What the heck?????

Can't find this one in my BC Bug book, or online....
Found in the compost....
And WHAT are the thingy's on it's legs...babies? mites?

Strawberry fun....

So what do three boys find to do during strawberry season?


Make dehydrated strawberries on the roof of the farm truck!

We had some dried strawberries this past winter in a granola that inspired them....
I've offered my dehydrator....but they are determined to do it their way.....

Don't ask what the clam was there for.....

More photos I should have taken.....oyster and clam picking!
Dehydrator is still available...

August made strawberry juice today with the lemon squeezer....I was too tired to take photos but it was PRICELESS andI should have!!! ....Can you say STRAWBERRY JUICE EVERYWHERE????? Including the floor, drawers, butter, and counter covered...which reminds me I have to freeze it - August wants it for the winter....go figure.
Strawberries strawberries everywhere......

Cool Moth

The boys found a super cool moth....

Pretty non descript walking around and perfect colors for walking on tree trunks and decks that need painting.....

Until it is threatened......

SCAREY eyes!!!

Of course I had to include this shot ;)

Pretty cool hands on example of natural selection in nature.....

Saving our bacon.....

It became apparent that one of our pigs had an injury that it would not recover from.....he was still up and about and eating but things didn't look good.....

Who ya gonna call?????

Crazy Granma Pam of course......Never one to shy away from a dirty task she and hubby got right to it.....

Selecting the correct tools....

We fed the pigs and she did the deed. The eating pigs didn't even glance at their fallen comrade.....

Who was carried away quickly....we don't want to traumatize anyone...or anything.....

And set to drain on the convenient lift.....

Three very interested helpers .... asking over and over "Will the ribs be good? Will the ribs be good?"

And the anatomy lesson was pretty cool too.

Now to get the halved pig out of our strawberry cooler......before the season starts this week.....

ACK!

Faces of Today!

The Great Experiment......

Farmer Don finishing up our new goose tractor......designed to fit over our newly planted strawberry rows.....
which are in the field behind the goose tractor

Famer Don and the geese having a conversation, they are quite vocal and answer when spoken to.....
The geese chosen for the job...you can see where I've hoed...and the rampant weed growth elsewhere....
We've got our fingers crossed.....

Two chinese weeder geese attacking the weeds.....BUT also trampling new strawberry plants.
Result: Fail
Although I was hoping we could put them on our new fields,
they trample the plants and we need these plants to send out mega runners (daughter plants)
We have read that they do better on established fields.
Back to the drawing board.
We have to figure out an easy way to keep them where we want them to weed.
To get them back to their buddies behind the house
on the other side of the driveway we opened the gate and
they followed me home to the other 5 geese and 6 ducks....it was pretty cute.....
a happy reunion was had and again i went out with a bucket collecting SLUGS and weeds
for my babies...

Turkey Lurkey

Please please let me out of the barn, I promise I won't find a way to die, PLLLEEEEEEAAAASE!

Hay guys, I'm pretty sure that big grey one is not one of us, whatdyathink???

No sunhat? Great, I went bald young and now I have to burn my scalp too!

In desperation to get them out of the barn we fenced our lawn and got them out - with a heat light at night in the shed. It is still quite cold and they need it to be 20 C or 70 F........We have read in more than one place that turkeys look for a way to die until they are about 8 weeks when the suddenly become very hardy. Ours are 7 weeks old now.......Luckily the sun has come out every day since they've been out. We have a moveable pen built now so when we move them off our lawn (soon I hope) we will move the pen/turkey tractor around daily and then get them back to the house for night.....

They chirp and chirrup all day, and are quite funny in their gawky run arounds.....I'm not sure I'll be able to eat one!

Many Faces.....

Dirt!

We watched Dirt last night. Wow. I feel like standing on the tallest building and shouting to everyone to take note, listen, act, make a difference. Why don't people see? But I understand. I wasn't ready for the message 2, 3 or 4 years ago. I evolved.
I want to write a profound post, a post that everyone reads and the lightbulb goes on, but I'm not such a writer....
Taking care of our dirt is so important.....the dirt is the basis for everything. It is the cause of wars and mass migration. When dirt dies, there is no food. Africa. The film footage we have to watch of starving people we try not to look at. The french scientist Pierre Rabhi went to the African country Berkina Faso (I'd never heard of it either) and turned a desert into farmland that supports 100,000 farmers. By taking care of the dirt, so much can be done. An informative interview HERE.
Monsanto and Monoculture destroys the dirt.
Monsanto claims that their gm seeds are the answer to world hunger but they neglect to mention the downside of their technology. Instead of diverse, sustainable farming methods monoculture crops such as canola, wheat, soybeans, corn and rice require not only the purchase of their seeds but also expensive equipement to apply the pesticides and then to harvest. (Not to mention the long term health implications of pesticide use....) They also don't address all the nutritional needs of starving peoples.....Some crops, such as GM cotton require more fertilizer than regular cotten, which led to the suicides of many bankrupt farmers in India = they were never told they had to not only buy the seeds but also extra fertilizer....

Hundreds and thousands of acres of forest are being cut down, the land farmed out and then more forest being cut down. With proper farming techniques the land could be utilized properly and forest could be saved. Why is this so hard to understand and implement?

The dirt dies with monoculture. Diversity leads to flexibility with changes in the environment from year to year. Organic and sustainable farming builds the dirt. The dirt is protected from erosion and thrives providing for us.

Why is there no labeling if GM is no big deal?

The big deal is that people may not buy GM out of principle, even if the food proves to be the same......which is debateable....

I feel so helpless when I see where the world is heading.


The movie particularly hit home for me as our farm was as described....an overfarmed, overfertilized, overpesticided monoculture with decreasing yields and increasing pestification......read our story here.

"Africa is not poor. Ethiopia alone, if properly cultivated, could feed the entire African continent." - Pierre Rabhi, Dirt! The Movie

I wasn't kidding.....

When I said they were spotted, striped, black, orange and well.....

I wasn't kidding

Lucy and Dezi with their batch out in the morning....

They take the goslings all over the farm and on day 2 out and about there is still 4......

Never leave craigslist open when your 8 year old is around
... now we're getting 3 layers that lay blue eggs....

Bluebabies!

Tear up the sod and two not so healthy trees.....

What on earth are we up to now? It's not like we don't have WAY too much on our plates.....or anything.... but you know, when you find established plants on craigslist for $18....you do what you gotta do...........BUY EM!!!

And then figure out where to plant em!!!

The plants are 11 years old and came with pretty good root balls....

Peat moss, composted manure and helpers.....I did research.....

This one got right in the bucket with the peat moss/manure slurry!

Wetting the peat moss is important and anytime Mom says "Play with sprayer" you gotta know everyone wants to help!

Water them in.....

Maartje a dutch girl woofing here with us loved this job! We planted all 10 and are thrilled with the thought of our own blueberries.....NEXT YEAR.....we pruned off all the fruit this year so the plants can concentrate on getting established......

After adding amendments to the hole (Peat moss and composted manure) and amendments around the plants when we set them in the ground, we turned sod upside down around the plants. We plan to add more peat moss around each plant, some irrigation hose with emitters(Blueberries are shallow rooted and weeds can kill them....) and then LOTS of bark mulch on top....A local organic blueberry farm adds 4 inches of bark mulch a year.....Our soil here is naturally ph 5 (we have to add lime to our strawberry fields) so that is perfect for the blueberries.....

My mouth is watering.....

I have high high hopes for these bluebabies!

Welcome little ones....

Yesterday the day the goslings were due we saw some cracked eggs...

and heard peeping....

We headed out this morning and saw this.....

and watched the cuties all day.....

They love to sit and peek out....

Mom's not so happy.....

So so cute!

This could be on a card.....

We are a bit worried now that we looked at them TOO much today, hopefully tomorrow she will bring them out....I worried they need food and water....