Well, Spring... We Meet Again.

Here at Three Oaks Farm we are all glad that winter is finally over. For us, it's been a very freezing and rainy winter. The lower field turned into wetlands with crawdads and everything. And since the farm covers a hill and valley, we had a ton of runoff. But the worst was the mud. The soil here is very heavy clay and holds water like you wouldn't believe. Once I was in my truck and trying to get out of the driveway and ended up sliding down the hill sideways. The truck also got stuck in the mud at one point and we just had to leave it there for a day or two till the ground dried up. There was a bad couple of days in February where I was worried we'd loose a few guineas to the the cold, but they all soldiered through it and are fine now. The worst days, when we had icy snow, the ducks just flat out refused to leave their coop. But lucky for us, we only had a few of these really tough days and they were nothing like what people further north had to deal with.

Now that it's spring, all the birds on the farm are happy and filling up on new grasses, weeds and bugs. It's also the first spring for all of them (except for the few guineas and one chicken who are the ones we inheriated from the previous owners) and now they are all adults and ready to mate. Except the chickens. They have no rooster and don't seem to care in the least. Which is good, because I am NOT getting a rooster. I've got enough male aggression from the drakes. I don't need one more little dude running around giving everyone a hard time.

The guineas compete for mates by chasing and racing each other. It's fun to watch and you'd be surprised how fast they can go. They do pair up as friends and mates and that lasts most of their lives. Some are a pair and then there are a few small groups that hang out together. It's been fascinating to watch them develop over the year that I've had them.

The ducks... well, the problem with the ducks is that I have three drakes and one lerpy duck, Penelope. She's bigger than the boys and would not pass muster if I put her in best of breed county fair competition. But she holds her own against the guys and they don't all gang up on her at once. Usually the smallest drake- Kevin- will try to mate with her and then while he's trying to do that, Peter will try jumping on him and then Sasha will occasionally join in which will make Kevin stop and then it just turns into a lot of quacking and nipping and chasing. I don't think they actually accomplish anything. If I fill the wading pool up, it becomes a very disturbing and violent duck orgy. And because I am a weirdo, here's a video: (the sound in the background is one of the chickens making some sort of complaint)

The new version aquaponics greenhouse is almost fully complete. Aaron worked very hard on it and I think it looks great. We will have two different growing methods. The first is the same as we had before- floats with the plants growing in baskets. The second is what I keep referring to as 'clay balls'. It's a lightweight medium that is great for growing bigger things like tomatoes and eggplants. I can't wait to start putting seedlings in the system. But before I can, we need to test the system, get the fish, test the system again and THEN I can put plants in it. Here are a few photos:

The clay balls arrived on a pallet.

Aaron unwrapping the clay ball bags.

Each bag of clay balls had to be rinsed. Which led to me making a lot of off-color jokes about Aaron spending the day washing his balls. Hehe, it still amuses me... Anyway, he devised a quick and easy system to do this. He drilled a ton of small holes in a 5 gallon bucket, poured the balls in, hosed them off and dumped them in the lined grow bed that he had constructed. 

Here is Aaron putting the liner in grow bed for the clay balls. 

Just for the record, I did actually ask if I could help but he said he was fine.

The grow bed with all the clay balls in it. At the far end you can see a white thing sticking up out of the medium. That's the bell siphon. Aaron is super proud of that. 

This is the grow bed that will be filled with water and have floats on it. You can see the floats stacked up on the other grow bed in the background. 

I was actually helping with this liner installation. I just wanted to get a photo for the blog.

This is the fish shed. Aaron gutted it and constructed a whole new tank for the fish and created two digesters, which are these gray trash cans that he has tricked out with pipes and stuff.

A top view of the fish tank.

A cool moth on the side of the greenhouse. 

The tomato seedlings are started! Thanks to our cousin Renee of Renee's Garden for generously sending us a great selection of seeds.

So that's the news for the greenhouse and the birds. The last news is that I have a refurbished studio! It took about two months, but I have actual insulation now and a real bathroom and doors to my bedroom and bathroom too! It's very exciting. When I used to tell people that I lived in a glorified cabin, I should have really said barn. Because that's what this place is- an extension of the barn. But now, with these improvements, I won't have to deal with mice in my kitchen or rats in the walls. Actually, the workers found a few snake skins, some dead squirrels, lots and lots of mice and rats too- IN MY WALLS. The horror!

And, as usual, I'll end with a few photos from around the farm:

Wiley and Atticus keeping me company while I paint my new bathroom.

I wasn't joking about the mud.

The ladies now roam free and are so happy about it.

They still like a good dust bath back in the coop though.

The bulbs I forgot about and had to plant late in pots and stick in the fridge. They are growing and in just a few days they are even bigger than what you see in this photo.

Lucy giving me a lick.

The Himalayan came out of hibernation.... still without a name...

Aaron pondering things.

The tree outside Aaron's place has started to flower.

On one of the first warm days, the dogs had a race from the back barn to my place. Happy and tired!