His Eye is on the Sparrow and on me!

I am bad at blogging.  Pathetic at posting.  Meager at managing.  I can build a decent fence or a goat milking stand.  I can grow fruit trees and veggies and pull a stubborn kid during a goat-birthing.  Pies? Bread?  Cookies?  Easy.  Fluffy biscuits?  Tasty soup?  No problem.  Take a sewing machine apart and put it back together.....fun!   But can I put text and pictures where I want them in a Blogger post?  Nope.  We'll just wing it once again!  

This is my new herb garden.  It's been raining off and on and the temperature is warm enough that even since I took these pics just a few days ago, everything is bigger and greener today!

We've been eating chives on potatoes, rhubarb in dessert and in another day or so, we'll be eating lettuce and spinach, too.



I've got most of the veggie starts out of the greenhouse
and into the garden now.  Most of the flowers are

 planted, too.  We made a plant bed in the greenhouse and put three tomato plants and a whole lot of peppers in, just to see if they grow bigger, better and longer than the ones outside.

I still need to stake the tomato plants, get some fertilizer (aka bunny poo) out on the squash and hill the potatoes but we're off to a good start!

Today Dave mixed and poured the concrete floor in my new milk-room-to-be, with the help of a wonderful young neighbor boy.  It should be hard & dry enough to start building walls on it by Monday or so.  I surely do hope the goats hold off until we get it finished - so far, so good!

Shiloh, Paxton, Mistletoe, Magda, Shinar, MaryAnne & Shilling are all the ladies-in-waiting and Winter Soldier is the proud papa!  I'm anxious to see these kids as this is our first year with Soldier as our new herd buck.  I may not have my ducks in a row, but my goats are pretty close!

 Who knew grandkiddies were so much fun?  SO much easier than your own children.....They come, you play, they go home, you go to bed!  Easy peasy!

Our days are full for sure.  Progress on the barn is going great and we decided to put a small loft for the hay in it to make more space below for goat pens.  Daughter Rebecca came and helped me build a fence behind the barn and once I get gates mounted, we'll be just about ready to move the goats over.  It's a relatively small pen as I won't be able to let them out into the next portion until I do a lot more fencing and also figure out how to keep them from eating the old orchard fruit trees.  Goats are browsers and will eat almost every tree or plant before they'll settle for pasture grass!

 I've got two litters of English Lops growing now (15 kits total!) and I've got a great deal going with daughter Rebecca.  She has a web site and puts the rabbits up for sale, meets customers and sells rabbits.  We split the proceeds and we both come out winners!    Both litters have tri-colors, harlequins, magpies and torts (doesn't that sound great?!)  I've got another litter on the way and that'll be it for this season I think. 

Remember last month when I said I wasn't going to raise any chicks this year, being so busy and all?  Welllll........maybe I ordered a new batch of layers - Buff Orpingtons again!  They should be coming soon - hopefully one day next week!  All the babies....I want all the babies!  Next I neeeeeeeeeeeeeed a dachshund puppy and maybe a couple new barn kitties (well, for the new barn, of course!).

 The garden is looking good with all the lovely cedar raised beds.  Lord willing, we'll be canning sauerkraut, pickles, beets, carrots & green beans this Fall!  We've already made a batch of pesto from our first bunch of basil and have eaten a few young green onions as well.

The strawberry & raspberry beds are looking fabulous.  Ask the robins, they've already been checking for berries.....

 Yesterday I took the day off from farm laboring to go shopping.  I donned my mask and headed off for Costco and then Target.  I'm desperate for a few summer shirts to wear, hence the trip into Target.  Costco was quite decent as far as no large crowd and the shelves appeared to be rather nicely stocked.  I noticed a few things that had been in short supply were back again, though fresh meats are still limited to 3 packages all together per customer. 

The dining table becomes a catch-all and usually looks even worse than this....

 I've gone back to making granola and we're enjoying it a lot.  It's super simple.....

10 cups oats (I use old-fashioned, of course)
1 cup nuts or sunflower seeds
1 cup coconut flakes (NOT sweetened)
1 1/2 cups maple syrup

Mix,  Bake at 325* for about 20-25 minutes or til lightly browned, stirring a couple times.  Cool & add desired dried fruit!  Simple and delicious hot or cold.

 I don't usually do dishes at night.  (My mother would have been horrified).  They'll still be there in the morning (unfortunately) so I do them then.  My gumption is usually pretty much renewed overnight.  I usually wash whatever eggs I've collected then, too.  The chickens are doing great.  The rooster doesn't like me so I've had to scold him and warn him off a few times.  FARM FACT:  (cover your ears if you're a sensitive sort...)   When the new chicks are about 6-8 months old, we'll butcher all the old hens & roo and I'll can them up for chicken soup and broth!  They are a hard-working bunch and will complete their purpose nicely at that point.

I waited a long time for these little cuties.  That is why God blessed me and my hubby with the (obviously) best ones!  We're enjoying every minute we spend with them and living close enough to watch them grow and be part of it all!

In closing, I'll tell you about my day yesterday.  Remember I said I went to Costco?  Well, first I had to drop off a rabbit at daughter's house unexpectedly.  Realized I had no gas in my van.  Back-tracked to the gas station, only to realize other daughter had my debit card!  Went back home to get it.  Back to the gas station.  Fumbled to figure it out how to use said debit card, but finally got on my way.  Shopping went well, but I bought a BIG bag of potting soil.  Got it out to the parking lot, loaded it into my van with a gentle PLOP....and the end exploded out all over the inside of my van!  Actually, I just laughed out loud.  What else can you do?  Well.....I had picked up a few things for the daughter with whom I dropped the rabbit off and when I delivered her Costco stuff to her, I left my window down so I couldn't lock my keys in accidentally.   We sat in her living room, enjoying coffee and a visit and watching an amazing sudden downpour outside.  When it let up, I said I should be on my way and out to my van I went...only to sit in a puddle of water on the seat from the window I forgot I left open!   Ever wonder why there are days like that, where everything just seems to go wrong?  Well, there's always SOMETHING to be thankful for and I'm just glad it was all small stuff!
I KNOW He watches over me!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5XZK4hDRKg