toddler picnic table

And how easy it was to make! With a design from the internet and some free 2x4's from Lowe's this one was made in an industrious afternoon. It was actually more work to get it painted than it was to get it cut & put together! And all I paid for where the screws - the lumber was strapping wood from lowe's and the paint was something left in the basement by the previous house owner...

Find the complete plans at:
www.ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-kids-picnic-table-you-can-build-it-for-15.html

Bunnies!

Haven't been here for a while... it feels like forever!
Summer always is our busy season, lots of gardening, selling photography and new this year: making soaps. It's getting a little less hectic recently, so I'll try to back up and add some things that happened the past couple months over the next couple posts :)

One of our goat kids died few weeks back from a major worm infestation we totally missed... by the time I realised something was wrong, dropped off a fecal sample at cornell and started her worm treatment it was already too late. Right after that we got an open email warning about major worm infestations because of the wet spring - we're not the only ones to loose animals this year.

On a happier note, I was able to sell two of the girls, Karamel from Thirteen and an unnamed boer from Monica, to Sarah who was Simon's toddler room teacher. She's starting her own petting zoo (and my girls sure are used to little kids by now!) to accompany her new daycare. The girls will live lives of plenty (of hugs and treats) I'm sure!

And we seem to have enquired two bunnies - two babies from Angelika's angora bunny collection. They are real friendly tho not tamed much, we're working on that! No food unless they eat some from my hand first :)

Initially they lived in the chicken ark which they outgrew pretty fast, so with some left over hemlock 2x4's and repurposed tongue and groove oak flooring I made a two apartment bunny house which works really well. The layout is something Angelika's husband Simon designed for her bunnies and I copied for mine - I really like I can raise a wire wall in the middle and separate the bunzen immediately when needed, with a house for them on either end.

And if the bunnies do go back to Angelika I can use it for brooding chickens which would be really nice instead of the sunroom!

go organic - or not?

On the "dirty dozen" list are:

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Imported nectarines
7. Imported grapes
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Domestic blueberries
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

The group also lists the "Clean 15," or those that rank lowest in pesticide residues. These are:

1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Domestic cantaloupe
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

After-the-Plant-Sale sale!

The After-the-Plant-Sale Sale
Wednesday, May 25, 4:00-7:00 pm
CCE-Tompkins, 615 Willow Avenue, Ithaca

The Master Gardener volunteers from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County have some perennials left from the Plant Sale this past weekend, and Josh Dolan (who works with community gardens/Gardens4Humanity) has some veggie transplants and woodies left, so we are having a joint sale here at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, 615 Willow Avenue,
Ithaca.

Getting ready for yet another bonfire...

In the middle of the pic, right behind the mowers' trailer, is yet another bonfire pile! Hubbie and I have been cleaning out the back woods of all the maple that was left over from the large tree that came down. We had the bottom part milled, but the crown with all the small stuff was still there for us the clean up. And of course it had fallen right where I planned part of my woods path and new goat fence!

I use that yellow wood contraption in my tractor trailer to stack and haul scrub and it works like a charm. With that thingy I've been able to get most of the large loose stuff cleaned out. Last year I did not realize I could use our chop saw to cut smaller diameter wood to wood stove size so there is a large stack of relatively good wood left of the bonfire stack we're been slowly working our way thru. I do not feel like going thru it again to separate out the decent stuff. This year we did and now have quite the stack of small rounds in our fire wood house.

Saturday it's time for a bonfire again... hope the weather will hold!

Our new baby goats!

These two are Monica's new girls, born Friday the 6th at around 1030am while Simon and I were mowing the lawn :) We'd checked at 1015am, noticed Monica looked heavy and did not get up to look at us over the door, but no contractions and her water had not yet broken... less than half an hour later, both girls were born and the placenta was on it's way! Man, human births are not like that!!!

Trying to stand under mommy's watchful eye. The little beige headed kid is called "bunny" the other one has no name as of yet.

My kid checking out Monica's kids. He was very impressed by her post delivery cleaning skills, and told daddy later in a surprised voice: "momma goat licking baby goats!" Hey, as long as he does not expect me to clean him the same way LOL

we've got chicks - and 40 of them!

Just like the past three years or so we ordered meat birds and I picked them up April 15th. It is unbelievable, the growth difference between these and my hen chicks! And they behave differently too, much more food oriented -less interested in foraging, but way interested in their human 'mommy' bringing them food! I feed them twice a day a set amount otherwise they'd overeat.

The first year we grew Cornish X meat birds from Agway, great birds but man, they grow fast. And every time they moved around their joints tend to click... it just did not seem natural, a harvest ready bird in 8 weeks! So after that experience we chose Color Rangers, which grow a little less fast (12 weeks) but with hardly any of the health issues.

This year I ordered even more chicks than usual - we only need about 20 birds for the year - as we had several friends and acquaintances interested. So we'll barter some with Eileen for sewing & baby sitting, with Christine from school for beef her husband grows and with a hunter for venison. How varied our freezer contents will be!

Only after two weeks or so they moved to the outdoor "lean too". Still with a heat lamp, at least at night or when it's chilly, until they grow their complete feather coats - and it stops raining!