Promised photos

 Here are our "free range babies".

 Farmer J and his chicks!

Magnolia shining in the sun!

Woodcocks and Pecker-Heads

Don't worry.  This is still my G-rated blog.  We have discovered we have Woodcocks (birds) and Pecker-Heads (variant of the Morel mushrooms) in our woods.

J said the woodcock was acting very funny around him and then he realized why- baby woodcocks nearby! He also said the bird looks like a very large flying mosquito because of it's odd beak.

And not too much of a stretch to see how this mushroom got it's name. I'll just stop there.

The other exciting news is that we (meaning J) have moved the chickens (I just can't call them chicks anymore) into the chicken coop.  They are very happy and warm! I'll post some pictures of them in their new home in a few days.  They are no longer fluffy as all of them have their big boy and big girl feathers now.  Magnolia continues to be the most tame of them all- probably because we hold her the most as she is only one of two that have a real name.  I'm hoping to name the rest once we officially have the hens and the meat birds separated.  Currently, they are all together as the "chicken tractor" has yet to be constructed.

We are sick of the rain and hoping for some sunny weather.  Unfortunately, the forecast is full of rain and thunderstorms (but at least a little warmer.)

The house is coming along.  My goal this week is to hang some pictures and start to organize the basement. Then the task that all mother's dread-- putting away/sorting the small and out of season clothes and bringing in the warm weather outfits.  I was planning on doing this a month ago when we had our warm streak...I'm happy I didn't as it's been pretty chilly outside.

On the work front, I have two weeks under my belt.  Still loving the commute but hoping to continue to feel less like a freshman and more like at least a sophomore or junior.  And the good news-- a definite friendship is blooming!  J recently got great news that he will be able to teach a summer class this year!

Tomorrow we are trying to decide if we are going to try another new church.  The boys and J think we should stick with the first one that we tried...and loved.  We also will have a visit from my brother and his family!  We are very blessed that our farm is bringing many loved ones to our doorstep (via the mudroom, of course!)

First pictures... now video

So by "video" I really mean an 11 second clip.  This is a link to Youtube.  J did a time-lapse photo session of one of our morel mushrooms.  He thought he would catch it slowing growing... but instead, it is slowly shrinking.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVKW3YvCo8&feature=youtu.be

I don't have too much time today as I've been working every day this week- ughh!  But... farming isn't cheap so it's good to have work! 

Here are our updates:

-Chicken coop needs to be finished in 24-48 hours- the chicks are no longer chicks but small birds.  One flew out of the box today and J found him on the floor.  

-J told me to put Magnolia on my shoulder (she is getting pretty tame).  A second after I moved her, she pooped all over the floor.  That was a close call!

-For those of you who know me well, you know that I am fascinated by Amish culture.  J and I watched the PBS special "The Amish" online.  Amazing program.  I highly recommend it.  A lot of what we saw validated our decision to try and live closer to the land and attempt to lead a more simplistic life.  

-I'm thankful for the mother who lived here before me.  You may ask, "How do I know a mama lived here before me?"  Because there are high door latches on all the original doors/screen doors to outside-- which I had to use tonight to keep my littlest inside when all he wants to do is sneak out to help "Dada" with the coop!

-We are woken up most mornings by a male robin that keeps flying into the window (outside our bedroom). J thinks he is trying to scare away his male competition (i.e., himself).  I could make a comment here about men but that would be too easy!

-Lastly, suppertime is really distracting when you are a little boy and there is a dumptruck outside dumping organic dirt into the garden!

Eureka- Pictures posted!

I have done it!  It took having my children away at their grandparents to allow me to have a few minutes to figure this blogging thing out.  And here it is... my first picture posted.

Here are some of the morels Farmer J found on the land.  Every day for the last week or so, he and the children have been outside "morel hunting."  He was able to pick quite a few to give to his parents as a little fungal thank you for watching the boys.

Here is the chicken coop.  J added the fenced in area to the right and painted the door red.  Ever since traveling in Ireland, we have loved brightly colored front doors.  The girls will have this as their new home in a few weeks.

Here is Farmer J with Magnolia.  This was the very first day the chicks arrived to their new home.

Here is me!  Mama chick.  I literally had only been awake for about two minutes before this picture was taken. Horrible shot but my adoration of my new baby birds is all over my face!

This is what we found when we opened the box from the post-office.  28 baby chicks arrived the day after Easter!  They were all huddled in the corner and I was worried I would find one died from suffocation.  Luckily not.

The chicks first home!

Squeaky floor... squeaky ceiling

Last night I was too lazy to make our bed (the sheets just came out of the dryer) so I decided to sleep in the guest bedroom.  The bed in there was so inviting as it was our old bed and had on it one of my favorite set of sheets.  Also, we just realized our guest room has a roller shade-- which means for sleeping in a little longer (if not woken up by Pick-Pick) as our room still has no window treatment yet.  Relatively quickly, I realized I wasn't alone.  I heard lots of scrapping and squeaking from above.  Just some thin wooden floors separated me from what I though was many bats. I grabbed J and he assured me that the noises we heard were not from bats but from a mouse or mice.  We also found some mice droppings by our built-in bookcase outside the guestroom.  It's official-- we have a mouse situation.  So, we should get a cat?  Heck no.  JJ is very allergic to cats and I just despise cat hair all over the house and on our clothes.  Off to Fleet Farm.  Farmer J picked up some mouse traps and some more "Chick Starter" (the chick feed) for our 28, every so quickly growing, chicks.

Our "babies" are enjoying their new home in our basement.  And I'm enjoying them being down there.  I loved hearing all the peeping but I think this is a win-win for all.  A win for me because I don't have to worry about the rather large mess they made in the house and Pick Pick is less likely to go over to the chicks without me knowing and play around in their poopy mess and/or pick one up by it's little neck.  A win for the chicks because of the previous mentioned possibility of a neck wringing and they are much calmer in this quiet environment (far from the noises that previous made them quite crazy- i.e., children, sneezes, my "Words with Friends" entries).

This weekend J is working more on the garden and on mowing the lawn (as it's been quite rainy lately.)  He and the children have also successful hunted for many more morels.  We had sauteed morels (in butter and garlic) on our cheese pizza last night; it was quite delicious.

Tonight the children are staying with my in-laws.  Mima and Papa.  Yeah!!!! Good for all of us involved.  J and I are going to try a local restaurant tonight to celebrate our 9 year anniversary.  Tomorrow we can SLEEP IN and then we are off to try one more church.

Busy, busy, busy...

Lots of changes over the last few days.  Farmer J returned to work.  I started my new job today.  And the children started school yesterday.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

There was a great storm on Sunday night.  I LOVED falling asleep to the sound of the wind ripping through the trees.  I've forgotten what it sounds like to sleep in an upstairs bedroom.  And the view from my bed is quite nice- looking into the middle and tops of trees.  Our bed only fit in one place in our room given the very low ceilings and slanted walls.  We have to sleep with our heads at the baseboard and feet at the headboard because of the sloped floors.  It's quite ridiculous!

There were a few branches down in our yard Monday morning but no major wind damage.  J returned to work but not until dropping off the boys at school.  They did great.  No tears and no real separation anxiety.  I think it helped that we had made numerous pre-visits to the school and that they were going to the same place- just different classrooms. I knew that if I dropped them off, both my youngest and I would be crying.  I picked them up at noon to let them ease into the transition of being in "school" and away from home.  When I picked them up, both were smiling and happy.  Both said they wanted to go back.  I was one happy mama! Later that day, we also hit the jackpot by being able to become new patients at a sought after dentist office with a long wait.  Very lucky.  No cavities for JJ but Pickle already has one.  Ugghh.  At least the dental office is known for being very gentle and great with kids.  And they certainly did great with JJ so we'll hope Pick Pick does well there too.

Today, I started my new job.  I'm somewhat brain dead from all the form filling out and new employee orientation.  I think I will like it there.  It's very busy and I know my time will fly by.  No real "friend" at work leads yet.  The great news.  It takes me TWO minutes to get to work.  4 minutes round-trip-- compared to my previous commute of close to 120 minutes round trip.  Very cool.

J and the children did more moral hunting today and moved the chicks (all 28 of them) from two, small brooder boxes to one very large corral (that is currently in my living room.)  Looks like the boys also thought the chicks needed some toys as I see a barn and some plastic toy food items in there as well.  Not sure how the toys mix with the poop infested wood chips.  Guess those will be hitting the trash!  You just never know what you will walk into when you return from work to your life as a farmwife/mama!

Better go-- the children will soon wake up from their nap and we have to go into town and get their new vitamins (with fluoride--since we have well water now.)

Tomorrow my parents will be visiting and bringing the children twin size beds.  Not sure how they will fit in their room but it will be nice to have bigger beds for them.

Bye for now!

Back to life, back to reality...soon!

We got a little lost finding a new church to try out... but we made it there just in time.  The church was quite nice but we all (even the children) agreed that the first church we went to (on Easter Sunday) fit our family better.  We are going to try one more church next Sunday and then hopefully settle in! On the way home, we found a garage sale.  The kids got a few toys and I found a great spring jacket for JJ for next year.  A nice little surprise- our old town never had garage sales on Sundays.  

The chicks are still doing great.  They still get quite startled when J changes their water dish or refills their food. There is definitely no science behind this but it seems like the meat bird flock seems to sleep more than the egg laying hens.  

Our youngest took a nice nap on the couch during a rain/thunderstorm while J and JJ found morals in the woods. We are having them for dinner.

Today is kind of a sad day.  We have to return to reality tomorrow.  This week, J and I go back to work (with me starting a new job.)  JJ and Pickle are heading to a new school! I hope it all goes well.  I wish this little hiatus could last a bit longer...but, we are all creatures of habit and figuring out our new routine will surely decrease some of the anxiety that has been brewing within us all.  I'm praying for easy transitions, no tears for the children when I drop them off tomorrow, a smooth return for J and that I will find at least one friend at my new job.