We got "Spring" in our step

Wow - I put this blog together so I can keep everyone up to date on the Goings-ons with us...but so much is Goings-on, I don't get the time to update. :) But I'll take a couple minutes to update.

The garden has been in for a month now, unfortunately had to do significant replanting of corn, beans and many other things. Not quite sure why as I know it didn't get too cold. It was a new turn over of the sod so maybe there was something in the soil that some of the vegies don't like. Will till in straw and chicken manure this fall and I'm sure next year will be much better. Don't have the pictures downloaded yet. 8 long rows of corn, a section of cantaloupe, yellow squash, zucchini, large pumpkins, cucumbers, lots of sunflowers as section dividers, 3 rows each of green and yellow beans, taters, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, cabbage (for the home made kraut,) kohlrabi, beats, peppers, and the perimeter is bordered by Marigolds... Ufda Heather and I spent a good portion of last weekend weeding and tilling.

Also finally finished the chicken coop, so last Friday afternoon I moved the 44 chickens to the barn. The garage was starting to get a little ripe. :P They seem to really like their new home. The 25 meat birds are the size of large footballs already at just less then 5 weeks old but are a little tough to play catch with. And I think our inherited barn cat 'Dot' is keeping the gophers/ground hogs at bay.

We've already seen 1 new robin nestling grow big enough to leave the nest...waiting now on the other three in a neighboring nest under back deck to hatch. A not-so-bright kildeer also made a nest in the middle of our driveway with 4 eggs. Its marked with a utility flag now so we don't run it over.

The fields are all planted w/soybeans and corn; much of which is already almost 'knee-high.'

We are loving our 'new' home, especially this time of year when everything is so green and new babies are in abundance. I'll try to get some pictures added soon from the recent past; Spring flowers, project progress, and of course pugs. :-)

We (Heather) put together the vacation plans for the summer, a week of camping in the UP of Michigan in July.

In the mean time a couple of pictures from March making homemade sour kraut...45 lbs of cabbage = 23 quarts...just fyi ;-)








And we are also in the market for a mattress...does anyone have any good suggestions? Has anyone bought a sleep number or temperpedic bed? We'd be interested in any feedback...

And closing with a little wisdom: You only need two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

More to come...