Summer Summer Summertime

We've had a great, eventful first summer living out here on the farm!  

We got our driveway paved the middle of July, which is awesome.  

I cut back to working just on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in July, so I now have time to get more work done on the farm.  

I've been planting some plants, bulbs, and grass and am planning an orchard which is scheduled to be installed this fall.  We would like to grow peaches, plums, pears, apples, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and hops, and tend to a hive of bees to help pollinate everything.  

I'm attending a small farm business training class this week to become more knowledgeable about running a farm business.  

Jason and I have both been selling eggs at work, which is fun :)

I'm also incubating some eggs that are due to hatch next week on 8/23.  I got 10 Serama eggs from ebay and we've got 12 eggs from our chickens in the incubator with them.  Seramas are really small chickens that lay really tiny eggs.  I can't wait to see how tiny the baby chicks will be when they hatch!

Here's the pics from the last couple of months:

Ezra helped to dry and pack the eggs with us one Sunday

We moved the goats back into the overgrown field after Jason finished putting up a permanent fence around it.

Moving the goats' shelter to the back field

Pebbles and Bam Bam enjoying some spinach and egg yolks

The goats with their shelter in the back field

The rheas hanging out in the run

Sunflowers look like they are close to blooming off our front porch

Mama Lou licking Mae

We went to the beach for a week and came back to an over-abundance of eggs, none of which we could use since they had been out in the heat for up to 7 days.  Such a shame.  We boiled as many as we could to feed to the rheas, and we used the rest for target practice on the magnolia tree in our backyard lol

Mae playing with a lizard in the garage

Sunflowers are a-blooming!

So pretty!

Blackberries growing through the run area at the "house coop".

Yummy!

Poor Earl was injured - found him in the field when we got back from the beach.

Mae and Lou found themselves on Llama Lover Ln, or rather Dolly found them :)

We put Earl up in his cage and he did fine for a few days, but ultimately ended up dying from his injuries.  RIP Earl.  He was an awesome bunny and I hope we can raise another in the future when we can provide better protection from predators.

The wildflower seeds we planted in March are blooming like crazy!

Beautiful dawn

The "ticky tacky coop" chickens all fly up to the top of the coop at bedtime

We found some huge squash in the garden when we got home from vacation!

BBB - Big beautiful Blue the roo

Dot says hi :)

Bam Bam and a hen

Bam Bam and the juveniles

Rheas and Mama Llama at dusk.

Eating some dinner

Llama boy

Dang caterpillars tore up our tomato plants!

Nope, they're not dead - they are just doing some sunbathing

More rhea feasting

Pebbles pecking around with the chickens

Mae climbed the tree in our frontyard

Ezra keeping the chickens away from the rheas' food

Pebbles with the hens again

Poor Bam Bam got puny over the course of a week and ended up dying.  I think he probably ate some rocks and his GI system got blocked.  I tried treating for coccidia and giving vitamins and probiotics, to no avail.

Huge squash

The scraper arrived to pave our driveway!

What's up! says the chicken

Our zoysia plugs seem to be surviving - eventually we will have a lawn full of grass...

Pretty Mae

Lou had her litter of kittens (5 of them this time!) on 7/15.

Pebbles was lonely without Bam Bam :(

Check out that fancy driveway!!

Ezra hand-feeding Pebbles

A dang predator got one of our chickens.  Grrrr.  It also got Pebbles the rhea a couple of days later.  I really enjoyed getting to experience the rheas - maybe we will try to raise them again next year, or maybe we will try something different.  Who knows.

Ezra - the chicken feeding master

And envy of the llamas

Norman got some of that huge squash and some tomatoes as a treat

Lou's cute little kitties - 2 of them have tails (Lulu and Willis are in this pic).  The other 3 don't have tails at all.  This is Gray in the middle with no tail.

Rented an excavator to take care of some digging around the farm

Had the porches sealed when we went to the beach on vacation - they look so nice now, especially with the hanging flower baskets!

Jason coached my dad while he did some stump digging with the excavator

More digging

Mae drinking water from the fountain

Everybody flocks to the gate at feeding time

Mom helping to feed the llamas with Ezra

Jason dug us out a pretty big hole at the edge of the backyard - when we get a tractor with a frontloader, we'll have this big pile of dirt to be able to distribute around the farm.

Ezra got to take a ride on the excavator with Jason to the end of the driveway

Mama and Brutus grazing with the chickens

Lou's adorable kittens

This is June - she has a bummed leg and no tail.  I think she'll learn to walk just fine eventually, but right now she drags it around and looks really gimpy

Planted some plants in the laundry room window