Enjoying the day

I had a nice day Saturday. I had to go do some running around and look for a birthday present for one of my grand daughters. I had all day.

I went to the farmer's market first to pick up some bushes a friend was holding for me. An oak leaf hydrangea, 2 old fashioned lilacs and a flowering quince. He also had a pot of peppermint. I am trying to get bushes and flowers and herbs all over the yard and gardens for the honey bees. I also bought a pot of thyme and some home made apple cider vinegar from another vendor. And 2 red hollyhocks from another. Then I spotted a booth with egg cartons. The sign said $3.50 a dozen. I ran over there and got one. Can't beat that price. While I was there, I got to meet and talk to several of the farmers. This is the market I'll be going back to in a few weeks. There are also some of them that will be joining me at the Main St. market as new vendors.

Then went to a thrift store right up from the market and found a bunch of baskets for my soaps. I thought I'd try to make gift baskets for Mother's day gifts at the MSM when I start going. And they were all 20% off!

I decided to go to Toys-R-Us and look around to see if I could find something there for Kansas. I used to work there when my first grand daughter was a baby. I worked there for her basically. I really hated working there though. I was always SO noisy and crowded. Screaming kids all day. So I was not really looking forward to going. But I went. And I walked the whole store. Slowly. And found a few things for her. It was really not so bad.

I then went to Whole Foods for some things there. And walked all over the whole store and really looked at everything. Every time I go there, I am always in a hurry so I rush through and just get what I went for. This time, I walked slowly and sampled every single cheese that was out. They were all so good. I got some too. And even sampled some gelato. I got the cucumber melon. It was wonderful.

Went back to Ace Hardware to take a can of spray paint back to exchange. And wandered around the flower garden section. Got some good ideas for my deck. Look at this display. I love it. It's pallets.  I have got to get some and use them as rails all around and at the back like this.  It is just too cool. This is my friend Beth who works there part time. I always get my flowers there because there are people who just work in the flowers. Helping people, watering all the time. The plants looks so good because of these ladies.

I really had a good time out and about. It seems like I am always in a hurry any more. I can't do this or that because I have to be here or there. Like right now. I am always driving way too fast. So it was nice to just slow down and enjoy my day.

Around the farm. Sunday morning.

 This is the garden this morning, after a monsoon. And it's still raining. This is the 3 beds I planted Wed. Now under water. I hope all the seeds didn't get washed down to the end.

                                                        This is the front sheep pasture.

Here is my pond, Sandra. It's not near as big as yours, and it drains in a few days. I need to get a few dump truck loads of top soil some day. Look at that fog at the foot of Pigeon Mt.

               And here is the pond in the other pasture. And a creek. And the horses across the road.

Standing in a bog puddle of water in the garden. I so need to trench so all this water will go down the rows and not over them.

 We're having a birthday party for my grand daughter, Kansas. She'll be 10 Tuesday. We got her and the other 2 grands, Chloe and Coryn, a Wii for all their birthdays. And Christmas. For a few years. They are having so much fun with it already.

Ihope y'all have a great Sunday!

Full moon and sunrise

Last night, the moon was HUGE! And it was still up this morning. So pretty. And Sandy still has not had her kids yet. I'm glad though, because it's been cold at night lately. But she usually has hers during the day anyway. We are supposed to be rainy all weekend, with possible storms. She'll have them then.




                                                    Can you see the scary sheep eyes?

I am loving this wisteria vine on the little piece of old fence with this pole for it to climb up. And with the sunrise behind it, even prettier.

The 3 bluebird houses in the sheep yard. Although there has never been any bluebirds nesting in them because they always get run off by sparrows. I have a lot of bluebirds around here, so they are nesting somewhere. One of the old maple trees I call the birds condo. There are holes in the big limbs where lots of different birds make nests.

I sure need a good camera to capture the beauty of these sunrises here. It really was amazing this morning.

Yesterday, while out running errands, I stopped at my Ace Hardware store. They always have the most beautiful plants and flowers and veggies. They have several people who only work in that area  so they are watering and tending  and helping people all day. I always get my flowers there. And last time, I saw this  and thought about getting it but didn't. So this time I did. There was also a butterfly one but I like the dragonflies. And it really spins too.  I love it. I also got a flat of the most beautiful flowers for the bees. Also went and got some old tires from a friend. I saw the coolest picture of a flower garden made with old tires they had painted all different colors and stacked up real cute and put dirt in them and planted flowers. SO COOL! So I have 5 tires now and I'd like to get some more to make it really stacked up. I'll get spray paint today for them. Then I'll post pictures of it. I can hardly wait to get started now.

I hope you all have a great weekend! And thank you all so much for coming to my blog. It makes me happy to know that someone is interested in my farm and what I do here.

Family Jewels

 I castrated these guys last night. They are a little over 2 months old. A few people had told me to give them a shot of Banamine before. So I did that. It took awhile to get those jewels to come down into the sack, but they all finally did. I felt horrible for having to do that. I sprayed them real good all around and made sure I didn't have their little nippley things under the band so I knew it wasn't up too high. They all did really good. After I did each one, they would just go lay down for a few minutes. But didn't act like they were going to die, like they do sometimes. So I hope the shot helped. This morning, they all look fine. A bit slower, but ok. Thank God, they are ok. I was so worried they'd all be dead this morning.

Here's Buck and Bo with their momma Darla.  And below is Tater Tot. They are all so sweet. Now they can all stay with their mothers and the rest of the flock without being pests. And, I will be in need of a hair ram soon. I'd like to have a red one like Tater Tot. I love red sheep.

Working in the garden

It's been dry the past week or so. So Monday, I went out and tilled these 3 beds. It takes a lot of tilling, let me tell you. The middle of this garden is HARD. So I am adding some really good composted humusy from out in the goat yard. Probably about 40 or so years ago, there used to be a pine forest back there. They all had to be cut down because of pine borers. And of course, they cut them down and apparently just left them where they fell. Well, most of them anyway. So there are a lot of old white limbs and branches. AND, the most amazing soil from all those decomposed trees. I went back with my wagon 4 times with buckets and totes and got loads of it to put on the garden. I also use it to plant blueberry bushes and to put around azaleas and crepe myrtles and whatever else needs it.

So, along with all this rich beautiful soil, I go out to the sheep and chicken shelters to get all their old hay they've been doing their thing in all winter. I'll put that on the beds too and till it all in good. Then it's all loose and good to plant seeds in.

I planted to the left Provider bush beans. 3 rows. I like to do 3 rows in these long beds so they'll crowd out the weeds. The middle row is 3 kinds of zucchini and some yellow squash. In the middle, I put a piece of fence and planted pickling cucumbers to grow up the fence and the squash and zucchini will keep the cucumbers cool. To the right in the first half of this bed is Swiss Chard and the bottom half is my favorite, Blue Lake bush beans. 3 rows of them too. Oh, forgot, at the end of the squash row I had some room to plant 3 rows of Cow Peas. They're a black eyed pea.

I also started 2 flats of jalapeno and red bell peppers and 2 kinds of eggplants today. I hope they make it. I love eggplant. And 4 different kinds of carrots a few days ago in my raised bed planter. I am trying Purple Haze from Johnny's Seeds this year. I ordered most of my seeds from Johnny's.

I told the people who came Sunday for a farm visit from Main St. market, that it's not a huge garden, but I can get a lot of veggies out of it. And I will stagger the planting too, so I get continuous harvests. This is not even half of this garden. I'll plant corn and okra and field peas in the other garden across the drive way later.

Right now it's lightly raining and watering all I planted. It's so nice. A little cool, but nice.



And here is my little strawberry bed. I just got about 10 more plants from a friend and got the bed weeded and mulched for them. I can barely see them in the mulch.

Busy days ahead for everyone. It's spring time finally!

Sculpture

What is your interpretation of this sculpture? It's in my friend's yard. She's had it for years and years. I see one thing, but it's something else entirely. You'll have to click on it to enlarge it to see more. Tell me what you think.

Beautiful photos of Outback Farm by a professional photographer

http://jaimiedavis.blogspot.com/2013/04/morning-views-at-outback-farm.html

This is from the girl who came out to take pictures of my farm last week. She is amazing and the animals all loved her. I couldn't believe how they all came up top her and let her pet them. Even the sheep didn't run from her. She did an amazing job photographing and capturing the beauty here at Outback Farm. Thank you so much, Jaimie! You are always welcome here any time.

I don't know why I can't get the link to show up where you can just click on it. Sorry. But please look at all her beautiful photos. She made everything look so pretty.