Week #28 - Random blessings...

I was feeling a bit scattered and random this week, so decided to scroll through my camera roll for some inspiration and found it....

Our apple trees are loaded down this year with fruit and I see lots of pies in our future! 

Our plan is to add a couple of new fruit trees to our property every year until we have a larger orchard but for right now we have three older trees near the front road which are doing their best to feed the municipality! 

Avery wrangled with a skunk this week and came out smelling less than pretty... Good thing she is so darn cute! 

This week we had our good friends kids over for a "farmcation". There is nothing like small children to help you see your world with new perspective! 

They teach you pretty quickly that the small things are really the big things... pay attention.

The other night after the rain I found Oliver (the goat) perched atop Graceson (the bull)... it was like he was trying to keep his feet dry! 

I went to put the chickens to bed and came back about 20 minutes later... They were still in the same position. 

This weekend we moved our young turkeys and chickens out of the barn and into corral #1.  

This space has not been grazed this year and is lush with volunteer tomatillos, cucumber and various other veggies and weeds. 

You can hardly see the young turkeys in the tall plants! 

Our lives are full, we are very blessed. We live in a beautiful place, eat food that nourishes are body and spirit and are surrounded by beings (two legged and four) that make us laugh and fill our arms with love. May you see and enjoy your blessings this week!

Week 21 - Dirty hands, happy heart...

The last week has been exhausting yet satisfying. We put a huge dent in #plant16 and if the weather cooperates next week the greenhouse will be empty. 

While there are some plants that we plant every few weeks, to
keep a fresh supply (lettuce, spinach, peas, beans), the first round of seeding is done and plant are popping up after this weeks' rain. Transplanting of broccoli, cauliflower, onions, squash, zucchini, artichoke, and cucumbers is done. 

We tackled the strawberry bed this week and moved over 400 plants.... pretty good as the bed started with 12 free plants we got from a neighbour a couple of years ago! Their original generosity was paid forward this week as we invited anyone who wanted to come and dig the remaining strawberries up to come and get them. Six or seven households will enjoy a taste of strawberries this year.... never under-estimate how much one simple kindness can multiply and touch many others! 

Mid-week we discovered that a skunk had killed almost a dozen of our young hens we hatched in early spring. The skunk dug under and into the chicken tractor that they were in. Put the temporary electric fence and set up the trap and caught him the following night.. but where there is one, there will be others.  

All the rest of the critters are doing well, our broiler chickens are almost ready to go out onto pasture and we are expecting another batch of broiler chicks and our turkeys to arrive this Friday! The geese are huge and act like godzilla among the smaller chicks. Oliver (the baby goat) continues to thrive and is now down to two bottles a day as he is eating more and more vegetation as he grows. Finally the piggies are doing very well. They are a riot to watch especially when they wrestle with each other. 

We end the week with dirty hands and happy hearts... we are truly blessed to live in a place so beautiful and nourishing.