Wildlife

Our chicken experience has been a fun one! We have 5 very entertaining chickens--one rooster in the bunch (that we've discovered so far, at least...) and 4 hens. Each one of them has their own very distinct personality! Tom welded together a fantastic frame for our chicken pen and we covered it in chicken wire. We still have a bit of time before the hens start laying, so he's just begun to put together some nesting boxes. Can't wait for some fresh, homegrown eggs! These two are Romeo and Juliet, and the remaining 2 chickies that we hatched ourselves. They are the most inquisitive, funny things. We usually let the chickens roam around the backyard in the mornings and evenings when we're home and they follow us around like little, lost puppies.

The three other chickens we have are bantams, although I have figured out what kind yet. I bought them from a local feed store when they were hatchlings (to supplement our sad little flock when tragedy struck!) They have been dubbed Oreo, Coco and the littlest roo ever (but with a newly found mighty voice!) Clementine!

The girls love spend hours chasing them around and vice versa!

Falling behind

These summer months have kept us so busy and I've fallen behind in updating you all to the happenings of Hartland! I was surprised that my last post was still in June--where on earth did July go? I wanted to concentrate on the garden for this post, at least. The days have been HOT and dry but our garden has persevered! These are some of my San Marzano tomatoes--my garden pride and joy this year! This was my first experience with this variety and I'll definitely be saving seeds for next year. San Marzano's have an extra meaty flesh that is great for saucing. Whenever we harvest these I just bag them into the freezer. At the end of the tomato season, I'll make (hopefully) a winter's worth of yummy sauces and salsa!

Here's a snap of some of the gorgeous red peppers we have growing--they love our hot, sunny weather!

Carrots! This was the first year that we've had a nice looking carrot crop. I have no idea what I did differently this time around, but they are so tasty and beautiful--and we have a bumper crop of them! These carrots are probably the girl's favorite as a grab and go snack from the garden when we're working or playing outside. And most of the time, I can get Camryn to wash the dirt off of them (oh well, dirt has nutrients, right?)

A side shot of a row of our tomatoes and Zoey's sunflower.

The sunflower that Zoey planted from seed and has diligently taken care of! The birds have started eating the seeds produced from it and she likes the idea of taking care of them.

One of my heirloom Cherokee Purple tomato plants--another experiment for me this year. They're not quite as prolific as I'd hoped, but they sure are pretty!

Some climbing cucumbers and Tromboncino squash. We've trained the squash to climb the fencing of our dog run.

The Tromboncino squash has been really fun to watch grow. It has big, bright green leaves and giant yellow flowers. The fruit itself is a winter squash that has a long, narrow neck. My longest one so far is 29 inches! I'll have to get some better pictures for the full effect.

Can you tell that we love sunflowers here in Hartland? Here's another addition to brighten up our backyard.

Well, it's not really a garden picture, but I had to share my Cams checking on her chickies!

Happy Birthday Zoey!

My beautiful girl is 5 years old--so hard to believe! We had a great water party over the weekend with our slip n slide, sprinklers, water balloons and splash pools! The weather was nice and muggy, so cooling down was quite a treat. Really wasn't too much of a theme going on this year. She chose animal invitations, wanted a princess castle cake, and a Hannah Montana pinata. What a combo :)

Above is everyone gathered 'round the castle singing to the birthday girl! I love all of her relationships with her little friends--she is so sweet natured and her imagination is fantastic!

What do you think of the castle cake we made? It's rough that our girlie can't have a pink castle, but I think the yellow came out pretty good. Zoey was ecstatic about it, and that's an A in my book!

Water baby Cams playing in the yard for the party. What kid can resist running through the sprinklers?

Kleine Schätze

Just wanted to show off my little ladybugs--we're having a great summer! The days have been pretty warm now in June, so we try to stay indoors for most of the afternoon hours. That means playing and projects! Here's Zoey practicing writing her name and the alphabet for Kindergarten! She is doing such a great job! Camryn loves to play with Mommy's guitar--maybe she'll want to learn with me soon! I took a video of her a couple of days ago strumming the guitar on the floor and belting out 'want to be a rockstar...want to be a rockstar!' Just too funny!

Chicken Business

Our little chickies continue to grow and make us laugh every day--they are 5 weeks old now! We have now moved them from our brooder (dog crate) in the kitchen, to a small A frame chicken run in the backyard. For about a week I was bringing the dog crate outside during the day and taking the bottom out so that the chicks could scratch and forage through the grass. Teaching my chickens to be chickens...HA! They are so entertaining and the girls absolutely love them. Our cat, Biggs, checking out the day old chicks. He would spend hours just watching, probably dreaming of a little, fluffy snack! He doesn't bother now, they would probably gang up on him now!

This was one of their first adventures outside! Look how much they've grown!

In the evenings when we can be out in the backyard with them, we let the chicks out to wander. They always stay in their little pack, moving from tree to tree. The above pic is of the chicken tractor tilted up on its side, until it's time for bedtime!

Canning Day

The garden is growing and producing! In past years I've used our freezer in preserving what we harvest, but this year I have been doing more research on canning. Truly, canning seems kind of like a lost art. Earlier this week was my first canning experience and I had a blast! My Great Grandma Ann canned all the time, and one thing in particular I remember was her watermelon rind pickles. Sweet, sour, crunchy, and soft all in one bite. For my family reading this--you remember, I know! So drawing from that, I found a recipe online (I love recipezaar.com) for watermelon rind pickles. I couldn't get ahold of my mom at the time for the family recipe, but these turned out great as well. Can't wait to try new things as more things are ready for harvest in the garden!
Above are the watermelon rinds softening up a bit and sterilizing my lids.

Giving the first batch a nice hot water bath! This giant enamel pot was used by my Grandma and Grandpa back in the day!

Filling my jars--do you see all of my zucchini and Delicata squash in the background?

My project finished! On the left I canned some zucchini pickles and the right are the watermelon rind pickles. They both tasted great and I'm sure it will only get better after curing for a few weeks!

Busy Weekend!

This last weekend we were surprised (a fantastic surprise!) by our Tio, Tia and cousins coming for a visit to Hartland! We always have such a great time when we're together--the combo'ed menagerie of all our kiddos always makes me smile! We had quite an adventure at the big air show in town with jets, snow cones and air pirates...And of course I forgot my camera! It did get pretty warm (I'm still trying to recover from a toasty sunburn on the back of my calves!)

Afterwards we all needed a cool down so the slip-n-slide and kiddie pool were hauled out to relax and rejuvenate! Here are some pics of the mischief makers! Oh how I love them all :) Above is Alexis taking a break from the slip-n-slide.

Here's Justin taking the scooter for a cruise!

Alissa hanging out with her Daddy (Our Tio)

The kids have fun...I get my grass watered!

My little Cams giving a big cheese for the camera!