The Garden

We ordered seeds, plants and plant food in April. Picked out the plot, tilled it, fenced it waited until the last frost and then we planted it. Rab spent the better part of two days running soaker hose to every plant. The garden was coming along good. Things were growing, we had some snow peas. The girls were so excited. We go out and check on them the next day and they were GONE. Just gone. I was hoping the girls ate them but they didn't. As the days went by we notice plants being broken and nibbled on. Then one morning we went out and saw that the watermelon plant was gone. GONE. Along with the honeydew, some corn, the zucchini, patty pan and other things. How disappointing! The blonde child was crying. Its a lot of hard work to plant and care for a garden to have rabbits and squirrels steal you plants.

We've taking some measures to deter the rodents and we bought some more plants. Straight neck squash, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin and cherry tomato. The rabbits and squirrels haven't touched my tomato plants yet, I just wanted to add a cherry tomato. They haven't touched many green beans, too much corn and they seem to be leaving the onions alone. They took every sweet potato but have left the other potatoes alone. I had high hopes for this years garden, hopefully its not too late. Oh, the struggles of not being a farm girl.

Jen

Summer Break; Week One

Why not make a play dough snowman on your first day of summer  break?  

During our first week of summer we slept a little later, made homemade play dough and flubber, watched a little extra tv and stayed up late. I really have to fight the urge not to send them to bed at 8 O'clock. Sharp. I really want to but it's still daylight so I haven't. I am one of those moms that needs a little no kid time in the evenings just to chill out and relax. Maybe even an uninterrupted conversation with the husband.

My girls are twins and they seriously could not be more different. One is blond, the other brunette. One is right handed, the other left. One has straight hair, the other curly. And the list goes on but I'll spare you. We went to the library this week and they were able to pick out four books each. One picks out cutesy little books like What if You Give a Mouse a Cupcake and the other picks out books like The History of Time. Could not be more different!! I am just glad they like to go to the library and pick out books. Score.

We also got to do something really cool as a family. Like once in a lifetime kinda cool,  well for the average Joe anyway,  I don't want to talk about it now but I will soon and maybe one day you will be able to see it, if we make the final cut. Fingers crossed. :)

I am looking forward to more weeks of summer break. As of June 30th I will be free from one of my jobs so I will have lots more time to do things I want to do. I am planning some sewing projects with the girls, I want to paint my living room and totally revamp my office that is in shambles. And I have a freezer full of goat milk that wants to be turned into yogurt and cheese. I may not be a farm girl but I know my way around the kitchen so that should be fun. I'll tell you all about it.

Jen

A Hay Day

Monday we decided to pack a picnic lunch and go to one of our favorite places, Sapillo Creek Campgroup in the Gila Wilderness. It is gorgeous primitive campground. We were excited to go but we were having a hard time getting out the door. Tasks kept presenting themselves, but we we were finally on our way out when a truck/tractor pulls up in the yard, it was our order of hay.Perfect timing. They dump the 103 bails of hays in front of the pole barn, they couldn't get it under the barn because the load was too tall. Then off to the forest we went.

We live in the Chicuahuan desert and it is amazing that we have forests like this so close to us. It's not unusual for the rains to roll in about 3pm during the summer months. And we got there just in time for the rain. Oh, I'm not complaining but our mode of dress wasn't prepared for a wet 30* temperature difference. We survived it though. The girls explored and found tent stakes that we left in the ground, the dogs ran freely as we were the only ones in the whole entire place, Rab enjoyed a nice nap with Winston, his dog. Don't mind the Winston, he's just being a dog.

By the time we got home it was 10:30pm and too late to move hay. Rab worked the next day and didn't get home until 6:30 and there were storms threatening, so the race against mother nature began.

                                                             Thunder was rolling.

And Rab was stacking hay under the barn as quick as he could. The girls and I raked up what was on the ground and loaded the hay cribs, waste not, want not. Right? He got it all done and it never rained! Nope, not one drop. But the hay is moved, nothing like a storm to light the fire to get it done.


Jen

The Day She Threw the Cat

It was one of those days that you think will never end.

It started with milking baby, the goat. She is usually very calm when I milk her, she prefers me over Rab for sure, I think its cause I'm a women and she feels like I "get it", but I've never lactated, little does she know. Anyway, the last two days she has been not so calm. She has managed to get her head out of the head lock, she was jumping, almost bucking. She has horns so I was starting to worry that I was gonna get knocked in the noggin. I stopped. I got about two cups, usually we get between 2.5-3 cups. Her routine has been changed a little and that is probably the problem, goats like routine.

Then it was time to get ready for work. I got in the shower, started with my normal routine. This girl likes routine too. I began shaving my legs, the razor was so dull I couldn't finish and the new razors were out of reach so I did what any girl would do, I shaved one leg. One leg. Ok, maybe 3/4 of a leg. Maybe you wouldn't do that, maybe you would get out of the shower, get cold and drip water everywhere to get that new razor but that's not in my routine. 

Then I decided to sit down and look at Facebook for a minute. The first thing I saw was an article about something that triggered a reminder of something that I needed to do that was very important. I immediately put down my Ipad and went to get the letter that I needed to do what I needed to do. It wasn't were I left it, you know, on the corner of the kitchen table where everyone leaves their important papers. The hunt began. I looked and I looked and I no letter! It was nowhere to be found. I even looked through the kitchen trash. I need to find this! It was life or death, well just about. I was almost in a panic and praying for a miracle but it was time to call and end to the search and finish getting ready for work. I walked into my bedroom, almost in tears and just happened to look down and there it was on the floor next to Rab's nightstand. He "put" it away. I didn't get to take care of the task but just knowing that I can I can rest easy until I get to it. 

Off to work. I love my job. I provide training, support groups and put together family activities for foster and adoptive families. We provide therapeutic childcare and I needed to stop and get them snacks. In our little town you can run in and out of our little market very fast. But not on the day that they have the anniversary party complete with jumping balloons. It took forever to get out of there and the traffic in the parking lot was insane. I had two new employees coming for their first day of work and they got there before me! UGH Anyway, today I had a coworker come and give a training. Our trainings are 3 hours long. That sounds like a long time but the trainings are interesting so the time goes by fast.  Not today though! Oh, the training was great but my back hurt so badly! I was up and down the whole time. I couldn't take my pain killer until I got home and that would be a while because I had to go to the store but I had to go all the way home first to drop off the ducks. 

The ducks. Ducks that a friend hatched out in a incubator from eggs her ducks laid. Three cut little ducks two of them are non quackers, kinda cool. We got home and my dark haired child went to put them in the chicken tractor and set up water for them while me and the blonde child unloaded my work stuff from my truck. I go check on the dark haired child and she was almost done. I told her to close up the tractor and come in to wash her hands and I will have a glass of water for her because it was 100* outside. She got done, came in drank and we went to town. Get home with their food and a quick dinner for us and the ducks are gone. Just GONE! She didn't close the chicken tractor and didn't tell me that she wasn't able to. She is my dependable child. I rarely feel like I have to check her work, she does things right and well, I was disappointed in her and myself for not checking. The hunt began. We looked and looked and no ducks. They were nowhere to be found. I did not look through the kitchen trash. We need to find them. This is life and death. We never found them. And now I have to tell my friend. Not looking forward to that. 

While I was out looking for the ducks my dark haired child came out and said her sister threw the cat, it fell on the floor and slid on its belly. Then she picked it up again and threw it at her sister. Yes, AT her. Why? She was "having fun."

The dogs. I was out watering the trees and my dogs got out of the back yard through the gate that I left open. They BOLTED down the street. I am glad we live out of town where there is no traffic. 

Do you get why I couldn't wait for this day to be over?

 But as I sit here at 1:35 am unable to put this day to bed, I realize all the good that was in it. I got milk, found the paper, love my job, my dogs came home, the cat has 7 lives left. The only real bad was the poor poor baby ducks. See, I told you I'm not a farm girl. 

Jen

A few good exotics

It was a nice Saturday morning circa 2005. Calm, not much going on but some some butter on pancakes, good coffee and the Dandy Dime classified ads. Then it all changed with Ted's ad selling Emus. What's an Emu? Think ostrich but with three toes. A call and a sale was made. Then a trip an hour away to pick up three baby emu in a Ford Escort, coupe. Take a moment to picture it. A very handsome man driving the tiny car, his equally handsome 12 year old son in the passenger seat and three baby emu in the back seat. Now they weren't as little as you might think, they could look out the windows. That means people could see them. Imagine the older couple in their RV driving down the highway, "honey? Did that good looking man have birds in the back seat?" Then there was the US Border Patrol check point that they had to go through. That's a story to go home and tell the family. "Guess what this ruggedly handsome man had in his car today? No not drugs, some weird looking birds."

Oh my life. So, the emu joined the peacocks we got a few weeks earlier.  I can't say that I thought the Emu were cute. Emu are funny looking, but they have personality. One day a mini van pulls up to the house and the guy comes to the door and says, "I think your birds are in my yard." Say what! And yes they were. They liked to fly the coop or they often flew the coop? Whatever, they liked to escape, and they can run up to 50 miles per hour. I have some pretty great video footage in my head of that handsome man of mine that I call Rab and my son Nick chasing the emu through the property.  Eventually they would catch them by successfully throwing a piece of fabric over there head. The theory is they will go to sleep like a cockatoo, whatever works.

Just because I am at the feed store way too much does not make me a farm girl.

Jen=)

Egg yolks and a horse

There was that one night when we had some friends over for dinner and we were telling them all the exciting new chicken news and that included the double yolkers. The hens were laying lots of egg that had double yolks. I will have to admit even I got a little excited about it. On a whim I got the carton off eggs out of the fridge and cracked an egg to see if it was a double and it was! I cracked another one and it was too! I cracked six eggs and they were all double yolkers!  Can you believe that? If I wasn't there I wouldn't believe it either, but I was, so I do.  And I have witnesses.

The next morning I get a phone call from our "neighbor" she was a friend from church who rented our little house from us. (Its great when you can pick your neighbors!) It sits a few hundred yards from our main house. Anyway, she calls and says, "There is a horse on my porch!" "Say what?" She said, "Yes, there is a horse on my porch." I walked over there, not without being followed by the stalking rooster. This rooster would follow us anytime we walked in the yard and when we would stop and look back at him he would stop really quick and look around like, what? I'm not following you... Start walking again and we'd hear his little feet going behind us. It was the funniest thing! Once I got to here place we figured a way to secure the horse, who was kinda spooked and called my husband. Later on a guy pulls up in the driveway. It was a neighbor down the road, it was his horse. He was riding the green broke horse and the horse got spooked and it threw him off. It took him a while to come looking for the horse because he was at the ER with a broken arm. He did not want the horse back and after a short chat with my husband we became the proud and not so proud, owners of a horse AND three goats! Why not. UGH. 

Huey the horse was sweet, we wanted to avoid broken arms so we never rode him but I did like to go and hang out with him a little and pet his head and bring him little treats. I became the treat lady to Huey, anytime I was outside he would "Nay" at me. I think when he saw me he saw a giant carrot. That's ok though, it was our thing. The goats were named Goat-e-o, Nellie and Nanny. Nanny? Real original, right? They were cute but just because I think so that does not make me a farm girl.

Jen=)

Not a Farm Girl

“Let’s get chickens,” he said...that was just the beginning. We had just moved to our new house on 5 acres, and my husband couldn’t order those chickens fast enough! I love our house. I love our view of the mountains, the sunken living room and that our neighbors are more that a stones throw away. But chickens? Really? I tried to fight the idea and even snapped at my husband saying, “I’ll never be a farm girl!” And have repeated it many times since. I am a Jersey girl not a farm girl! But, the call came in on that Monday morning that a box of baby chicks were waiting to be picked up at the post office. Ok, so they were cute, maybe this won’t be so bad after all, I thought. Fast forward two days. Two days of them being in a box in my laundry room because it was too cold for them to be outside. Oh yeah, they were still cute but even the cutest fluffiest chicks couldn’t make up for the smell of their poop! 

The chicks grew up to be roosters and hens. The hens started to do what hens do, lay eggs. I had a hard time with that, not that they laid eggs but that I was supposed to eat them. I just couldn’t bring myself to eat something that came out of something that grew up in my yard. Yuck. I prefer my eggs to come pre washed in a styrofoam container. What’s wrong with that? But the eggs kept coming. I had to do something with them. It took some time but I gradually started baking with them and I noticed that I didn’t die. That was good. After about a year of not dying after eating baked goods, I ate an egg. A plain ole egg. An egg that was not pre washed and sold a styrofoam container. And I lived to tell about it, but that does not make me a farm girl!

Jen=)