In the Garden: Late Spring Update

Our garden plants have progressed a long way since the little spindly seedlings under a lamp. 

They grew, and grew, and graduated out to the porch.

Then, they grew, and grew some more and were promoted to the great outdoors in flats.

Out in the garden the plants we sowed directly in the ground were growing like weeds!  (and so are the weeds)

The radishes and green onions are harvestable, and so tasty with lunches.

The lettuce is doing wonderful as well!  We have had salads, and wraps as much as we liked.

There are a lot of bean plants growing, because we eat SO many green beans.  We are almost out of our canned beans.  Grow little bean plants, grow!

We have multitudes of Chives...everywhere!

Then there are the pole beans, grown on old gazebo corners.

And the pole beans grown on strings tied to bike wheels. :)

This year we are growing tomatoes on cattle panels.  We are trying all sorts of different things.

In fact seeing as this post should have been up about a week ago, things in the garden are even bigger than in the photos!  You should come visit and see!

~Christianna

This Past Weekend in Review

This past weekend was quite a doozie!  So, I thought I would just share some pictures with you all.

Beginning Thursday, amid all our normal business, we began a garage sale and bake sale!  Also, Thursday evening Josiah and I began farm sitting for a friend, which made for a very full day!!

No, our Zucchini is not producing already (quite a few people asked me that) it was frozen from last year.  But, I will be continuing my bake sale through the summer, and using our very own fresh Zucchini, as well as selling some fresh veggies when they come on!

Thursday went rather well, for the bake sale particularly, but Friday.... Umm... cool, wet, gray, not the best day for a garage sale.   Also, on Friday Faith left with some friends to go volunteer at special camp, at Camp Living Waters, for a week.  So we are left Faithless....

On Saturday, I was busy documenting on camera the graduation of our friend and neighbor, Matthew Bryson.  The rest of the family made it down while some friends, who were selling items at our sale, watched it for us.

After the party was completed, I biked home, and we finished up the last leg of the garage sale.  Then, Josiah and I headed up to the farm we were watching to milk Honey, the cow, but to also.... go riding!!

Mojo, one of the beautiful horses we couldn't ride.

and Reno!!  The beautiful appaloosa mustang, which I was privileged to ride last year.

Chance, pretty jumpy chestnut, also on the no riding list.

Freckles the retired barrel racer, and Josiah.  Those two are quite a pair!

Reno and I.

The herd of horses!  

So, that was our weekend!  How was yours??

~Chs

Consider the Birds of the Air: Not Quite Wordless Wednesday :)

{showing off for the lady oriole}

{wren, with a nest nearby}

{chipping sparrow}

{patriotic barn swallow}

{Consider the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, but your heavenly Father feeds them}

{Lessons from nature}

~Chs

The Invalid

So, anyone out there remember the old Fox and the Hound movie?  And in particular, the scene where Chief gets injured chasing Todd, and he is lying down whimpering, and saying "Oh look, they've come to see the In-vaalid"

Yes?  Well, we have our own invalid at our house.  Little Miss Sadie dog cut a chunk out of one of the pads of her paw, so we brought her in, put some med-cine on it, then wrapped it up, to insure that she didn't lick everything off within 1 minute.

 It really isn't that bad, but she looks adorably pathetic, and gimps around for sympathy. ;)

Oh, the wounds you receive while participating in the honorable occupation of romping around the yard and pond, and pouncing on snakes!  :D

~Chs

The Coming of Shakespeare

We have a new creature on our farm, and to truly tell you properly about the coming of this little animal, I must start way back at the beginning (which is a very good place to start) and tell you the WHOLE story.  Now the next sentence might seem completely disconnected from Lily Spring Gardens and Farm, and our newest acquisition, but please bear with me and hold on, it will all come clear at the end.

On the spring day, April 26th 1564, in the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, John and Mary Shakespeare baptized their third child, a boy, who they named William Shakespeare.   Not much is known about young William Shakespeare's schooling or childhood until the age of 18 when he married Anne Hathaway who was 7 years his senior, and soon after had a girl and then twins.  Once again Shakespeare slips out of history and does not appear again till he took to the stage in 1592.  Shakespeare wrote and acted in plays till 1613, and while he was well accepted in his day, his works did not achieve great fame till long after his death (in 1616).  

His works became extremely popular in the late 19th, early 20th century, and to this day continue to be studied, performed and re-adapted to different cultures and times.  Many nearly worshiped the bard and his work, and one of these misled people was a New York pharmacist by the name of Eugene Schieffelin.  In 1877, Mr. Schieffelin became the president of the American Acclimatization Society, a group founded in 1871 dedicated to introducing European flora and fauna to North America.  Through the American Society, Schiefflin sought to accomplish his goal of introducing every bird mentioned in William Shakespeare's plays and other works.   His wildest success was with the Common European Starling, which was mentioned in the play Henry the Fourth.  As you know, Starlings are now so widely spread across North America that most people seriously question the wisdom and sanity of the American Acclimatization Society, and more specifically Eugene Schieffelin, who modern biologists say "was an eccentric at best and a lunatic at worst".  

This brings us to the here and now, and more specifically Thursday, May 30th, 2013, when we received an e-mail from our friends saying that their cat had caught a baby bird, who at the time was thought to be a Robin, and would we want to care for it?  The answer was a resounding yes, and Faith and I dropped by after Banbury to pick up the little orphan.  Well "Christopher Robin" turned out to be a baby Starling, whom we took home anyway, and quickly dubbed Shakespeare in honor of the man who started it all, by mentioning Starlings in one of his plays. :)

So, that is the story of the coming of Shakespeare, and below are some pictures of the wide mouthed, goofy faced, gray fuzzy avian!

Ahhhh!  :)  

Now, you know more than you ever wanted to know about Starlings, and Shakespeare, and you are very welcome!

~Chs

Memorial Day, and Hungry Puppies

 Memorial day for us usually means lots of hard work.  Especially now with Josiah working, any day that he has off, we have a half dozen projects for him to do with us!  Never-the-less, we did manage to have a cook out (first of the year for us) that evening with Mr. Reiche joining us.

I thought I would share a few photos from our memorial day.

 

Pickles from last years garden, homemade catsup, and sourdough buns!

 The dogs were oh so very attentive to the goings on...

 And they practiced every sweet cajoling look they knew! :)

 See the tongue in the above photo? :D

:) 

~Chs

Boy and Dog: Wordless Wednesday

Growing Up and a Few Additions

Time flies, and here at the farm everything is growing up!  Those baby bunnies whose eyes "just" opened....

Yup, they have grown up, and are no longer sleepy little things that just lay around.

Fluffy, fuzzy, active, adorable, long eared, big footed...

ear scratching bunny dolls!

They are SO grown up, they are even eating grass now!!

See!!?  Mmmm...  Yummy green stuff!  

(can anyone quote with me.. "Eating greens is a special treat, it makes long ears and great big feet... but it sure is awful stuff to eat!  *I made that last part up myself*)  :)

But, the bunnies aren't the only things that have been growing up.

Meet the Elevensies!  Once upon a time they were tiny, fuzzy, and cute ducklings.  Now they are medium, soft, handsome and beautiful Ducks!  They still have a little bit of growing up to do, but they certainly are maturing quite well, and a bit too fast for their "Momma's" liking.

They swim in the pond by themselves.

And sleep out in their very own duck coop.

They are in their awkward teenage stage at the moment and only let themselves be petted or approached when there is food around. :)

{Miss Willow, above, is turning into a very beautiful duck, but I am absolutely stumped on what breed she is!)

While everyone is growing up and moving on, we replaced them with more "littles" indoors.  All 12 of my Pekin eggs hatched, unassisted, and were absolutely healthy!!

I was more then shocked, and since we didn't have room to keep the whole dozen, I am selling some to make space.  In fact at the moment, the Pekin ducklings are the only birds in the house, and they have even been banished to the porch!

 That is right, the laying chicks are now pullets and have graduated to living out in the Pullet Coop!

The white Cochin, which we are hoping/thinking is a girl, has feathered out enormously!  If you don't look right at her, you can sometimes think she is a rabbit. :)

The Turkeys (not pictured) have also gotten huge, and were just transferred out back to their very own hoop house; thanksgiving dinners in the making! :P

So, that is what has been going on around here, lots of growing up and moving around.  :)  Hope you are all having an enjoyable and productive spring too!

~Chs