welcome

December!!!
I'm so exited to say that most of our Christmas shopping for the kiddos is DONE!!!! Yyyyaaahhhoooooo! I'm so glad. In case you didn't get that. haha Oh I can't wait for the UPS or FEDEX guy to bring the presents!! Love that!! I usually bound out the door to greet them! Crazy farm girl!

We've got a cold snap going on this week, and let me tell you for those of you who don't milk critters in freezing temps, by hand...you don't know what your missing!! ha! You know your hands are cold (even with milking gloves) on when you put your hands on your cow and she sucks in a breath and looks at you with those large doe like brown eyes. I apologized to her. I felt bad. Or when the milk freezes to the pail as you milk her out. Or you bury your face into her warm body so you can be warm and not having your lungs burn from the cold. I actually like the smell of the cows. I know I'm weird, but I'm ok with that!
I've got some other farm stuff going on, but I'll save for another post. Tease!  Still can't do pics. I might have to move :(
Have a great day all! I gotta go lug water for the critters. Everything is frozen!

one thing to another in 24hrs

Yesterday I went to the ocean with my Mom and a sister, along with the kiddos. I know poor me!! I got to go to the beach! Again!! I got to bury my feet in the sand, work on my tan, and just sit around and DO nothing! I did get up and go in the water with the kiddos, but that's it! See...
Ahhhhhhhh check it out! That is a ferry landing your looking at. I'm standing out in the ocean. When we got there the tide was out, but moving in. When we left the tide was just about all the way in. We had to move 3 times to keep from getting our stuff wet!

My sisters foot, and my purple toes I don't know where her other foot is!. We had to move again after this picture. In the right hand corner you can see the ferry landing, if you look. I kept the camera low because there were too many people in the water dressed in a way I don't want on my blog;)

But today I was not at the beach. This is what I did this morning

Bush hoggin the pasture! My Man started it and then said I could have a go at it. He loves me! So I finished up the pasture, and then we turned out the cows. It's a good day when you can smell like diesel, and be on the tractor!
Then I came in the house and did house work because it was kinda rainy today off and on. I wanted to do outside things, but the weather had other ideas. But it's OK, because we need the rain, and I needed to get some stuff done in the house. Maybe tomorrow I can get some outside stuff done. `
I did manage to pick a few more summer squash today! Gotta freeze them. Cucumbers are coming along too and I'll be making pickles before too long! Oh I've got plans for the stuff coming!
Have a great night all!

noises in counrty life

Last night my husband and I got the kiddos to bed early. They were very tired and cranky, and just needed to go to bed. They were out in about 15 minutes of being put to bed. Ya they were tired. Then we went out and weeded one of the gardens. Just the two of us. Oh it was such a nice evening, there was enough of a cool breeze to keep the skeetos away, and it wasn't hot or humid. Just perfect. We worked away at the weeds and chatted some. We didn't speak for a while, just being together was nice. As I was weeding I listened to the noises around me. The breeze blowing through the tall hay, the horses happily munching their hay and the chop of their teeth. The fan in the window gave a quiet hum as it whirled around. Sheep nearby eating the weeds we threw out to them, and the sound of them eating. Kinda noisy, like they were just loving the weeds. Maggie was out in her pasture and every once in a while Dandie would call to her, and move around in her stanchion, and clang and bang around as she laid down. (The reason she is in is because they got out the other night around 11pm, and we need to fix her pasture). Pigs were quiet, and sleeping in the barn. The chickens were going to bed and getting into their perches, I could hear them clucking, and their almost growl when they were disturbed by another hen moving in.The occasional squawk when someone higher up demanded that one move so she could have that spot. I could hear my husband softly move about the garden pulling up the weeds, and glanced over at him in the dusk. We spoke, then quiet again. The frogs and crickets were out chirping and singing their evening songs. Birds settling in for the night, quietly chirping and singing as they did so, the soft flutter of their wings as they moved about. I looked around and saw the lightening bugs coming out, lighting up the darkening hay fields around us. Abby nickered at me when I made a noise, and T.O shook her head rattling her halter. The sun was almost all the way down, but there was still a slight glow of light on the big fluffy now gray, pink, and blue clouds. Someone in the not too far distance was setting off fireworks. I sighed and felt the ragged edges and stress melt away as I breathed out.

this little piggie

cried weee weeee weee all the way home!
We got our pigs yesterday! My husband greeted me when he got out of the car, he oinked at me and said "I like pigs," With a smile on his handsome face. I laughed and kissed him. 
 I didn't get any pics yesterday, I was too busy doing chores so my husband could fix their pig pen, and then we were off to a birthday party. They are in T.O's stall and it needed some holes fixed that a pig could get out, but not a horse. I'm so happy to have them here. This is the first time we have pigs ON our farm!! We've had them before, but over at my in-laws, and I rarely went to see them, the pigs not my in-laws! We will be keeping strict records on them too, basically how much they eat. In a few weeks they will be going outside once they are settled and know that the barn is home. I really don't want to have to chase pigs, but I might end up doing just that. I'll post it if I do, because I'm sure it would be funny. It's OK I can laugh at myself. I do it so often ya know.
But this am I took a couple pics. "Here piggy piggy!!"

 The kiddos want to play ball with them. Aren't they cute?! Three boys and one girl, I think.  I like pigs. I can't get attached to them though. I plan on eating one of them this winter, and the rest are sold. I can give them the best life a pig could want though. Room to play, water, grain, scraps, milk, shelter, and some affection.

Here they are eating their breakfast this morning. We need a bigger bucket. And I quickly moved the bucket away from the wall. They tend to push and shove each other and are all over the place while eating. SO the wall is not ideal to put the food bucket. Lesson one learned real fast for me this am. First time I've fed pigs!
Have a great day all. I've got a gazzllion things to do today and need to get at it!!

more haying

You guys are gonna get sick of reading about haying!
Yesterday was in the 90's and the three H's. Hazy, hot and humid. We had more hay to get done. So that is what we did later in the day. I threw bales on the wagon while my husband finished baling, my FIL brought over his jeep to pull the hay wagon and drove that. Then I had to stack the hay I threw on the wagon. I'm not the best stacker in the world. But I'm better then I was last year. I didn't loose any bales! It was hot. I was covered in sweat and hay chafe, and my jeans and tank top were sticking to me. Don't ever do hay in shorts. Yikes, that hurts! Done it once the first time I ever hayed, back when I was a teen. My legs were scared and full of hay splinters. OUCH. Anyways... Once my husband was done baling he got on the wagon and stacked. I threw the bales up to him. It's a better workout then any gym. My arms are stronger now then ever. I've got milking, cleaning stalls, throwing hay, and lugging water, under my belt. Plus all winter I worked out at home. Had to keep in shape for the summer and give me something to do. I slept really well last night too. My husband told me I snored!! OMW! I must have been tired. I don't snore. Neither does he, unless he's really tired! I'm so glad!
We have over 300 bales of hay in the barn now. We are well on our way to having enough for the winter. I think we need 600. One field is done, and now growing for second crop. We like to feed the cows second crop. We have another field to do, but may have to hire to have it cut. It's thicker then the one we did. I'm so happy to get this done. It's earlier then last year. And the hay looks so good!
See

 Hard to tell how green it is. The glare of the sun was bad, and I couldn't see what I was looking at. I just pointed and shot. But it's nice and green!

We don't have a "hopper" as my son calls it. So we do it the hard way and drop it on the ground and then go around and pick it up. I throw it! Hard work.

 My man getting ready to jump off the wagon. I tried to get him stacking, but didn't. I needed pictures and he wanted to get it done!

My boys.

Have a great day all!

haying and such

So my weekend was filled with haying. Saturday is a blurr and I don't remember what I did. We had plans to visit Dad's on Father's Day, but when the sun is shining and hot and you have hay down and it is dry and needs to get in the barn, that is what you do. Get it in the barn. Farming doesn't care what day it is. So after church while my husband raked, I replanted one of the gardens. Then while my husband baled I mowed the lawn. Then we loaded it up and took it to the barn. Then yesterday we did more haying. I got to rake this time!
See, me on the tractor. "He thinks my tractor's sexy!!"

Why yes that is a two horse drawn rake. Thanks for noticing. Yes that is a tractor pulling it. BUT it's paid for and it works. Currently very slowly, and is the slowest thing for haying. But for now it works, and we are looking for a different rake... later.
Then while my husband baled, I was getting clothes off the line and yada yada. When it came time for getting it in the barn my BIL, and FIL, came over and I didn't have to do that. I got to cook supper with my SIL. We had to feed the hungry men and children!
We got some more hay down with the JD tractor.
See

 Sure does smell good, and look how pretty it is! Currently drying in the sun!

Here is one load of hay to go to the barn. Feels good to know that we are well on our way to having hay to feed the critters this winter.  And that we did it ourselves. Yuck, don't want to thing about snow today though!
Have a great day all!

fun at the ocean

We went to the beach. No let me re-state that. We went to the ocean! Ahhhhhhhhh I just love the ocean! The smell, the sounds, even the gulls flying over head. First time this summer. It was nice for us to get away from the farm for a day...or so
 Now let me fill you in on our adventure! (Long post and some pics are headed your way! Go get some coffee, and a cookie, I'll wait.)
My husband had to work and couldn't come. My mom came and picked up the kiddos and I. One of my sisters takes a vacation down to the ocean every year for a week. So she invited us down for the day. The motel she stays at has a pool, hot tub, sauna, and like 5 grills, a patio, play area, and best of all is about 500 feet from the ocean! The kiddos were up at 6am, I think they were a little excited, 9am didn't come fast enough for them. I brought my knitting and worked on that on the drive. It was a beautiful day, full sun with just a light breeze. We get to the beach and the kiddos took off for the water. Once they hit the water they let out a little yelp. The Atlantic Ocean is never warm. It was cold! It was low tide when we got there and could go way out.  They had boogie boards to ride the waves and all! Ahhh just a day of fun, and laying in the sun! Just what we needed. Time just is not an issue on your day off, and you get home whenever you get there! The kiddos thoroughly enjoyed playing, as did I!
Here is what we listened to...

Us in the ocean!!
We had a picnic on the hotel patio late in the day. While I was grilling the kiddos played in the pool, heated you know. It was nice for them to go in because they were chilly after the ocean. They liked the hot tub too! I got hot in the sun grilling so I ran and jumped in the pool. I did a cannon ball in the water and came up on the kiddos. They thought that was funny. I felt better and went and finished grilling. More fun on the beach after lunch.

 My view most of the day. Unless I was in the water playing with the kiddos. Not a lot of people there either!

The waves! Ahhhhhhhhh so beautiful!

Well later that evening when we were getting ready to leave, someone in the hotel asked us when we came up from the beach if had the silver van. Yes, was our response. We were told we had a flat tire. Very flat. (No pics, had put the camera in the motel room, or I'd have 100000000 pictures.  I have lots more, but won't put them on.) No problem. Just dig out the spare and head on out. The kiddos went up to the motel and went in the pool. They didn't care, it just meant more time in water with their cousins! Well it took us a few minutes to find the spare. Some "genius" that designed this newer van decided the back is not a good place for a spare. No they put in in the front between the driver and passenger seat underneath. Because that's SUPER convenient to get out let me tell you. NOT. Well we get that out and low and behold again some genius had a donut for the spare!! (For those of you who don't know, a donut is a much smaller tire, and not ideal for long travels to drive on, and you can only go 50mph on them). My parents had recently bought this van too, so they had no idea this was the case. OK, not so cool for a long drive on the highway ... now what. Well we took the flat tire off and found not 1 but 2 screws in it! OMW! We were so thankful that this happened in the safety of the parking lot and not on the highway! We put the donut on and thought what would be our best move. You know there are some folks who always have an opinion and are rather loud and free with their advice, well we had one of those, but choose not to go with it. We did have some help from the motel manager, he was helpful. Well, we sent my sister to the store to get a new tire mounted and balanced. That sounded like a good idea. She called a while later. My mom, other sister and the kiddos were fixing up a late supper for the sleepy, hungry kiddos when she called. Walmart told her they would only sell her 4 new tires, but they closed in 10 minutes. We were about 20 or so minutes away. Not gonna work, and we only needed 1 tire, not 4! Then she went to VIP. They said sure, we can do that, tomorrow at 1:30. SOoooooooooooo Mom and I decided at that point (it was late and no one else was open) we would just stay the night and go to VIP the next day. We called our husbands and told them. Then got our room. My sister had to leave and do chores at her farm and couldn't stay and play. My other sister was staying until the next day anyways so we were gonna party! We got showers and settled in and got an extra cot for the room. Snacks and some TV on the beds, and a very late night for all of us. All and all it was fine!
The next morning we walked down to the pier and got some DD coffee near the ocean. Mmmmmmmmmm iced coffee after a long late night was a must have.

 My babies foot print in the sand.

My kiddos walking down to the pier with the ocean lapping their feet. When we got back we had to check out of the motel, and sat on the beach for an hour or so. We still needed to kill time and the kiddos didn't like just looking at the ocean. We had no place for a bathroom, changing or block from the sun. Everything was packed. So we went shopping for a while, had a "tailgate" party in the parking lot for lunch, then packed up and headed to VIP to get the new tire. We get there and they said it would be a hour, but maybe two hours before they could get it done. This was now 1:30 when they said it could be done. Now what?! We parked in the shade, got some chairs and blankets out. Then walked down to the DD that was right down the road and my mom treated the kiddos to a coolatta, my sister and I got iced coffee, and mom got tea, unsweetened. Then walked back to VIP and hung out there for over two hours. We had an adventure, and the kiddos were great! We had food, water and shade, and some grass for them to play in. We all wished we could have gone back to the beach, but didn't have enough room in my sisters little car. I was very glad I brought my knitting. I'm working on a new baby blanket for a friend. Nope not to get paid for it, but a gift! I'll show you that soon too. When the van was fixed we left for home. It was 4pm when we left. The ride home was uneventful, thankfully! All and all the whole thing was great fun! An adventure I think the kiddos will remember for a very long time!
We got home for chores, late chores. The cows were waiting for us, my husband wasn't home, and the kiddos needed to eat...I did also notice that my husband had put down some hay. That's what we will be doing this weekend...my day of relaxing at the beach seems like it was a long time ago!
Have a great weekend all. I'll have some pics of haying to share soon I'm sure!

gardening time

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OK I feel slightly better now. Not really. We planted our gardens the other day. It was beautiful out! Nice and sunny! Our little seedlings were doing so well. That night we had a light rain! Ah perfect. Then I look at the 10 day forecast and now I want to not have planted our gardens. Basically they are calling for rain, rain and more rain, oh and some thunder storms for the next 10 days. Fantastic! Now where is that sarcastic font? It's poring out there. I have a feeling one of our gardens will be a wash out. It's low enough and if this rain keeps up it'll drown the seeds. I'm concerned about the tomatoes. I have 30 plants! I really need them to do well, we want to save some seeds from them, and I need the tomatoes. I'm just praying that it really doesn't rain that much, and things will look better. I'm just not really wanting to look at the 10 day forecast again for a few days! I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. Here are some pics of the gardens.

 Ah the wonderful tomato! I love tomatoes!! I'm not one for going barefoot in the garden, or ever. I don't really care to have the dirt in my toes. My hands, that's another story. I love dirt under my fingernails and covered in warm dirt. During canning season my hands are usually stained from what I'm canning. Carrots and beets are the worst. I don't mind though. I know, I'm weird. I'm ok with that.

 More tomatoes. I have 8 pepper plants too.  I just really hope they are not green peppers. Yuck. The pic on the package was purple, so I'm going with that.  The rope is so I can keep the row straight. Drives my husband crazy if they aren't. I just laugh.

 My loves. Planting carrots. My boy every year gets his tractors and plows and plays in the garden with them. He's over there in the tomatoes. The hay field looks amazing. Too bad it's not ours to hay.

One of the kiddos took a picture when we were planting onions. I zoomed it and cropped it and just got our hands. I love this picture.

 Here is garden one. It's the one we started in, and over the years have gotten bigger. And now we have..

Garden number two! This one has never done amazing. We piled the manure on it over the winter to let it compost down, put more manure on it, and tilled it all in. The soil looked so different afterwards. So we are hoping that the manure works.The rototiller, corner of the horse fence, and bike add to the pic don't you think?!

Oh and with the wool, I was asked a couple time what we do with it. Currently nothing. I have a spinning wheel that my husband bought me, and yes I spin wool and love it, as do some of the kiddos, one gal in particular. But I'm hopeful to getting it washed, I could, but really don't want to. A friend lives down the road spins wool and has offered to help me with the washing of it, and maybe I'll take her up on it. I just haven't gotten around to it. When/if I do I'll let you know and snap some pics. I have worked some of the wool "in the grease" and it's beautiful!
 I have more posts of what I've been up too. So come on back! Have a great day all!!

my weekend in photos

 Well sorta. I won't include all the laundry, dishes and cooking I did. But there was a lot of it. I had 7 kiddos all weekend. So needless to say I was busy.

 I just LOVE  these flowers. They smell amazing. They don't last long enough as far as I'm concerned. Our little lilac bush is small and doesn't have lots of flowers, but it's growing. It's a shoot off my MIL"S massive tree. When the wind blows I can smell the lilacs in my living room. I have some in my bathroom and kitchen too. Couldn't resist.

 A long time friend of Matthew's came over Friday to hang out. Then decided to work with Time Out (T.O)  We didn't get her tied into the shaves of the cart, but she did get introduced to them. She really didn't like them at first, but once she realized that these long, scary looking poles were not going to kill her, she was fine with them being there. Still have a little work to go before she's ready for the cart, but we are that much closer to getting there!! And we'll be working on it too! Now that the weekend is over!

Maggie chewing her cud under the apple tree. The grass has taken off. It's increased her diet, she's out all night, we've cut back her grain, and she gave 29lbs of milk the other day in one milking! That's about 3.5 gallons of milk.  That's a lot of milk. Looks a little like this, plus some...

So now I'm making lots of butter, and cheese. I need to try Cheddar, but it's really involved. That and I don't have a cheese press here. But I really want to try. I'll let you know when I do it. Maybe when we are done home school and my morning's aren't so busy... It's expensive to buy and we all love it and I like to cook with it.
Sunday evening we had our boy's cross over ceremony into the Boy Scouts. He had done another camp out on Friday with the Boy Scouts and had a blast. This time it didn't rain on them! He and his friend crossed over together. They have been in scouts since they were Tigers. Just little guys. Now to see how they have grown, and changed is wonderful. My boy has really come a long way.  We are so super proud of him!

Here he is getting his awards for all that he has accomplished this year in Cub Scouts. He's still a little bashful when he has to stand in front of everyone. 

 Here he is getting his Arrow of Light Badge. That is the highest honor the Cub Scouts give. It's a lot of work to get it too. It's the only badge he can put on his Boy Scout uniform from Cub Scouts too, (along with his WEBLOS badge takes 2 years to earn that badge). He and his friend both earned that badge! He'll be marching in the Memorial Day parade with the Boy Scouts this year too. Oh I can't even tell you what I feel in words. Kinda like a heart popping moment of love and pride when I see him growing into a fine young man.

His WEBLOS and Arrow of Light badge. That is how they will go on his shirt, when her gets it.
Have a fantastic Monday all!

this and that

Didn't realize it had been a while since my last post. I've popped in and read some posts here and there when I've had a few minutes to sit. We've been busy.
Last night we had my BIL and SIL's kiddos over, well three of the 4 of theirs. My boy went out camping again with the Boy Scouts and some Cub Scouts. This time out in the woods. He'll be crossing over into the Boy Scouts on Sunday. Sniff, sniff. He's growing up so fast. We are having a small get together in the evening with family to celebrate his hard work. So I guess I better get the house cleaned up.
I've started hardening off the seedlings in the house to get them planted outside. Got a week or so to go before they can go out full time in the garden. I'm going about it different this year and not shocking them. And slower too. I think I did that last year and that was part of them not doing as well, that and the late blight. Oh well, lesson learned.
One of my sisters came over and we cooked some yummy food. I don't have any pics because I couldn't find my camera. But OMW I'll tell you that we had His and Hers Burgers from PW's new cookbook! Amazing! With some homemade pesto, and mayo, (Thanks to Candy C over at Lazy J Bar C blog). I used her mayo recipe, very yummy. And this time I used a blender and it whipped it up the right way, unlike the first disaster I tried. Oh and the dessert we made was PW's Pot De Creme. I think that's what it's called, not sure about the spelling, but basically it's chocolate, vanilla, eggs, and hot coffee. With whipped cream on top. Trust me it's wonderful! But don't eat a lot of it, it's SUPER rich, but I savored every bite. And besides cooking I had a nice visit with my sister.
I made cream cheese, eeeerrrrrrr well I tried to make cream cheese, but it was not edible. I tossed it. I'll have to try again.
We went to a friends house for supper. Had chicken parmesan and that was really good. I've never made it before, but had had it. The kiddos asked if I could make it sometime. So I'll be making it sometime!
It's a great day here today. Full sun! Oh how wonderful it is, after all the rain! The ground is really wet, and the grass is tall and thick. My husband mowed the lawn last night with a riding lawn mower. We need to get another push mower. Last year I managed to break the shaft and it was awful to try to mow. Felt like my arms were going to shake off. Thankfully it was the end of the season, so it was OK. haha. Now that the lawn monster has been tamed I can get out there and mow. I like to mow with a push mower. I like the exercise. Besides my kiddos always bring me ice cold water while I mow. And pick me more flowers while I mow and put them in cups on the counter to surprise me when I'm done. To make the house pretty.
The laundry is drying out on the line, the kiddos are running around in the fields, my man if off to the mill, and I need to get some cleaning done so I can sit in the sun and work on my knitting!
Have a wonderful weekend all!

moving fences

Sunday afternoon was such a beautiful day. So beautiful that after church and lunch that I took an hour long nap! Yup I did. I've got a terrible head cold and it's like an elephant is sitting on my chest and in my nose. Yeah. Awesome. So after my nap we all went outside and put up the pasture for the cows. It's really a two person job. We set up the perimeter, then we will section it off and rotate the pastures. The grass is still not real thick and lush all over, it's early here, but it's coming nicely. We just needed to move the pasture so they didn't go through the fence to eat the greener stuff. We are all for rotational grazing! Actually grass based is what we want, but due to our situation we do what we can! It's what we are striving for. So anyways... Walking around the field with an elephant is not really all that great. Plus with the new life that is springing out everywhere causes me to sneeze and blow my nose every few steps. My husband told me to go sit and take it easy. I didn't listen and said I was fine as I gasped and wheezed and sneezed the whole time. haha The kiddos were out there with us talking, laughing, and running around the field. It felt so good to be out and have the sun on me and listen to them and chat with my husband. Joel Salatin has said if you wanna be a grass farmer you better like to walk, or something along those lines. So true as I learned last year! But you know I enjoy walking around the field with my man catching up in our conversation and spending time with him. The kiddos are never too far off and their laughter and chatter bounce off the air and surround me like a warm blanket. The cattle mooing at us to hurry up and move the fence so they can go enjoy it. Then watching Maggie go out last night as the sun was finally going to bed, and listen to her munching happily on the lush green grass. The slight sound of her hooves sinking a small amount into the water logged earth, after all the rain. To watch her flick her tail and shake her head and see her ears flop back and forth. The sun seeming to glow off the soft brown of her coat. The contentment I feel surrounded by the things I love.

apple blossoms

sun setting as we finish up the pasture

It was a good Sunday in the country for this country girl.
Have a great Monday all!

just when you think all is well

it's not!!!
 We had down pours of rain yesterday. Got about 4 inches. My earth worms are now water logged. There were tons on top of the soil trying to dry out!! hahaha. Seriously. That was quite a day, slopping around in the rain and wind to get chores done. Made it though.
Then today we've had wind. I know I've told ya all about the wind we get on this hill, and open spaces. Mostly I love the wind. But on occasion we loose things. The door to the sap house, the wall to the barn, buckets, clothes. You get the picture. Well today the kiddos and I are sitting around the table doing home school. Then Maggie starts mooing loudly and running around her pasture. I look out the window and the tractor tent is GONE! We have a portable tent for one of the tractors, not really what we want, but due to our current situation that is what we have. It's blown down the road right into the telephone poles! OH GREAT! I grab my jacket, and camera, and run down the road to assess the situation. Oh and my husband is currently working WAY out of town, you know like New Hampshire. Ya.

 Once seeing that it's not going to kill me or anyone else I run back to the house and call my beloved. I need some help. The kiddos and I are not going to be able to pull this sucker safely with all this wind. Our tractor is currently broken down. Poo. The hydraulic hose broke, just need to get the part to fix it. I called my neighbor, but he's not home, the other neighbor is still in high school and his parents are not home either. My husband made some calls. His dad is gone, his brother is at work. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm praying that it doesn't blow up into the wires and really cause damage or worse. I put the cow in the barn. She was really bothered by this whole thing and I didn't need to be chasing her on top of the tent!! I didn't want the kiddos out anywhere near this. Who knows with all this wind if it will pick up and blow the tent away into the lines.

Then I'm in the house waiting to hear back from my husband. The power goes out. AWESOME!! I sprint to get the "old fashioned" phone, you know the kind you are actually attached to the base of it! I was thinking the tent had somehow knocked the lines. And look out the window. It's still there. Suddenly everyone has to go to the bathroom, ahem, present company excused, of course. Why is it 30 seconds after the power goes out everyone had to go?! Well come to find out a tree has fallen on the power lines and knocked them clear off the lines and the power to three towns! Not my tent! Phew! My husband told me to leave it alone and his brother and a friend will come over when they get outta work and help me. Oh good. One of the other neighbors ends up coming over and helps to drag it across the field and I tied it down, three corners of it. Tied it down to secure equipment. Now it won't fly away or hit the power lines! My father, mother, brother in law, along with a friend of ours, came over late this afternoon to help me more if I needed it. I wanted them to check it and make sure it wasn't going anywhere. I guess it was secure enough. I was grateful to them for stopping by to help me out. They all got a good chuckle out of it. I guess in the big picture it was kinda funny.  I'm kinda glad the poles were there because who knows how far the wind would have taken it and what damage would have been done. I'm just glad no one got hurt.

This is how far it blew. I'm standing where the tent is supposed to be. Yup.
Oh and we got our power back two hours after it went out.
Have a great evening all!

my weekend

Me driving the tractor in front, towing the one behind!

Pretty sweet I think!
We had to move some of our equipment out of a barn. We have a John Deere tractor we bought last fall, that we had to move. Well, it didn't want to start. So I got to drive the big tractor and tow my husband down the road! Yup I told my man "I'll tow you any day baby!!" He smiled and winked at me, and I returned it! We did get it started, but I had fun driving the big tractor! I mean it's a diesel after all. I did forget to wear ear plugs and it's really loud. The previous owner put glass packs on it. It was ssssssssooooooooo cold. I was wishing I had put on my Carharts. I had some layers on, but was still cold. But once we were done moving things around we had a fire in the stove and I had a glass of iced coffee. I know I should have had hot cocoa, but I wanted coffee! That's just me though.

We had a nice Easter. Morning chores, church, home to check on the animals, to my in-laws for a late lunch. Mmmm yummy ham, Easter egg hunt for all the kiddos, well the younger ones. There were 16 of the 17 grand children at my in laws yesterday! Yup you read that right. What a family heritage my in laws have! One was home with his parents because he was sick, poor little guy. Home for evening chores, jelly bean hunt, kiddos to bed, my man and I had a glass of wine and chilled on the couch together, by the fire place! Phew! Busy, but good!

My beautiful kiddos. They each had a new outfit for Easter Sunday! They are getting so big. Wwwwaaaahhhhhh. Love them so much it hurts. I love to see the amazing young people they are becoming. What a blessing they are to us.
Have a great day all!

happnins

The days are flying by and becoming a blurr. The days and evenings there are things going on, and it's been hard to sit down and read blogs I love to read and to blog myself!
All our sap stuff is taken down, washed, dried, and put away until next year. We didn't get much at all, which is a bummer, but we did have some to sell to some of our customers. So that was good.
I was able to finally go out with one of my bffs last night, who just so happens to be one of my sisters. I needed some new jeans and she wanted to go out and get some clothes too. We had a blast. Shopping with someone is so much more fun then going alone!
This week has been in the high 70's and even 80's!! Crazy weather for Maine, this time of year. Then today it's only in the 50's and very windy. We went from shorts and tank tops, not to mention flip flops!! Oh how I love flip flops! To jeans, my cowgirl boots, and a sweater. I do love all the wind and sun we have though, it's free solar power to dry my clothes on the line super fast!
I'll show you how windy it is. It blew some of the clothes on the ground. Look how pretty the sky is. I love that color!! The grass is starting to green up too!!

 Everyone love to see pictures of manure. OK, maybe not everyone. But this is one of our gardens with manure on it. Been composting and needs to be tilled into the ground. Hopefully this garden will produce better then it did last year. The soil is just not as good as out other one.

 I love earth science with the kiddos! We planted some tomatoes, cantaloupe, and peppers. They are learning the process of life, life skills, not to mention where and how their food is grown. I love to watch the seeds turn into the plants and produce fruit, or veggies! Hoping to get some watermelon too. My baby loves that stuff!! Here's hoping to a bountiful harvest this fall too!

And who doesn't need a little flower power in their lives? I love flowers and would love to someday have flower gardens around the house. But and that is a huge but the sheep need to be locked up before that will happen, again! Ah lesson learned. They like to eat flowers. My boy planted some too, but in the picture above. His plant pot flew away! We'll have to get him another one! Don't ask me what kind of flowers the kiddos planted. I have no idea. They had seeds and dirt, and they were happy to just go at it and plant!

I can't wait to get our gardens planted, but we don't plant until the end of May here. We still have some work to be done before we plant. Still too cold.

We have some red clover seeds to plant in the cow pasture this year. They will love that, if it can grow. I don't know if we'll get it done today due to all the wind. Don't want it flying away! But I'll get pics and post when we do!
Have a great day all!

farm photos

Today it's cold and windy. Feels much like a January day, rather then the end of February! So what did I decide to do? Go outside and take some pictures! Why not? Froze my hands and all!

Dandie wanted to say Hello! How cute is that face!?

She's getting so big.

She would like to be a mommy hen. She's always sitting on eggs.

The other hens are busy laying eggs. The have done so well. We have turned the morning light off and will be turning off the evening light soon. They need a 2 month rest, and have been slowing down a bit. So... I hope we don't have to buy eggs soon.

I went into the horse barn and was surprised to see Minty peeking around the corner of T.O's stall. Daisy was in there too, behind the wall. Guess it's not as windy in the barn as it is outside. They do have a barn of their own, but they must like the horse one better.

 Abby and T.O. Abby looked up and then buried her face back in the hay.

Have a great Tuesday!