Salad Days

Lots has been going on around the farm this spring and after the rain of the past few days it seems like things have sprouted up two inches at least! We have done so much in preparation of gardening this year and have already enjoyed three spring salads from out garden.



Life is sure getting good again.

This weekend Mom came up to stay with us and go to Grace's soccer game. Bryon and I headed to Fordland to the Small Animal Swap Meet on the hunt for mini lop bunnies and pigs. We were half successful. We got two of the sweetest little 5 week old bunnies and named them Cocoa and Bean. They are both GIRLS. Or so we've been told. Guess we'll know in about five months :)



Last week Bryon took his Dad out turkey hunting and Gary got a bird...



Then the next day Bryon got his...



They are both going tomorrow and can each kill one more bird in the next two weeks. I'd say they will.

Bryon's Dad, Gary, has been toiling away in his garden patch as well.



I put my humming bird feeders up on the new pole Bryon fixed for me April 1. So far we've only had TWO hummingbirds. I'm not sure what's up with that. For the past two years we've had around twenty. We didn't move the pole very far away and they just CAN NOT MISS IT, so I'm wondering what's going on. We haven't seen them "looking" for it or anything. Maybe they are just running late. I hope so.



I FINALLY have lilacs too! Small and meek though they are, my little bush is has survived three years of mowing now and had a few little blooms on it this year.

Mom and Dad had HUGE lilac bushes at the old home place when I was a
kid and remember picking those a lot. Grace and I found a huge long row of lilac bushes in someone's yard in Niangua while we were at an auction last weekend and we just buried our heads in those blossoms. Grace said they smelled so good she wanted to marry them. I told her I wanted to roll in them like a dog! I can't wait until ours are like that!





We still haven't found any feeder pigs to raise. The Hugglers are wanting to buy one again this year too. I was really hoping to find two yesterday at the swap meet so we could have them finished out and butchered before it got cold this fall because feeding pigs and keeping them watered in January was not much fun. I've called the feed stores, checked at the vet, asked some Amish and have the word out and about but so far no pigs. I did find some in Conway we could buy but they wanted $50 each for their fancy piglets. I was thinking more like $25.

Another dilemma I've been facing lately is what to do with my layers when my Buckeye chicks come. The smart thing to do would be to stew them up. Of course, NOW they are like my pets and follow me around the yard like a puppy. I can't stew them. They are still laying well 3-5 eggs a day despite being more than two years old now. Bryon had offered to build me another chicken yard adjacent to the yard I already have and we talked, cussed, discussed and debated all the pros and cons of that. It was going to be costly and hard work but he would have done it for me.



I sent the word out to all my farmy friends "Chickens, Free to Good Home" and finally found a home for them with a friend I work with at CBCO. I know she'll take good care of them and they won't be destined to the stew pot anytime soon.

They almost became a Ruger snack yesterday though.

Bryon had been gone with his Dad and when he left Ruger hadn't been out of his kennel yet. I let him out to run around as soon as they left. Four hours later, when they came back, Bryon let him back out. The only problem with that was that the CHICKENS were out on their yard rotation and Bryon hadn't seen them. Next thing I know we heard yelling and a big commotion and when I looked out the window chickens were running EVERYWHERE. Bryon finally caught Ruger before he could do any damage and back to the kennel he went. Ruger probably dreamed about how close he came all night.

I looked the chickens over good and they weren't any worse for wear but Bryon did say they headed straight to their hen house and stayed there.

Smart girls.

The Buckeye chicks are shipped May 24 and they'll be in the brooder and chicken tractor for 6-8 weeks before they are ready for the big house. So sometime around the end of June I'll send the girls on their way to their new home and clean out the house and yard again in preparation for the Buckeye's and the next adventure.

I hope to keep their line pure and let them breed and raise baby Buckeyes for sale. I think it will be cool raising a rare breed bird and something special I can do on the farm. My friend Lynsey has an incubator if they won't or can't remember how to do things themselves.

Guess we'll see what happens.

Life is good on the farm.