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.

Spring has sprung!

One of the best things about warmer weather is the kids can get outside without all the extra layers of clothing and burn off some of the excess energy. Last summer we got a trampoline at a yard sale and the kids have far exceeded getting our money's worth from this piece of equipment.

Ian found his sister's ladybug hat and had to wear that outside the other day...along with her jacket (because his was covered in mud from falling earlier in the day). He was quite a fashion statement!

Since it was sunny yesterday we did a lot of outdoor work. The boys moved some compost onto my herb garden since the chickens had been doing a very good job of uncovering my tulip bulbs. Jonathan got right into the task...with both hands!

Wayne and I have been studying our garden plans and getting things ready to start seedlings. We're also planning for our "poultry crop". The boys plan on raising some pastured poultry (chickens and maybe a few turkey) and add to our laying hen population. Marc is getting lots of requests for the delicious eggs from his flock. If we are to have any eggs for our use, we definitely need to increase the flock.

The next big project will be preparing for those 2 legged babies before they arrive at the farm.

It's been a lon-n-ng winter...

Last fall I posted a picture of part of our gourd crop--freshly picked. It's been a long winter for them to cure and here's the "dried" version...

They don't look very pleasant, but they have dried nicely and some warm day in the next few weeks, we'll wash them and get the molds off. Matt and I are looking at potential projects to make with our crop of gourds...we'll let you see the finished products.

Wayne and 3 of the kids went for a walk down to the river this afternoon. Washed up on the bank was a dried "swan neck gourd". Rachael recovered it and brought it home to add to our collection.

We've ordered several different types of gourd seeds for this year's crop. We hope to harvest some luffa.

Thankfully, the kids have been fairly healthy throughout the winter, but now we're dealing with a nasty cold. Nathanial came down with it first and now 4 of the others have it. Ian is so cuddly when he's sick..."I hold my mommy" is his favorite activity. We knew he was really feeling rough when he asked to do his least favorite activity..."take a bath please". As I type this he is in my lap showing me the picture of Ian and Mommy...he's perked up a bit from that bath. :0)