The New Girls

We added three old gals to our flock this weekend. After checking our chicken reference books, I think we have a Buff Orpington, Maran, and Sussex. We needed the eggs! Word has gotten around the neighborhood about our eggs and we were pulling in one a day with the birds we had. These three should help to boost those numbers and help appease our fans. 

Welcome girls! 

Look at what I found!

I am overjoyed to have found this little beauty growing in our garden. Sometimes we start from seeds and sometimes we transplant starts, but it's always the same excitement when you see the first fruits of your labor! I love beating others to it too. I'll go searching for gems like this just to be the first to shout "EUREKA!" The kids hate it. 💃

New Berries

Everyone in our house has been eyeballing this small and perfect strawberry. It so sweetly hangs over the edge of the planter ripening in the glow of the afternoon sun. Who will be the lucky one? 

My guess is HEATHER! Hahaha 
Our dear friend Heather plucked our very first cherry tomato from the vine a few years back.  Everyone would admire that tomato and we would talk incessantly about how proud we were for having grown it. I look back and still chuckle at that.  She saw it, it was ripe and needed to be eaten, so she ate it! 

Pear Blossoms

So beautiful....

I don't remember blossoms last year.  This tree is quickly becoming my favorite. 🍐

Pears!

I love this time of year!  I love the smell of the rain and watching all of the signs of new growth. It's a new beginning and it happens all on its own. 

Our pears are forming big buds and in a year or two those buds will be pears!  We are excited for our new planting season!  We will be planting in bulk this year. It seems to be the best idea for us. We took a look back at what we harvested and what didn't grow well and went from there. Safe to say pumpkins and melons are out!  Potatoes are in and they will have an entire box to themselves this season!  We will send more photos as we start planting!  

What are YOU planting? 

Caught up!

This is our compost heap. It sits directly under the rabbit hutch. The Donnas aerate the pile every day and Andy rakes it back up every evening.  It has worked out well. They're doing the tedious mixing job for us!  

This blurry photo is of our new pair of breeding does!  Hooray!  Introducing (unofficially- names are still up for discussion) LadyBird Johnson and Miss Piggy/Martha Washington!  

I was brave and decided to go for it!  I made myself a sourdough starter from scratch using Grandma Oma's recipe from her cookbook. (Her cookbook as in she wrote it. It's neat, I know!!) 

It started out well.  We were getting excited! Then.......

.....within 30 minutes it started to overflow!!!  I started to panic. 

BUT who can panic when your child begs to play with the cheesecloth covered in beginning bacteria growth and is giving you this look! 

Chow Box

This beautiful box was the final welcome box that we gave to the new next door neighbors. 

It included: a curly cucumber (it grew in a circle!), lots of tomatoes, a couple potatoes, a handful of garlic, three large  green onions, two Walla Walla sweet onions, a half dozen fresh eggs, and a handmade tomato pincushion.  It was presented to them in a cute handmade veggie box from Andy with a card made by the girls. I think they enjoyed the surprise, but I think I needed to extend a hand since I've poo-poo'd the house. Like our other neighbor, Matt, I was upset with the house not the people. I needed to give the box to live my amends. 

Welcome to the neighborhood Karoline and Chris!