Monday, September 22, 2008

I can not beleive that i have not added to this blog since June 26. There is so much to tell. We built a wonderful hen house this summer. Actually I designed it and Josh built it It is harvest break and Josh doesn't have a harvest job so we will finish it off in the next two weeks. We have siding to put up, window frames with plexi glass to build and install and painting to do. We have 30 hens; 10 Rhode Island Reds, 10 Barred Plymouth Rocks and 10 black sex links. They are 12 weeks old today and all are doing great. We have no roosters and that is the way we wanted it. All three breeds are quiet breeds so we seldom hear anything unless we are right in the hen house.

The garden didn't do so well this year. We had plenty of green beans but almost no tomatoes and only one cucumber. Onion production was good. The corn also grew well but no corn. We are going to change the way we do things next year. We are going to build all raised beds 24 in tall so that it is easier for me to weed. We are slso going to use the square foot method of gardening in the raised beds. We tried egyptian walking onions and potaot onions this year and when we replant them this fall we are doing it in the first raised bed.

Family wise this was an interesting summer. Bobs wife, Lori died in August after an almost 5 year battle with breast cancer. Bob and the kids are doing well and understand where Lori is .

Bob and Loris oldest, Valerie was married 3 weeks before Lori died and Lori was able to fly to Idaho and attend the wedding.

Our other bride this summer was John and Denises oldest, Elise. She was married in early September in a lovely ceremony in her parents back yard.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

WEDDINGS

Just recently I made the remark that only one of my 11 granddaughters is married. Now two weeks later comes news that Elise is being married in sSeptember and Valerie is being married the end of July.

Andrea




andrea graduated fr 8th grade this year and where they live it is a big deal with a ceramony etc. Her Dad took lots of pictures and sent them to me so I will post some here. This summer she is working at a nursery with plants and loving it. She has also planted a veggie garden at home and is so proud of it.

Another garden in my life

Recently we decided to have chickens again. Josh is helping me build a hen house and the chickens arrived on Tuesday. There are 10 Rhode Island Reds, 10 Plymouth Rocks, and 10 Black Sex Links. They are so adorable and right now so tiny. Eggs are so expensive and soooo old when we buy them in the store and this way they will be fresh. Liza has already had 2 people at work tell her they want to buy eggs from us.

Monday, June 2, 2008

News From Elder James

Last week we received our weekly e-mail from James who is serving a mission for our Church. He is now on the Island of Curacao in the ABC Islands-- just 42 miles off the coast of Venezuala. He will be learning a new language called Papimento-- it is a combination of French, Dutch and Spanish. So he will also be be learning enough Dutch and French ( already speaks good spanish) to learn the new language. The Book of Mormon is only half translated into Papimento. James sounded pleased but a bit scared about learning a new language. We know he will do great with whatever the Lord gives him to do. I am so proud of him for serving a mission. I don't think there are many missionaries on Curacao as he will fly to Aruba for Zone meetings. The Mission President told him he would be there a good portion of his mission. Curacao has only had missionaries since last October. What a great opportunity for James.

Our Newest Garden

This year we are adding chickens to our little farm. We have had chickens in the past-- both here and in Connecticut and we love having fresh brown eggs. We do not have a chicken coop here on this farm so Josh is building a new one with my supervision. On Saturday afternoon we poured the floor for the part that will have a floor. The coop will be 8 X 14 with 8 X 4 being a storage area and place for new babies to be under the lights until they feather out. We have ordered the chickens and they will be here next week. We are getting 6 Rhode Island Reds, 6 speckled sussex, 7 buff orphingtons, , 6 light brahmas, and 6 barred rocks. All but the RIRs are coming from a hatchery and the RIRs are coming from a local source. I had wanted Giant Black Jerseys but they will not be available until mid July and that would make them alot younger than the others. So I will wait until next time for them. We have always had Rhode Island Reds in the past but I thought that a variety of hens that lay brown eggs would be interesting and pretty. Any roosters will end up in the freezer-- although we paid for all hens and they guranteed that 90% would be hens. It is difficult to sex a chicken when it is 1 day old. Next year I think we are going to build another coop and raise chickens for the freezer. As well as some more laying hens. Liza was not totally thirilled about having chickens again but she now has a few people at work who want to buy their eggs from us so she is happier about the hens. This will also give us a good source of eggs for our collies who absolutely adore boiled eggs.

Friday, May 9, 2008