The Beginnings of Spring

I'm thankful that it's March; January and February rank as the lowest months in my opinion. Today was nice and warm and we ventured outside to evaluate things for spring and plan where I'm going to plant my fruit trees. I'd like to plant berry bushes as well this spring, but I'll have to see how much I can cram in!

Here are my 15 guineas wandering and eating. We are down to exactly half of what I ordered last year, thanks to Charlie the secret chicken killer. They wander and peck around all day and fly back into the coop at night on their own. I got them because they eat ticks and keep snakes away, both valuable services in my opinion.


We had a few regular chickens that needed their flight feathers clipped to stay in the fence. I armed myself with the scissors and sent Ben to catch them one by one. In this picture, Julia is blocking them for Ben.

We decided on planting four apple trees along the retaining wall in the backyard and dug the holes for them. I'm planning on planting two pear and two peach in the front yard, but I have to have the power people come mark the lines before we dig their holes.

Elijah was pretty impressed when we cut a few roots under the ground. He spent a good while longer chopping dirt with the pruning shears.

Elijah also got a bonus trip to the dump today. While he was playing in the back (as JD was jumping the truck battery due to him leaving the interior light on,) he said, "me like being a farmer, me like big trucks and little trucks, me like big tractors and little tractors." It's a good life for a boy!

Actually, I think the country life is good for girls too!

Here's Gus enjoying his first spring; he only goes out with supervision but he sure is enjoying the great outdoors. He hangs with the kids much like a dog.

Welcome spring.