Messages from The Dominican Republic

I truly didn't expect to hear much while Kellen was in the Dominican. Cell phones do not work there. Phone calls are made from a hot cramped pay phone at $0.35/minute. Only the team leader, Glenna, has access to the internet, and that is limited. I've been pleasantly surprised to actually get one phone call from Kellen and two emails from Glenna.

In the email last night, Glenna wrote the following:

Hello to everyone in WV!  We have been really busy here.  There are so many people here do so many things that it is truly wonderful just to participate in and to watch.  Last night at SCORE Challenge, there weren't enough seats for everyone at the church.  If I had to estimate, I would say there were about 250 of us in the building.  It was an awesome sight!  And, we made a mighty noise when we sang!  We have chosen a picture to share with you before we get home.  Check out the team (minus the photographer, of course)!  The picture was taken after Sunday morning services at a church named Juan 3:16 in San Pedro, about 15 minutes from our hotel.

Following the update she had a quick message from each team member to their families.  One teen wrote:

Dear Mom, Dad, Luke, and Joanna,I’m having an amazing time here. It’s fantastic to see how God is working. The weather is lovely, the food is great, and the children are ADORABLE! Joanna, I’m sorry I missed talking with you last night. I’ll call you from the airport on Saturday. I love and miss you all.Ruth 

Another:

Dear Diggity family and Wikman, and Hobbs family,I hope you all are having a great time at Amelia. Our VBS has been a lot fun and the kids here are really special to work with. Tomorrow we are going to Catalina Island for our rec day. While we are having fun in the clear blue waves, I’ll think of you. Please continue to pray for the kids and the work we’ve been doing. I’ll call soon. Love y’all.Sean 

And then there was Kellen:

Nolan,  get out of my bed.Kellen 

Typical. Love that kid!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

There are so many reasons to love gardening. Most of mine have to do with the tasty reward at the end of all the hard labor. Another thing to love is the garden is a constant puzzle to figure out. There is always a challenge. Always something new to learn. 

The past few years learning about bugs has been my challenge. We all know that bugs can destroy your precious garden work in a matter of a few days. If you don't want to just mass blast your garden with chemicals, controlling different bugs requires different challenges. Controlling caterpillars on cole crops is best done with light row covers. Forgetting to put them on (ahem) causes much frustration, and cabbage with lots of holes. Hornworms are easily controlled by handpicking unless you see this:

Let those parasitic wasps do their work when you see a hornworm covered with larvae. 

We battle Japanese beetles every year. Every year I fight the losing battle by hand picking to try to control them. This year I learned that guineas love beetles. Guess what will be the next fowl to come to live on our farm? 

They may be ugly. They may be loud, but if they eat beetles, they are here!

The battle of early 2013 is aphids. We have a few aphids every year. I normally just hand pick them, but this year there was a huge infestation on the tomatoes. At first I saw a few lady bugs. Lady bugs are good. Then I saw lots of these. 

These, which I've seen referred to as garden gold, are lady bug eggs. Now, there are significantly more lady bugs and less aphids. I also bought some insecticidal soap, but have been a little leery of using it because of the heat. I've also been told that those same wasps who do a number on the hornworms are great for aphids too. Where are they when I need them?! For now, I'm monitoring the situation. Hoping the ladybugs prevail, and standing ready with insecticidal soap if needed. 

But the big lesson of the year, so far, is that knowing the good bugs is not good enough. I nearly wiped out those lady bug eggs. I need to know what they look like through their life cycle. Lesson learned. Now to learn the life cycles of the other good garden bugs. Lacewings, praying mantis, parasitic wasps, are there others I need to learn?

Now, to figure out how to control those blasted vine borers! 

And They're Off

This is a whirlwind of a month. Vivian attended day camp. Tim took a week of vacation (because it really was the only week available with his work schedule and the kids' activities.) Lydia and Nolan came home from overnight camp today. They are both exhausted. Lydia is half sick (a good rest will fix that I think,) and Nolan has all but lost his voice. They had a great time.

A few hours later we met the mission team. Kellen and the team are on their way to Cincinnati. Tomorrow, bright and early, they are off to The Dominican Republic. Thank you to all who have supported Kellen with prayer and finances!

They have VBS planned, and service projects, and I know it will be an enlightening experience. I am very excited. I think we all should travel to a third world country. It really makes you appreciate how good you have it.

I am praying that despite their plans and preconceived notions about this trip, that their hearts will be open to the Lord, to His life, and to His love.

My niece and nephew arrive from Florida on Tuesday. We are so excited to see them. It has been far too long.

The gardens are in, and we are working on mulching, weed, and pest control. I hate June in the garden. It is all work with very little of the reward. We have had the best spring ever though. There has been lots of lettuce and other greens, a decent amount of broccoli and peas, and we are just now enjoying the cabbage. All of which is about spent, and needs pulled and work for the next planting. See, just more work.

And I just realized I never shared our new farm addition:

First timer, LuLu had eleven piglets. They were born June 12th.  They were uniform and active from the get go. She did lose one, but the remaining ten are getting nice and plump. They are adorable, and I don't think I'll ever tire of new farm babies.

I really didn't intend for this post to be such a ramble, but here it is. This is what you get from me in June.

Rabbits on Grass

One of the many projects accomplished on Tim's "vacation" week was converting a chicken tractor into a rabbit tractor. We did this by simply adding wire to the bottom of the pen.

The bunnies weren't so co-operative with me for a picture, but believe me, they were thrilled to get out on grass. Momma rabbit was thrilled to get her pen all to herself again, and Vivian is thrilled to not have to go pick quite so many greens to feed the rabbits.

It is a win win!

Adventures in the New River Gorge

Last Saturday we loaded up the Suburban and a trailer (gear for seven and a dog takes a lot of space) and headed out to The New River Gorge for a camping trip. We camped in the national park. The campsite was right a long the river. The kids loved it. They played in the river, and did a little fishing.

It was a short drive to the Bridge. We spent an afternoon exploring the bridge and areas around it.  We took the Fayette Station Road Tour, filled our water jugs from a spring, and hiked the Kaymoor Trail to see old coal mines.

That night it rained, and rained, and rained. It isn't really a camping trip unless it rains right? We'd hope to do a little more exploring the next day, but it was still raining, and we were soaked. We packed our soggy selves and things and headed home.

West Virginia is full of beautiful places. This place is one of them. I wish we'd had more time and better weather to explore more!

Growing Things

Spring is the season of growing. Watching the trees come into full leaf, marking the time by which wild plant is in bloom, and anxiously waiting the fresh bounty that is coming, these are some of my favorite things about spring. I love to watch the little seedlings nurtured in the house flourish when they finally get their roots into the earth. Watching the tiny seeds put into the ground become huge and productive plants always seems like a small miracle.

I am so excited to actually have some spring crops. I had almost given up on growing them here. Other years it has been too wet to get in the garden early, and/or has gotten too hot too quickly for the cool weather crops. I plant fall crops of those items usually, but this year we could get in the garden pretty early. I decided to try again. I'm so glad I did. The spring was cooler than normal. This week is hot, but we've had some beautiful cool spring like weather. In the garden that translates to spring spinach, lettuces, and snow peas. We are looking forward to the broccoli, cabbage, and shell peas too!

~Now if I could just get the rest of the summer garden in. . . but that is another story.

The animals are growing too. The bee hives have gotten taller. Not sure when that happened, but I imagine the bee keeper must have had something to do with that. The turkey poults are about triple their sized. The bunnies are just about to be weaned. And can you believe this is our puppy?! Vivian could hold her like a baby when we brought her home a couple months ago! Stella is almost as big as our other dog now.

Of course there are more things that just keep growing around here. Four of them that just won't stop. Can you believe these are my babies?!

The family vehicle has also grown. Bye Bye mini van. We are now a Suburban type family.

Of course this family vehicle also doubles as a farm truck.

Lots of growing around here. What are you watching grow this spring?

Ivy Face Viv

You know when you a long weekend away you're going to pay for it the following week. It is great to get away, and we needed it but while we were gone the garden didn't get planted, the weeds didn't stop growing, and the to do list only grew. It has been a non stop week of farm work and other commitments. I'm whooped!

Poor Vivian got poison ivy on her face. Yesterday her little face was swollen. We decided to wait it out and hope that it cleared on its own.

This morning, my mom had an outpatient procedure. We were at the hospital at 6:30. At 8:30 Tim sent me this picture.

Poor Vivian had woken up with one eye completely swollen shut and her face swollen and sore. Waiting it out wasn't working. While I was at the hospital with mom, Tim took Viv to the doctor. He have her a steroid shot, and pills to take for the next 12 days. He warned that she may be grumpy and have an increased appetite. Look out! It is going to be a bumpy ride.

So now, where to start on that list of mine.....

Science

You might be a homeschooler if you have a trip planned for a church conference, decide to leave early, and drive a little farther to hit the local science museum first. 

The Great Lakes Science center in Cleveland was a great start to our long weekend. The church conference was wonderful too, but no pictures to show from that. :)

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Today my baby boy turns 9! He celebrated by having his two best friends, Judah and Jackson, over to run through the woods, giggle about those things only 9 year old boys find funny, and battle each other on the WiiU.

We surprised Nolan with a "fruit" cake. Believe me when I tell you that he could not have been more thrilled. That kid loves fruit. So much so, that recently Kellen paid him for helping with a job. Nolan used all his earnings to buy mangoes. I kid you not.

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Happy Hens and Brave Bunnies

2 1/2 weeks old and starting to venture from the nest. 

The hens love spring in the woods. 

Look Who Showed Their Faces!

The turkey hens got up for a little bit, and we got to see the poults! Hard to tell how many there are, 11-12 I think. I love the black ones! The hens went back onto to the nest. There were still quite a few unhatched eggs. We will see if any more hatch. There is another hen sitting still too on a different nest!

Can you see it?

Can you see it? No not those turkey hens. Can you see what what is under them?

No? Me either. There are newly hatched poults under those hens! Those mommas just aren't ready to get up from that nest yet. Did you catch that I tried to bribe her with some grain? She didn't fall for my trick.

They are just doing their job. There are still eggs there to hatch, and there are brand new little ones to protect. I get it, but I just wanted one little picture.

I went to look several times today. I could see three with the best look I got; the time I went out without the camera. The best picture I got was this.

Look close. You can see it. There is a poult right there. Really.

More to come later....when the girls decide to stand up and let me see those babies! I hope.

My Favorite Place

The hundred acres wood is a big place full of steep hills, old overgrown logging roads, and deep hollows. There are places on the property I have not even seen.  And sadly, we'd stopped exploring.

We had gotten stuck in a rut. We worked, worked, worked the farm, but the land we use for the farm is only a fraction of the property. We rarely ventured beyond that space, and when we did it was on the same old paths that we've followed for years.

This spring, what began as a desire to find ramps, has turned into a Sunday afternoon habit of walks in the woods in places we rarely go. We haven't found ramps (or morels for that matter,) but we have found some beautiful things.

One spot, in particular has caught my fancy. It is on a north facing slope. It is a rain run off that is tucked deeply in the curve of the hill. It is cool, damp, rocky, and full of some of my favorite woodland flora. The hillside is covered with fern, and the first time we walked this way we spotted trillium.

Yesterday, we went to check if the trillium were blooming. They were. They are gorgeous.

I explored a little deeper down the run off, and found another lovely plant. I'd never seen this one in the wild before. It is jack-in-the-pulpit. 

Lydia and I also discovered the area is full of spicebush. I've gathered these berries before, and they are a wonderful spice. We will be gathering late this summer. 

I love this spot. It is fairly easily accessible, and I do believe it is the prettiest spot on the property. Here are a few more pictures from our walk.

Turkey Talk

A little over a month ago, we brought home our first turkeys. We've talked about raising turkeys pretty much from the beginning of this farm, but shied away because we had the notion that they were difficult to raise. So far, they have been easy and enjoyable. I love to listen to them.

About a week ago our tom began talking to some wild turkeys across the hollow.  He'd "gobble, gobble," and a few minutes later you could hear "gobble, gobble," on the opposite hill.

A few days ago, as we were driving out the lane we noticed the gobbling had gotten a little louder, a little closer, and in fact it was. Four wild toms had come up to the fence line to see what was going on. They were walking the fence line, and checking it out.

A few minutes later,  I looked and the wild toms had come a little closer, and our tom was not happy about it. He was at the fence letting them have it, "GOBBLE, GOBBLE." They were not intimidated and stood right in his face, "GOBBLE, GOBBLE" through the fence.

By the time I ran in for the camera, the wild turkeys had decided it wasn't worth their time, and went strolling back down the hill. I haven't seen, or heard them since.

In other turkey news....

The hens are sitting. The last of the three hens decided she'd rather help her friend on her nest than to make her own.

I thought about trying to discourage her, but I think we'll just let nature take its course. Hoping for some poults soon, and our own Thanksgiving turkey!

Welcome to the Farm

We are so excited to welcome some new little, but important, creatures to the farm! Since we've moved here we've kicked around the idea of setting up some hives on the farm. We know nothing about keeping bees, and the time never seemed quite right to dive into this area of agriculture. It still doesn't, but....

We know a local bee keeper, Gabe Blatt, who was maxed out in his current space. Space, we have. So, long story short, he and Tim talked, Gabe and his wife came out for a visit, and a few weeks later there are bees in the 100 Acre Wood!

Let the pollination begin!

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Do you know what this is? 

Spring is really here! As with every spring, we wait impatiently. We lament the lingering winter weather. We look for glimpse of sun and warmer temperatures, and keep our spring fever at bay by starting plants inside.

Then suddenly, the spring weather has arrived and the to do lists we've been dreaming about are a reality. The days start early, and end late. I struggle between getting the long list of outside chores accomplished while still getting this family fed, having clean plates to eat off of, and clean clothes to wear the next day. Days end with dinner around 8, a lot left on the list, and a family too tired to care. It is exhilarating  It is exhausting. It is spring, and I love it!

Most of our spring garden is in. I'd hoped to put some more in today, but the rain made that impossible. The rain however did bring a nice spurt of green to the trees and the seeds already in the garden! Summer plants are hardening off in preparation for the garden in a few weeks.

More seeds have been started in my garden tub. There are a few more seeds, plants, and fruit trees (yes!) to be purchased.

We have one turkey hen who should be close to hatching her clutch. Another turkey hen has just begun to sit on her nest. We have sows with visible baby bump bellies, and today a litter of rabbits was born. That is the picture at the top. The little pink lumps are newborn rabbits. I don't like to disturb them much. I only moved the fur away from the top to get a look in. Looks like a small litter. I could see four, but this is a first time doe. Rabbits are notorious for losing their first litters, and I'm just thrilled to see them in the box in a nest of fur like they should be.

We have a whole lot of broilers out in the converted goat shed. Our first processing will be this Saturday, and more chicks arrive on Wednesday.

Yes this is spring. Yes it is crazy busy, but yes we love it, and the payoff it will bring in a few months! How is your spring?

Goat Shed Conversion

Six year ago, (six years really!) my dad built a tree house, for the goats. Based on the pictures, the building was also for our first piglets.

Charcoal in June 2007

Charcoal and her piglets December 2012

Wow! What a difference! But I digress. This post is about the building. That building was originally designed for the goats. This is what it looked like then.

You can see an interior divider gate on the right side of the shed. That was used to divide the building when needed. It was mostly used as a nursery pen where new mommas and babies could be separate from the rest of the herd. What you can't see is the small door on that side of building and the fencing that was eventually added to create two pastures, separate, but both accessible from the building. The set up worked out very nicely for us. 

In the scaling back and finding our feet again process we've been in the last few years, there are no longer goats or sheep here on the farm. We have used the space for pigs, temporarily, but it really doesn't work well, and the floor of the building was not designed for that kind of weight, which we found out the hard way, We Won. 

The better part of the last couple years we haven't done anything with that building. There have been chickens in the pasture, but we were using temporary shelters (with mixed results.) This year we want to expand our broiler production, and knew we needed to do something different. 

The main chicken house is large enough for a lot of chickens. It has access to a very large run that can then be opened up to the woods or to the yard to be sure the chickens get full access to bugs and plants and all the things they love to forage. 

With our first batch of broilers I assumed that I could keep them in the same space, and it would all be fine. They never left the chicken house. Our long steep chicken ladder was the issue.

 

In order to up broiler production we needed to build something new, or convert what we had. We chose to convert the goat shed. 

Protecting chickens from night predators is always our biggest challenge. In order to use the goat shed for the broilers we needed to secure it. The first task was to put a door on the big open space in the front. Tim and Kellen walled of about half the space and then created a sliding door for the rest. This large door gives us easy access to the space, and can be used to allow chickens access to the pasture on that side. The existing door on the right gives them access to another pasture. 

There are no windows in this building, but the rough board style of the sides plus roof vent give plenty of ventilation. We covered the roof vents with chicken wire for predator protection. 

We lined the bottom of the walls with old feed bags. This was partially for a wind break for any remaining cold nights, and partially a predator protection. It may seem like over kill. The boards are pretty close together, and a feed bag isn't a lot of protection, but it made me feel better. Last summer, we literally had raccoon reach into chicken wire pens to pull parts of chickens through the wire, and pull young chickens legs through rabbit wire. Gruesome, I know, but reality. 

The building is now serviceable, though we do have a couple more things to do before it is complete. We'd like to run electric out to it. (Currently using a heavy duty extension cord.) We need to add some roosts. Since this building is intended for broilers, roosts will simply be 2x4s a few inches off the floor. They won't roost high, but giving them a low roost helps to keep them clean and healthy.

I'd like to cover the divider in wire so I can again separate the building. The small side could be used for brooding when the weather permits. 

If we want to be able to rotate the pastures, we will need to do some fencing work. The current fencing is not sufficient to keep chickens in one pasture only. 

We put about 140 chickens in there a few days ago. I let them out for the first time today. I love watching chicks on their first day out. They seem to be utterly fascinated by the big world out there, not to mention the tasty bugs and grass! I think this set up will work well for the broilers!