Vacation Pics Day 1 and 2

No, you will not see pictures of my pretty painted toenails with the blue ocean in the background.  No pictures of the shady, green mountain paths with the babbling brook along the side.  Nope, no bright lights of the big city nights and Broadway. 

No, an aspiring homesteader's vacation is very different.

Day 1
We attempted to put up the rabbit shelter.  We are moving from hutches to hanging cages and putting them in the chicken fence for extra protection and ease of feeding and watering.  We got the posts in, but alas, a huge storm came through and cut our progress short.  The power even went out until 2 a.m. leaving us with no air conditioning and no water.  Yes, there was plenty of water in the 5-gallon bucket we put on the deck to catch a little rain in case the toilet needed flushing or something.  It was at this point that the beach sounded like a much better plan.

Day 2
After a breakfast of fresh eggs, biscuits and gravy (that we had to cook in the toaster over because the oven did not come back on along with the rest of power-uh-oh...), we started cleaning up branches and limbs from the driveway.  Chain saws, pruners, wheelbarrows, oh my.  At least we will have some seasoned oak for the fireplace this winter.

 



After that adventure, we finally got back to the rabbit cages.  The posts were not as set as we had hoped, but we proceeded to finish it up and got two wire cages up and filled.  



Yes, sporting sweat pants and cowboy boots

Breaktime

We got the roof as close as we could.  It should be good enough to keep the rain off of them.  We still have the bottom level to finish with the poop slopes (professional term) and also put a back row to hold the remaining three rabbits and an extra cage for an extra buck in the near future.  The cages were our first two, and they are different. We made Thoretta's first and decided it was turned wrong-too tall.  But, it will suffice.

 

 

 

Rocky

 Rocky, the Blue New Zealand buck, is checking out the new residence.  Thoretta is not so sure.

Thoretta

 The chickens seemed to adjust just fine-as long as nobody is in their coop or on the roost at bedtime.

 



First Days of Summer 2013

No matter how tired or stressed I am after work, watering my garden, snapping a few photos of plants, trees and animals makes me feel peaceful.  I love the feel of the leaves: the sage's fuzzy, bumpy leaves, the smooth plum leaves, the tickling asparagus that has grown to go to seed. Okay, the wild blackberries, not so much.  And the smells.  Is there anything more summery to a Midwest girl than the smell of a fresh tomato? I think not.  Or the best combination is lemon balm-soft bumpy leaves with that energizing aroma. 

  Take a walk with me in the 8 o'clock hour.

The cucumbers are blooming and we have had several jalapenos added to some dishes already.  I used our one good-sized green pepper in tonight's salad.

 

  

The strawberries are doing okay.  I know I am not doing what I am supposed to.  I am letting the runners run and picking a few berries to share with the family even though this is the plants' first year. The blackberries (thornless variety) have a few berries.  The wild blackberries are OMGoodness plentiful.  This will definitely be my first year to try blackberry jam making.

The bee balm/Monarda is doing very well-yet I have not seen more than two bumblebees on them.  At least they are beautiful.

 We had a surprise this year.  One of Cherry's (my goat that passed away over a year ago) favorite trees to eat turned out to be this fabulous plum tree.  I had no idea it was there or where it came from, but it was a most wonderful surprise.  We have a purple plum tree to that is producing small fruits.

The girls were none to happy with my intrusion as they were preparing for bed.  I got quite a few evil eyes.



Our peach tree produced a peach this year.  Just one, but it is it's first year, so no complaints.  I hope it continues to mature so our family can cut it into fourths.

This year the rain has been
good and the pond is full. 
The frogs are very loud
tonight.

The bees are still bearding.
It is a very warm evening.

It's time to head back into the house for a shower and get ready for bed.  I check the large blooming basil that is in with the container tomato on the porch step.  I got another tomato today-but it was put in our salad along with that pepper and a couple of radishes.The lantana that has overgrown onto the old front steps is blooming bright and beautiful.