Whew! What a Week!

Happy Mother's Day to you all, and even to the Fathers who provide love and support so that Mothers can mother.   It is a cooperative venture, and nice to see when it's jointly done.
This has been a good homey week here at the old farm.   Jim's bees are settling in well, and buzzing all over doing their thing on the many flowers cropping up all over, the blueberries, strawberries, rasp-and blackberries, even the wiegelia bush out front and the many little blooms of creeping charlie in the grass.   It's a great sign of life to hear their happy buzzing.
We picked up our chicks this week, just 3 aracanas and 3 rhode island red pullets for enough eggs for our own use and to share.   It's great to listen to their flurries and peeping in the corner of the living room as they grow into their feathers so we can take them outside into their permanent home.

We watched both grandchildren this weekend, and the chicks provided as much entertainment as the tv.   The 2 1/2 year old, spent lots of time with his face pressed to the mesh of the cage pointing and telling us, BABYCHICKIES!    His 7 1/2 year old sister wanted to hold and snuggle them, so she got to, one at a time, each time the much more energetic little brother went down for a nap or outside to play.    She was grossed out because they walked in their own poop, and had a hard time understanding that was just the way it goes for baby chicks.

She's getting to be such a good reader, that she spent lots of time reading to us this weekend, and everyone's favorite was Shel Silverstein's "Where The Sidewalk Ends" with the funny word twists and great drawings.    She even needed to demonstrate what a superior reader she is, finally, by hanging upside down on the trapese while reading out loud to us.    Fun stuff!



The garden is coming along very well.   We have enough lettuce to feed an army now, with the looseleaf kinds I planted outside by seed, and the heading ones that Jim started in the greenhouse.   We also have cabbages, peas, radishes, broccoli, carrots, turnip and corn up and growing.   Plants put in are doing well for tomatoes, peppers, 4 kinds of squash, cucumbers and melons.  There are still a few more tiny plants coming along to transplant, and the irrigation system and mulch needs to be put down, but it's all growing very well.   The herbs and flowers are tucked in between and around everything, so it's got beauty as well as bounty, and delicious flavorings as well.  It won't be long until we're scrambling to keep up with harvesting all the good stuff, and preserving it for future use.   This sure does feel like a productive time of year.   Just thinking about it all makes me want a long, slow nap.