Lovely Spring

The grass is growing like crazy and we have had to be mowing about every 5 days to keep up with it. In between times we stake out our fat little lawn mowers for a couple of hours a day. Closest to the camera is sweet Maddie, then the chickens closer to the barn, and if you look in the upper left you'll see Yakki's rear end. I love seeing all those blooms on the apple trees! I'm a little nervous, however, as a pretty windy storm is poised to come in tonight. I sure hope it doesn't blow all those blossoms off before they have a chance to be pollinated and make little baby apples. The other apple tree is a later variety and isn't blooming yet, so all is not lost should the worst happen tonight.


Of course in this early spring there is not much to harvest. The hens, however, continue to be quite prolific and I had to take the last of last year's leeks out of the garden prior to it being tilled, so I contemplated what to do with these wonderful ingredients...hmm....sounds like time for a frittata! A frittata is like a quiche but does not have the crust. We like them a lot and you can basically put anything in them you like.


Here I am sauteeing the leeks and some red pepper in a little bacon fat that was left when I crisped up some bacon to put in there as well. Once these veggies cooked down a little, I added a few sliced mushrooms as well and let them cook a while. Once all this cooled down, I added it to a dozen eggs, the bacon bits, a bunch of chopped raw broccoli and some milk. I usually would have put some cubed cheese in there, but I wanted to keep the calories down for now.


This is the finished frittata. It sure turned out very well and it didn't take long for us to polish it off! I think we had it for breakfast AND dinner for a couple of days! It is so fun to make things out of ingredients that we mostly didn't have to buy at the store.


Well, my favorite wheelbarrow, the big metal one the barn construction guys left behind, finally gave up the ghost by totally rusting out around all the bolts that held the bucket to the frame. So when I was at Costco they had one there for $50 so I picked up all the pieces and brought it home. I opened up the back of my van, moved a folding table out and set up shop putting this darn thing together. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all the assorted parts laying in the van and on the table, but take my word for it that eventually it all came together well with nary an extra piece left over to ponder where it should have gone.


This is the finished product. It took me about 45 minutes to put it together, but it was a lovely day and I enjoyed working outside. I am very happy with the quality of this wheelbarrow, especially since I didn't expect much for $50. The only thing that is taking some getting used to is that it's about 2.5 inches taller than my other wheelbarrows, so occassionally I'm bouncing a forkful of pony poop off the side of it rather than going in! Nothing worse than having to pick up poop TWICE! Hahaha. My next big wheelbarrow project is to marry the good frame from the old metal wheelbarrow with the plastic bucket off another old wheelbarrow with a rickety frame and bad wheel!


Another project that we forgot to get pictures of when it was happening was the cleaning and fertilizing of what we call the upper pasture; the one that immediately surrounds the barn. With the boys in the neighbor's pasture, and the donkeys locked in the lower pasture on our property, it allowed us to work on this field by picking up poopie piles and then putting down a good fertilizer. We'll let it rest for at least a month, then put the donkeys up there and lock them off the lower pasture which will get a similar treatment and allowed to rest.


It's hard to believe that 'baby' Daisy will be 3 in July. She is such a sweet donkey without a mean bone in her body and so willing to please. Here is a picture that Frank took of her resting in the sun up by the barn. Even sleeping she's got such a sweet look on her face. We can't even imagine what this place would be like without this precious girl.

Well, as usual, I am apologizing for the significant interval between blogs. There is always something going on, but it's usually quite mundane and I think it would make for boring reading!! Regardless, my readers tell me they just like to know what's happening here, mundane and boring or not, so I will keep on as long as people want to read it. This Friday a veterinarian who specializes in equine dental work will be here to see everyone, so I will be sure to get some pictures of that. Frank and I have also gotten a Wii and have become quite competitive, so I'll try to figure out how to get a picture of us being goofy with that as well. So until next time....have a wonderful time enjoying spring and God bless!