Cats???

We had thought about getting some cats before to do some mousing for us. Well, I guess it was time. We just got ourselves two kittens. The black one is Midnight she is super rambunctious, she reminds me of a feline Chris. I even caught her balancing on a stuffed ball on her back feet, then she did a dive roll off,and she just kept going back for more. She is hilarious. The gray one's name is Ocean she is a lot more calm but has been a little sick, so we will get to know her personality more when she feels better. I have never really liked cats all that much. I hate to say it, they're growing on me quick. I might become a cat lover...... if this does happen..... I hope all of you will find it in your hearts to still love me as much as ever.

Back to the Market

We went back to the farmers market again. It was really nice to see other farmers we know and to dress up a little and get away from the farm. Come and see us every Saturday from 9:30 to 1:30pm on the corner of 8th and Bannock. We will also be selling at a new Tuesday market which will be held at the new Northend Organic Nursery located on Hill Rd. in the site of the old Hillside Nursery. We hope to see a bunch of you there.

When the Rooster Crows at the Break of Dawn

Chris and I were out working in the chicken house cleaning it out today when Red wanted to lay an egg. Her and Sue always do this crazy calling while she gets prepared to lay. It is hilarious to hear and see. I hope you enjoy. We did!

The New Local Petting Zoo

So, Chris and I may be having a little too much fun this summer. Meet our two newest farm members. We haven't named them yet. Suggestions are welcome. They are twin brothers(although they don't look much alike). They are two months old and a lot of fun. And no, we aren't really going to do the whole petting zoo thing, but the list of animals is definitely getting longer!!

Teenage Chickens

Our chicks are growing up. It has been so much fun to watch them grow and change. They have been going out to forage for the first times this week. They love it. They run around scratching and pecking. We can't help ourselves. We sit and watch them for a while each day.

Progress

We have been doing tons of work at Linnie's Place. Here is a picture of our veggie garden over there. It is 62 x43. Another nice addition for this year. These are a bunch of hot crops tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumber, and melon.

Cinco De Mayo

What a crazy, wonderful day. I woke up to a phone call from Brenda, my sister in law, who let me know that she was in labor and needed some help because my brother was gone out of town for work. I headed that way with Chris. When we got there we got the boys up, and then Brenda and I left for the hospital. After an exciting drive through Boise side streets with speeds reaching about 67 mph on Orchard we arrived at the hospital. We got Brenda up to the maternity section where she was filling out papers while asking to be put in a room the whole time. They took us back to a room and Brenda changed while I filled out her paper work. She was feeling really uncomfortable, and since her contractions were only a few minutes apart we decided I should go ask a nurse to come and check on her. The nurse very reluctantly came with me to check on her, obviously very annoyed at the request. She took her time putting on gloves and asking questions, then when she checked it became a very rushed ordeal. Brenda was beyond dilated. The nurse started making phone calls and we were in a birthing room in a few minutes. We had arrived at the hospital at 7:53 am, and by 8:26 am, Bauer Felix Picanco was born. I had never imagined that I would get the chance to share this with my sister in law. It was a beautiful experience, and I am very thankful that I could be there for her when she needed me. What a fun Cinco De Mayo. And believe it or not, this is their second son born on this holiday. Those brothers sure are going to have fun sharing a birthday.

Beautiful Baby Chicks

40 baby chicks to make our summer a little more crazy. just what we needed

We have been having so much fun, our new baby chicks have arrived. Here are a few pictures.

Our new baby chicks

Bare with me, I have a lot of fun thing going on!

We have lots of new plants growing strong in the green house. You can barely see them in the back, but those are all onions, leeks, and chives. In the front mustard greens.
Here are some lettuce babies. We hope these ones will stick around, the mice have ravaged the last two plantings. We should already be harvesting lettuce, frustrating, but that is life. It is always something.
Baby Artichokes
Greenhouse with lots of new babies with the cold frame still inside. We are rearranging today so we can have homes for about twenty more trays today.

Guess where I am standing? Guess again....okay most of you could probably guess. On our new chicken house/water tower.
Here is another view from the "top".
Chris with his new haircut, turning his compost pile, and giving me his fake smile in front of the chicken house. He always smiles like this when he really forcing it.

Our happy chickens

I couldn't resist, here are some pictures of the chickens. I am so excited, we should be getting our chicks soon. FORTY, I know that is a ton. Ten of them are going to be for Dick, Chris's Dad. We will see how well it goes. I never thought that I would like chickens so much.

This is some of our early veggies. Can anyone guess what it is? If you know us very well at all you would know that this is ........GARLIC!!!!!!!!!

Just a view of the garden from the northwest corner of the garden, about thirty feet from the western border of the field.

The chicken house water tower is finally complete. The best part is the chickens love it. Well actually the best part is I don't have to build on it any more! It is hard work, especially when 95% of the time I was doing it alone. I guess that is part of farm life. Andrew my brother came and painted it for me which was the icing on the cake. I really appreciate the time he took to come out and help. And a big thank you also to my brother David who had the windows for it.

Well Chris and I have decided to try and get a grant for the garden. As most of you know this season we are taking on another acre and a half. Some of which is an orchard. We thought this would be a lot of work, but...... We might be taking on another 10 acre piece. I know, I know, we sound a little crazy but if we are able to get this grant we can set up a system of tons of trees, even bring in some heavy machinery to make swells to catch water, and set up a system that requires very little work after the first year. We still don't know if this is going to happen, but it does sound very likely. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I know mine will be until we see if we get this grant. It could be up to $100,000 over six years. The women from the NRCS (Natural Conservation Resources Service) will be here tomorrow to take a look around the properties and to bring an application.

busy springtime

We have been so busy this spring. Chris's dad and I built a cold frame for our early crops, and I have been building our chicken house/water tower. On top of all this we have been planting more seed and doing lots of paperwork. Although it has been stressful we are seeing results. Our plants are sprouting like crazy which is always fun to see. I can't wait til I'm eating fresh veggies from the garden again. We should be planting our new plants in the greenhouse within a couple of weeks, and our chickens will have their house complete. The entire building will stand 16 feet high in the front and 15 feet high in the back. It is quite fun to work so high up. Our neighbor Norma is always thinking we are going to hurt ourselves, especially when she sees Chris doing his crazy tricks on the top. I hope she continues to be wrong. Well back to work!!!!!!!

Getting seeds in the ground!!!

I am feeling really good about this spring. I know it isn't here quite yet, but I am prepared for it. So far this week I have gotten almost 40 trays planted with all sorts of good things for the garden: artichokes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, mustard greens, and spinach. This is just to name a few, and today I am planting 10 more trays of onions, bunching onions, leeks, and shallots. I am so excited to have things going into the dirt already. We have had some beautiful days here in Boise. When I was planting on Monday I was in just a tee shirt in the hoop house. What a wonderful day! I keep having to remind myself that this is just the beginning of a long hard working summer. Now I will be planting at least once every two weeks until the middle of September. Thank you garden.

EGGS!!!!!

Aren't they lovely

Well got a great surprise today. I had been thinking that our chickens should be laying eggs already, and I had been hunting for a nest for the past couple of weeks. I noticed that our hen had been hiding out in a corner of the greenhouse that I could not get to. I asked Chris to come and look with me, and low and behold we found a stock pile. Thirteen eggs all in one nest!!!! She sure had been busy. So apparently I had been right. She had to have been laying for at least two weeks. We are super excited. Fresh eggs. She lays one each day. We were so excited when we brought them in that we had eggs for dinner.

Life can be crazy

Things have been going well for us. We have been working hard on our plans for the up and coming year. You would never think that there is so much planning involved in maintaining a garden. We have gotten most of our seeds ordered now, which is a huge relief to me. This means the money has been spent. We have also got all of our planting schedule marked out on a calender. This means it will be easier to keep track for our crop rotations and our continuous harvesting. We are getting really anxious for this spring. It is finally hitting us that it is almost here. We have also been working on getting our watertower\chicken house built. If it would only stop raining and snowing. We have all our supplies, but the weather has not worked out yet. All we know is that it has got to happen soon so we can move the chickens to their new home and have a place for all our new plants. The work never stops, but we are in high spirits and are really excited about the new season.