Farm Update

There has been a lot going on at the farm these days.  Kirk has been busy totally re-doing the electrical and plumbing.  The exterior of the house is being insulated and siding should go up in a few weeks.  I can't wait to see that!  For now, we are the pink house on the street.  That's Daniel putting up insulation.  We've kept him busy for the last few months with all of the remodeling.

Rosemary and Vern have been here for a few weeks.  We have loved having them and they have been hard at work.  Rosemary helped me move the old raspberry patch to new rows.  She is also helping me plant blueberries.  Three rows of raspberries and three rows of blueberries should be enough to keep my fruitarian children happy.  I suspect we will have to invite all of our friends over to help us keep up with all of the fruit.  Davidson U-pick anyone???

While we have been doing fruit - Vern has been busy plowing the old horse pasture (sorry, no pictures).  We will re-plant it to get rid of weeds and revitalize it.

I don't think I've posted a photo of the new garage doors that were installed over the winter.  Even without siding, the front of the garage is really looking better!  Pretty soon we'll have concrete poured inside.  After that some new windows and siding and it's transformation from a dirty carport to a fully functional garage will be complete!

Kites

We had perfect kite flying weather during our trip to the Oregon Coast during spring break.  Hannah is getting really good at flying the kite boarding trainer kite.  Maybe this summer Kirk will get her out in the water for a few body drags in preparation for kite boarding??

The wind was perfect for the butterfly kite.

Spring Break, continued...

Second only to playing in the water on the girls list of great things about the coast, was collecting sea shells.  We spent many hours combing the beach for an unbroken sand dollar or whole crab shell.  We found these and more.   The best time to look was at Sunset when the tide was out.  The whole beach was exposed and tiny treasures were left scattered across it's surface.  It was like treasure hunting.

The $1.89 plastic buckets I bought at Wal Mart for the trip came in handy.  So did rubber boots.

Spring Break

This April for Spring Break, we left the snow of Sandpoint and headed for the Oregon Coast.  It was still cool, but we lucked out with beautiful sunny days and perfect spring weather.  We rented a house near the beach through VRBO.com and were very pleased.  It was at the head of the beach trail and had beautiful views of the area.

Our house was located in the quaint little town of Gearhart Oregon where downtown consisted of an Ice Cream shop, a Bakery (Dad, you would have loved this one!) and a Real Estate office.  We spent most of our time on the miles and miles of empty beaches.

During our days at the beach, the girls were perfectly content to run in the sand and chase the waves.  Luckily the house had a washer and dryer because we ended up with lots of wet and sandy clothes each day.

After a sneaker wave caught her off guard on the first day, Izzy was content to spend her time playing in the sand.

As they days progressed we saw more and more sunshine and warmer temperatures.  But it was still spring.  While Kirk and I kept on our rubber boots and coats, the girls wore less each day.  'I'm warm Mom, I promise!'.  They might not have been truly warm (notice the blue skin and goose bumps), but they were VERY happy.

Chicken Coop Plans

I have been searching for the perfect chicken coop for our new chicks.  Kirk has promised to build it for me if I can figure out what I want.  During my search I have discovered that you can make a chicken coop look just about any way you want.  Here is a little sampler of what I have found:

My brother sent me this little retro gem.  Apparently it's made from all recycled material.  I have PLENTY of old barn wood on the farm.  It's an idea.

Or if I were to lean toward the modern, I could go for this sleek design:

This design from Heather Bullard is still one of my favorites.  In fact, I just ordered her plans.  We'll see what my contractor (a.k.a. Kirk) has to say about it.

Forget traditional, how about an Eglu cube from Omlet.  Don't you love the name of the company? 

My brother-in-law sent me this more more traditional design, named the Chicken Shack.  I love it. 

But for a real chicken shack, maybe we should turn the old outhouse from the farm into a coop.  Don't they call that repurposing?

For the discerning chicken, I could go with this design beauty - The Nogg.  On second thought, I'm learning that chickens aren't all that bright.  They probably wouldn't appreciate it.

From The Art of Doing Stuff I found this stylish, yet practical coop:

Which one is your favorite?  Do you have a great design to recommend?  I'll give you some eggs if you help me decide!

Easter

Happy Easter... a few weeks late.  We were lucky enough to be with family in the Tri-Cities for Easter.  Verna and Kim put on a great Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Lots of cousins, aunts and uncles.  Lots of fun!

'What do you want to trade?'

The adults enjoyed the show,

while the older kids did all of the hiding.

The Davidson Chicks

We have a few new chicks in our house.  

Pepper, Lilac, Raven, Penny, Rose, Gertie, Fluff Fluff, Queen Alberta, Elana, and Nugget are the newest additions to our family.  Don't ask me to tell you which one is which - but the girls seem to be able to tell them apart. 

We couldn't just pick one breed so we chose five different ones! This is our first time with chickens so everything is an experiment experience.

The chicks are currently using our upstairs bathroom as their nursery.  When they get a little bigger and are ready to go outside, I am hoping to have something like this amazing chicken coop from Heather Bullard ready for them to move into:

School Projects

Hannah's latest school project involved creating a 3D version of an animal cell.  She decided to do it with sugar cookie.  Now that's my idea of a school project!  I thought she was quite clever...

Fruit

We were lucky enough to have the Whitby's visiting us this weekend.  They were nice enough to help us at the farm with our overgrown, neglected orchard.  

They spent Saturday pruning and cleaning out more than 20 trees! Thanks to their experience, knowledge and (most of all) muscle they were able to accomplish something that Kirk and I could never have done on our own.

I wish I had some 'before' photos so you could see the amazing transformation. Believe me, it is truly a HUGE change and we are so grateful for the help. The trees look a little naked now, but I'm sure they'll appreciate it in the long run and I can't wait to see them this summer with a little green on top.