Rainy season

I guess it has begun. Rainy season that is. We have had 2 1/4 inches in the last few days. Today is cloudy, cool and sprinkles of rain. I think we are to have a couple nice days and then back to the rain again. I wear my mud boots everywhere now. I was out on the deck this morning sanding boards for our kitchen floor. This project will take some time. We are using old boards and of course they are all different widths. LaVern has to rip them to make them all fit but I am excited about getting it started. We will do half of the kitchen and then put 3 coats of finish on the boards. Then move the furniture and do the other part. Once the floor is done we will just have the trim to make and put up. The shutters will come later.
Oh, I forgot. LaVern has a center island and harvest table to make also! Poor guy. His work is never done! But he enjoys the woodworking part so I guess it all works out.
I have some new wheels but will share that with you later when I get a picture!!
Take joy....take peace.

Ice house

We are getting milk from an Amish neighbor now. When I picked it up it was ice cold and I wondered how they were doing that. He milks 14 cows and a milk truck comes by and picks up the milk so I knew they had to be holding it cold somehow. The next trip to their house he showed us his ice house. A good size building and when I opened the door it was packed solid with huge blocks of ice. He had a man come and spray insulation on the inside. The ice was cut from ponds and hauled in. He said that ice would hold until through September!! It sounds like several of the men get together and they cut ice and fill all of their ice houses at the same time. LaVern asked him what a block would weigh and he said about 100 pounds. Pretty amazing stuff. Working together accomplishes a great deal. We should all do more of it.

Town girl to country girl

You know you have crossed over from a city girl to a farm girl when:

1) You start to carry a pocket knife every where you go
2) You get excited about "getting out" and going to a sheep and goat auction
3) Shopping for a buggy is just like buying a car
4) The price of eggs in the store just doesn't matter any more
5) You know NOT to swat the buck goat with your cap
6) You know that white rocks are chickens to be eaten, not named
7) You can mend a fence as easily and fast as mending a shirt
8) Dressing up means a clean pair of jeans and ballcap
9) You are on a first name basis at the feed store instead of the women's dress shop
10) You've traded in the Born leather slip ons for muck boots
11) Your vocabulary includes words like free range, muskovie, ennoble, self sustainable, molting
12) You know the true meaning of "going green"
13) Lawn fertilizer doesn't necessary come in a bag

eei,eei,oh

LaVern and Carolyn had a farm.

Eeei, Eeei, Oh.

With a quack, quack here

Baa, Baa there,

Woof, woof here,

Cluck, cluck there,

Peep, peep here,

Mmbleat, mmbleat (the goat sounds wierd, what can I say)

EEEEEEEEEIIII, eeeiiiiii, Ohhhhh

Let's not forget LaVern's new wheels!! We are farmin now!

Red hens and LOTS of eggs

Charlotte and Marlin, I hope you are reading this as our 20 red hens thank you for power washing the hen nesters and feeders! When I bought those I honestly thought one of the nesters would end up in my house and I was going to pot herbs in the feeders. Ha! Who would have guessed they would end back up in a hen house.

LaVern saw an ad in a shopper for one year old laying hens for $3.00 each. You pay that for a baby chick. No phone number but I was sure the name was Amish. So the next morning we loaded crates and headed into Missouri. Sure enough an Amish homestead. (good thing LaVern googled the address or we would have never found it). We thought they were probably all sold. Wrong. He had 200 hens to sell! We took 20. They are wonderful hens. Very calm. We can walk up and pick them up and they follow us around. We are free ranging them so they are out in the grove digging and scratching and cleaning the place up. We hope they are eating the ticks.

Are they layers? Oh my, yes. And they did not quit laying because of the stress of moving. First day 18 eggs, next day 16 and so far 16 again this morning. ha ha ha Nice large brown eggs. I took two dozen up to our neighbors and am going to buy an angel food cake pan. I'm thankful LaVern likes eggs sandwiches and deviled eggs! We bought extra hens thinking that because we are free ranging them we might lose some but time will tell.

Future blogs: Hou Hou Hercules, white rocks and electric net fencing. Going to another Amish auction this Thursday. 8 horses, two buggies and porta huts listed. Take joy.