Amazing & Awkward: IV

Wow! April is almost over, how does that happen so fast? Amazing

• The bees are home!  7 months ago my mom gave Mr. Nick bees for his birthday. And now, they are home. The buzzing is almost soothing.
• The Farmstead was featured on Rural Women Rock this week which is so cool! I love the idea of women empowering women, helping each other and supporting each other.
• We've made so many new farm friends this week! Circle the Wagons, Lilac Hedge Farm, KS, Michener Farm, Cali Girl Farms, Afton Field Farms, Fresh Eggs Daily and The Farm Wives Support Group. If you click on any of their names in this post it will take you to their facebook page. We have something to learn from each and every one of these farms but more importantly, I love sharing in their stories.
• The sheep have finally been given their day in court! If you're not following the story of Montana Jones I'd suggest reading this article on The Huffington Post (click here to read, These Sheep did Nothing Baaaaaaad). You can also visit their facebook page here >> The whole thing just makes your head spin. We're rooting for you Montana, all the way from Olympia!
• Our hoop house is done and the seeds are in. What a good feeling.
• I have finally, after months of searching, found a reasonably priced source for organic chicken feed. What we are doing now is not sustainable, I know, so to find this source is huge.
• We started a new "meal plan" at The Farmstead. It's from a book called "Fix, Feast, Freeze" which I'll do a full review on later. So far, we're two weeks in and it's been amazing. Especially as the days get longer it's easier to stay outside until 8 or 9 pm, so dinner becomes a big forage-fest. But, with this book we've been pre-cooking all our meals with good, whole ingredients and then feasting! As a family we're slowing making the switch from buying zero processed foods to the bulk of our food coming from what we grow. And we're on our way! Plus, I feel inclined to share, I no longer buy frosted pop tarts. I do still make cookie dough just for the cookie dough...that's never going to change. I mean, have you ever tasted cookie dough made with eggs fresh from the nest box? So good. Can't wait to try it with duck eggs!

Awkward

• One of the ducks is no longer peeping! The awkward part? Lola got her "honk-peep" first. Poor Gregory is still just peeping through life. It's not a quack yet but, it's veeeerrrry deep.
• Mrs. Robinson is looking not at all pregnant. We are told that towards the end, goats do start to drop and look thin...I sure hope so. If not, we will try again.
• Our mystery chick has been identified! Thank you to Michener Farm in California who actually breeds them. Carmen Miranda will be a white crested black polish chick. Now, if we could only figure out what the chick who was actually marked our "free rare bird chick" was we'd be good. I actually think "she" is a "he" and "he" is another Clyde, our Buff Orpington Rooster.
• Three of the hens are running around with saddles on. A huge thank you to our wonderful neighbors who came over to help me "saddle-up" the girls. I'll post a review soon but basically Clyde is tearing up the backs of his favorite hens every time he mounts for a "piggy back ride" as I like to call it. Now they look like little race horses running around the field...a very small part of me wants to sew an action figure to a saddle...
• While working with the bee delivery man I was hung up on twice. He told me later it's because he thought I was a little girl. Uhhhhh...super awkward. I'm even still sick and have a bit of a husk to my voice.
• The sheep are starting to shed their winter hair coats...and they are looking mangy. I went to pull Pearl out of the way of the pig feeder the other day and chunks literally came off in my hands. I mean, no judgment of course, I haven't had a haircut in, oh, let's say, over a year? I'm going to have the handsome man trim it up here soon because I too am looking mangy, but, I just can't justify going to spend money on my hair when there's sooooo many things we want to do on the farm. And so, this awesome side braid I've been rocking? Yep, it's out of necessity.

Happy Friday to you and yours. Here's hoping for a productive weekend wherever you are!