Spring Prep on the Farm - Happy Eostre!

Back in January we planted our seeds

We moved the seedlings to medium cups and finally to larger pots!  We have a TON of tomato plants, some peppers, cilantro, parsely and basil. 

Waiting to be transplanted.

We decided that we wanted less grass, and that having the garden near the house would be highly convenient for watering and for tending it. Plus this is a super sunny spot! The plans for a set of raised garden beds were hatched.

We had help with repotting.

We started by removing the rock from the existing garden bed. It will be used to bolster the seasonal creek in the pasture.

Then came rototilling!

This is all getting dug up!  The birds have been having a FIELD day.  I welcome it. The more japanese beetle grubs they eat the healther our trees and plants will be!

Leveling and smoothing out the dirt and removing the sod clumps to be repurposed in some low spots in the pasture.

DANGER NOODLE

Feed me

Saffron is getting more comfortable with me! Today was the first day she let me take nose selfies. AND she was interested in the phone. This is HUGE for a little jenny who would run away from me when I tried to go near her.

She even let Hazel glomp all over her. I swear, all of our animals love Hazel. Even the cats.

My batgirl and her Daddy.

Tomorrow we get deliver of a huge load of cinder blocks and patio pavers. We've got a ton of well composted manure to fill the raised beds plus we'll be able to top off with the topsoil getting moved around in the leveling process.

WEG 2018!!!! And a neat product recommendation

I'm super excited!  Cheri and I are hoping to represent Stonewall Sporthorses and bring Gwyn and Nyx to North Carolina to the Tryon International Equestrian Center where the World Equestrian Games are being held.  It's a year and a half away, but planning needs to start! Woo!

Fuzzy bum

Snacks while I clean so they stay out of my hair

THE BEST ANIMAL PRODUCT EVER!

It's a curry comb glove.  I've heard from people with movement limitations like arthritis and ED that this is a great product for them because they don't have to grip a brush.  Our cats LOVE it.  Gwyn LOVES it.  Saffron is tolerant but she's really unsure of any grooming if she's not haltered and tied. Work in progress :)

You order it to size but I would recommend going up a size if possible. I'm an 8 usually and I ordered as such and it's a touch too tight for my personal preferences. My hand feels claustrophobic in this glove.  

Kaylee helping me.

"Mom, the small human is out there unattended. You sure?"

The tiniest human got her first floor time in the barn and had fun discovering hay. :D 

Kaylee helping feed.

Gwyn is such a fantastic critter with these kids.

Bye Goober! I have to go to work!

Fuzzy nose after our groundwork last week.

We learned kisses!

We've done some car shuffling since I started my job. As the truck is a lease I was putting miles on it WAY TOO FAST. So we pulled insurance off the truck, I got Eric's car and he got a nice new Volt, a hybrid electric.  So now I get to play "What fits into a Chevy Sonice from the farm store when you already have 2 car seats?"

Answer?

Definitely two, could have done 3 bags of pine shavings, a 50lb bag of horse feed, two 40 lb bags of pine pellets and a 40 lb bag of Stall Dry.

Farm store car tetris COMPLETE!

I couldn't see out the back though....

Safety first!

Weather Guesstimation

The big front pasture drains better than it used to... but we still have an ice skating rink.

I don't keep a hose attached in the winter (it's probably faster just lugging buckets, honestly)  But I can pretty accurately guess the temperature based on how easy it is to use this pump.  Does the handle lift easily? 25 deg F or warmer.  Is it a bit sticky? 15-25.

Do I really need to put my weight into it? Below 10.

Today it reached the 40s.  Everything is wet and my barn is flooded because the ground is still frozen enough that's there's no where for the water to go. Thank goodness the hay is off the ground.

It's also, thank you ridiculous weather, now a good time for maple sugaring. I am NOT ready! Noo!

Happy Solstice and Welcome Winter

Happy New Year as well!

We now have a facebook page, huzzah.

We had snow and the snow is gone. The weather was gorgeous for New Years weekend here in Michigan and we spent today outside with minimal outerwear. Temperatures are supposed to drop though, so it's back to deep freeze.

Saffron now has her own turnout sheet for those blustery wet cold days. Since the wind whips right across our property it seemed a good investment. I'd often see Gwyn out in the open without a care in her sheet while Saffron would be huddled by the tree line. Now they're both out.  These are just rain coats, if you will. Neither critter is clipped so they have their own fur for insulation. When the temperatures really dipped, poor Saffron was shivering, so I knew we were in need of something for her.

Eric got some pepper seeds for Christmas so we're sprouting them and have decided to set up a hard to utilize corner of our kitchen as a mini greenhouse. Seedlings will be moved downstairs and eventually into the aquaponics set up, since having the plants will increase our fish survival. Plus a coworker of Eric gave him a small fish tank so we can run a mini aquaponics set up and get some seed water for the larger set up.

We need more grow lights.  That's the TL;DR

Goals and To-Do List for the Farm in 2017
-Have a successfully cycling aquaponics set up: any size
-Regularly harrow the arena
-Replace and regrade the footing in the pens
-Spread manure in resting pastures
-Fix lawn mower
-Finish the drainage stream through the pasture
-Fix the drainage path from barn to stream
-Acquire wood chips for pathways
-Revamp play set (replace tarp, fix lean on the A-frame)
-Plan and plant front garden

Our christmas tree, still with root ball. It will be planted in the spring, until then, it's living inside!

Itty bitty but pretty!

We made our own plow for the driveway. It worked really well. I'll go more into that in another post.

Me dressing up to go feed dinner.

I added barn lights because my imagination was going crazy. I kept opening the door in the dark and turning on lights with my heart racing, expecting to see something waiting for me. Logically I know it's silly, but this helped.

Saffron's new blanket. 

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia!

Our stockings. The left one is mine, made by my grandmother. The other three were made by my mom for E, K and H. Hazel has the biggest stocking of them all.