Bales mostly set up

I meant to have this done by now but the April showers have come in May this year! So I finally got out there and started pulling out the bales. Some were light but a lot more were really heavy as they already were wet. Some even have some mold on them. I am hoping that won't be bad.
Speaking of April Showers, she and May Flowers have a day pen by the garden so I let them out to do some weeding. I am not sure what to do with the spot where April is in this shot. It was the old "raised bed," in quotes because it didn't stay very raised and fell apart. But I have a huge mound of dirt there. Since I hate to buy dirt, it just seems wrong to me. I was thinking of mixing that with some very old compost to use in all those garden boxes dear ol' mom got.
I should have done this first, but I never do things in the right order. I want to put down news paper between the rows and then cover it with straw. I have lots of extra straw. That will be the next project.
See how much help April and May are being?
I guess May thought it was a lot of hard too!

Oh Mother!

I love my mom I really do, but when the UPS man pulled up and dropped off two big boxes I rolled my eyes. I don't making it widely known, but a few years back I moved back in with my mom after she went through a divorce and a number of surgeries. It was much easier to just move in than travel back and forth. Now she has other issues that make it difficult for her to live alone, so I have stuck around to help. Anyway, that is completely beside the point, back to the boxes.

Inside the two big boxes are Garden Patch Grow Boxes. They look like this:

























The best deal of course was to get 10. 10!?! Yup my lovely mother got 10 of them. Ugg, according to the website that is enough for a 300 sq foot garden in only a 10’ x 4’ space! That really is enough for an entire new garden. We are going to be doing some preserving this year I think if all goes well.

I have decided to use this as a time to do an experiment though. I am going to plant some veggies in the Grow Boxes and the exact same type of veggie in the bales. See which grows better.

I thought that some vining veggies, like cucumbers, gourds and squashes might due well if I trail them off the deck. That might actually work really well.

I started to move the bales, but some are really heavy. My little mini couldn't quite pull the sled when the bale was in there so I am going to have to rethink moving them. I may not be able to do it with horse power, I might have to use a deer ( John Deere of course).

Exciting seeds

First of all I have very sad news. Those 4 ducks were attacked by a red fox during the morning about two weeks ago. Daphne was injured but is still alive and doing well. She follows me around the yard quacking and likes to be pet. The three ducklings did not make it. That darn fox also got my silkie hen also. Trust me I was mad, this was not over night but in morning. Before 10, but no really early. I chased him (her?) but he must have come back.

I do have three more duckling, east Indies call ducks. I have also added some chickens. A black Australorp hen and rooster and I have some mixed marans chicks in the brooder. We are taking measures to keep these guys safer.

I love to have both my chickens and my ducks around. Obviously chickens give me eggs and cut down on the insect population. Duck eggs are supposed to be really good for baking, although I admit that most of my duck eggs go to the dogs. They love them. I just adore having my quacking bunch around. Up and down the yard the ducks march, rooting out slugs and making holes in puddles of water. My three ducklings are very flighty, I am hoping that Daphne will calm them down.

I am in the midst of getting my bales in order. Ike will be helping me with that matter.

Lisa, a friend at Laughing Orca Ranch, sent me something really exciting. To read what all I got and why see my horse blog, Fearless Riding. What applies to this blog are these seeds from Home Town Seeds. I got tomato, swiss chard and butternut squash. Why I am so excited about these seeds is because they are Survival Seeds.

Survival seeds have been selected for some very specific criteria. First of they are non hybrid seeds. Hybrid seeds will not be true to the type if you plant the seeds produced by the fruits of them. A lot of the seeds that we plant are hybrid, if you plant the seeds of a hybrid you will not get a plant like the parent. Survival seeds are also not genetically modified. We are not quite sure how genetically modified food will effect us or our environment. So I am really excited to see how these plants do.

I love tomatoes and butternut squash, but swiss chard is going to be altogether new for me. I am so excited to learn how to prepare it!

BIG thanks to Lisa from Laughing Orca Ranch!

Ducklings update

They are growing like weeds!










They have adopted Penelope as their mama, or at least their flock mate.

Woo Hoo . . . spring is here

I have been busy with other things and I have not been posting. Shame on me. I have some tomatoes started, I will buy some early girls and better boys later.

I started getting the site ready. I moved the tarp and the weeds are really bad. I don't want to mow back there as there is wood and rocks that are hard to see. So I am using an alternative mowing method.
April:
Mazie:
Lily
Cheyenne:
Unfortunately they like all animals, quick changes in their diet is not good for their tummy so they each went out in pairs for 30 min. I'll do the same thing tomorrow and hopefully for the rest of the week I can get this area trimmed down. I have to put the bales out by May 1 so I can water for 10 days before I start planting. Planting date here is Wisconsin is usually May 15.

Goats

My little lily.

DUCKLINGS