Garden Update

I'm just hopping on here today to give a quick photo update of the kitchen garden. It's not doing too bad.

~ Blueberries ~

~ Yellow Brandywine Tomatoes ~

~ Broccoli ~

~ Carrots ~

~ Corn ~

~ Green Beans ~

~ Mr. Stripey Tomatoes ~

~ Pole Lima Beans ~

~ Spinach ~

I hope all of your gardening plans are going well.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

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Time In The Garden

We've been so busy with baseball and soccer games that we haven't had any time in the garden, until yesterday. It was amazing that we actually had a Friday evening available. Thankfully, we took advantage of the overcast weather and got a lot accomplished.

We are still in the process of putting our garden back together. At this point we are weeding and filling the border beds. Those beds are two feet deep and run around the outside of our garden area. We don't have all the border beds installed. Hopefully that will be finished this year as well.

We started off with a short border bed, weeding it and filling it with a mixture of top soil and mushroom soil. We were able to plant two rows of Giant Stringless bush beans. In total we used 53 seeds, planted 3" apart (the seed package said to plant them 1" apart) and the rows are 6" apart. We've never had any luck with beans so we are hoping for the best.

Continuing around to the second bed in the border, we transplanted all the broccoli plants that were growing in the house. We have a nice tradition of putting milk jugs over them for protection. The bottoms of the jugs are cut off. This acts as a make shift green house as well as keeping the wild life from eating our sprouts.

The next bed that was weeded and filled was planted with Spinach and carrots. We used to grow Bloomsfield Long Standing every year but had gotten away from it. I'm excited to see how well it grows for us again. We really like spinach and I'm hoping that the weather stays cool so we can get a good crop out of it.

This is our first year trying Short 'n Sweet carrots. They look similar to the half longs that we usually grow so they should be fine. When we grow in mushroom soil, our carrots generally tend toward peppery, so we'll have to wait and see how sweet they get.

The last bed that we got to was planted with Harris Model Parsnips and Purple Top White Globe Turnips. This will be the first year that we have even tried to grow these. I have no idea what we will do with them if they do grow. I figured that since we have had these seeds since 2011, it was about time to plant them.

Of course, I can't leave out that we lined all of our border beds with walking onions. You will find that we are in the habit of always lining all of our produce beds with walking onions. The truth of the matter is that we have such an over abundance of them that they get planted everywhere. We are thankful for the blessing. They are also a great deer deterrent....... so far.

I hope all of your gardening plans are going well.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

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Rabbit Breeding For Fair

The children really had a lot of fun last year at fair with their rabbits. If they want to have more for this year's fair, we need to try and breed them again.

~ 8 Week Old Mini Rex Rabbits ~
(from Oct 2015)

If all went well we will have full nest boxes in about 30 days.
Here's who we bred:

4-17-18

~ Thrianta Rabbit                     Luke x Snips

4-18-18

~ Dwarf Hotot                          Caleb x Royal

~ Mini Rex (red)                       Rex x Tops

~ Mini Rex (red)                       Ralph x Emily

4-20-18

~ Mini Rex (red)                       Ralph x Squeeky

5-2-18

~ Giant Chinchilla Rabbit         OB1 x Rosebud

~ Sissy's Fawn Flemish Giant Rabbits ~
~ About 8 Weeks Old ~
(from Jan 2016)

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds."
  Proverbs 27:23

Bunnies & Poults, Oh My!!

I am very happy to report that all of our bunnies are doing great! Here is the post from earlier about our "Nest Box Week".

~ Thrianta Doe fostering Giant Chinchilla Rabbit kits ~
~ 7 day old Thrianta ~ 9 day old GCs ~
(from 4-20-18)

Under any other circumstances, it never would have occurred to me to foster Giant Chinchilla kits to a Thrianta doe. The Thrianta are a substantially smaller breed than the GCs. However, in this case,we were so afraid of loosing the Thrianta's single kit that it was more important to have nest mates for it. So far, so good. They are all gaining weight well and don't seem to be too much for Clover, our amazing doe. She took them with no problems.

~ 9 day old white Giant Chinchilla kits ~
(from 4-20-18)

Now, this is something else that you don't usually see in our rabbitry, white Giant Chinchilla rabbits. Although we have had a total of three white GCs born in our barn, they appeared individually, over the years to different does and never more than one at a time. We couldn't have been more shocked to find four whites all in the same litter. They are adorable......

~ Week old Turkey Poult ~
(from 4-23-18)

4H is a wonderful experience for kids and I think all young people should participate in at least one club in the course of growing up. For our family, 4H clubs seem to be more like potato chips, we can't have just one. Oh no, we don't stop with just one. This year, Curly has signed up for the turkey project. Here's one of the poults that she was given. She is responsible for raising them and delivering at least one to fair in August. Wish us luck because we know nothing about turkeys. Thanks in advance!!

~ 15 day old Giant Chinchilla rabbit kit ~
(from 4-26-18)

Lastly, here's what a GC kit is supposed to look like. These gorgeous kits are getting so big!! Aren't they adorable.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds."
  Proverbs 27:23

Garden Mulch Update

Can you believe that we are almost finished moving all of that mulch that we ordered for the garden. (See the original post here) I thought that we'd never be finished with it. What's more surprising is that it's snowed several times, as well as rained a lot, since we first had the mulch delivered.

I can tell you that I am thrilled that it's almost all in the garden.... Then we can get the 14 cubic yards of topsoil x mushroom soil mix delivered, to fill the raised beds...... once we put all of those back in the garden as well.

I'm beginning to wonder why we signed up for such a huge overhaul of our garden. However, I'm staying optimistic that all of this work at the beginning will lead to less work over the course of the season and into next year.


Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

Nest Box Update

Spring means breeding bunnies here at the cottage and this was nest box week. We've had some great news and some tragedies. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything will come up roses from here on out. Here is the post detailing who was bred last month.

Our first baby came on Monday and we almost lost it. Momma didn't have it in the nest area (and hadn't even really made a decent nest), instead it was found half hanging out the door, cold and limp. The children brought it in, thinking it was dead. However, once we got it warmed up, it immediately started moving around. The second baby was found around 4am Tuesday morning, strong and healthy, but again not in the nest area (again, there wasn't a nice nest made). By Tuesday night this same Momma bunny had made a beautiful nest, lined with fur and delivered 10 more rolly polly babies. We are hopeful that she is able to keep all 12, as we've never had a doe keep more than 9 before.

~ 6 Day Old Giant Chinchilla Kits ~
(from a previous litter)

Our second litter was the tragic one. The entire litter was delivered before dawn and crawled out of the nest... and chilled to death. Three were big and healthy but warming them up didn't help to revive them. The fourth was a peanut and wouldn't have survived anyway. The poor Mamma bunny was stomping and sniffing in her nest looking for her babies. Such a sad sight. She got extra attention and treats but spent the day searching for what was lost.

Next I'll share with you the biggest surprise of the week. On Friday, one of our oldest does decided to kindle a single kit. I was so shocked. I allowed the children to breed her but never expected her to take. With the cold evenings, we were afraid that we would loose her baby so we gave her two more. We took the smallest two from the overly large litter, for her to foster. All are doing well so far.

Sadly, we did have another doe that lost her litter. She passed one very large kit that looked as though it hadn't fully formed. I doubt that it was alive when she kindled.

So, of the seven does that were bred only four kindled. Not good odds but better than nothing. We generally don't breed so early in the year, while it's still cold. 

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, [and] look well to thy herds."
  Proverbs 27:23

We Have Mulch!!!

We have 11 cubic yards of mulch, to be exact. This is part of our new garden plan. And these are my three crazy helpers...... doing what they do best, being silly.

~ 11 cubic yard of mulch & 3 crazy kids ~

The method of gardening that has worked best for us goes by several names but we simply call it intensive, raised bed gardening. We decided that we wanted to make life easier on ourselves and mulch the walkways between the beds so that we don't have to mow. Sounded great..... until the mulch arrived. Now comes all the work in moving the mulch into the garden. Somehow this didn't seem nearly that big of a job when we were talking about it. Is it just me or do others make more work for themselves by trying to make life easier?


I hope all of your gardening plans are going well.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

Spring Snow Days

Just because Spring is here doesn't mean that we are guaranteed immediate flowers and butterflies. It's not unusual for us to have frost and even snow in March and April. This year is no exception. We got hit with about 13" of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday. It was very pretty coming down..... but eventually, someone gets to go shovel it off the driveway (and sidewalk).

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

We had fun shoveling and were very thankful for the snow blower. I didn't take the time to get any pictures of the kids playing in it, and I'm sure that I will regret it later. Curly managed to take lots of pictures around the property and even one of her brother. Here's our Big Boy being silly, leaning in a snow pile. Don't ask why he took off his gloves, I have no idea. Hahaha! Goofy boy.

~ Big Boy Playing In The Snow ~ March 21, 2018

Thankfully, I have pictures from past years. Here's a couple of fun pictures that we took in March 2014.

~ The boys making snow angles ~ March 2014 ~

~ Big Boy is having fun in the snow ~ March 2014 ~

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet."
 Proverbs 31:21

Fresh Eggs

Our hens have officially started laying again. Here are just a few of the gorgeous eggs that we are getting daily. It's time to start up the incubator. We only incubate the Orpington eggs and that leaves the other's to be used in cooking.

I'm hoping to get some pictures of our chickens. We currently have a buff Orpington rooster, a Ameraucana x Australorp rooster, a white Ameraucana hen, 6 buff Orpington hens, and 3 Australorp hens.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so [is] a man that wandereth from his place."
 Proverbs 27:8

PA Farm Show ~ Livestock

I thought that I would be able to get all my pictures from the PA Farm Show posted last week. That just didn't happen so I will be posting the rest this week. Today I'm sharing the pictures of general livestock that I took. Our family isn't involved in livestock yet so I really don't have anything to write about most of these images. Feel free to share your information with me in the the comment section below. I'd love to learn more about the breeds that we saw.

Jersey Dairy Cows at the PA Farm Show 2018

Holstein Dairy Cow at the PA Farm Show 2018

Holstein Dairy Cow at the PA Farm Show 2018

Pigs at the PA Farm Show 2018

Lambs and Sheep at the PA Farm Show 2018

Boar Goats at the PA Farm Show 2018

Nigerian Dwarf Goats at the PA Farm Show 2018

Sign for Lamp Oil Farm at the PA Farm Show 2018

I do want to stop and share with you this image of the sign above one of the goat pens. We stayed and chatted with the owners of Lamp Oil Farm for quite a long time. They were very pleasant and shared a lot of wonderful information with us about their Nigerian Dwarf goats. In addition to breeding and selling livestock they also sell goat's milk soap.

Goat Display at the PA Farm Show 2018

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." Genesis 1:24

PA Farm Show ~ Horses

We spent a good deal of time in the horse building peeking into every stall and petting as many horses at the owners would allow. The children had a great time. Next year I need to make a point to go and see the horses when they are in the large arena. I really enjoy seeing them pulling carriages and the children would really enjoy the barrel racing too.

Horses at the PA Farm Show 2018

Miniature Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Large Fancy Wagon in the Horse Building at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse Equipment at the PA Farm Show 2018

Petting Horses at the PA Farm Show 2018

Advertisement for CATRA Miniature Horse Extravaganza at the PA Farm Show 2018

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body." James 3:3 

Todays Harvest

I'm so pleased with our garden harvest today. We haven't worked in the garden for so long that the weed have totally taken over. Thankfully, neglect doesn't stop the productivity of our nightshades.

What a great start to our morning's harvest!!

We originally went out to see if there was anything left of the potato patch. The plants had come up beautifully, grew thick and strong, and then died. I totally missed noticing that they died because the weeds took over so fast that the bed always looked green. By the time I noticed what had happened, I gave up all hope of having a harvest.

The last (and only) time that I left the potatoes in the ground the mice had very nicely eaten them all. When we went to harvest, we found lovely holes where there had once been mature potatoes. After that episode, I vowed to harvest the potatoes as soon as all the plants had died back. That didn't happen this year, of course.

As I was saying, we originally went out to see if there were any potatoes to harvest because I purchased a lot of chicken in my last grocery trip and I had wanted to make chicken in the crock-pot. I'll post the recipe another time. I had just used all the potatoes that I had on hand and my fingers were crossed that by some chance, we could get at least a few potatoes out of the bed. I was well pleased to find half a bucket full.

Then, we all turned our attention to the adjacent beds that were full to overflowing with tomatoes and eggplants. I'm surprised how many cherry tomatoes are still green. But it's reassuring that there will be plenty more in the next days and weeks. A great deal were already split and many more were already on the ground. Those will all go to the hens.

Today's harvest all washed up and sitting pretty.

Until next time,
May all your gardening adventures be a blessing!

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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

Finally Planted Tomatoes

It has been so chilly here that I haven't wanted to transplant to tomatoes into the garden. I have been putting them on the back porch to harden them off. Today they finally went in.

Heirloom Brandywine Tomato Plants

I try to use regional heirlooms as much as possible in my garden. These are Brandywine tomatoes and are a wonderful, large, soft skinned, fleshy variety. I've also grown the yellow, orange, and black Brandywines and saved seeds from each. This year I didn't get anything started inside so I just hopped over to the local garden supply center and picked up a six pack. I actually got the smallest plants that they had because I knew that the weather wouldn't be right for planting for weeks. By that time, they would be all sold out and I would have missed my chance to have some this year. Living on the mountain puts me 2 weeks behind those that live in the valley. My season also ends 2 weeks before theirs.

The State Of My Raised Bed Kitchen Garden

My poor kitchen garden has been so neglected this year. Here is the state of the bed when I went out to plant my tomatoes this morning. What a mess!! The children had been dumping grass clippings into this bed instead of taking to the chicken run. I'm not sure if it was hurting or helping things here. It was definitely 100 times easier to turn over than the bed that had pine shavings in it. When I turned the soil over it was the beautiful black dirt that I have grown to love. Weeding this bed turned out to be no problem because the soil was so loose.

Raised Kitchen Garden Bed After Weeding and Turning the Soil

Happy Brandywine Tomato Plant in It's New Bed

The box that I chose to put my tomatoes in this year is 6' by 4'. That gave me exactly the space I needed for the entire 6 pack of plants. This is a very stocky plant that bears heavy fruit in abundance, so I will need to add supports as the plants get bigger. For now they just need watered..... and for the chickens to stay out of them. 

Raised Bed Kitchen Garden Planted With Heirloom, Brandywine Tomatoes

I'm very pleased with how this bed has turned out. Now to tame the jungle that's growing in the other beds.

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