What Are We Doing Now?

 

80-pound bags of concrete

4x4 posts

and snow flurries?

We are first fencing in the raised beds so the dogs can't dig in them and second so the yahoos won't be able to pick any vegetables until we are ready to let them harvest the crops.

Murph and Jeremy had it down to a science with a post-hole digger and a spud bar.

Thanks, team, couldn't do a lot of things without you and this is just one of those things.

What A Great Way To Celebrate Earth Day

 

Today on Earth Day we took our one and an only field trip to God's Little Acre Farm just down the street from the Preschool.  We walked!  Along the way, we look for flowers and flags.  We talked about how we should safely walk on the side of the street.  We tried to imagine what we would see once we made it to the farm.  We read numbers on mailboxes.  We were a busy bunch.

We crossed creeks.

And we listened well.  This is Farmer Leah.

We met and got to feed the three BIG Kunekune pigs a wheelbarrow full of bread scarps.  One was named Oliver.

We even got to pet them.

Michelle is the beekeeper.  She was lighting the smoker even though her bees are very nice.  She wanted us to have the full experience.

The first thing she showed us was how she checked the condition of her bees.

Thank you Christa for the veils...AKA bee hats in my little brain.

I was SOOOOO proud that everyone kept their cool while bees were flying all around and landing on our jackets and veils.

This is sugar that the bees eat during the winter since there are no flowers to collect nectar from during the cold months.

wooden frames inside the hive

Michelle was checking to see how many drones she had and if we could see inside any of the cells for the larva.

Connor was fascinated with the hive.

And we couldn't leave without taste testing some honey and bread that Leah make from scratch.  I mean literally scratch...grinding her own wheat and making flour.

I'm not convinced by the look on Asher's face what he thought about the honey.

Louie gave it a thumbs up.

Ava even was brave enough to take a no thank you bite.

Adi already loves honey.

Connor was nice enough to share with his mom.

Some silly chicken keeps laying eggs in a nest that is under the deck and on top of the hay bales.  Silly girl.

We also got to collect eggs from the chicken coop.

What a great time we had!

I am just saying that this is the BEST 

field trip I have been on in years and years.  And I can tell you that I have been on lots of field trips with preschoolers.  The yahoos were awesome!  They followed the rules from start to finish.  I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE PROUD!

Thank you so much Michelle and Leah for a great experience for all of us.  And thank you Christa and Maggie for going with us and making sure we were safe walkers.  Thank you Betsy for staying with Mark and helping with the little ones.  It takes a village, right?

Working In The Garden and Murph Is BACK!

 

My little buddy and I got to work out in the yard today between the raindrops.

This dirt pile is going to be the death of me!  Seems it is never-ending.  But today I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I used lots and lots of buckets of it when I transplanted the garlic.

The yahoos filled this one using plastic shovels, plastic wheelbarrows, shopping carts, and their hands.

We haven't decided what veggies and flowers will go where just yet.  First, we need to get the fence up so the dogs can't dig everything up and the yahoos can't get to the veggies to pick them.

Strawberries are looking great!

Murph's back.  Seems like forever since he has been in the backyard!   So glad to see him back.  This man loves to garden!  He is the main fence guy.  He measures, looks, figures, measures again, and then decides what we need.

While Pappy looks on.  He wishes things were different because it is killing him not to be able to get into there and do things.

We have a plan!  It is on paper so we have a plan.

Placing the posts for the fence.  Murph marked them and Jeremy is going to dig them.

I came in for a second and turned around and looked outside and the sky was amazing.

And then it was gone.  I cleaned up all the bags of leaves and put them down as mulch.

It is going to be great.  Baby steps I keep telling myself.  There is so much to do and I just want to tackle it head-on and bulldoze my way through.  I must learn to be patient.