Sweet things! These baby bunnies are the cutest. We still have three that are surviving. We lost yet another litter but this time the mother (or father) ate their own. It's morbid and sad but that's what happens in a defective, fallen world. Life is a precious thing. We should treasure it more.

One way to get the chores done when there's a toddler around is to give him the one that is the most fun! Since Samuel (3 yo) is my early riser, he gets to help this morning. 

I don't know how many there are yet, but we have bunny babies! The last litter didn't make it. We are hoping these little guys grow up happy and healthy so they can fill our freezer :)

And we can't have chores without an occasional catastrophe. Thankfully the boys are getting bigger and the emotional breakdowns are getting shorter. 

It's time the boys learned the chores so I took them with me today to hear instructions and watch what I do. They don't hesitate at all to jump in and help no matter the chore.

What? We don't pick the green ones? 

Samuel does a great job feeding chickens. He just dumps the feed in one big pile and stands over it.

William likes to make sure everything is the way it should be. I don't ever have to worry about closing doors behind myself. That's his job. 

Double trouble.

And we have two chicks!! This broody hen is doing what she do. Don't get close to "her" babies! 

Chicks are a comin'!!  But don't get too close!

Home Sweet Home

I think there is a difficulty in taking someone else's home and making it your own.  It takes a while.  It takes a LOT of changes.  I think things are finally starting to feel at home here on the farm.  It doesn't hurt to have lush green yard, huge shade trees, a front porch swing, and plenty of space for kiddos to run and play.  We get to spend a decent amount of time playing in what seems a completely separate space from the rest of the farm.   It won't be long though and the boys will be spending just as much time working in the back of the property as they do playing in the front of it.  Right now, we will let them enjoy their water toys while daddy does most of the work.

Since we are always discovering new things on the property.  Today we found some beautiful blooms on the trees around the back deck.  Want to identify these for me?

Joshua has loved growing Swiss chard every year.  He just picked some from this and is currently cooking it in bacon grease.

We have several peppers growing but these were the prettiest so they get featured ha!  Don't ask me what they are.

My experience with eggplant hasn't been great so far.  This year we are giving it another shot though so I will let you know how it turns out.  They grow beautifully, but I have never cooked them in a way that I've enjoyed eating them.

I love pretty things growing where our vegetables do but I am sure they serve another purpose than just being pleasing to the eye or Joshua would've never put them in his garden.

I love, love, love squash casserole.  It may be my favorite veggie casserole so I am SO excited about squash plants.  We would have quite a bit more if it weren't for chickens getting into the garden and destroying many of them.  Farm life probs.

I am about to eat myself sick on plums.  This is my favorite tree.  We have several of them but this one produces the biggest plums and reminds me of my parent's house growing up.  It takes a lot of self control not to eat them from the tree before they ripen.  Even the green ones are yum!

We have several blueberry bushes on the property but I guess Joshua felt we needed one more.  I mean how are we ever going to have a "you pick" farm if we only have several blueberry bushes?

Joshua has been working hard to clear out the creek and make a swimming hole for the boys.

The creek has been low but that doesn't bother this momma.  I like being able to see the snakes when then slither up to us.

I am not sure what's going to happen with this old gazebo yet.  Right now it's a great spot for the dog and chickens to retreat to from the sun.  It would be fun to rebuild it and make it yet another place to spend time with people.  That will be a while.  I guess the animals can have it until then.

The very first thing we did when we bought the old house on Red Hollow was buy some chickens.  It's been worth it.  Farm fresh eggs every day is the best!  It's not necessarily cheaper after buying the chickens and supplementing their diet with healthy feed, but we don't do it for that reason (although it would be a bonus).  I love knowing what I'm eating and from where it came. Today, I went outside to walk around with Joshua and take pictures.  I ate a yellow grape tomato from the garden and a few plums from our trees.  Being able to grow our own food and put it on the table is an incredible blessing.  It takes a little work but Joshua is doing all of that until we can get the boys to do more help than harm out there.

Meet our broody hen!  She started sitting on eggs a few weeks ago so we got her some fertilized ones!  We are going on day twenty one so we should have some chicks hatching any day!

The front porch.  Where most of the magic happens.  Or at least where little boys like to sit where they're not supposed to sit and climb up walls they aren't supposed to climb.  I'm sure I have many more years of that happening.  I mean Gabriel is only three months old.

Garden Update!

 This past week, Joshua has been working on the pool/garden area! After sheet mulching, growing his seedlings, and fixing up the fence to keep out the chickens, he has now planted the seedlings in the garden! Here is a picture of the finished product! 

 He planted flowers, herbs, and veggies. Hopefully we will be able to post pictures of larger plants in the future! 

 The Deans

Not-So-Secret Garden!

 Just a small update for this post! This past week, Joshua has been working hard to get the garden's brand new fence set up! He hasn't completely finished yet, but it's definitely starting to look like a great fence! 

 From inside the garden area. 

 An opening into the garden area.

 He should be finished up with it soon! Those pictures will hopefully be in better weather! ;)

 The Deans

 

R.I.P Plum Trees, Hello Plum Blossoms!

Good news and bad news today! Our plum trees have finally started growing plums! We got our bees at just the right time for this (we got them a week before the blossoms started growing), and they have done a really good job pollinating the blossoms! So good that we now have thousands of little plums on our trees! 

 One of the trees

 

 One of the little plum groups!

Hopefully we'll be able to go outside and just pick plums straight off the tree this summer! 

 With every piece of good news there occasionally is a piece of bad. Two of the plum trees we had died. One of the plum trees died from Black Knot Fungus and we don't know how the other died. The one that died from Black Knot Fungus had to be pruned down to the base because it had been overcome by the fungus. 

 

 The mystery-death-tree 

 Poor little tree stump. We are hoping it grows back next summer! 

 Update:

 We are finally beginning to tell with the not-so-chicks-anymore whether or not they are a rooster or a hen! These little guys are getting big fast! 

 

 That's it for today! Can't wait to see what God turns this land into! 

 The Deans

Fun in the Sun!

We had a great day playing in warm weather and the cool creek! Here are pictures of the great day! 

 Baby Will holding a bouquet of flowers that Erin picked. 

 

 The boys playing in the creek. 

 Sam Dean says "Cheese!" 

 

 Can you find Baby Will? :) 

 After a beautiful day of playing and splashing in the mud, we praise the Lord for blessing us with a beautiful farm! 

— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8 ESV)

Updates

Here are some updated pictures of the farm and animals.

 We have the younger chickens out with the older now! 

 (Top: Before , Bottom: Today)

 The chickens have done their job in fertilizing the yard! The grass is amazing!

(  Top: Before , Bottom: Today)

 Patches has his own car port all to himself :) 

( Top: Before , Bottom: Today)

 The walk to the back of the propert is a whole lot prettier in the spring time! 

( Top: Before , Bottom: Today)

 The gazebo hasn't changed much, but it's still pretty to look at :)

 (Left: Before, Right: Today )

 The trees by the pool area are growing some leaves (it makes the pool area nicer too )

(  Top: Before , Bottom: Today)

( Top Two: Before , Bottom: Today )

 The Bees :)

 We got some more bunnies!

 And Joshua used the mulch we received and completed his sheet mulching! 

 That's all that's going on around the farm! We can't wait to show you guys the next update!