Family Farm Fun

Festus is definitely enjoying the warmer weather and being able to root around. We have *finally* built him a permanent outdoor enclosure, so he has a decent safe space in the yard where he can play and dig. Getting belly rubs from Bah He shares his pen with the chickens which is pretty entertaining. They get along quite well and keep him from getting lonely. It is funny that the chickens are terrified of the dog but are very friendly with the pig, especially because the dog and pig are currently about the same size. Inside of their pen is the chicken coop (which stays open for shade), a small covered lean-to, a swimming pool, and plenty of food and water. Festus still sleeps in his cage in the garage, but when I let him out each morning he runs straight to his pen (hoping to sneak into the chicken feed I think). Inside the coop   Festus turned 6 months old on April 30th, and to celebrate we had watermelon. His currents stats are Weight: 20-25 pounds ...

Inch by inch, row by row, it's time to get these crops to grow! April means planting season. Due to all of the rain *Praise God!* we had a slight delay on planting. Usually, the crops are in the ground mid-April, but this year it was later. Planting is a really interesting process because all of the crops can be planted using the same machine and changing the plates and rate of seeding. Sugar Beets The first crop in the ground is sugar beets. To prepare the planter, Boots must first choose the correct plate. The plates vary on size and help drop the seeds through the planter. Then, he programs the rate at which the seeds need planted. After that, he deposits the seed into the planter basket and adds additional fertilizers as needed.  The fertilizers are held in the tanks on the tractor and are applied as the seed is deposited into the ground. Finally, he is ready to plant. Planting beets Checking all the hoses Bah helping check seed bins Beet seed ...

I cannot believe how much the chicks have grown in just a few weeks! As they continue getting bigger, we realized we needed a larger home for them. After some research, we decided on this chicken coop from Innovation Pet. We had four main criteria that the coop needed to ensure it would fit our needs. SIZE It needed to be an appropriate size. I definitely don’t anticipate on growing our brood, but I wanted a life-time coop rather than having to purchase multiple coops. This model  is designed to house 8 chickens which means our four girls should have plenty of room. It includes an above ground “house” that is over five square feet of space and an attached run that is more than eleven square feet of space. ACCESS It needed to have an easily accessible way to gather eggs. I plan on egg-gathering to be one of the girls' chores, so an easy way to gather was vital. The Farmhouse Coop has a latched door in the back that provides great access to the tree nesting boxes...

I think I may have gone completely crazy. We just added FOUR more animals to our brood. Yes, you read that right, FOUR. Now, not only do we have a dog, a pig, and two turtles, we also have four chickens.  Bah is an animal lover - through and through. She is the pig whisper, worm charmer, and bug catcher. She has been asking for baby chicks for a few weeks now, and I kept telling her we had enough to keep us busy and didn't need any more animals. Then, her cousins got baby chicks and she (in her own words) just "couldn't stop thinking about baby chicks!" So after Boots and I had a long talk, we decided that maybe chickens would fit in fine with our little zoo. His reasoning was that he likes giving the kids responsibility and teaching them about where their food comes from. They know better than that food comes from the grocery store, but since we are not raising cows or meat-pigs, they do not have first hand experience with food-to-table animals. Therefore, w...

Spring is such a beautiful time of year. Everything is starting to turn green again, new animals are being born, and the Easter season reminds us of God's love for everyone. With all of the beautiful colors and symbols, it is a perfect season for crafting.  A play-doh piggy and bunny the girls made A few weeks ago, the kids and I went to our local library, The Heginbothem Library . Miss Laura, the greatest librarian, had a spring and Easter book display. Both of the girls ended up picking one of their choice books from the display.  Boo chose "The Easter Egg" by Jan Brett. This is the same author (and beautiful illustrator) from "The Mitten" post last year. The story follows a young bunny, Hoppi, on his quest to decorate the best egg and be chosen to help the Easter bunny deliver goodies. He is discouraged by all of the lovely eggs the other bunnies are creating, and when a robin's egg falls from her nest, he is faced with a tricky decision. The...