I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I've posted anything! I've been super busy around here. I knew that as soon as we started homeschooling it would get even busier, but wow! I still don't think I would have it any other way. I had a friend tell me last night that I seem happiest when I'm working, and I'm pretty sure she's right!

About a week and a half ago, I read a CraigsList ad with six 10'x20' shelters for a great deal, so last weekend we went and disassembled them all. That was a huge undertaking!!! The people that we got them from had just sold of their herd of goats that they were using them for and it was a maze of pallet walls in them.

On Saturday, I got two of them set up, end to end, and yesterday I got all of the rabbits out of the shop. It sort of looks like Barnum and Bailey landed in my field. I had Chris cracking up, as I hummed circus tunes all weekend. I had it in my mind that the moving and arranging cages part would be easy peesy, but no such luck. I also turned one of my large banks of cages into a double cage for the fryers. I'm so glad to have them in their new homes!

On Friday, I took a trip to Medford and picked up 4,000 lbs. of rabbit feed for many of the breeders in the area. I felt so much better having another 1,000 lbs. in the shop before I got desperate and ran out!

Last Monday we had winds of 40mph and it took out part of my greenhouse. I still haven't gotten it put back together, but that should get done this week, if it stops raining again. The really stinky part is that I had finally gotten all of my seeds planted. They're safe, but still!

The chickens finally got let out of their coop. They seem to love their new found freedom, but only by about 10'. The only time they will venture any farther than that is to run straight to me when they see me with the feed scoop. I need to get the inside of that coop finished soon.

The goats are doing awesome! Latte has put on a lot of weight and you can't tell that she was ever malnourished. I'm starting to think that Pudding will never get it back but she seems happy and healthy none the less. The little bucks are wonderful, and I don't know at this point if I'm going to be able to eat them. I'm starting to think that I should sell them, just to recoup some of my costs. I thought about keeping one of them to breed Latte back to, but I've heard bad things about bucks and don't think I want to go there.

My next big step is to get the hog pen up and situated. I have most of the lumber to build their house and all the material to build the pen. It should go fairly smooth. Let's hope so, since I only have until the end of the month to get it done!

As soon as this rain lets up, I will take some pictures of how everything is shaping up. Until then, God Bless!

This weekend was a boon to my productivity! It began with a quick cleaning of Chris' shop so that the composter could be pulled out. With that monster in there, stuff got put where stuff would fit! Then came the greenhouse...

I drug the box down to the spot Chris had gotten ready for it and started unpacking it all. I had heard that the Harbor Freights are a nightmare to put together and upon reading the instructions found that was going to be the case. I've also read on the internet where people have said the directions are lacking, but that it's all just common sense. Common sense for a building engineer, maybe. My language, not too far into the project, would have made a seasoned sailor blush (and I'm not one to use a foul mouth).

My friend called in the middle of the frame and heard the frustration. She decided to get in on the fun and drove down to help. After glancing at the instructions, she told me she was glad she decided against one. She repeated that throughout the entire process, in fact. We did finish the frame on Saturday though.

This morning, I went out and started putting in the panels. This was almost as bad as the frame, but not quite. My fingers still ache from the clips, but it is done!!! The broken up areas of dirt soil, will get planted with flowers. I've been dying to have some color around here, but until the area around the house is done and backfilled, I just don't have another area to do it.

Chris swore that the tractor would move the composter. I had my doubts, but I kept my mouth shut. I've found that you don't bad-mouth Allis. Not even if she leaks, or doesn't want to start. She did it though. This meant I had to finish putting on the stain. I didn't use any pressure treated lumber, since that can cause some serious health issues down the road, but I got to thinking about the fact that I was using deck sealer. I don't know if this will cause issues, but if I start to shed water in the shower, I'll let you know.

Our garden goes behind the composter and the greenhouse. We pulled the fencing down, since we intend to at least double the size of it this year and he has the tractor and impliments to till it up with out using the small rototiller.

Chris also managed to get the gate hung on the goat pen. Hooray!!! No more fighting the make-shift jobby we had up there. When I go out there to feed, it's like an episode of "When Goats Attack" and fighting with what we were using was quite the juggling act. Having a real, live gate is awesome. All I had to do was put the latches on...done!

God Bless!

Puttering in the Sun

Today was so beautiful here that I decided I would take full advantage. I had about 15 things on my list of to-do's for the day. All stuff that I could have gotten done. Things that would have made a nice impact around here. I got side tracked somewhere along the way.

Instead, I moved my 'orchard'. I had a nice size area with six trees (though one has since passed on), but when Chris decided it needed to be fenced, the area became much smaller. This still gets me! He put up a fence to protect the trees that now have to be moved somewhere else that has no fencing, because of the fencing put in place to protect them. Huh.

Before moving any of the trees, I plotted out a nice 8x10 area to level for the new greenhouse. I had my shovel in hand, breaking up some of the sod. Chris tells me it would be much easier with the tractor. I'm all for easier. I hate digging. It is the one chore that makes me cringe. So, after I moved the trees and he finished up with his project, he started up the tank.

Keep in mind, my greenhouse is 6x8. I wanted some wiggle room on the edges, so figured that 8x10 was the perfect size. 35' and several deep trenches later...

He is so happy with that tractor.

I should have stuck with my shovel.

He was smiling when I took this. Not sure if it was because of my panic.

Here is one of the trees. The fenced area in the background is where it came from.

God Bless!