, but not to a 6 year old boy. A hand made lariat made by a man I used to love long ago. A very old knife, a hatchet that really belongs to my dad, hundreds of stone and bones.




I hope you give your collection a cool display area and not just a shoe box. It deserves to be seen and gently exposes part of who you are.

HAD TO BORROW THIS FROM PEGGY

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:
(1) They live here. You don't. (2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture. (3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people. (4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.
Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they (1) eat less, (2) don't ask for money all the time, (3) are easier to train, (4) normally come when called, (5) never ask to drive the car, (6) don't hang out with drug-using people; (7) don't smoke or drink, (8) don't want to wear your clothes, (9) don't have to buy the latest fashions, (10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and (11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children ..

A LESSON IN THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

I have said it before, and I will say it again. People who have TV's in their cars are not allowing their children to have some very important conversations.

Here was how my truck sounded on the way home from cubscouts:

D: When you eat food it goes down to your toes and then you poop

J (who is older and learning about organs at school): D that is not what happens...first you swallow and your food goes here (pointing) in your stomach...then it goes in the really big long pink thing that looks like a snake and that takes out the good stuff and then it comes out as poop.

D: Is it really big?

J: Yes

D: Then were is the baby?

J: (holding his hands up like he is taking control): I know where babies come from

Nanna (inside her head): OMG think think think!!

J: Inside a girl there is this tiny little thing with a line across it. Every time she eats food some of the food feeds that and it turns into a baby. Then with more food it gets bigger and bigger until it finally just comes out.

D: (puzzled shocked expression) Nanna did you have a baby in your tummy?

Nanna: (releaved) yes two

D: where are your babies?

J: (condesending older brother voice) D it is mommy and uncle tom tom

D to Nanna: You laid them!?

J: D! we don't lay babies....we're amphibians!

Who knew?