Fruits of our labor...

This weekend the 4 middle kids completed a major project. We have had a big stack of logs sitting in the backyard for 3 years. Each year we'd cut up a few more logs and get them split for our winter supply. This year was declared "the year to finish the pile". (We needed to move it to make room for the new goat barn) I forgot to get a before picture, but here are the after pictures...actually, the after is cleaner than this since they hauled all the pieces of bark off to the "fort" by the river and the big logs have been moved to our new log stacking location. We have more logs to be moved to the 'stacking location' but that's for another day. We're all very happy to see this neatly stacked pile of wood ready for next winter.

The gourds are cleaned and ready for the next step in the crafting process. The fleece above them is a batch I washed up this week. I received four free fleeces via the local "freecycle" website. Today I spent the afternoon carding fleece. Hopefully, I'll get some spinning time in this week. At the very top is a stack of Wayne's grapevine wreaths made from grapevine he and the kids harvested on our property.

Tuesday the alpaca are supposed to be shorn. We're praying for dry weather...we don't have the indoor space to do the shearing and wet alpace shearing is NOT good. We're all a bit nervous about our first shearing day...stay tuned for a blog detailing the experience.

Brothers and bubbles

Friday Matt and the two youngest took advantage of some beautiful sunny weather. They broke out the bubble solution and the big bubble wand. They made some great bubbles...and memories...Matthew patiently helped them as they struggled to make bubbles like his. Jonathan actually had some success. Ian just loved being a part of it. Matthew brought out a smaller bubble wand later which was more Ian's speed.

We had a very productive weekend...the perimeter fence of the 'permanent' alpaca field is up. Matt and Nathanial worked hard getting that done while the other kids helped get firewood split and stacked. Yes, we're already dealing with next winter's firewood! Actually, the wood needed to be moved before we could move onto the next project...moving the chicken house away from the garden and over to the area where the new goat barn is going to be. We're trying to condense all the outbuildings and enlarge the vegetable garden.

I have peas planted and we've started several different types of seeds indoors. The tomatoes are off to a good start. Lowes donated a flat of cabbage plants to area churches...not many people from our church took plants so we brought home the leftovers...if all of them survive, everyone we know may be getting sauerkraut for Christmas!!

Everyone into the pool!

It was a beautiful sunny spring day today with temps at 70. The humans on the farm donned short sleeve shirts and left the jackets inside, but the animals didn't have that luxery. Matt felt bad for the heavily coated alpacas and brought out their pool and the hose. As soon as he started the water "the boys" were there. As you can see, they plunge right in and enjoy the cool water...I think they'd appreciate a bigger pool, but for now they'll have to be content with what they have.

This afternoon I "skirted" some wool that Mary had given me last fall from her southdown babydoll sheep. It washed up beautifully and is drying on our warm side porch. I'm thinking of trying some solar dying with that wool since it's such a nice white and should dye nicely.

Arthur provided some more angora for our collection. I'm trying to decide "who" to blend the angora with. I'm thinking probably "Mystifier" since I have a bag full of his fleece washed and ready to card. If tomorrow is as nice as today, I plan on taking my carder outside and process lots of fleece.

So many projects...so little time.

If you give a boy a tree...

He must climb it! The other day Katelyn and Jonathan were using this ladder from a former swingset/playground to 'rescue kittens' as they played firemen in the backyard. They would put the ladder on the benches of the picnic table which served as the firetruck. Then they would get an 'emergency call' and haul the ladder to whatever the 'kitten' was caught in (the swingset, the trees, the trampoline, etc.) Katelyn made sure that Jonathan didn't get up into the tree by telling him that they needed to get the 'kitten' down instead of going up into the tree. Today Jonathan decided that it was time to get up into that tree. And if Jonathan does it, then of course, Ian does, too!

Enjoying the sunshine

Today was a beautiful spring day. We could hear the peepers in the wetlands across the road and the grass is starting to green up a bit.

The alpacas had a chance to enjoy the salad bar in the field...they enjoyed munching for quite awhile and weren't very eager to return to their regular pen.

Here's Rachael and Nathanial having a turn holding on to the leads while the alpacas grazed. The other day Wayne and the 3 youngest marked the new fenceline that we'll be putting in soon. We hope to make this fenceline more permanent with separate paddocks to rotate them in throughout the summer.

Here are the kids having fun on the trampoline. Matt is pretending to be a spider catching the flies (his pesky siblings).

Joys of having little boys...

The other night Ian came to me and said, "Here, Mama. I made a picture of you." Unfortunately, he drew his first picture of me on the magnadoodle so I had to take a picture with the digital camera. I'm not sure what the circle in the middle is...hmmm. When I asked Ian, he looked highly insulted. "It's a circle, Mama." Later when commenting to Nathanial that I had no waist. He reassured me with, "Well, Mom, look at it this way...Your body isn't any wider than your head!"

Later Rachael was doing "little brother duty" and was playing a computer game with them on her lap. After things got very quiet in the study, she opened the door and rolled into the family room and asked for a little assistance. Thankfully, the chair had wheels...otherwise she might have been stuck in there all night.