Winter Mode

It has been a few months since my last post...and to be honest, I don't feel so bad about it.

The ladies on the garden.

A lot of life has happened since that last post, the garden has been cleaned up and the chickens are now working their magic for the upcoming season. Honestly, the chickens LOVE the garden! There is so much for them to do...there are all sorts of treats to be had in there.

Ms. Fiona 

Fiona is quite possibly pregnant. It has been a while since we last witnessed Rex hassling Fiona, so she might be with bacon bits. So for the past couple of weeks I've gone out to the pig pen to observe the two of them and really study Fiona. It's hard to say, kinda like the first time she was pregnant - I just stood there looking at her and wondering until all of a sudden there she was putting herself in an impossible situation. So the answer for now is a strong possibly.

Seed catalogs are slowly trickling in the mail...oh how I love a seed catalog! I have received catalogs from Seed Savers Exchange, Baker Creek, Territorial, Johnny's and a couple of others. My favorite is Seed Savers...love everything about that company! Check them out!! I want to love Baker Creek, but the seeds just didn't work for me for some reason. They do have a really nice Whole Seed Catalog that I purchased last year, I don't think I'll be getting it this year. Johnny's is great for garden tools and cover crop seeds. Territorial is local (Cottage Grove, OR) and I would LOVE to visit their store. That would be quite a trip though, just far enough away to not be a day trip. It would be more of an overnight trip. Overnight trips are out of the question right now - we need a farm sitter.

And I'm starting to do a few more indoor activities. Last week I broke in the new kitchen work table and baked some cookies. Last night I watched a quick tutorial on crocheting and learned how to do a single crochet properly. This coming weekend I'll be baking something and sewing.

the addition of this table makes the rest of the kitchen look really bad!

So yeah, I'm settled into winter mode alright.

As I look back on last year's gardening effort, I feel pretty accomplished at all that went well (beans squash and tomatoes) Then I think of what did not go well (onions). As I start planning for the next garden I am thinking about doing more - nothing new there. However doing more requires more time, and I don't have more time. This year I will learn time management!

I'm also thinking about how I need to replace some of the laying hens as they are starting to really slow down with their egg laying. The original girls are nearly two and a half years old and even though they are still laying, it's not nearly as much. In fact, we had to suspend our egg sales to our few friends due to the girls starting to get broody or just not laying much.

We have already got some chicks back in September, Sicilian Buttercups...

These little girls are so cute!

Also, there is an opportunity to gain a few young hens from one of my co-workers who lives not far from us. He and his wife have quite a flock of chickens and they have experienced some loss due to a predator and he is thinking of downsizing. This will be a good thing even if we have to pay a little bit of cash-ola for them. He said that they haven't started laying yet, so this would be perfect! We'll see though...nothing is for sure.

This winter I'm going to try to rest up for all of the activities that I have on my agenda for the spring and summer. Lots of things are on the list already - Freedom Rangers will be on the farm again in March, new hens, need to build another chicken tractor...chicken harvest in June. Hopefully there will be a puppy in May. All that AND getting seeds started for the garden and possibly for sale.

AND there needs to be time for....

POKEMON!