Picking Strawberries!

We went to a local pick your own farm today and picked Strawberries!

This is my lonely strawberry from my own plant, so this is why we went the PYO farm for more!

My Mom and Ryan picking strawberries

A unique looking strawberry, doesn't it resemble a flower?

Ryan and myself picking berries

We picked 16 lbs of strawberries, 10 lbs are what I am going to make jam with and freeze for smoothies and other recipes!

We did enjoy fresh strawberry shortcake for desert tonight!

My Mom and I with our berries!
And these lovely ladies paid for our berries! We sold these 4 pretty poults last night and used the money from them to pay for the strawberries and the sugar for the Jam I am making!

We had a great day with beautiful sunshine and warm but not hot temperatures, there was a light breeze blowing and this made picking the strawberries very enjoyable, I really liked the time with my Mom, having nice little conversations while picking berries and Ryan had a great time! he was still talking about it long after we got home.

Now it is time to get busy making all that yummy jam for this winter!

Heavenly Rays

This was the view from our backyard last evening, the suns rays shone down through rain clouds to give a spectacular sight.

A Heavenly gift of beauty!

Feathered Friends

Meet some of our feathered friends,

Little Red Hen

Cant a girl get some privacy?

Fresh eggs in the nest box

Big Boy
Look at me, aren't I handsome!

Here, this is my best side!

Pint Size Helper

Ryan is such a good helper, he is ready to jump in whenever he can!

Busy helping Pop Pop spread new gravel for parking

Ryan loves to imitate what his Pop Pop is doing!

Whether its spreading gravel, building garden beds or feeding the animals, Ryan loves to help!

Tomatos Planted

I have planted 16 tomato plants.

6 Big Red, 4 Pink Brandy Wine and 6 Giant Beefsteak, all heirloom varieties and started by seed.

I started my tomatoes around mid March in seed trays then transferred them to peat pots and again transferred them to coffee cans that we recycled as pots!

This is my first year starting veggies from seed so I am sure I have alot to learn but, so far everything seems to be doing good, this weekend I want to get my pepper plants in and start my bush beans.

Royal Palm Turkey

We raise Royal Palm Turkeys, they are a heritage breed and very fun to raise, There is one hen who has decided to sit on her nest and we have been allowing her this time for quite a while now, it takes 28 days to hatch turkey eggs and I am sorry to say that I did not keep track of when she started setting, I think she is getting close though!

She used to leave her nest when I would enter the coop to feed and water them but, today I noticed she would not get off her nest and she even hissed at me while I was in there tonight.

This is a picture of her on the nest

This is one of our Toms, "Big Boy"
He has decided to take up roost on one of the shelves inside the barn, this used to be the shelf I would store my extra flower pots on but, I have had to remove them after he knocked several of them off the shelf a few times.

He is not allowed in the coop right now because he wouldnt play nice with the other Toms, so he is inside the common area of our barn!

I love the turkeys and their antics, they gobble when I go down to the barn as if to say " Hello"! Big Boy usually follows me around when I am doing chores and the Toms are so pretty strutting around!

Garden update

The Garden has started growing! We have battled very rainy weather for many weeks now though and that has us behind on many projects but, so far we have growing in our garden;

Broccoli and Brussel sprouts
The potatoes have been growing at very fast rates, we have already covered them with dirt and compost twice and they need it again!
Spinach, Swiss chard and peas.

We have also planted Strawberries and we have tomatoes, peppers and cucumber seedlings ready to go in.

I also have Dill, Summer savory, Thyme, chives, peppermint, apple mint, sweet basil, lemon balm and lemon verbena growing strong.

I hope to get some other items in the garden this week like bush beans, squash, melons and nasturtiums... that is if we have a day without rain!

As far as flowers we have planted, columbine, sweet William, Geraniums, pansies, violas, snap dragons, begonias, Aster, black eyed Susan's, Petunia, Nicotania,vinca,Salvia, Moon flower vine and a beautiful fragrant purple flower that no one could tell me what its name is!

I will try to post more pics of the wonderful plants growing later this week!