We haven't done much on the house lately. We have no contractors and are working on our own now so progress is slow. We're spending a lot of time outside these days with our critters so I'll start with an update on the farm livestock.
The grandkids like to feed our two remaining hens, Gertrude and Tia Maria.
They still give us two eggs a day so they deserve a blueberry every now and then!
Now we have to buy some eggs from the store but it's obvious which ones are from our free-range ladies! We miss all of the chickens running around so I've bought some more, both locally and from a hatchery.
We got some Golden Comets, Americaunas, Black Marans, Pekin Ducks, and Tolouse Goslings.
Some of the chickens are really different looking. This one is Hawkeye.
The baby ducks are cute.....
but the goslings are the cutest and friendliest birds we've had.
They are convinced that we are their parents and follow us everywhere.
The new birds and Jasmine are getting used to each other and seem to get along fine.
The grandkids came for Easter and photos with the birds.
We have done a little work on the house.
Tom finished making and painting all of the woodwork in my office and I finally moved in.
I love it!
He also made me a potting bench from scrap lumber left over from the deck.
Just in time for me to start hundreds of seedlings for the garden.
We planted 70 tomato, 30 eggplant, and 20 pepper plants - all heirloom plants that I raised from seeds.
We also planted potatoes and peas.
We'll have a smaller garden this year so we can get some work done on the house!
The first hay cutting was early this year.
The weather has been strange with a very early spring and straight into summer.
The guineas look for bugs in the fresh-cut hay.
We've rescued a couple of birds lately. A hummingbird who flew into the kitchen -
and a female Cardinal who slammed into the window.
Tom's brother and sister-in-law, Sonny and Gladys, visited us from Michigan.
We had a great time, but it's hard to believe they are both older than we are! We had a hard time keeping up with them.
Tom has been trying to clear off the slope that leads from the house to the pond.
He's just about gotten the weeds under control but we need a landscaping plan!
I've been enjoying working in my kitchen making pasta and bread -
delicious but not good for my diet!
The ducks and geese can't get in the pond until they lose their down and grow feathers so we bought them a wading pool. They really enjoyed it until they outgrew it.
The geese are still very mischievous and love to untie our shoes.
They have replaced their down with feathers now so we took them to the pond.
Nobody wanted to be the first one in!
They go down to the pond every day now on their own.
We like to take chairs down to the dam and watch them swimming.
Wild roses are blooming all over the farm.
It's been a really nice spring but we could use some rain!
