I am so happy to report that we are down by almost half of our to do cards since the first of the year!

We have been hustling the last month, since about 30 cards have been done in the last 30 days… the weather is finally cooperating with us and we’ve had a lot more productive days then non-productive days!

Yesterday and today, we really kicked butt… got the pasture done and it’s been 48 hours of safe grazing and no escapees!! YAH!!! We got a ton of little projects done, like finishing touches on the new coop, and build the turkey brooder and laid out the old carpeting in the carpet as weed block for the pathways and filled up another straw bale bed partially, and stuff like that. Got the sheep happily and safely in their new big barn so everyone has shelter from the rain and the cold. (The sheep shack was a little crowded with the addition of Gideon and his BIG HORNS…)

We did a bunch of other things too… hung the big barn gate properly and cleaned up the mud room and screen porch… why do those places end up cluttered and messy ALL THE TIME? I think I know, it’s sort of our farm central headquarters… so everything ends up there at some point. Eventually, I think as we start to finish up a lot of the hanging projects, it will get better… but it seems like every couple days we have to go in and whip those areas back in shape!

We traded some chickens for a whole bunch of lovely hostas and other beautiful perennials for the courtyard! How cool is that? They are out in pots in the nice rain tonight but I’d like to dig them in sooner than later so that they can get over the shock of being divided and all.

On other farm news… Gideon is a dad again! Back at his old home, one of his lovely ewe ladies just gave birth to two sweeeeeet little lambs and they are so adorable looking! Little calico babies with dark panda eyes!!! I’ll have pictures real soon. Two more of his “wives” are in labor at the moment! I just can not wait for our crop of lambs next year! So far most of his ladies have been throwing twins!!! How awesome is that? We have 5 ewes here… ten baby lambs would be amazing!!! Haha… of course, that is sort of like counting your chickens before they hatch and all that… we’ll just have to wait and see.

AND…. we have surrogate chick babies hatching right now! One of our homesteading clan friends, Elizabeth, had a broody hen, but she lives in the city, and has no roosters. Well, Miss Lucy, the hen, would not give up. She kept stealing all the eggs her flockmates laid and was just being a difficult girl. So, we gave them 6 of Bucka Roo’s fertilized eggs! And that was the charm… Miss Lucy has been setting her eggs now for over 20 days and the first one, a little Marans chick was successfully hatched and watched on video and FaceBook by lots of fans! A famous little hatching for sure and we had a part in it. There are 5 more we are waiting on… Depending on how many hatch, they will be keeping a few I’m sure but we might have a few come back to us! We’ll see how it goes.

Well, it just feels so good to be getting stuff done and feeling content on it all. Cash is a little tight but that’s okay, we’re making do and we’re trying to be as resourceful as possible. Like tomorrow, we are going to a neighboring town to get some FREE landscaping rocks! I saw the ad on Craigslist and was so pleased to find it’s only a few miles away. I can certainly lug a few rocks to the car if they are free! I’m sure they will look fantastic in our courtyard and in our rock garden!

And bartering… love that! Can’t wait to see some of the new plants growing and dressing up our rather plain courtyard! I have to put up a little chickenwire on the back of the courtyard fence… the hens have been doing a number on my flower beds where we have been putting bunny litter all winter in. I know those beds are full of good worms and such because the chickens LOVE to mess around in them. Going to plant those bartered plants all around and probably get a few more each week to really make it nice. Then dress it all up with a little bit of mulch and such. Should look lovely in a few weeks!

72 cards left. One a day and we’re looking at about 2 months. I could live with that. Considering that 30 are cards that I’d really like to get done soon and the others are more longer, complicated projects… I think I’ll try for 2 cards a day. And that way, even if we only get one, we’ll be ahead of the game a wee bit. Got a few good indoor cards that involve sewing… I might get my sewing machine out and work for a few hours in the morning… we are due to have storms tomorrow and Monday, here and there. After getting soaked today and working hard, I am beat! I could use a nice Sunday doing some indoor domestic things. I would love to do a little baking… hmmmm….. I think there are a few cookies that want to get cooked….

Hope you all are feeling the sting of heavy spring labor and loving it!!!! I know I have been sleeping good at night… just plain tuckered out and full of good fresh air and hard work!