The Month of May (so far) in Photos

 Scarlet & Sophie

Our piggies, three

Sidney sneaking a nibble of our neighbor's sword ferns

Chardonnay and her twin Doelings

Chardy's baby girls, Bramble (in front) and Dahlia

Coming in for a landing

Busy little fly-girls!

I am very much enjoying both my new camera, and my newly-acquired ability to take a walk up the hill to pay a visit to my critters. 

This has been an incredibly busy month here so far with the two beehives going in, eleven goats being sold, eighteen new raised beds going in the garden, a self-imposed crash-course in turkey husbandry (soon to be followed by the arrival of actual turkey poults!), 21 chicks due to arrive next week, AND spending every spare second researching, planning for and generally freaking out about a new business venture that a friend and I are embarking on. 

With all of the hustle and bustle, it's easy to miss the small things; the miracles and the beauty that we get to live smack in the middle of on our little piece of earth. I'm so thankful for the sweet little camera that Billy bought me for my birthday, so that I can capture a glimpse, now and then, of the amazing critters that we get to share our lives with here. 

Life right now is a little crazy, but it is a lot good. 

Names?

Our blue-eyed beauty needs a name! 

Chardy's doeling and Hop's little wether, half-siblings (and also Aunt/Nephew - goat family trees are kind weird and twisty.) 

We didn't name any of our little goat babies this year, as most of them were destined to move on to new homes. But - we've finally decided which of Chardy's twin girls we're keeping (the little black goat with the big blue eyes), and so she needs a name that is as pretty and vibrant as she is. Scarlet has suggested the name Moulin, which is the French word for "windmill". Heaven knows why, but she's seriously feeling that name. So far, she is the only one to put a potential name in the hopper. I happen to think that this girl deserves a better name than windmill, but I haven't hit upon one just yet. Suggestions?

Just in case it helps, her Mom's name is Chardonnay, her Dad is Buckley, and her siblings are Hop, Barley, Liberty & Hope.

Update: Ladies & Germs - introducing the lovely Miss Bramble. :)

Our Garden Space - Before

We're a little late on the draw this year re: the new garden. 

Honestly, we've been trying to till this thing for a few weeks now, only to have not one, but two tillers crap out on us. Tiller #1 (borrowed from a friend) had blades so dull that they were rounded off. In a plot that had been tilled up previously, that might have cut the mustard. But in our lower pasture, densely matted with reed canary grass, and just below the surface, their tightly interlaced rhizomes, it was like trying to turn the sod over using the power of happy thoughts. No go.

So, we rented a tiller from a home improvement store. After lugging that lumbering beast home and up to the garden site, Bill started tilling. It worked 110% better than the first tiller, but had an ill-fitting gas cap, which meant that whenever the machine was jostled, a wee bit of gasoline slopped out. There was no stopping the leakage. Bill and the guy at the store tried various techniques and different caps in an attempt to stop the gas from spilling out, but nothing would plug it up sufficiently to keep the gasoline from sloshing out and onto our soon-to-be garden. Not cool! So, Bill returned it and got a refund.

A full day wasted and absolutely nothing to show for it. Turning over that much space by hand wasn't feasible. If only there were another way...

 ...BAM! 

Do you see that pen that they're in? That was solid, lovely green grass before these guys got a hold of it. It was freshly tilled mud-pit 24 hours later. So, we're putting these lil' stinkers to work for us in the garden space. Coming up with our genius plan was the easy part of the process. The hard part? Wranglin'.

There was a lot of this -

Porkchop is on the lamb!

Attempting to separate Baykin from 'Shootie.

The "Wheelbarrow Maneuver". By far the easiest way we've found to get a cranky pig from point A to point B.

Porkers on the green. Do your thang, piggies!

They're all three now in their new, fortified, garden digs, happily chowing down grass, after which (I hope) they'll quickly resort to rooting up and eating the grass roots, and dropping some potent fertilizer as they go. By next weekend, I (really, REALLY) hope that I can post an "after" picture of their handiwork.

And now I must go and collapse in a heap after helping to chase down and wrangle the piggies three. Blergh...

DIY Magnetic Mason Jar Spice Rack

I bought a case of these little 4 ounce jam jars because I fell in love with how cute they were. I was planning to save them for Jam-o-rama 2013, but in the ensuing lull between planting fruits and picking them and turning them into some of our fabulous jam, I found another project that captured my fancy - a magnetic spice rack.

I probably originally got the idea for this from Pinterest or from someone else's blog - I don't remember - but once the idea started percolating in my noodle, I decided that the jars would have a different destiny than originally planned.

Here's my step-by-step photo how-to for making your own DIY Magnetic Mason Jar Spice Rack:

Paint or label your jars to your liking. I used some chalkboard paint, because it was what I had handy.

Even though these are painted with chalkboard paint, I decided to label them with metallic-colored sharpie pens instead of chalk. Have you ever tried to write tiny with chalk? It either doesn't fit, isn't legible, or wears off every 10 seconds. No thanks.

In addition to your freshly labeled jars, you'll need a corresponding number of small, strong magnets, some super glue, and a piece of sheet metal that will fit your specs - this is 6x18".

Put a wee little drop of super glue in the middle of your lid. Carefully place your little magnet on the dot of glue. Be careful! The strong little magnets tried to jump right out of my hand onto the lid willy-nilly. And between the strength of the magnet and the super glue, there'd be no moving it from where it lands. Go slow.

Affix your sheet metal under a cabinet, on the inside of a cupboard door or wherever else it'd be handy to have your spices hanging. (I have not attached mine yet, I held it in it's eventual resting place just for this pic. I'm leaning towards using Liquid Nails or Gorilla Glue to attach the sheet metal to the bottom of the cabinet, but the hubs wants to use screws. I'm afraid they'll go through, into the cabinet itself. I'll update with whatever we end up using.)

And that's it! I paid $9 for the jars, $4 for the magnets, and $14 for the sheet metal (which I now realize that I could have sourced a LOT cheaper - d'oh!) for a total of $27 for this project. If you already happen to have some jars on hand that you'd like to use, you could cut the cost by 1/3. Have fun! :)

Dog Shaming

My pups are angels, angels I tell you, 99% of the time. But when they go rogue, boy do they ever. 

At least Rex has the grace to look abashed for his antics. Penny, god love her, as usual, looks clueless as to why Mama's miffed. Chickens aren't chew toys, Pen. 

It seems that it may be my lot in life to be surrounded by adorable hooligans. Oy...

Pie Cherries in Bloom

My gorgeous Montmorency sour cherry tree is packed with blossoms this year. And our two colonies of Italian(?) honeybees come this weekend, hopefully in time to fertilize the heck out of each and every one of these flowers!

By the 4th of July, I'm optimistic that I'll have at least enough homegrown sour cherries to make one purty little lattice-topped pie that I may or may not end up eating all by myself with a fat scoop of goats milk vanilla ice cream on top. Hurry, Summer, HURRY!

What's in (an odd) middle name?

Not that this has anything to do with anything farm-ish, but I've been missing my Grandmas lately. I posted this on my personal FB page, then thought I might like to share it with y'all too. MJ 

I've been noticing that the name "Ivy" is increasing in popularity all of a sudden. I grew up not loving my middle name, learned to appreciate its uniqueness and it's significance (named after my Grammy) and now suddenly feel very protective of it. Don't screw this up for me, Beyonce. 

At least mine is spelled a little different! 

This is a pic of my Grandma for whom I am named, Ivie Loretta, being held by my Great-Grandma, Ruth Piety Julian Ford. Grandma's twin sister, Avie, is being held by my Great-Great-Grandma. ♥ Miss you, G.G.!

Great-Grandma Ford and 7/15ths of her eventual brood, and her mother-in-law. Raising fifteen kids during the great depression - can you imagine? I come from some tough gals! :)