Just a weed....day 4 of 30

 

 

I’ve yet to eat dandelion greens but if all works out I may attempt to make cream of dandelion soup this weekend. I’ll let you know if it is any good.

 

Child labor….it’s a sweet thing!  Picking dandelions for Maine Man to make wine.  I will definitely take pictures of the process as he has promised to do a post or two. He has also made hard tea which everyone enjoys.  It has quite a kick.  He will share how he does that as well.

 

 

Nothing like the smell of Lilacs

I have no doubt the kids will have flashbacks of their childhood when they catch wind of a lilac in their adult life. Since they were born I have filled the house with vases and jars stuffed full of these aesthetically pleasing blossoms. Just wish they lasted longer! The season of fresh flowers starts here with daffodils and ends with sunflowers. Nothing like a bouquet of fresh flowers adorning your kitchen table or better yet when you gift some to an elderly couple.

My brother says I've been a bad blogger lately but I try. It's really is not about the lack to topics but yet the lack of time. My goal is to post weekly which I seem to pull off even if they are sometimes brief. Short and sweet is ok, right? I have TONS of pictures and stories to tell....they will come with time. Well it is 7:30 now and I am getting ready to attack a sink full of dishes, make some banana bread, and can some rhubarb for the first time ever. I will let you know how that comes out. Last night I made some blueberry rhubarb jam. It was my first time making jam and the consistency was a little runnier then I expected. Instead of messing with it any further I resised to using it as compote on ice cream, crepes, or angel food cake. I would like any advice any jam makers have on that issue. This week I plan to make up some salsa so I am looking for a recipe if anyone has one posted and is willing share the link here.

Blessed Week to you all!

Flower People Cards

One late night I was doing a little web surfing and I came across a craft blog titled Make and Takes and found a post on how to make these crafty cards. She credited the Crafty Crow as the original blog to post. I encourage anyone who likes to do these kind of projects with there kiddos or grandkids to click on the above links. They both have lots of GREAT ideas! So........with the end of school year, Father's Day, and birthdays, and thank you cards in need we made some of our own flower people.

A little appreciation goes a long way. We could have bought cards and stuffed them with gift cards but instead we made cards and filled pots full of flowers for the kids teachers and their bus driver. Gifts from the heart that don't break the bank.

Sunday Stills ~Plants & Flowers

Back in the game.... it has been a while since I participated in Sunday Stills. Above is some garlic we planted last fall. We planted 3 types in which I only remember the name of one, Red Russian. I bought 2 varieties at a local grange hall sale from a lady that works at Johnny's. The other variety was purchased at the grocery store and I haven't a clue what it is. We are real good about planting around here but when it comes to keeping track of varieties we re REALLY lacking. I will attempt to better organize our garden records this year.

MM (finally) ordered the fingers for the chicken plucker that he plans to build. The only parts that we are still looking for is a barrel and an 3/4 hp electric motor. We have 40 broilers that are almost ready to go.

Chicken Tractors

I was headed outside with rake in hand and she flew onto my hand.

Have you ever heard of a chicken tractor? All of our outdoor chicken pens are on wheels except the meat birds. Every 2-3 days we move them so the chickens have clean bedding, fresh greens to eat, very little odor or flies, and some super fertilizer for the lawn. Our meat birds have lightweight fencing & posts with a lean-to for shade and weather protection. We move that every couple day as well. It is a great system that saves us time and money and the birds seem to be content with it too.

Another beautiful site I can thank Mrs. Achorn for.

Our buddy Shawn moving our sand around for the pool

P.S A few posts back....that was Callie vs. Groundhog!

Simple Living

I can honestly say that these are some of the best times of our lives! When people ask how things are going, how are the kids I have nothing but good to say. I sometimes worry that life is too good and fear that something will happen and taint this awesome life we've been living. Even before we bought this place I didn't have many complaints about our daily lives but here on the farm it just seems so much better, our lives are so fulfilled. The connection with mother nature is on such a larger scale in so many ways.
In my twenties and my earlier days there was so much I took for granted, so much I thought I knew but really hadn't a clue. I am glad that I have finally come to realize what is important in life...the simple things. "It is the things in life that are free that matter most", John always use to say to me. For so long I was striving to make more money and have more material possessions until some time of soul searching passed and I had that ... uh huh moment. Looking back I realized John had been telling me these things all along but I just wasn't listening close enough. I had my own agenda, striving for big things and he was along for the ride although he thought some of my aspirations were a bit on the wild side. My friend Mary spoke once of John and referred to him as "an old soul". To this day I have always thought that statement was right on. Since we were young John has always known what kind of life he wanted to live, simple. He never cared what others thought, he lead his own path in life. He is an amazing hubby and daddy, we are fortunate to have him in our lives!

When I was mowing I came across this by the duck pond. One lonely wild asparagus spear.
I had heard of wild asparagus but never seen it until yesterday. My neighbor gave us some fresh asparagus last week and when I came home from work one night John said, "Kim, I have a confession to make." I could not even imagine what he was going to say and he says, "I ate all the asparagus Gary & Dawn gave us." I was quite entertained by his "confession". That's ok John cause Gary snuck me some the other day and it was really tasty. In 3 years we'll be picking our own, I cannot wait!

I had thought I had scared him off from going knee deep in the pond. Last week I thought he had swimmer's itch. Turns out I was wrong because the next morning he was fine, I think it was the cleaning soap John used before he took a bath..oops, misdiagnosed by mother....no worse then the time I accidentally cut both sides of the stitch that was in his upper lip leaving it there permanently...good nurse...at least it was my own kid.

Check out the size of him (or her?)

Anyone know what this flower may be?

Last note, me and some friends have started a group blog titled Fit4Life with a focus of exercise & healthy eating. Anyone interested in being a participant let me know and send me your e-mail address and I will give you more detail.


Check us out: http://fit4life08.blogspot.com/

Memorial Weekend Adventures

This is my niece, Jillian. As you can see she was enjoying her meal as we all did. Saturday night the kids & I (John had to work the weekend) went to my big brother Stevie's for a BBQ along with my step Mom, Carole and my step sister, Sue. I had not seen Sue in years although she lives only a couple towns over. She looked great recently loosing 70lbs by doing weight watcher's and going to the gym. That is impressive! We had a wonderful visit and food too thanks to Joni who always prepares a great feed and a pleasure to visit with.

My step-mom, she is very dear to me!

Ain't she cunning!

On Sunday morning the kids and I headed out to the Windsor Fair Grounds for a poultry & chicken show and look who we met....

Regina from Sea2Shore's blog, very exciting!! When I started blogging in March I never thought about the friendships that would become. Regina's is just as sweet in person as she is on-line and I am grateful that we had the opportunity to meet! We already have another event lined up for next weekend, a farm day presented by Maine Organic Farmer's Association.

This girl was running/jumping around the fairgrounds on these super bouncy stilts. It was crazy to watch.

Cool plate...I guess for us goat people. I loved it because that is what I call my little babes. They have been on the naughty side lately escaping from their night time pen. They overstayed their welcome in the shed and are soon to be spending their nights in the barn. I talked to a man at the show that raises Nigerian dwarf milking goats and I asked about their milk production and he said depending on the doe he gets 1 1/2 quarts to 1 gallon of milk per day. I am looking forward to that..endless possibilities...drinking, cooking, cheese, soap.

Leah took a picture of Regina's girls. They were very sweet and quiet, compared to the little girl I am use to! I must say Leah is sweet though... she gave them all a hug when we parted our ways.

Leah with one of the Nubians. If we were to get another breed of goats this would be my next choice. I love their ears.

As we were heading out of the fairgrounds there were some people lined up selling chickens & ducks along with a tailgate sale. I noticed this in the back of a pick-up truck and I inquired, to my surprise I bought it for $2, beats Walmart's pricing and free of charge a mouse nest was included. (I've been wanting one of these- a bit of elbow grease and it will be all good)
I also bought a large box of canning jars for $2. That is a bargain compared to the prices I've looked at recently for jars.

For fun and excitement the kids and I lawn sailed ourselves back to the house. We had a blast and the kids added to their teddy bear collection by at least 6 along with a few other little goodies. Here is a few of our finds.

plastic fencing .50
not sure what we will use it for but I'm sure we will eventually
use it for something (my laptop doesn't have a cent symbol, what is up with that?)
car stands $5

I am not much of a bumper sticker gal but I like this one. The kids picked it out at the show and we applied to the mini-van that I swore I'd never own but now love.

The kids cut down literally a portion of my tree yesterday. I was for sure it was Leah's doings but I was wrong it was actually Luke, Leah was just his accomplice. After the initial shock of a very large branch filled with these beauties came walking through the door I forgave and filled lots of vases. My house has never smelled so good! My mother-in-law mentioned that people make bath products etc. using Lilac, it had never even crossed my mind, what a good idea! Any of you ever make anything with Lilacs other than awesome bouquets? I wonder about soaps as I hope to be making some next summer after we start milking Annabelle.

This evening Luke and I took the are old swing out of the barn, we had it for a gazillion years bound and determined to get another year out of it despite the pillows splitting at the seams. We cleaned it up with some fabric cleaner and now I just need to have John help me get the top screwed on as it was missing a few pieces I think from after a wind storm last year.

Caught in action. Hanging off my swing...hello this isn't the monkey bars!

What fun would it be if we were always good? Were you always good Mom when you were a kid? Well, yes of course!


Lastly, a quick thanks to Kim from John's work that identified the flowers in my "Tour of the Path" blog. They are Quaker-ladies. Love the name too. Thanks again.
Well it is way to late, glad I can sleep in tomorrow! Good night! :)

The Smell is Sweet

The lilacs are almost in full bloom. If you could only smell this picture. On the front lawn we have a white and purple lilac. If any of you Mainers want a plant I have plenty of babies below the bushes. Free for the taking.

After school today we took out the BB guns

And we shot at cans....you might be a red neck if...

Your mother tries to out shoot you and your only 7

I think I was having more fun than him. You should have seen me when I hit a can. We have tried clay pigeons before with shotguns and I didn't hit a one but I can hit a still object. I will probably never shot a deer as they are usually on the move.

We planted corn that we had started. I cannot wait for fresh corn. Earlier today I went to the farmer's market and they had all kinds of goodies. I bought a loaf of Italian bread from an Amish Gent and his daughter, it was the best homemade bread I've ever tasted!

Check out our Cornish X Rocks (broilers), they are 3 weeks old and boy have they grown!

Their feathers are growing in. We kept 25 and sold the rest (175) and we are still getting calls.

Here's the turkeys. We are sold out of them too. We are only keeping 6.

This morning John and I went for a walk out back and naturally I brought my camera. This is a old campsite we discovered on our land last summer. Some teens intermittently occupied it last year but have not returned yet...we are hoping they do not. Because they had an unsafe fire in the pit last year with logs way over the rock borders. It would be devastating if our woods burned. We are assuming these are somebodies parents tools that were left behind.

A makeshift toilet???

And a hammock...The End! Good night ya'll!