Organic Lawnmowers

Sunset a few days ago

The pasture they've been in has been eaten down pretty well. Meanwhile, the rest of the property looks like we're growing hay. More specifically, we wanted to trim up the seasonal stream. It hadn't been dry enough to mow so it was grown up pretty far.

I had my step-in t-posts from last year still, plus my hot tape so I decided to make use of our organic mowers and put them to work. I set up an enclosure that opens off of the barn and includes all of the seasonal stream that runs through the back yard. I had the perfect amount!

Gwyn is enjoying not needing to put her head all the way to the ground in order to eat. The tops of all the high grasses have been eaten off, it's hilarious. And then, the first night I fed them grain, she willingly walked over the foot bridge behind me without any urging on my part. I was rather surprised. But bridges have never been a huge deal for her.

It's by no means an incredibly secure fence... but it's not like they need to leave. It is electrified though.

Naughty Kaylee out barefoot. Thankfully Gwyn is careful-ish.

"You're gonna feed us, right?"

Once they trim down the seasonal stream I'll move them to the other summer pasture. I'm hoping we'll be finished redigging the stream through there to reduce the standing water and flooding that we get. My parents are coming for the first week of July so our plan is to really get a ton of work done while they're here and can help manage the kids.  In the meantime, they've got good shelter and plenty of grass.

The farm's namesake! A firefly!

Aquaponics Progress

Doing a test of the pump system, so we need to refill and rinse the hydroton again.

Our grow light is hung up as well.

Pic drop of the critters

Where I get greeted everytime I come out to feed dinner

I love the light in this photo. It was right around sunset and was just golden.

Last night the farrier came out for trims. Saffron did not like being in the cross ties. She was otherwise good for the trim, like usual. I fed her carrots.

Gwyn waited her turn.

Ford found a cat toy and was having a ball playing with it.

Velociraptor watched. It's like he wants to be that energetic, but just can't. 

Tiling progress

This holiday weekend was our big 'get things done' weekend for the flooring. And we are trucking ahead!  Eric's sister and her husband came out on Friday to assist with distracting Kaylee and getting the underlayment cut and attached.

I went for additional supplies that were needed through the day. Not all of the underlayment got attached or cut, but enough did that if we finish what's been cut, we can go back to a normal semblance of life and use of the kitchen by the end of this weekend. 

Kaylee left with them to go to their house where Grandma was going to pick her up. We were suddenly child free!   We went out to a late dinner at a BBQ place about 30 minutes away and it was delicious. Then we crashed in bed. 

Today was tile cutting and placement day! 

We tested out how we wanted the tiles arranged. The manufacturer of the tile didn't recommend a 50% overlay so we experimented with other options.

Then we put the new tile saw together and got cutting! 

The dining room is coming together!

Moving into the kitchen

All the pieces have been cut. Eric then measured them in preparation for the thinset to attach them down. We didn't finish the whole kitchen because he ran out of spacers! But we did get a good amount of them done. The plan for after dinner tonight is to get this set of tile of attached with thinset  and tomorrow, finish putting down underlayment, then use the spacers to finish laying out and cutting the rest of the tile.

I've been doing a ton of laundry in preparation for losing access to the laundry room and I bought lots of water since we'll be losing access to our drinking water once we start actually attaching tile and grouting.

Grouting will be late tomorrow and mostly Monday. Sister and her husband are returning hopefully Sunday but definitely Monday to assist. We've also purchased a special additive that preseals the grout as you apply it so you can reduce a step in waiting for the tile to be done.

Update!:

Tiling is DONE! FINITO!

We moved into the angled space and Kaylee helped

Cutting pieces to fit

Not mortared in yet

To the entry way!  We changed how the flooring flowed so that when you come in you can stay on a more durable surface with snow/mud on shoes rather than worrying about getting the carpet (for now) wet and dirty. Before, you'd come in on tile through the front door, and have to step on carpet before getting to hardwood. We really love how this flows much better.

Eric got all of the tile set in place.

On Sunday BIL and MIL came out to help grout. No pictures, sorry! Due to varying techniques we have significant grout haze to remove but I'm handling it well. 

You can see the two tiles where I've used vinegar and water to remove the grout haze. 

We swept up the loose particles and vacuumed the tile. Now all that's left is using the vinegar/water solution to wipe down the floor. The grout can't be mopped for another week but I'm going by hand as I'm able.

Aquaponics Update!

We made some headway getting things set up. That progress in photo essay below!

First off was drilling a hole into the stock tank for water to drain out of. 

More supplies that have arrived, included our LED grow light and bulkhead fittings for the hole we're drilling.

Hole is in place! We had to shave away some excess on the edges since the drill bit didn't create a large enough hole for the bulkhead to fit. But any larger drill bit would have created too large a hole. 

Fitting the bulkhead. There are teflon and rubber washers that help create the seal as the nut is tightened on.

Fitting the spout onto the bulkhead so we can turn the flow on and off. 

Adding Hydroton! This is an expanded clay media that doesn't absorb water. It's very lightweight (and expensive) but also pH neutral, which is important for the system.

It's also very dusty and needs to be rinsed before you fully start running the system!

That is a job for a 3 year old!

The first moment of truth... were our fittings tight enough so it wouldn't leak?  The answer was no, there was a tiny amount of dripping from the bulkhead, so we tightened that down and voila, all better!

Water drains well into what will be the fish tank.

All filled with hydroton. 

Out in the barn, Gwyn has started shedding. It's SPRING!

Velociraptor took an open door opportunity to hang out on the porch on an unseasonably warm day. 

Kaylee decided to play in the remaining snow piles. In a shirt and underwear only.