It's the simple things.....

Exploring their surroundings.





Kids being kids


The kids have a cabin above the shed. It is equiped with chairs, tables, radio and they even just
put up some curtains that we acquired through the tote. It is a great place for them to get away even on a rainy and/or windy day.

It's the simple things.....

100 Muscovy Ducklings.....we will keep a bunch and sell the rest. They are said to be good Mommas and good at reproducing. Oh yes and I hear they are good eats. I have eaten wild duck before and I did not like. We will see!

Turkeys are getting big. We raised 4 last year and we have 5 now. I wonder if the plucker MM built will be able to handle them? In the next couple weeks I will put together the pictures of that and have Maine Man do a post on how he constructed the plucker. Thanks for the book Angie, it was a great reference for John. It came out nicely!

Over the weekend I heard a meowing under the barn and out came this friendly, starving kitty. His name is Grislo thanks to the purple tag. It also had an out of state phone number listed. Called the number, no answer, voice mail in another language. I'm thinking this is a joke, someone dropped him off. Sure enough the owner calls back. He's from 2 towns over and has been missing for a month. As Leah said "back to his righteous owner." Don't ya love happy endings?

It's the simple things.....

This is our first year of growing and tasting kale. I made a potato/kale casserole with our first harvest and second time around we cooked it up and ate it like spinach. John and I loved it and so did Leah. Gotta love her, she'll eat almost anything. Love to hear from anyone that has any favorite kale recipes to share!

Our first fruit to grow on farm that we planted. YEAH! I swore this year would be the year of the fruit and it is. We planted 30 raspberry bushes, 12 blackberry, and 4 rhubarb that were all given to us by friends. We bought and planted 24 strawberry plants and 2 kiwi bushes. Then the kids were gifted by their cousins a pear tree and some grapes. THANKS to everyone!

I finally put up a pea trellis. It would have taken Maine Man 15 minutes to build. It took me 3 hours. I am not handy by nature, it takes much effort and multiple injuries for me to complete simple tasks.

It's the simple things.....

We have worked real hard over that last few weeks getting the gardens in. Then these little buggers (Cucumber Beatles) move on in and make our plants look like Swiss cheese.
This is our second year of learning and attempting to practice pesticide free gardening. We have never been ones to use them much but any amount is too much. I have a few products from Johnny's that we use including diamatacious earth and another I cannot recall at the moment. I have also made up the garlic/pepper mixture everyone writes about. I am not convinced that it works. They all scattered just after spraying but they were back come morning.
We rotate our crop placement, mulch, and inspect the plants closely daily. It is been challenging at times but doable and we are learning. Just figured out the other day that Johnny's catalog has a great guide as to what your pest is and what product works best. BTW the best for everything according to Johnny's is row covers which we do not have. We do have the greenhouse that we hope to get up in July, can't wait for that!
Would love to hear from you all. What works for you? We can use all the help we can get!

Planting potatoes. Muck boots & shorts. You might be a redneck if.......

For the most part the gardens are all in. MM is the orchestrator of this deal and I do as I'm told (I assure you in the garden only). He was sweet enough to reserve me an area for herbs which I can plant whatever wherever. For those that do not know us, MM is organized and methodical and I am well .... Helter Skelter.

Up until a couple of years ago he was the planter and I was the picker. Now that I am more into it and our garden has grown into gardens it is a joint effort to plant, maintain, harvest, and preserve.

It's the simple things.....

To spice it up this week I have decided to do a series of posts titled "It's the simple things" as a way of sharing some photos and some of the happenings from around the farm. Tonight I scheduled posts that will appear every night with the last one appearing on Saturday. They will not be filled with lots of words but the pictures should tell the story.

Maine Man found the above clothes line out back on our land shortly after we moved here. He put it up the other day and I strung it with clothes line. I have only used my dryer once or twice since. I can't wait to see my electric bill. Nothing like the smell of clothes on the line after being washed with homemade laundry detergent.

I have given up on making the liquid soap mixture, the dry mix is what I use. It is quick and not so darn messy. I make a batch every week, it takes all of 2 minutes. At a high estimate I'd say it costs 75 cents a batch and it usually lasts us 1 week or more. I always have a back up of store bought liquid detergent that I use on occasion if I am out of the other.

Gone Fishing!

Nothing like seeing Dad with his girl.




We are fortunate enough to live across the street from the river. However to get there from here you must go down a REAL steep embankment and through a jungle of poison ivy. We cleared an area out across the street 2 years ago and ummmm... that was the year I said "I don't get poison ivy, never had it." Can you guess what happened from there? We've yet to return. With that in mind, we go down the road about 1/2 a mile to yet another steep area but to a trail that is free and clear of the itchy stuff.


Obviously unimpressed with the depth of the hook........"John". This year after some begging from the kids I purchased a license. I usually just play photographer and bring along a good read but now I've decided to play along as long as the fish are biting. This is was the first time out for me this season. The kids & John have been out well over a dozen times. Fishing is on the top of Luke's favorite list. He doesn't let a day or two go by before asking Dad when they can go out again.

She is always ready with a pose.

I think that one might weigh nearly as much as her.

She is better then Mom. I can bait my hooks with worms and crayfish but I admit I am a little spleeny when it comes to taking the fish off if they are the least bit in there.

Fishing is a great family activity that can be done with little to no costs. I'm glad we have MM to take us out! Luke traps crayfish from the ponds with bait traps and MM & the kids jack worms on rainy nights. John and I have to purchase licenses but the kids do not and will never have to as they both have lifetime fishing, hunting, and archery licenses....how lucky are they?

P.S. All the above fish were caught and released.

Here is a link for a yummy chowder I made last weekend with some perch we had stored in the freezer from this past winter's ice fishing season.

Happy Birthday Luke

Life forever changed for the best after he was born. Words cannot even begin to express the love we have for this boy, but I'll try...
WE LOVE..... his sense of adventure

WE LOVE....his gentleness with animals.

WE LOVE....that he is the BEST big brother!

I LOVE that he still adores his Momma although he sure does love to mess with her.

(If Leah had the camera at the right angle you would have seen little bunny ears behind my head.)

WE LOVE..... his passion for fishing and his love of the great outdoors.

Get the point!! Just one heck of a kid!

We love ya buddy!xo