Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Smores!

We tried out the new firepit we built over the winter. Worked great!
Someone decided she wanted some smores. So I gave her a blob, right on her nose....

Unfortunately the old girls sense of smell is not so good anymore, took her a while to realise it was there.....

New Truck!

Brandon and I swopped cars a while ago - he's now working from home the entire time, and only ever gets together with his boss every few weeks in Damariscotta. So it was better for me to use his golf that got 50 mpg to commute. So last weekend we took in the Rav4 and swopped it for a truck, which has already proved very useful!

The new truck in its first week of life.....with a yard of mulch! 

Summer is here!

Summer is most definitely here! We spent the long weekend cleaning up the garden, and the chickens have finally moved outside! Just in time for round #2, we have 5 regular size chickens that will make up our flock arriving this week! 


Barkley and Zoe guarding the chicks in their temporary accommodations. 

Baby Bantams!
The new turnaround spot Brandon worked on using his dad's tractor. This is to give us somewhere to park in the winter off the road so it can be plowed better without having to move cars back and forth all the time. One day maybe we'll get a carport there....:)

The shade garden and firepit. 

Site for the chicken shed, that should be arriving anyday! 

The garden is blooming (rhubarb is going wild!), planted everything this weekend, and put up a short wire fence to see if we could keep brody out....last year he dug up everything! 

The strawberries are blooming! Hoping for a big crop this year! 

Blueberry buds! 

The new raspberry trellis. Hoping this gets us a good crop, if not we might pull out the plants and start new - this is just what was there already, and we don't know if they're a wild variety or if someone in the past planted them then let them go wild on the property. Either way, we're hoping for at least some tasty raspberries! 

One day maybe i'll get flowers for in here! 

The goofy girl, enjoying the warm sunny day....:)


The boys, hanging out. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

End of Semester

It's finally the end of semester here, and on to summer. Usually faculty would be excited at this moment, however I start teaching in 1.5 weeks, so life is about to get more hectic. Luckily it's just a three week intensive class, and one that should be fun (larval ecology), so i'm actually looking forward to it, even though I know it'll be exhausting. 

Spring has most definitely sprung here. It was in the 70's over the weekend, so we spent a lot of time in the garden, and so did the chick-chicks! They had their first excursion outside into their temporary house. They were doing great until Zoe noticed them and kept trying to stalk them through the wire. Sigh. At least we can keep Brody out by moving his underground wire.....not sure how we'll keep Zoe out. I guess just let the chicks get big enough to chase her back...



Brandon's parents dropped their tractor off for us to use, and we had a BIG pile of dirt delivered. We're building a small shed as out chicken house and needed to build a platform, as well as build up the area we're closing off as a run for them so it doesn't get so damp. So Brandon has been having fun, though i've had to remind him it's not our tractor and he does have to give it back.....


I did a talk at the public library here, and my old neighbor (8yr old) came and listened. So I called up his mom and friday evening he came and hung out for a while. He used to come by almost everyday to hang out and feed barkley cookies, so it was good to see him again. He LOVED Zoe, and i'm still shocked she put up with him lugging her around....



And then there is always goofiness. Miss Barkley trying to tell me it was time to go home today...