When a picture says it all!

He has always been so positive that Santa was bringing the kitten that it was NO SURPRISE for him that there was a kitten in the house this morning.
Apparently it was in bed with him, but then we put it in our bathroom with food, water and litter....or Santa did that....the story changed....
The kitten is a dream...so cuddly, playful and purry.....
I know I know not a word.
We had a fab day.....
Ending with a wonderful turkey dinner...
Now that he has his kitten he agreed to the photo....
38 lbs of turkey there dwarfing my 5 year old!!!
We know how to grow em!
Sweet dreams everyone!

Christmas Kitty....

I am so darn excited.
I think this might be the best Christmas ever...WHY??
Holden is getting a kitten from Santa.
An alive one.
That Santa will put in his arms while he's sleeping.
He has been adamant for about 3 months that Santa is bringing him a Kitten.
At thanksgiving (ours is early october) I said, "Will you get on the counter so I can take a picture of you next to our Christmas Turkey?" **Why you ask? Because the turkey at 38 lbs is bigger than him!!!!!**** He said, "No, but you can take a picture of me next to my kitten" and so most of our conversations go.....
Hubby was not gung ho to start and we talked to Holden about Santa not bringing live animals.
And then a friend wrote asking us to take her cat.....(long story - vegetarians that found it disturbing that their kitten brought home birds and mice....DOH!)
I convinced hubby taking their 6 month old already fixed cat was a good idea....and then we didn't get that cat....
So when another friend was fostering kittens....well, it was an easy step for hubby to take.....that slippery slope thing!
So today I picked her up!
She's at a neighbors house!
Holdy is still adamant he's getting a kitten.
He "does not want any made in china crap plastic toys from santa daddy, I only want a kitten!"
***after the lecture about crappy commercialized christmas plastic toys***
His letter to santa said he wants a kitten, alive. (After his brothers pointed out santa will bring a kitten doll)
I read him "Santa's snow cat" - WHAT was I thinking?? Now he thinks he's getting a white cat!!!
I can't bear it.
I told neighbor guy (crusty old prairie farmer) that I'd be by when the kids go to sleep, around 8:30. He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "It's christmas eve, you won't be here until 1:30 am!!"
He wasn't supposed to be looking after the kitty - his partner was...and she was at work still. He looked like he wanted to boot it out to the barn.....but well, I think the kitten melted his heart.
I forgot food.
When I got back to him with food, he had carved some meat off a roast for the kitty!
Oh, I can hardly wait!
Stay tuned.....

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the ASH Berry Boys!

Greenhouse Gardening

I had great plans to plant a winter garden in my greenhouse this winter....In fact, I did plant some lettuce and brocolli.....but, well, my gardening has taken off in a different direction....

Remember my tomatoes post? Well this is the same greenhouse....

My girls (and boy) were FREEZING their little butts off outside, miserable in the cold, hanging under their trailer....their water frozen....So we made it happen...

The live in the greenhouse now.

I'd already cut and cleared out old tomato plants and they took down the greenery that was left in a hurry (weeds). We put fence wire up around the work bench and chicken wire around the base of the greenhouse to prevent escape.

Now my ladies dust bath in the pouring rain. Because unbelievable rain is the weather we are having right now and the patch of ground they were frozen to is now under 3 inches of water. In the greenhouse they are dry, warmer and pretty happy.....there is electricity so a heat lamp is available if it gets cold again and we can take fresh water out to them easily.

They have compost, squash (SIGH - we winterized everything before the big freeze but forgot to bring the squash stored in the greenhouse inside.....so we have a pile of mushy once frozen squash to feed the chickens....) and I pick a bucket of grass/chickweed for them every day. They love their greens....Today we got 14 eggs from 14 chickens!

I AM winter gardening. Soil prep. Yep, NEXT year I'm going to have the BEST GD tomatoes ever!!!