Adventures on Leppin Farm : June 2012

When it comes to buying a new home the work never seems to be done.
When you buy a farm, it never will be.

The quicker you come to terms with that, the easier life will be up here on the hill.
Work is never ending.

Now, some of you might think I am complaining. I am not. This has been worth every minute of it and not only will it come back to us in the end, we are enjoying the rewards every day we get to spend out here. Every evening after work, when I drive up the road towards the house, I have a smile on my face.

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We are proud parents of a new tractor! The Executor of the Estate called us out of the blue about a month ago and ended with picking up the tractor we had intended on buying. But the estate needed the cash. Sorry, we don't have 12K sitting around for that anymore. So all of a sudden, over night, we were shopping for a new one. We went back and forth over orange or green... we decided to stay with orange. It will be best for our farm. We should get our new Kubota tractor tomorrow if all goes right. By the time we finish paying it off it will seem like we raised a child. You still have to pay it to do chores. Keep it quiet with some attention and steer it in the right direction so it will treat you good when you get old. Just like a kid.

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Raspberries are about to become fully ripe so I hope everyone is ready to come out and do some serious picking! I can pay you in berries. ;)

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We now feel official! Had our business cards made and they've been delivered!
It felt so good to hand those two out so far. ;)

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Back in May we had my nephew in law Jacob out here helping us lay...or is it pour...? the concrete for the pig pen and the dog run. Later, Bret helped Guy put the finishing touches on the future homes of Una and Jelly. More to come on the pigs later...
Life keeps moving up here and I am finding less time to blog the longer the sun decides to shine. However, it makes for playing catch up a pain. The only way to track the true progress is to merely stand back and look around. And thank god my camera saves the date the photo was taken and places them in folders on my computer by the date in which they were taken and not uploaded. So that will help with records and time lines. So, let's take a little trip back over the last month and a half through pictures. (Because Lord knows, I can't remember!)

Jacob having to bring out the BIG GUNS.
Pouring the pig pen.

Jacob and Guy. It's called team work folks!

Here is the concrete slab for the dog pen. I am so glad we built it.

Pictured here is one of my favorite people! OF ALL TIME!
He pruned the old orchard right by the house in May.
Let's just say it needed it. Still does. We just don't want to butcher the poor things
before we know EXACTLY what we are doing.

What my youngest boy Bret thinks about building pig pens. :)

The Pig Pen in the barn. DONE! Thank you Jacob, Guy and Bret!

I think Bret is happy he helped build the pen! Good job!

Dog, Pig. Pig, Dog. Dog, Pig. Pig, Dog. NOW BE NICE!!

Now on to the chicken coop. We decided to put it in the first stall in the
barn. Since the chickens have been in their new home
they seem happier!

My Allergy Boy Andy was sticking it out and working hard. He helped out a lot. Considering his allergies were
really making it difficult for him. He is a good worker and makes me proud. I just wish he was
13 all over again instead of 20. We could really use a hard worker or two...or three! Bret helped with
the assembly of the pig pen. His allergies were bothering him, too. But we never had him doing this. :) Sorry Andy!!

Una and Jelly- Yes, I said Una and Jelly! My Great Niece named them. She is only 3. We had started to call them Breakfast and Christmas Dinner. But Kyla felt they needed different names apparently. She is a silly girl. The odd thing is Una a character in a 14th or 15th century poem. She is a Fairy Princess. And Kyla does not know that. So, where did Una come from? Her mother thought it might be a character of a mermaid in some TV show Kyla watches but wasn't real sure. (If you know me, I still find that fascinating) and Jelly...well, I guess that is to remind us that she really is only 3.

They are over twice this size now. :)

Poor Max! The pigs get all of his leftovers. Oh well. They will come back to us in the end.
When Max eats left overs all we get out of it is HIS stinking gas! NO THANK YOU!

The first day we put the chickens in their new home they huddles together. They were very insecure about their new environment. Of course now they are all over the place.

Watching the chickens is very relaxing. Especially since Guy tuned their radio in the barn to Classical Music! No joke.
He is hoping relaxed chickens make the best laying chickens.

Aside from all the projects around here we are working on, it is always nice to stop and smell the roses.
Or bird watch. It is my newest favorite thing.

We have doves here, too.

At the end of May we decided to have a BBQ out here. Had some friends and family up early to fish our pond. My brother Johnny came early and was even successful!

It's not a limo ride down to the pond but I think it is better!

One load of fishermen, women, children and beer...I am sure of it!

Kyla wanted to fish! SHE NEEDED TO FISH! Until Uncle Johnny caught one. She saw the fish dangling and jerking on the end of the line. She dropped the pole, walked away and said she didn't want to fish anymore...

We caught a few... Jane, my brother in law Eddie and Kimber...

Sorry honey... objects in the frame are only closer ...not larger.

Nice BASS!!!! James caught a big one so Guy carried it up on the back of the tractor for him. We ate it that night. Jane cooked up wonderfully. So good!

Guy and some of his family. Glad they could make it to the BBQ!

Kyla hanging it with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. She must be telling them about the big fish she caught.

My chiminea make the best "mallows"!!!!!

This is the face of a keeper!!!

Guy was thrilled to spot some deer on the property. A week or so ago I saw two running up the road on my way to work.
A day or two before that we spotted them down in the lower raspberries.

We have hummingbirds out here. I think I always spot the same 3. However, there could be a lot more than that. I only see 3 at a time. Here they are playing. Can you spot the one above the one perched on the branch? They were flying around and what seemed like playing...or mating... it is spring anyway!

Happy Hummingbird

Kyla and her mom spent the night with us a week back. All she wanted to do is play outside!! She is awesome!

Guy and his Grandson Maison. Good looking boys!!!

For Father's Day Guy had his daughter and son out. Only one missing was his oldest boy who is in Idaho.
I think he was glad to have at least the two of his kids there! And Maison!!!

With all the Fairy Moss floating on top of the pond, (The red stuff)
Guy thought he would see how hard it was to fish with it in the way.
It sucked!!!
However, we found an way to tame it. (With a boat and skimmer and a lot of time)
Also, we decided to transplant some of it into the small fish pond up by the house.
It is said t help with water clarity and the fish like it. Seems to be working.

We have so many birds! We have to fill this feeder up every other day if we had to. I usually wait. That way they land down on the ground and pick up all the food they wasted during the week. They usually do. They seem to be pretty secure knowing we have no cats!

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We finally got the garden planted. We are behind up here but what I am learning is our garden will always be behind those just 5 miles away. Funny how that is. Here are some photos of the garden process along with a few extra pics of some shenanigans we got ourselves into.

Guy needed to do some mowing. So off he went down to the lower raspberries
to get some much needed mowing done.

Uh-Oh! This is what happens when you run over irrigation
caps. We had a day of repairing the leak before we could turn the
water on to the gardens. Just a small hiccup. It's ALL GOOD!

While we were down fixing the busted irrigation pipe I noticed lots of
tiny fuzzy peaches growing.

This little guy was running all over the inside of the tractor. The dogs couldn't even catch up to him when he decided to make a run for it over the driveway to the compost pile by the garden. Quick thing!