My baby cousin Lily in her carseat. She's a good baby and very smart- along with being insanely adorable. We were on our way to lunch and then the beach.
At lunch someone ordered a glass of wine and it ended up at our table. I thought it was funny that it looked like Lily was reaching for the wine. (We removed it right after this shot. I think she would have knocked it over if we hadn't)
The beautiful beach!
A sunset from my Grandma Faye's house. My camera doesn't do it justice.
My Grandma Faye and me at Rocco's Tacos in Florida.
Grandma Faye, me and Uncle Steve. Mehri took this photo but I can't seem to find the one we took with her in it.
Self portrait on Grandma Faye's front balcony. I look pretty happy and relaxed I think!
I was sad to leave Florida so soon after arriving, but I was very happy to get back to the farm and get my hands in the dirt. Wiley and Atticus were very excited to see me and that's always heartening. It was a great reunion with the dogs. There was a lot of jumping, panting, wiggling and twirling… and that was just me!
I realized, while I was away, that I hadn't updated the blog in some time and that you all are a bit in the dark as far as how the seeds are developing. So here is a series of photos that shows how they have grown:
Here we are on March 3rd, the day of the planting. I was sick, so Aaron helped me.
March 10th: Coastal Star Green Romaine Lettuce. Though at this stage all the seedlings look almost identical.
Most of the seeds sprouted by March 10th except for the two cherry tomato seed groups.
March 15th: Coastal Star Green Romaine Lettuce in the front and Nancy Green Butterhead Lettuce in the back. You can see the Sugar Snap Peas in the back on the right in this photo. Those were just racing ahead of all the others!
March 16th: Sugar Snap Peas in the back and Spaghetti Squash in the foreground.
March 21st: The day I got back from Florida I found that the Sugar Snap Peas are about to start needing a trellis and the tomatoes (in the foreground here) have decided to pop up finally.
March 21st: Close up shot of the Sugar Snap Peas.
March 10th: Mystery heirloom corn. I found a baggie of rainbow colored corn seeds in the freezer of the farmhouse when we first moved in. So when I was sowing the seeds for the aquaponics system, I thought, "Why not see what happens if I plant some of this corn?" So I did. And it grew!
March 16th: Happy corn just popping up! In the background of this shot you can see the Moneyplant seeds I sowed on March 10th coming up.
March 21st: I cam back to the corn getting really ready to be moved outdoors!
A second shot of the corn on March 21st.
An old pic from around the end of 2012 of the first batch of spaghetti squash.
Same plants on March 16th. They are supposed to be droopy like that. They are a vine-like plant that likes to creep along the ground. Soon I'll have to transplant these outside.
So that is the update for the seeds! I'm very excited and I can't wait to put them in the system. Speaking of the aquaponic system, the test fish are in the tank and they are thriving nicely. Tomorrow we will get the rest of the fish. We are starting with goldfish and will move onto koi once we feel really confidant about keeping the fish alive and healthy. So far everything is progressing along nicely!
As far as the rest of the farm is going, we are doing our best to keep up with general chores as well as the aquaponics chores. My daily routine has expanded quite a bit now that the weather is consistently pretty warm. In case you are curious, my days are usually as follows:
Get up at 6:30 AM, let Wanda and Amelia out of their coop, give the cats a bit of kibble, (feeding barn cats doesn't stop them from killing pests- it just ensures they are getting a balanced and consistent diet), feeding Wanda and Amelia and refreshing everyone's water bowls, walking up the hill to feed the other chickens, checking for eggs, bringing any eggs back down the hill and cleaning them. THEN I feed Wiley, do my exercises, make my coffee and eggs, and read the news online. After that it's outdoor chores till lunch and more of the same after lunch.
What I call outdoor chores are a whole range of things: working on cleaning out The Pit of Time, weeding, trimming trees and bushes, raking leaves that didn't get raked in the fall, cleaning up branches that have fallen during strong storms, watering my bulbs, mucking out the chicken coop… stuff like that. It's exhausting work to be sure and I have to watch myself so I don't re-injure my back, but I love it.
Speaking of The Pit of Time, I was working on it this morning and found a creepy doll's head:
This is just a sample of how disgusting The Pit can be.
Close up of the doll head…. soooooo creepy!
The cats are all doing well, though since I've been back I haven't yet seen Chairman Meow. He can be elusive sometimes… much like his namesake. Carl is doing a lot better and looks super healthy! Atticus seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day and has zero concept of how big or strong he is. Wanda and Amelia are doing really well and happily roam all over the property together. They love it when I garden and are excellent as assistant diggers and tillers.
Here are a few recent photos from around the farm:
This morning's sunrise. My iPhone doesn't do it justice- it was so much prettier in person.
Aaron contemplating something.
Atticus and Hilda. She's so camouflaged that you really have to look very close to see her. She's right in the center of the photo.
Carl after his FIV diagnosis.
The ground cover we have all over the place have purple flowers and it's a beautiful carpet of purple and green.
Wiley on my wild stained glass style flower carpet.
Morning cuddling with Wiley.
Atticus in the kitchen of the main house.
Atticus resting on my leg in the kitchen. I like to sit on the floor with him while Aaron cooks.
Carl likes to sit on the porch table and peek at me through my kitchen window while I do the dishes.
Wiley and Wanda eye each other on my front porch.
Carl and Lucy try to share a bed on the table on my front porch.
The hill outside my back porch. The structure on the left is the pool deck and the barn in the background is ours.
Wiley and Atticus got into the back field this afternoon and Wiley was covered in burrs. Wiley had cornered Hilda and Atticus (as always) was just along for the fun of it.
There is a trough for the goats and donkeys that used to live on the property that has rainwater in it. Atticus is now tall enough to easily drink out of it, as you can see. Wiley is not.
I took him inside for some intense grooming and cool, clean water. He's now napping on the floor after his super big fun time adventure.
Hilda is furious and I'm sure she's somewhere plotting her revenge...
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