Block Beds

Our friend Steve Shoemaker has been experimenting with soilless raised bed gardening (his neighbor got him started) and we decided to try our hand at it too. There is a guy named Les Pense in Strafford who started it all http://www.ruralmissouri.org/05pages/05MayGarden.html I'm excited to see what we can do with it. Of course that's if we can keep the wildlife out of it. You put pipes down every so often in the open holes of the blocks and then take pvc pipe and bend it over to form a half hoop which you can then use to cover the garden with plastic to make a hothouse or netting to keep out the birds and critters. Bryon's going to electrify our other two little beds (strawberries and corn hopefully). I've got spring fever bad now! My zucchini is coming up in my starts in the house but my yellow squash and spaghetti squash is doing NOTHING! I dug out the seeds tonight (I had let Grace plant them) and I think they were all upside down. One had one little sprig creeping out of it. Now that they are upside right maybe they'll sprout. Who knew? Probably everyone but me right? Some farmer I am :)

Right before my eyes!

The chicks are growing so incredibly fast! Almost as fast as my zucchini plants! They are already almost all feathered out on their wings and their tail and back feathers are starting to come in too. Every morning I go out there they are bigger and have more feathers. It's nuts! They have almost outgrown the box and they are just 11 days old. We were going to put them in the rabbit hutch in the garage but the guys dragged it in it had termites all in the legs of it. It got drug back out pretty fast.

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep

Chicks are Here!

Well the chicks made it through the first 24 hours and seem pretty chipper so far. They are just so sweet! Grace had to hold each one of course and really wants to hold them constantly but of course we can't do that :) The little black ones are the Silver Wyandottes and the lightest ones are the Buff Orpingtons but beyond that we are just guessing. I cleaned the box out tonight for the first time (a new daily chore for a while). Of course I just realized I have one more thing to clean up poop after now! Doh!

Good thing they are cute :)

Bad Bunnies

So we bought three more strawberry plants to plant in our little patch and I go out this afternoon to plant them and guess what? THEY ARE GONE! All that was left was a few naked stalks! I was SO MAD! I gathered up the materials and Bryon helped me fence them in. I defy those damn bunnies to get in now. I'm pretty sure this bunny in the picture was one of the culprits. He looks pretty well fed. I think we are going to have to cage in our entire garden. Last year we had lots of awesome green tomatoes that were just about to turn red and the next day...gone. Like they had never even existed. Pretty much we just garden for the wildlife now that we don't have a dog. We've been run amuck with squirrels and rabbits and Bryon even caught a bobcat on his trail cam. Welcome to nature.

Easter Morning

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Originally uploaded by trlrover

The Easter Bunny almost missed Grace this year because at 3 am when he came to deliver her goodies, she was in bed in the next room with Nana! Lucky for her, he knew she was probably close by! She got Peeps, Nerds, a chocolate bunny and a rubber stamp kit she had been eyeing at Wal-Mart. She was pretty pleased. She ate the chocolate bunny all at once (yep, she's my daughter!). Mom thought it would make her sick but she's got the Lisa Rice Medley chocolate gut and you really can't get too much chocolate :)

The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling!

The chicks are coming on Monday! I'm so excited. I have everything ready for them. I ended up getting 10 chicks and I got regular sized chickens. We had talked about getting bantams but they only sold them straight run and I didn't want 8 roosters! I ordered pullets (hen chicks) and hopefully that's what we'll get. It's going to really look like a farm out there when those chickens get to go out to their house. It will take about 6 weeks before they can start staying in the chicken house. We have half of their chicken yard finished and hopefully can complete it this weekend. I got two each of Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Red Sexlink Sussex) and Silver Laced Wyandottes. They are all on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) Conservation Priority List as threatened heirloom species. ( http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#chickens ). I didn't even know this list existed until my friend Liz gave me some books and magazines yesterday just before I ordered.

It's an exciting time on the Medley Farm!

Big Top, Big Ride

Children of all ages...

We went to the circus last night at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield. I hadn't been since I was 5 and went with our Kindergarten class. Bryon thinks he went once when he was 4. It was a pretty cool three ring circus and I thought the elephants were the best part. Grace got to ride one which was just pretty neat. She was right in front of the basket and it's ears kept flapping against her leg. She got to pet it's head too. Of course Grace is all about the food and spent most of her time eating and looking at her snow cone drink.

We went to Incredible Pizza afterwards and she really liked that. I played skeeball while Grace and Bryon rode the gocarts and my machine malfunctioned and gave me 115 free tickets! So we got the second from the least cheesy prizes before we left. A good time was had by all.

A Girl and Her Tutu

A lady at work gave Mom this little dance tutu for Grace. Grace loved it until she tried it on and you'll see what happened.