Down on the Fake Farm

Things are happening here on the fake farm. I had to replant all the cucumber, lettuce, carrots and corn because as soon as I planted them in the garden bugs ate them. It is fun to check everyday to see what has sprouted and if you look closely you will see something. It's been a good lesson in patience because you have to wait for the seeds to grow and there are several days when it seems as if nothing is happening. There's a part of you that doesn't believe that something is going to grow and you're amazed when you see that first little green sprout peeking through the dirt, then another, then yet another. We planted all the seedlings in empty egg cartons and set them in the dining room next to the sliding glass door so they would get the light they need, we could watch them and make sure they had plenty of water.

We planted 6 tomato plants in pots since they did way better last year in the pots than in the garden. I love home grown tomatoes and so does everyone else so we decided to grow alot. We also have about 6 strawberry plants in the garden that we've had for several years but haven't ever really produced a good supply of strawberries. I found out that strawberries are like corn, they need to be close together and there needs to be alot of them. I'll be heading out this week to get more strawberry plants to fill in the holes between the plants. I love strawberries.

We went to a Civil War Reenactment today at Forest Home Farms here in San Ramon. Forest Home Farms is a historical farm that has been preserved and is open to the public for various events such as this one. Marcus is very interested in the Civil War and we thought it would be fun to go as a family. It was so nice to have something so close to us. The costumes were great and the cannons were extremely loud. Sometimes you could see a ring in the sky from the cannon and if one went off and you weren't ready it rocked your whole body. They had several tents set up and various displays but the one that caught the boys attention was the hospital. They had fake hands and feet laying on the ground under the table and a tarp that looked like it was covering those who didn't make it. I feel sorry for the guys who had to endure that type of surgery. It was very moving to see how some of the combat was done and how close they were to each other while fighting. After the battle we were able to get up close to the cannons and talk to some of the guys who were "soldiers". This particular cannon weighs about a ton and sometimes they move them around on the battlefield. Marcus wore his Civil War hat and I dressed Breanna in her prairie dress and braids. The weather was beautiful and it was a very fun day. I'm glad we got to go.

We always color Easter eggs on the Saturday before Easter. This year we tried to go a little more natural and use food coloring and vinegar. Well, I didn't have regular vinegar. All I had was apple cider vinegar and I was too tired to go to the store so we just used it. The colors turned out so vibrant and they were instantly colored. We didn't have to wait the usual 10-15 minutes checking our eggs over and over to see if they were colored. We were done dying our eggs in less than 15 minutes. Now that's a record for us! The brown one in the lower corner was a mistake. We tried to make purple but it obviously didn't come out right. Oh well, we're still happy with our eggs.
The family came over after church on Easter Sunday. We had a great time eating, hiding and finding eggs, taking family pictures and playing the Wii. Bill, Kathleen, Randal, Alyssa, Lauren, Lizzy, Sami, Alan, Verena, Shea, Anna, Ava, my dad and Aunt Peg were all here. We love being together and we are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. We had ham sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, cookies, chocolate and Verena's famous trifle. A great time was had by all.

Spring has sprung down on the fake farm

Spring has definitely sprung around here. The lavender was the first thing to bloom, okay the only thing to bloom but it was so nice to look out our living room window and see color. The grass is so green, the roses are growing fast, the grapevine is sprouting new leaves every day, it's all so much fun. This lavender plant is just outside the classroom out back. We planted our seeds on Friday March 27th and we notices our lettuce was sprouting this Wednesday. That was fast. This morning we noticed our corn was sprouting. It's so fun to watch things grow hour by hour. We planted corn, lettuce, watermelon, cantelope, carrots, cucumbers, and pumpkins in egg cartons in the dining room. I've planted seeds in the garden before but I always forget to water them and then when they did manage to come up out of the ground they were promptly eaten by bugs in the night. This way they're protected and we can watch them as they grow.

Chickens at the Back Door

We felt bad for our chickens being all penned up in a muddy, dark area of our yard so we're back to letting them free range during the day in our backyard. They make such a mess but they're so much happier. I did some reading on chickens and one way to make their pen more comfortable during the winter is to lay down saw dust and lots of hay. They can also have some of our composting but I have to be careful because chickens are not supposed to eat certain things. They peck at everything. I'm working on setting up the chicken pen/coop so we can again keep them penned up so I can get the yard under control again. In the meantime we have chickens at our back door. They come up to the door and act like they want to come inside. These are our three americana chickens that lay us blueish green eggs. One of our black chickens died last month and and it was very tragic. She was fine the night before and then she was just dead the next morning. Being a farmer can be very sad at times. I felt so bad for her and we still don't know why she died. So now we're down to four chickens. The other black chicken wasn't at the back door when I took this picture but she's alive and well.

Sorry we haven't posted in so long. We were busy with Thanksgiving, Christmas, chickens laying eggs, Breanna's birthday, you name it. Now all of that is over, except for the egg laying, and we're getting back to a normal routine. The chickens are all laying everyday so we get about 5 eggs a day and we finally filled an egg carton from Costco. The kids have been eating eggs alot more and Marcus has discovered omlets. Our Americana chickens are laying green eggs and our black chickens are laying white eggs. They look so pretty in the carton and they taste so yummy. We finally had to pen up our chickens because they were destroying our backyard and trying to fly over the fence. One of them did managed to fly over the fence and the neighbor's dog thought lunch had arrived in his backyard. She was attacked by the dog but managed to escape. The only thing she lost were her tail feathers. I'm not sure if chickens have any pride or if they are smart because that same chicken was back on the fence by the end of the day. I guess they don't have a very big brain for memory storage. Our chickens are very sweet though and love to follow us around the yard. They "talk" to us when we go out in the backyard and I never knew chickens could be so loud. I know they want out of their pen so they can scratch and dig and poop and fly over the fence. Our yard looks so much better now and you don't have to watch your step as much any more. We're learning alot by being fake farmers. I hope we're not bothering our neighbors too much and just in case we are, I brought one of our neighbors some fresh eggs yesterday.

Papa is Here-Finally!

My dad finally moved here from Colorado on November 4th. We've been waiting for almost 5 years for him to be able to move. On Tuesday November 11th we went out to breakfast for Veteran's Day. The kids and I painted a big poster for my dad and put it on the garage door so he would see it when he pulled up. He loved it. We had a great time at breakfast at my dad's favorite restaurant-IHOP!