...so, we're still growing...

So we are still trying to be "farmers"...and honestly, I feel like we are doing a great job!- Jason has been the main "farmer" with a little help from the boys and I...

Blueberries actually blooming!

Corn, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins...

                                                 Peppers, spicy peppers, onions, and broccoli...

So, as far as the CHICKENS go...they're ready for us. We might have waited to long (?) to get a coop and now anything off the web is wanting to charge us an arm-and-a-leg! Jason still heads into the Farm & Home store to see if they have any in, but secretly I believe he just likes going to the Farm & Home store...I feel like maybe the chickens might be a project to tackle when the temps get a little cooler...also because I love Fall and anything that gets me out during that time I will have no problem with...Happy Summer!

...the waiting game...

So, we think we are ready...We've planted most of what we were wanting and now it's the waiting game. We are needing to get some sort of fence installed as the hubs as decided each and every rabbit "is going to die a slow and painful death!"(I imagine this being said in an Elmer Fudd voice, makes it less menacing).

True, the rabbits have taken most of our cauliflower and a chuck of our broccoli...the bandits are also followed by blackbirds who currently are enjoying our pepper plants...I did spy some MUTANT RABBIT with one eye- not at all kidding, the thing had one good eye and a red puss oozing socket on the other side of his head- lingering around out there...

So, as summer starts, so do our dreams of "backyard farming" and the rabbits better be sleeping with one eye open, 'cause the hubs is looking into getting a pellet gun! One-eyed-rabbits might just be out of luck!


....and we are STILL WAITING for our chicken coop!

Garden planted, yeah we'll see.

It's easy right, dig a hole and throw in some seeds, come back in a few days and lets eat.  If only things were that simple.  Don't get me wrong...I know dick about gardening, animals or much else for that matter.  I'll be the first to admit it, but I'm not that much of a fool.  This whole project is not some tree hugging save the planet mission or the sky is falling so hoard your food thing.  It's more to do with my (and Kate's) own personal quest for knowledge and trying to teach a little something to our boy's at the same time. 

There is a method/madness to all living things.  Tomatoes don't need the same things as onions, beans are different than cucumbers.  I don't know what they all need to thrive, but I'm going to try and figure it out.  A wise man might do things on a small scale and ramp up from there.  If you know me though, that's not my game.  I'm an all or nothing type Kat.  So here we go!

(side note: if you want a good workout.  Step 1.  Find a tiller.  Step 2.  Don't know how to use a tiller.  Step 3.  Use said tiller on dry, never cultivated soil with lots of rocks.  I got your PX90 right here buddy.)


We've got a load of stuff planted, not a ton of one thing, but enough to learn what each will need.  Some of the things are easy.  Herbs and tomatoes, which we have done before.  Other things like pumpkins, blueberries and cauliflower I have not the slightest idea about.  And then others that just seem to have show up on their own like the berries in the ally (still don't know what kind they are raspberries or blackberries).  But is all about the every pressing quest for knowledge.  If you don't learn something each day, you're either to stupid to care about or not trying, just that simple.  So off we go baby!!!

Progress, thy name is a TILLER!

So, about a week later, we have started out adventure! Jason borrowed a tiller and set to work on the back 40...Saturday, Jason and the kids cleared out the "garage". I put it in quotes because no HUMAN has used it for years...a neighborhood opossum, maybe. Jason also cleared out weeds around out wild raspberry patch in the back. Know nothing about them, but we are ready to learn!

Unfortunately, we are going to have to till some more tomorrow. We bought too many starts and didn't get them all in before the rain started. Might need to get a rabbit fence(?), I have fears of waking up and all our starts will be gone. A little more tilling and phase one of the "Ranch" is done...next up CHICKEN COOP!!! Enjoy the photos!

Nora getting the herb planters ready...

Jason tilling to his heart's content!

Abe with the blueberry bush!!

...this is for you Jerry Baker!!!

...alternative plans...

So, as predicted (and actually occurred) it rained today, so we moved what we could do inside and made some starters for pumpkins, corn, beans, carrots and pickle cucumbers...The boys helped and we realized that we could have used about two more of the starter kits, but were in no mood to head out to the farm and home store again today. Hopefully they will get a good start indoors for the next few days...



Chopsticks come in handy...

here's hoping...

We also discovered that there are wild raspberries growing about 20 yards outside of our fence, so we thought we would try our hand at a couple of blueberry bushes...jam/pies anyone? We also bought plants for:

-a couple of different kinds of tomatoes

-a couple of different kinds of bell peppers

-a couple of different kinds jalapenos

-broccoli

-cauliflower

-zucchini

-onions

...and we put a hold on a chicken coop...Believe it or not it is the first year that our farm & home store has had them, and they cannot keep them in stock, selling out before they even get them it...very interesting.

So, for now, this is how we are shaping up, and hopefully this weekend it will dry up so we can get things in the ground...still had a productive day!

...tomorrow is another day...

Well, here we sit, waiting for a nice day to start planting...I know, we might be behind the eight ball, but we are just beginners. I don't know how long I will be able to use that excuse. We are heading out tomorrow, to hopefully take "before" pictures, finalize what we want to "start" and get in the dirt and get, well dirty.

Our main goal is to teach our kids something; a little bit about responsibility, horticulture (you know, growing things) pets with a purpose and where food really comes from, while we like the employees at HyVee, their just the middle men...

My hubs has started to get a certain gleam in his eye. He gets excited when starting a new project, never turns away from a challenge and reassures me when I have a quandary that he "has it covered...". Nice to know my husband knows all my underlying OCD ways, when uncontrolled they can be frightening!

I am really interested in all that we will be able to do with what we grow/raise. I find the stories my mother tells fascinating about how she grew up on a farm...what they canned, what they raised, and how my grandmother would only go to the store and have one grocery bag full of sugar, flour, and maybe chocolate chips- MIND-BOGGLING!...trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but I am excited to get started and jump into the deep end!


Hoping we look better than this a year from now...