Chicken pen and Washtub gardening

 Very slowly but surely, the chicken pen is making some progress.  We're gonna have to pick up some speed because these four little turkey poults are gonna be too big for their brooder.  I've also ordered my chicks which are will be ready for pickup on the 16th.  I ordered the same ones I had in the past - black sex links, yellow sex links, ameracaunas, barred plymouth rocks and, a gentleman, Salmon Faverolle rooster.  I love the sex links because they are the ones that love laying in the winter.  I went with the Faverolle rooster because of their sweet demeanor.  I would like to get some Faverolle pullets but Ideal was out.  Once we get the pen ready, I will acquire some various pullets that are already laying.  I've bought farm eggs locally but, for some reason, they just don't taste the same as "home grown".
Hahaha...I just looked at my picture again..no, my chickens are NOT going to be hooked up with satellite tv!...that's coming down.

 We've had different gardens in the past years and they always seem to get out of hand.  Or maybe I'm just too lazy to keep up with them.  I know I'm late planting but I went with putting a few plants in washtubs.  I did a few last year and they worked well.  I went to the antique store to find some more washtubs...yikes! they're pricey!  This year I'll be buying from the local farmers market and putting up.
Another issue we've been tossing around is selling this place and moving closer to our church - we've decided we're staying put and will continue the long drive.  When God called Buddy to start a church 45 minutes from here, we knew it wasn't going to be easy.  Think about it...when God asked men of the Bible to do something, it was never an easy task.  Can you imagine what people thought of Noah when he was out building an ark?  We had this place on the market last summer with no prospects and the economy doesn't look any more inviting now.  We know that God will lead us in the right direction on when and where to go. 
Happy Trails...
Berte

Trying to Keep Up

Wanted to share the morning view out my bedroom window...am I blessed or what?

I have been trying to keep up with everyone's blogs but it's been a busy week. I've still got this cough hanging on that I can't seem to shake. Everyone keeps telling me I need to go to the doctor but, being a nurse, I seem to put that on the back burner. The sour economy is hitting us so I've resorted to going back to work a couple days a week. I have plenty to keep me busy here at the farm but it's not paying the bills. Last Saturday Buddy and I spent a long 4 hours out in the hot sun selling eggs and pecan wood. We had a little luck.

If you're keeping up with the egg count, you'll see that there's no consistency. It's been so blasted hot here, even the chickens have been standing in their water buckets trying to cool off. I've opened the door to the chicken house where their nest boxes are, thinking that it might cool it off in there a little bit.

I was working about an hour north of here this past week and it was 106 degrees. That's hot! And there is no rain in our forecast. Looks like we're going to have another year of no pecan harvest. We're having to give the chickens and the horses alfalfa because all the grass has dried up.

One thing that we do have around here on the farm is this sticky sap on everything. It's looks like dew but it's sticky. One picture is this yuk on the gate and the other is a picture of the window on my truck. It washes off with water but it's a nuisance! And it's not a good thing..it's actually aphids feeding on the pecan trees.

I hate to even post this picture but I will..you can see how I've even neglected the garden. I'm ready to mow it down. We're still waiting on watermelons and corn but I'm plowing under all the rest...the beans never produced...lots of blooms but no beans. Too late and too hot. Same with tomatoes.. I'll go out there later and try to get some pics.

I'll still try and keep up with all your blogs.. there are some great posts out there.

Happy Trails...

A Quiet Morning

Yesterday morning Harley and I were out taking one of our many walks around the place, enjoying the cool crisp start to the day. Of course, she had to stop along the way and chew on a pecan wood stick while I snapped a few pictures.

The dill in the garden is blooming and smells wonderful..

The quiet was interrupted by the cropduster spraying the cotton field out front.

Such is my morning...

Happy Trails..

Another Day, Another Year

Yesterday, God allowed me to wake up to see this gorgeous sunrise and celebrate another year since my birth day. I will never understand why I've been chosen to be so blessed.

My cup truly runneth over...

Here's the overgrown garden out back. I've got to get out there and weed!

Check out this tiny little cucumber...it's about 3/4 inch long right now.

I've read in some of your blogs that you have trouble with moles. I wanted to share with you a picture of our mole chaser in the front garden. It's basically a windmill that has a little bead up in the crossbar pipe that, when turning, sends down a vibration through the pipe and chases away the moles. My neighbor just asked that we not send them her way because she has enough already.

Eve is out front watching over the front garden. It was so cute last evening..I looked out and Harley was lying at her feet. I tried to get a picture but when I walked out, she saw me and realized that was not me out there and came running.

I'm going to move Eve to the back garden out by the chickens. Maybe she can pull out some of those weeds while I'm in here on the computer...

Happy Trails...

A Whole Lot of Preachin' Going On

I have to share with everyone pictures of this great little church we've been trying to attend on the first Sunday of every month. It's way off the beaten path to say the least. The building itself is not quite finished..the steeple needs to be finished and there's plans for an arena where kids can come hear the Word and then learn to rope and ride after Sunday dinner.

And this man can preach the Word! What a great way to start your Sunday and then meet afterwards for some good eating and visiting.

Then it was back home for a quick nap and then to work in the garden. We've been blessed with some great rain here lately. Way back I posted about the fact that we had so much rain, it was like a lake out in the orchard. Well, last Sunday it looked like that again and the winds were blowing a current out on the water. I woke up and looked out and saw that a pair of wild ducks had flown in and were swimming out there! That's a lot of rain water!

And the rains bring lots of weeds in the garden so off to work we go... here's a few shots of the back garden.

Already a bell pepper..this is encouraging.

Buddy's watermelons..

corn and beans...

Buddy and I have decided that after doing all the weeding, that we have a new appreciation for homegrown foods. We both worked gardens as kids but decided it's different when you're older and you start it and work it together. I will admit, I do have some very fond memories of running barefoot through the garden when I was a kid...oh, those were the days...

Happy Trails...

Moving In..

We're in but we're not unpacked. I'm anxious to get y'all some pictures, but I'll bet y'all have all seen pictures of boxes. We got moved out of both storage units and got the furniture moved in and those boxes unpacked. Then Buddy and I ventured out to the storage container and brought up yet another truck load..I'm slowly but surely getting those things unpacked and put away and will soon take some pictures so you can see the house.

As I was walking out the door last Monday to the doctor, they were calling to reschedule due to the doctor being out...so I rescheduled for yesterday...although I called the day before and cancelled it. Being the good nurse that I am (ha!), I decided to take off my cast and start some physical therapy. All is going well and I can see that it's going to take to pain to make some gains getting this hand to working again. In due time...

Here's Buddy working on my kitchen garden. I put herbs down at one end and then planted tomatoes, lettuce and carrots.

And then Harley got to it with her digging holes. All she got was the mint and I think even a little bit of it is trying to come back up.

Here's the back garden before everything was planted and we turned out the chickens. Let's see.. now there's watermelons, corn, purple hull peas, Kentucky Wonder beans, cucumber, okra, squash and potatoes.

Speaking of chickens, they are now 19 1/2 weeks old and have not yet started laying. The nest boxes are ready and I talked to them everyday telling them that they better start getting it on their minds. As a matter of fact, it's time for me to go put them up for the night.

Happy Trails...