Before getting too far, I updated my Trip Report, but it needs another! lol!!! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3094866&page=9

Just starting out in the homesteading life is difficult. I am being reminded daily that I am not very organized. And in poor shape. Still, things are growing! The chickens are bound to start laying soon, the garden is doing pretty darn well, considering how "dead" our soil is/ was and the newbies we are. And we should have bunnies (as in our first litter) in less than a month!

I had one kale plant already bolt! And it started before I had even gotten to harvest any.

Matt is a bit worried about his onions. I guess because they don't stand tall.

Carrot batch 1 really shot up with all the rain the past couple of days. And batch 2 is sprouting quite well!

We have ticks and mosquitoes quite bad this year. The mosquitoes eat us up in the front yard, we are covered in bites (daytime outdoors). And walking elsewhere on the property seems to always allow for crawly hitchhikers. What to do??? I hate putting poison out b/c of the kids and we are trying very hard to live organically. We COULD do the back yard, but then we have to worry about the chickens eating poisoned bugs (they free range several hours a day).


Matt and I are making plans. Big ones! One we have been discussing for a month or two is raising our own meat chickens, plus a few extra ;). Face it, chickens fed non GMO feed and without hormones and antibiotics are PRICEY! And we eat a LOT of chicken!

We have had some fun play days in this mostly pleasant weather!

Sawyer is ALMOST crawling!

And we did harvest some kale! It made a yummy dinner!!

For school, Isabelle has about 2 more weeks plus 4H. Gabriel is working on The Carrot seed. We planted more carrots in the garden (batch 2) and have done a few projects.

Our Bible verse this week seems to really fit! Have a blessed day!

Wow has it been busy around here!?

Before I share the homestead news, though, I have to send 2 very special birthday messages out!!!

Happy birthday to the man of my dreams! Yep, my husband is "celebrating" today! :)

And Happy birthday to my Little Guy, Booger Brown, Stinker, my 3rd precious baby, Gabriel!! His birthday is tomorrow, though we celebrated at home today. We had to postpone our friends and family party due to saturation until Monday.

Some memories from the day!

His cake for Monday. I had ordered it for today.

Such a beautiful day the Lord gave us!! Sunny, but very comfortable.

It was the perfect day to head to Owensboro to pick up our new bunnies! We already had one being held for us, but had discussed getting a young buck, too. Well, a couple of days ago we discovered Domino is a BOY! ooops! lol! So we stuck to our beautiful dark blue eyed little girl an

d picked out an adorable speckled one, too!

Without further ado, please meet Fairy Frost and Puddles!!!

Fairy Frost (yes after the fabric line! ;) )

She is mostly white, with a brownish- gray strip down her back, on her ears, and around her eyes.

 

 

See her unique eye color!?

Puddles ( as in mud, b/c she looks like she ran through some mudpuddles)

 

They bunnies checking each other out.

Isabelle keeps remarking about how small the new girls are! :)

In other news, still nothing about the other 4 chickens. I am still quite saddened by it.

Updated my TR!!!

 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3094866&page=9

Had a sad day. Flock number 2 was out of the cage this morning. All that we could find was Cloud and one hen. And a head with lots of feathers around it.We searched and the other 3 seem to have vanished. We knew it could happen, but hoped it wouldn't. Matt has set some traps to, hopefully, catch the culprit.

Meanwhile, we are going to get another bunny or two tomorrow. It has been in the plans for about a week. The one being held for us is a mostly white doe with a bit of gray and dark blue eyes. Isabelle and I decided to name her Fairy Frost.

Gabriel's 3rd birthday is next Saturday.... So hard to believe. We are having a simple party, Special Agent themed, with Oso on the cake. And then going camping!It will be the boys' first camping trip! A homeschool group is going. One parent is a geology professor, so should be fun! Let the planning begin!

The Progression of our Homestead pt 2.

We came home from vacation with knee high grass and a broken mower! Matt got it fixed! He had to clean the gas tank out. Apparently, Gabriel thought it would run well on rocks, sticks, and acorns!!

Chickens cooling in the dirt.

This is Cloud. We think a rooster. Isabelle insists his name is Bone.

Lacose and Grace behind her.

Close up of Lacose. Best we can figure is she was an accidental crossing of Barred Rock and Gold Wyandotte.

Isabelle likes to pretend Flock #2 are hawks...lol!

Happy chickens!

Cabbage and Kale

Herbs

Eggplant plant that was included in my CSA!

Lettuce

Bush Beans

The progression of our homestead.....These are from Mother's Day.

One of our new chickens. We call them Flock #2!

Chickens in their prior home.

Not many peas left. The chickens scratched them up... :(