Our Pack

 This is Soldier. Such a harsh name for the sweetest dog I've ever had. He was our neighbors who were going through a rough patch. We have had him for many years now. A few neighbors have invited him over for lunch sometimes,actually one too many times!!!

Dogs love a dirt mound!

 This is the pond behind our house. The dogs enjoy it until it dries up in summer.

This is Tiki he is known to hang out in the rain&snow. He comes running like a dog when called and scratches at the door to come in. I'd swear he is a DOG!

This is Scout! We rescued him a while back I saw this dog roam the valley and roads for over a year.He had a owner that said he was a runner.I think he was running looking for his master. He needed a family and now has one. Plus he turned out to be one great chicken dog.

This is Beau and Rosie. Beau is all about business,All the time! He was a birthday gift to my son for his 11th birthday. I picked him up at the local shelter and never regretted it! Well tell me that when he's barking in the middle of the night..

We've always encouraged our dogs to be "friends" with any other dog.Also teaching them to be friends with the deer and they seem to understand.

This is Rosie! Her business is Rocks,Rocks,and more rocks!

Rest In Peace Lilly.

Hatching eggs and cute chicks

This is the incubator we ordered recently to replenish our own chicken stock and sell chicks locally. On day 20 eggs started pipping and by that night it was constant hatching. What an exciting event to watch over and over.

Here are some chicks just hatching out.

Tough work being born!

We picked up this watermelon box from the grocery store worked perfect for a brooder.

Hatching Chick!!!

eatin good

Happy Birthday!!   Time for a nap!

Strawberries and Rosemary

The first bed I tackled was the strawberry bed. I started out in a raised bed with 24 plants about three years ago. Now every spring I have so many new plants to dig up and replant or to share with friends and neighbors. Most strawberry plants send out these feeder stems that touch base with the soil next to the mother plant and a new root system grows where the feeder stem touched. Its important to separate these or the new daughter plant will suck all the nutrients in for both plants. I came across this book called The Vegetable Gardeners BIBLE and it truly is the best book for all season use. In this book I learned how to companion plant. This has worked wonders. Ive NEVER used any bug spray in our garden. I planted rosemary with our strawberries at each corner of the bed .It keeps off the pests that love strawberries because the rosemary smell is overwhelming. Cant tell you exactly what bugs bother strawberries because I have never had any problems, the squirrels sure do love to drag there teeth through each one!!! Remember that they like moderate water and each of the N P K nutrients. Other good companion planting is melon. No broccoli or anything in cabbage family.

Wildlife

First vultures of the year

 I wanted to share some photos with you of the wildlife that surrounds us. This is why I love home. Most of these were taken from our house.

This was taken in our backyard in our waterfall.

These are Elk that we are lucky enough to see from our living room from time to time.

Hummingbird moth

Babies!

We came upon this owl while we were sledding down the hill behind our house.

This bullfrog has been living with us for a while now.Love him!

One BADASS bird, these can carry off deer!!

of course deer!

Pines, Cedars, and Red Clay

Tuesday evening was a bit breezy and chilly once the sun went down. I headed down to put all the ladies to bed and shut the coop doors. On my way there I picked up the scent of  pine and cedar trees. This instantly threw me back to childhood, playing in a empty lot in  Trinity Center that was an intact forest if only an 1/2 acre. I could get lost for hours playing among the trees and ferns and mosses that clung to things. Then there is Trinity Lake, I have a certain deep affection for this beautiful part of our county. I use to walk the bank by the point and just take in the grandness that was around me.I felt like it was a secret place that most people didn't know anything about.I would sometimes find swarms of baby catfish swimming alongside of driftwood or a flower that I had never seen. I was a flat lander, as they call them. And Trinity Lake was a world away from where I lived. In the summertime our family would drive from So.California to Trinity Center where my grandpa lived. This was a VERY long trip for my sister and I . When I started smelling the warm red clay and pine and cedars it would all be worth it. So when I smell this I will stop and breathe deeply and appreciate it. It is Home.

Red porch

It's amazing what a can of paint can do for the soul. Since we are on our front porch a lot it receives punishment all year long. I was getting pretty embarrassed by our collection of everything under the sun that had made its way there but never left. I have a collection of birdhouses and its getting to be too many and some are decorative and birds cant use them. I'm letting go of them....clean slate!! I found a gallon of barn paint that I forgot about from painting the barn and 2 coops last year. There is something  special about the color red up against vast nature. I figured I'd spruce up the porch. It took me two days and another few to finish. I'm already in love with the color. My porch now has nothing on it but a rocking chair and dog bed!!!

Veggies from the greenhouse

It's pouring outside right now. In the greenhouse on the hill everything is nice and cozy. The seeds of all the veggies and melons we started two weeks ago will grow at such a fast rate now. Our ideal planting time is Mothers Day here. I say ideal..!!! We went through three plantings one spring of tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. I'm so grateful we planted extra that year. The last two years we got together with some great friends who don't have a greenhouse and we Mass plant trays and trays of our food we plan on eating and for canning later. They bring their bag of seeds and STERILE soil ( A MUST) and within a couple of hours of talking and planting we have all the food we need and enough to share! A little bit of money and we end up with the best food I've ever tasted. And did I mention Jeff made this greenhouse pretty economically in a day. I will include photos later of the greenhouse.