Wednesday, February 20, 2013

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!