April 19th 09' Nesting Boxes- in conjunction with Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Nest Watch program

April 23 2009

Wee Friends (Young Preschoolers and Toddler Group) 4-15-09

Enjoying unstructured time in the woods.

"Squelch, Squerching" through the mud.

Seeing the difference between a turkey egg, a duck egg, and a chicken egg.

Bringing our scraps to feed the chickens and pigs.

A lovely peacock!

Wee Friends (Preschool Kids) 4-9-09

Watching Charlotte milk Ruby the cow.

Checking the birdhouses we built to see if there are any nests.

Climbing trees!

Helping to shovel manure for the garden.

Holding the chickens.

April 11th 2009. Turning Up the Heat Prairie Burning!

Robin stays upwind

Rob and Adam trying not to breathe the smoke

Will and son Noah helping with the burn on their 4-wheeler. Greg in the background wearing burn gear

Lynn and Gene confer about the sprayer

Happy gardeners Deb, Rose, Jenny, and Annie

Deb, Cat and Mike

Chasing birds out of garden

Anthony preparing wire for the garden fence

Saturday April 18th Farm Day

The Newest additions to the farm are these Tamworth piglets. There are 5 in all and handsome looking as they can be. 

 

This is the absolute newest garden plot. With a good deal of help we got it fenced and chicken proofed ready for planting as soon as we can get it tilled. 

Here's a picture of the week old burned Prairie. Charlotte and Company burned a whole lot of Prairie and what a sight that was! Charlotte says it was  one of the more spectacular ones she has had. 

Everyone needs a good salad box after all. We are not taking any chances with the speculation of frost...yet this week.

Brocolli planted last week seems to be doing quite nicely. 

White Pickett Fence Garden already has peas galore and brocolli. Onions are next in line here and should be in by today, thanks Deb. Lettuce and spinach seedbeds were put up last week too on the northern end. The chickens cannot help themselves to the salad greens since there is chicken wire all around. Last fall we tilled and covered the whole garden with manure and leaves so by Spring it was ready for planting with no need to till. What genius! We are saving time and energy.

Potatoes planted in the Red Barn Garden. Four long rows. We had corn planted here last year and some unidentifiable vegetables overrun by weeds. This time we are preemptively taking on the weeds by leaving enough walkspace inbetween the rows to fit the tiller and ease weeding.