Livestock and Garden Report: Round 2~ let's just call this week 1

it's been a flurry of spring activity around here. the wonderfully warm weather this week has allowed us to be outside getting lots of our time-sensitive projects done. (as a matter of fact, the Things To Be Done As Soon As Possible List is nearly done! the only things remaining on that daunting list are find some turkey and duck eggs to hatch and start the strawberry beds. Dave is building the brooder box tomorrow.)

Dave plowed and disced the lower garden yesterday, so hopefully by Monday we'll be planting potatoes and maybe onions as well. I've been having trouble tracking down blue potatoes, but i haven't given up yet!

already in the upper garden i have red and white onions planted, as well as 1 row of beets. in a few weeks I'll plant more beets. I'm going to try to be more organized about succession planting this year. it's so easy to start off like gangbusters after the winter's hibernation, but harder still to manage everything efficiently for the long haul. we did hang up a black board in the mud room, and i have all my garden notes and reminders on that. i plan on also having a large calendar to write dates of plantings and projected harvests.




this week Dave and G finished the 2nd pig tractor, and none too soon! 4 pigs slamming around in one small space is very crowded. not to mention messy. and muddy. we've been getting plenty of slops from the local restaurant that is the favorite hangout of the gas workers, so that's why we decided to get 2 more pigs.


i didn't take any pictures of the pigs. i guess we've been raising pigs so long now that i figure if you've seen one pig, you've pretty much seen them all! red. hairy. smelly. curly tail. big. sound familiar yet?




the big push this week was hauling the dirt from our farmer friend, Jay. G and Dave built 12 raised beds, and we filled them all with a combination of our bottom land soil, the dirt from the cow pasture and vermiculite. if you've seen or read the book Square Foot Gardening, you'll have an idea of the general direction we're headed.





the best part of hauling the dirt was borrowing the farm truck from our other farmer friend, Doug. G got a kick out of the truck, too, and could be observed on more than one occasion with a big grin on his face as he drove it around to unload dirt.



oi vey! the stories i could tell! suffice it to say that it was a driving experience that will give me some colorful stories to tell my grandchildren someday~ the highlights of which would include wearing a garbage bag skirt to keep me dry while driving the truck in the rain. and the absolutely best part: using a fire hose to fill a gas tank that would prefer an eyedropper. the gas guys standing in line for their lunch time hoagie won't soon forget that.






the high tunnel is doing well, and has some lettuce and spinach ready to harvest. the cold frames are full, too, and hopefully we'll have continuous harvests of lettuce, spinach and radishes until the hot weather.

G and i finished raking the vermiculite into all the raised beds, and i have 4 beds planted with peas and carrots. i can honestly say that even after only one day of gardening in raised beds, I'm a huge fan! the dirt is wonderful, it's easy to pick out stones and plant the seeds, and since the beds are so small it does not feel overwhelming. (like the long rows in the lower garden often do)

we're doing a buffet of gardening techniques this year: raised beds, square foot gardening, traditional garden, small scale farming and wide rows. we're still experimenting to find the best combination of what works well for us, and what will help us to be both productive on a large scale and efficient.

we have 25 buff orpington eggs in the incubator, and they are all due to start hatching out the evening of April 21. this clutch is just a trial run, since we've never used this incubator before. (i can vouch for the convenience of the automatic turner, however, and can't imagine remembering to turn the eggs 2-3 times a day!) i plan on filling all 42 slots in the incubator to hatch out my new laying flock later this spring.

on Wednesday our first batch of 100 Cornish cross roosters are due to arrive, via the United States Postal Service.

so if we think we're busy now, just wait until then!

p.s. ~ i finally finished the post about the drywalling in the girls' room. so if you've been anxiously awaiting news about that project, be sure to read the previous post!

the girls' room is coming right along, too. sort-of...

I've been so busy doing other stuff, that i never got around to putting the words to go with the pictures of drywalling the girls' room. and to top it off, i forgot my bloggy password again!

really, now that i look at these pictures again, I'm thinking there probably aren't any profound or clever words and phrases to go with them.

so lets just go with the obvious, shall we?

getting started.


lots of super helpful guys... helping.


many sheets of drywall hung.


much progress. dust in the air.




corner chimneys are a pain to drywall around, and of course take forever...




finally got it!

hanging drywall on the ceiling. a drywall lifter has got to be one of the world's best inventions. with the exception of the printing press and penicillin, of course.

all done except for the curves in the ceiling. that (and the mudding and painting) will probably wait until the garden is in, and before the weeds go crazy and/or stuff is ready to be harvested.

of course, it's a HUGE improvement (*she says in an understated monotone*) and I'm so thankful for the guys that freely gave their time to help us out.

March: Jesus in our heart and home

this monochromatic clay nativity hails all the way from Mexico! my great uncle Eddie brought it back with him who knows when, and eventually my great aunts Mary and Olive passed it along to me.

this is my only nativity scene that has a chicken represented at the birth, and i can honestly say that this is one of my favorite nativities.

of course, with Easter just around the corner, most people are thinking of the completion of the Christmas story- Jesus dying for our sins, and rising from the dead.

however, A and B are still (almost daily) acting out the Christmas story. complete with head covering, baby Jesus and swaddling cloths, their little hearts are tender towards the baby Jesus who had no place to stay.

next week is holy week, and using the Resurrection Eggs, I'll begin the familiarize them with the rest of the story.

now that the potential isn't quite so deeply buried...

we've started our rush of spring work, so it seems as if i haven't' had time to post these pictures. today is rainy and cool, and although I'm trying to get some sample quilts ready for the BF, i thought that I'd post these few pictures of the boy's room for you...

you can see the economy firring strips that we used to even out the walls, and make uniform nailers to hang the drywall on. we just used OSB, and cut that into 4" strips. although it's certainly more work at the beginning to prep the walls, in the end it saves tons of time.


with an old house, nothing is even, straight or level. and forget about 16" centers!



with the drywall lift, the ceiling practically drywalled itself!



and with a crew of 6 experienced drywallers, the bedroom went nearly as fast!




G really enjoyed working with the guys. and the days off from (academic) school.

you can see in the top of this picture,and the next couple pictures as well, that there is a spot on the wall/ceiling that is not drywalled.

originally, the 3 upstairs room were all one room, and it was used as a ball room. (oh, if only the walls could talk...)



that portion of the ceiling, all across the 3 rooms (boy's room, sitting room and girl's room) is curved. although Dave has been pondering the technique of drywalling the curve for several months now, the first couple ideas did not work. he'll work on plan C when he has time.

here is N and G's room as it looked when the drywallers were done. and as a matter of fact, it still looks like that today, several weeks later.

G assures me that he is planning on spackling this room for us.

I'm counting on his help, and looking forward to having just one more room in our house *done*!

be sure and stop back tomorrow and see the progress on the girls room!

because i want playing in the dirt to be as much fun as possible...

it's hard to believe, but this long, cold winter finally seems to be drawing to an end. and with the arrival of DST, we can enjoy the longer days in all our sleep deprived glory!

as usual, we feel as if we're running just a tad bit behind here, but now that we're "almost" over the hump of "finishing" the schoolroom and putting the house back to "normal", I've been concentrating my efforts outside.

*working in the high tunnel

*planting the cold frames with lettuce, spinach and radishes

*supervising the building of our raised beds

*hauling manure hither and yon

of course, the girls are eager and very willing to help. A is 3½ this year, and B is 2. both girls, but especially B, are too young to understand the concept of walking between the garden rows.

as opposed to smashing every delicate plant and seed in sight.

*ahem*

we were working in the high tunnel this afternoon, planting more lettuce, spinach and radishes, as well as beans and peas, and i had an idea. what if i clearly marked the rows where the girls could walk?

i took a roll of orange surveyor's tape and laid it down between the rows in the high tunnel, lining the rows where the girls could safely walk.


this simple idea greatly reduced the frustration level, and enables the girls to be in there working with me- whether planting, picking rocks, weeding, harvesting or watering.


happy little gardeners works for me!

just like mama!

can it be? is it really true? could spring be almost here?

A and i discovered these crocus's (crocusii?) in the flower bed yesterday.

we also noticed that the daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are waking up from their long (and cold!) winter's sleep.

better yet- the weather today was warm enough that both girls got on their boots and played with their boats in the duck puddle.

the ducks didn't seem to mind too much, and of course, both girls had lots of fun.

what are the early signs of spring where you live?

filled up, pressed down and running over...

the crew of drywallers is getting ready to leave, and they hung far more drywall than we even dared to imagine in our wildest dreams!

this is the upstairs landing/hallway area.

it's nearly done.

we never even considered that this area was going to be worked on this week, so to have it nearly done is a wonderful bonus!

still more pictures to come later, and i want to tell you about the group of guys that donated their time to help us.

in which the blogger fervently talks herself out of hyperventilating...

remember when i told you that it's going to get worse before it gets better?

it's worse.

much worse.

the mess, dust, tools, hungry men, bits of drywall (and sick people) is seemingly endless.

i'm not complaining. just stating the facts.

today's menu: chili, cornbread and upside down pineapple cake for dessert.

pictures later.

in which the blogger takes a deep breath, and can be heard muttering quietly to herself...

it's going to get worse before it gets better...

it's going to get worse before it gets better...

we've had a crew of drywallers here this week, and of course along with the tremendous progress we're making on covering the naked studs in our house, there is also a huge mess to contend with. it's a loosing battle, of course (the mess) but at this point I'm still delusional enough to think that i can contain it!

the school room

some of the guys were here before 8AM!

they got right to work on the schoolroom ceiling, and were done by 10:30!





there are not many seams in this room, with the majority of them being the factory edges, as opposed to butt seams. hopefully that will make the taping and spackling of this job go faster. all the rooms downstairs are holding the contents of this room: living room, master bedroom, hallway, and laundry room.




the sooner this room is done, the sooner we can have a clean house again! but here, B is doing her part. both girls did quite a bit of vacuuming today~ we like to start them young in their delusion!

the sitting room

the sitting room is actually the middle room upstairs. to the left of this room is G and N's room; to the right will be the girls' (A & B's) room

with all the guys helping, and the drywall lift to boot, this ceiling went up very quickly. they hope to work on the curves tomorrow.

there was also another crew in the girls' room, and they made quite a bit of progress, too. i hope to show that to you tomorrow.

this is how the room looked at the end of the day. it's mostly done. with all the spring work that we have to do, the sitting room is likely to stay this way until the fall. but no complaints from me- it's a far sight better than it was just this morning.

in traditional country fashion, we fed our work crew. today we had BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn, applesauce and chocolate cake (PB icing) for dessert. tomorrow will be ham, potato and corn soup, cherry jello, home made buns and apple pie for dessert.

at least they won't go away hungry