Out with the lion, in with the lamb!

So ready for more sunshine.  Doesn't even have to be warm, just more sun would be lovely!

And softball and baseball seasons have begun!  Again, Kara and Liam are both #7 on their respective teams!  Pretty good looking kids, huh!!  lol  Liam's first tournament is in Wenatchee then they start their season games.  He is pitching and playing right and center field.  Kara just started her season games this week.  She is playing right field and first base, mostly right field.

And below would be Kara's softball team at the first team dinner at our house.  Great group of girls!

These would be Liam's Christmas gloves I knitted.  Rob has a pair also, just finished for his birthday, the opposite color combo.  I figured they could use them hunting to keep their hands warm, but still be able to use their first two fingers and thumb!  Used wool yarn, so should be nice and toasty.  :)

Runner is such a goofball.  This would be how he sleeps in his bed in the living room.  I really don't think that looks very comfortable, but oh well.  hahahahaha

Robert's birthday morning came with the addition of two new kids from Ashley!  Below is the female, I believe she was born first as she is just a little bigger than her brother.

And below is the male.  He has a very small white patch on his forehead and on the right side of his body, otherwise he is all red!  Such a cutie!

Kara decided she need a picture at Home Depot the other day, so here you go!  She sure is pretty!

For mom's 71st birthday, we, Robert, myself, Liam, Mom, Raymond, and Aylia, went to the shooting range in Arlington!  It was lady's day so it was only $5.99 to shoot and try multiple pistols and mom got to shoot for free as it was her birthday!  We tried four different pistols that day.  I actually preferred the revolver over the Glocks.  Don't we look hot in those protective glasses and ear protection?  haha

Since the pigs are gone and in the freezer, Robert on his searching of Craigslist found these cuties down in Issaquah and we purchased two!  They are Kune Kune and potbelly pig mix.  Will be about 70 to 80 pounds full grown.  Right now they are only 6 weeks old.  So cute.  They were so excited when they heard Marty talking and raced to the fence to say Hi!

They love to bask in the sun!

 Can you find the piggies in their house?

This would be Blue, our silver fox buck.  He is loving the grass right now!  Hopefully, he did his job and our does are bred!  Fingers crossed!

Robert has been busy making garden beds where the pigs were.

And Mom, Raymond, and I have been laying newspaper down in the pathways and then covering with wood chips.  The goal is to not have to rototill these anymore, just add in compost when we plant and then overwinter with green manure crops to turn over in the spring and plant again.

The rhubarb obviously did not mind being moved.  It has taken off nicely! 

Mom and I have started to brew kombucha to drink.  Kasara has a friend that had extra scobys.  I purchased the crock and stand from Amazon.  This was started on 03/22/13 and will start checking it this Friday, 03/29/13.

You can see the new scoby forming on the top.  The mother scoby is at the bottom of this batch.

Have a great rest of March!  Later!

February and too much to do!

Hi there!  All is going fabulous on Shelley Hill Farm!  As you can see below, gardening season has begun and will be taking up time and effort this year, same as last year.  On that note, I do believe we grew enough potatoes and then some last year, so will not be doing quite so many this year, hahaha.  Though the pigs liked them also.

Below is the new addition to Mom and Raymond's deck, gutters.  Rob installed them and right now they contain strawberries and soon green onions, lettuce, and radishes.

And below are the gutters Rob installed on the outside of the garden fencing.  Mom and are I transplanting all the strawberries from the bed right inside the fence to these and more gutters that will be added.  Then the raspberries are going to be transplanted down the outside of the chicken fenced area so when in season, chickens can have the lower ones and we will get the upper ones.  Yay!

Below are the all the trees we got from Raintree Nursery for my birthday and Christmas from Mom and Raymond.  We ended up with three apple trees, one Italian plum, and three pear trees.  And as a bonus, I also got two cranberry plants and one grape plant and Mom got three blueberry plants and strawberries as her bonus.  Yay us!!

This would be the (hopefully) last place the rhubarb will be moved, and as you can see from the photo, they really don't care where they are planted, as they have already started to sprout!

Below are the best pancakes ever!!!  Made with one banana and two eggs.  I did add a little cinnamon also and talk about yummy!!!

 Below, Kara decorated hers with whipped cream and a smile!

And Liam did his up with butter and maple syrup.  (He did not want to be in the photo, what a party pooper!  hahahahah)

For Valentines Day, Robert built a greenhouse for me!  What a fabulous gift and fabulous handyman I married!  Love you lots and lots Robert!  :)  It is in front of the back pasture as that should get the majority of the sun without it being too windy.

As you can see, Gus was supervising.  hahahaha

Rob managed to find cattle panels on Craigslist and used those as the sides and top.

Then he framed in the ends for a door on this end and a window on the back side.

I filled in the flooring with wood chips and Robert and Liam moved sand (like you see on the right) all around the outside of the greenhouse to finish it off.  Notice Runner in the corner there?  He does like to dig!

Then the plastic sheeting was rolled and nailed or stapled on either side...

And finished along the front, back, door and window.

We have two shelves on either side of the greenhouse, which right now is plenty of room for starting seeds and such.  Was nice to get all the seed starting items in one spot.

We said goodbye to the piggies on Saturday and they are at Sylvana Meats.  They were really personable piggies.  Below is Mom and Ray's pig.  We found out when butchered, that she had broken her jaw (don't know when it happened, but it did not affect her eating as she weighed 20 more pounds than ours!) and that's why her tongue always stuck out the side, which did make her look very comical!

This would be our piggy!  She was a great pig also, loved to be scratched.  Thanks piggies for your contribution to our farm!

So where they tilled up the ground, we have been picking rocks (cannot believe how many rocks there are in our yard!) and this will become the garden this year after sitting for the next two months or so.  We are trying something new so we don't have to rototill.  Rows will only be 18 inches wide, lay down a layer of straw and then the soil over that so it's about 5 to 6 inches tall.  Then when we plant we will add some of the other compost we have been creating from the rabbit/goat/chicken poo and voila!  Shouldn't have to rototill again.  When garden is done, we will overwinter the beds with rye grass and such and then just have to turn it over loosely and replant!  Will let you know how this goes!

Making bread today and the house smells soooooo yummy!  Until later!

Bunnies and more!

We have bunnies!  We have decided to try and raise bunnies for meat for us and the dogs, thinking that they would produce more (you know how bunnies are, lol) quicker and shorter turnaround than chickens, though will still be doing some chickens also.

Below is the buck.

And one of the does,

And the other doe.

They are 13 weeks old right now, so not ready to breed yet.  They need to be at least 4 months old to breed so will be a little while yet.  They are a cross between Rex, New Zealand, and Silver Fox.  The buck should get to be about 20 pounds and the does 18 or so.  They are so funny to watch nibbling at the veggies we give them!  Not sure if we are gonna name them or not yet.  I think just calling the buck Buck should be fine.  lol

Below is the awesome hutch x3 we picked up off Craigslist for $25!  What a bargain!  Just had to purchase feeders and waterers and it gives us an extra hutch for when the females are pregnant, one for each.  As you can see below the hutches, Robert fashioned some black plastic so all the bunny poopoo goes into the green box, which can then be used for fertilizer as it is not hot!  Woot, can't have too much fertilizer!

 Below is the new part of the piggies run as Robert extended the fence.  This is only after one day they dug up that much.  They are true rototillers for sure!!!  Just work for food!

So we were gonna put the bunnies on the outside of the feed/tool shed, but the roof would have been too low and it was warmer inside, so that is where Robert installed them and their hutch.  Which means the tools got moved outside under the extension of roofing.  Looks pretty good to me and easier to grab a tool than always opening the door.  

Notice the turkeys in the background on top of the little house Marty stands in when it is raining.  We have Mr. Tom, the two older hens, and I believe there are three more hens and three more toms also.

We also moved the compost containers outside of the garden area and put them all in one spot, so first it goes in the black box on the left of the picture, then gets turned into the wooden bin on the left, and then the one on the right and finally goes into the turning composter to finish.  What a great system!!!

I'm getting antsy about starting seeds, but will hold off until mid February.  I always seem to start them too soon and then have no place to transplant them as it is not warm enough!  haha.  Can't wait to get back to working in the garden this spring/summer!

Later!

And on to 2013! Happy New Year!

Sooo, it's been way too long, but we have been busy and the first item up is a NEW PUPPY!!!!  Robert's brother, Joe, bred his black lab, Walker, to a chocolate lab and she had puppies.  For the stud fee, Joe wanted pick of the litter, which he then gave to Robert, who if you can't tell from the second picture, loves the puppy!!!!  We picked him up the day before Thanksgiving.

Now for the name of the puppy.  Robert and Liam were having a conversation after Robert got off the phone with Joe one time.  Liam asked, "Uncle Joe's dog's name is Walker, right?"  Robert replied, "Yes."  Liam then proceeded with, "Well we should name the puppy Runner then!"  hahahahahaha  And that is what the puppy is named.

Runner is now 14 weeks old and is doing great.  He already has learned how to sit, shake, lay down, and stay.  Meeah and Jake are okay with him, Jake will play with him but Meeah really does not want to play with him.  She lets him know and then he usually stops (the key word being usually).

This would be Kara with Runner right after we picked him up.

And this would be Robert with Runner right after we picked him up.

Kara again,

Jake's halter fits on Runner for now, so that is what we are using when taking him for walks and such.

See, Jake does like him!  haha  They both squished in the bed together to take a nap.  Robert put up metal fencing (like the picture below) to separate the kitchen from the living room, as it is sooooooo much easier to clean up puppy messes off the kitchen floor than the carpet.  This will stay in place until at least after the holidays.  He is getting pretty good with the potty thing and lets us know when he needs to go out by going to the back door and barking.

Obviously, Robert and Runner had a hard day at work. :)

This was Runner sitting for me this morning so I could snap a picture.

Again with the sitting.

Robert and I took Runner on a walk the other day and he decided he need to carry this large stick with him.  Too funny!

This was right after we got him,

And so is this.

Vanessa and Ramyar planned going to get Christmas trees in the snow this year, so we took Runner with us.  No Christmas trees were "caught" as it snowed the night before we went up like 3-4 feet I believe.  We had a lot of fun in the snow anyway as the pictures below show.

First up is the video of Runner with Kara in the snow.  He hopped through the snow like a deer would, had a great time and crashed in the afternoon in the car!  In the video, that is Robert on the right side digging out where we built the fire to stay warm.  

This would be Liam throwing a snowball at me beside the fire.

And this is Kara and Bella and Runner building, not sure what.  haha

This would be Liam, Ram, Robert, and Randy in the front and behind Randy is Vanessa and Syler.

Joann getting her coat on.  Woohoo!

And this is the lovely snowman/woman that Vanessa, Bella, and Kara built.  The eyes are made out of almonds, the nose is a piece of dried papaya, and the mouth is made from chocolate chips.  hahaha Very creative!

And here are the three builders with their snowman/woman.

And Kara giving him/her a kiss.  You go girl!

So we decided to get a live tree this year for Christmas, then we can plant it outside afterwards.  Hopefully, this will work and we can add a new tree to our property.  Kara decorated our tree and Liam decorated Gma and Gpa Kanarick's tree.  

So I believe the pigs might need a larger house, as her head is hanging out.  hahaha.  They do still fit inside, just not sure why she needed her head hanging out this time.

Here's all the chickens after I let them out this morning.  We have settled on Light Brahma's and Ted, the rooster, is in the back in the middle with the blacker feathers on his tail.

This would be our piggy this time.  She is very friendly and loves to be scratched behind her ears.

That's ours on the right and Mom and Ray's on the left.

They have done a fabulous job of "tilling" up the rocks and roots and such for us.  We will be moving the pigs soon and then go pick rocks and such out and do a cover crop to turn over in the spring.

This is the pit they have been working on.  It is deep enough when they stand in it you can't see their legs.  haha.  Must be something good down there.

So there has been a lot of water runoff that keeps tripping our alarm on the septic.  Robert and Liam dug trenches yesterday and dug down to expose some of the drains Robert put in when we first moved up here.  

Below is the "quick fix" that Robert did until we could get the parts he needed today to add a downspout from the covering of the deck.

This would be the exposed drain that shows all the water runoff.

And this below would be the finished project with rock in place for drainage and a new downspout from the roof!  Waaaaaaayyyyyyy less soggy than before!  Yay!

I made the most awesome chicken pot pie the other night!!  OMG it was sooooooo yummy.  It included our chicken, our carrots and peas from the garden and the homemade crust was soooo good.  I even had some left over crust to do those yummies with sugar/cinnamon in the oven.  They did not last long! :)

And this would be the recipe used!

No, Robert does not wear glasses normally, but Nikolai got him these for Christmas so he could drink hands free.  (And doesn't he look very intellectual?)   HAHAHAHAHAHA  We decided if they were paired up with one of those ball caps that holds the drink it would be awesome!  

Kara and I have matching snowflake earrings (I got mine from her for my birthday and Christmas!)

Finally, it has taken me three years to put these together trying to find all the photos (guess I should have started to be organized earlier in life :) haha).  I started with kindergarten at the top and ended with their senior photo in the center.  Anyway, got them all done right before Christmas as a gift to myself.  Fun to look at how they have changed or not changed through the years!  What awesome kids!

Aylia,

Nik,

Kara, (notice how she only has one photo left, senior year!!!!  Where did the time go?)

And Liam, who has a couple of years left.

Here is a photo of Runner taken this morning as he was playing with his piggy toy.  He now weighs 23 pounds and is becoming kinda gangly.  Such a great puppy though.  Loves being outside.

In closing today, my New Years' resolutions are to spend less $$ this year, become even more self-sufficient, and to post a little more often than I have been lately!  Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and now on to 2013!