Suprise!

It has been the inside joke here in Hartland, about my egg-less chicken adventure since we hatched the 4 little chickies last April (2 of which met an early end, the other 2 being roosters) I purchased 3 bantam chicks to add to my sad little flock and ALL 3 turned out to be roosters as well...We are now rooster free, and have a flock of 6 hens that came to live with us late in the summer of 2009. Four of them were too young to lay, and the other 2 were older hens but molting. And so Hartland was still egg-less. The days have warmed and finally one of my sweet Aracaunas gave us a surprise beautiful green egg!

Since that day, about a week and a half ago, "Flower" has inspired her comrades and each day we have been blessed with 3-4 homegrown eggs! The eggs are so much better tasting than store bought white eggs, even my 3 year old could tell a difference! I plan on selling extras that we can't keep up with--I already have people lined up from my work wanting to buy!

On the homefront

Spring is well on its way here in Hartland and we are so ready for it! The different tomato and pepper seedlings are several inches tall now and hopefully will be in the ground in about 3-4 weeks. Fingers crossed! Today, little C and I planted beets, Bib lettuce, Swiss chard and carrots into one of our raised beds for some early spring greens. This raised bed also holds our garlic, yellow and red onions, and Egyptian Walking onions planted late last year.

My wonderful hubbie just finished building me two new planting beds out of railroad ties over the weekend, they are both 3 x 16 ft. It's going to be a great addition to our family's gardening square footage, as well as beautifying our back yard. It was fun to involve our whole family in preparing the new beds, I love to see my girls with their hands in the dirt!

I recently ordered 2 new apple tree varieties to add to our little orchard. They are both antique varieties and will join the 4 peach, 1 apple, and 2 pear trees that we already have. All of our trees are young, but I'm hoping to see some fruit this season! Walking through them yesterday, I noticed that the peach trees are loaded with blossoms just about ready to make their debut. Anticipation! One other indulgence I'm expecting is a Meyer lemon tree that should arrive with the apple trees. It's my plan to plant the lemon in a large (hopefully movable) pot for the back patio. That way during the winter months I can bring the tree inside when we're expecting frosts. Our little homestead continues to grow and we are so grateful for God's plentiful blessings!