Here are my two new gardening toys:

This is the greenhouse my husband is making me. We are bit behind schedule what with my wrist breaking and the business move getting in the way. But, it's coming along and I will have the greenhouse for the rest of this season and each season to come. I want to make starts and also just extend our season.

This is my new garbage-can compost-bin. I will take kitchen scraps and leaves from bushes and trees and place it in there. I'll have two compost bins - so I'll rotate what is the ready compost and where I put my scraps. I'll use it for compost for my purposes. My husband makes compost for our garden from steer manure. This is for my own purpose around the yard. Also it's a good thing to do with kitchen scraps to reduce our garbage.

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It's a sunny day on the farm. Here are some pics.

I'm not sure which black calf these pictures are of. I'm guessing the boy. He is very friendly - so he's usually in front. I can't really tell them apart - except if they are next to each other the boy is taller and has a leaner frame.

These lizards did a good job camoflauging themselves don't you think?

Anyone know what kind of lizard this is? My girls want to know.

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Don't these eggs look delicious. It's spring and our chickens are getting lots of fresh, green pasture. We allow them to free range them all year round. It was amazing when it snowed, the eggs literally turned to looking like store bought eggs overnight. Right now our eggs are so orangey. Can you see it in the picture? Our chicken wake up bright and early in the morning and the lighter it gets the more you can hear them cackling, "let me out! let me out! I want to free range!"

Much more orangey than the organic, "free range", flax-seed fed eggs I used to buy from the grocery. We do feed ours some flax-seed too just for good measure. But, mostly, I tell you, they get that good Omega 3 from the grass. That orangey color are the Omega 3 fats. Good for you and yummy too!

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Ah, the roses are getting buds. And, I've noticed everyone is starting to prune them. I have fallen in love with roses. Not that my roses are that beautiful. Yet, I have studied them the past few years both through book learning and real life observation.

I have a secret to tell you. I have an unusual hobby. I remember being in Highschool and being asked what my hobbies were. It was a ? I felt badly about it, because I couldn't think of the answer to it. But, now, I think I could come up with 100 hobbies.

So, my hobby? I love to prune. Roses. Rhodies. Trees. Kiwis. Grapes.

People are funny about roses. It seems to me there is a lot of misinformation about roses - or a lot of mystique. But, really, roses are really pretty easy. Here are couple of pointers:

Pruning

• You don't have to take roses down to nothing. Leave more canes. The only reason you need to cut the canes off is to cut off dead material, and to provide for more air. How do you know if it's dead and diseased and needs to be taken off? Well, basically you need to take off canes if they are black or mushy. That's it. Now, I had one bush this year that I was disappointed in. I just bought it last year and I love the roses on it. It was a Jackson's Perkins (a good name). Most of its canes were black - so I had to take it back to three or four inches.
• Cut for airflow and to avoid criss-crossing branches. This is always the rule of pruning. Cut extra branches off to clear up more space in the middle of the plant and allow for airflow and sunlight.
• Cut your roses at an angle down from your bud. This allows for the sap to flow away from the bud and to seal the cut properly.

Other Tips

• Roses love lots of light. Plant in full sun.
• Roses love nitrogen and they like the soil around them to be loose. At the beginning of Spring, turn some soil up at their base and give them some compost and fertilizer.
• Roses like regular, deep watering - but don't prefer the sprinkler. Water them by soaker hose or by hand once a week during dry times (twice a week during hot, hot weather). Sprinklers spread fungal diseases, so avoid them.
• Take double leader roses down to one bud when they have two or three buds if you want more "long roses" type roses or more evenly distributed roses. They are cinch to pop off when the flower buds are newly formed. For fuller looking roses bushes leave the extra buds.
• Treat regularly (every week) for black spot during the main growing season. You can use organic fungal treatment or a baking soda/water mix to treat it. Google it!
• Make sure and remove your trimmings from the base of your rose bush. This is another way your roses get black spot (the black spots on your leaves that cause the foliage to fall off).

Here are my roses I've just pruned. I'll post updates as the season progresses.

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So, I am addicted to Photography. A good addiction right?

Here are some photos from our farm today (in the "snow").

Abigail (1) Watching The Snow

Natalie (7) Watching The Snow

All winter we have Juncos and Chickadees and an occasional Blue Jay and Northern Flicker. Lately we've been seeing Robins, Goldfinches (they aren't gold yet), House Finches, and Spotted Towhees. But today in the snow, there were mostly Juncos. Juncos are easy to get close to, which is nice.

Here are the two black calves - Blackberry and "Doesn't Get A Name"

Our new calf Jewel. Now you can see her true color. And, as you can see she is as sweet as can be.

Jewel again.

Jewel and I.

This is Ruby, Jewel's Momma.

Ruby & Dora Ann. Dora Ann is the next Momma (due in about a month and a half).

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She's on the ground...that's what you say when a baby calf is born. We've been waiting for this little one for quite a while. Her mom has looked ready to go for weeks, but with no clear labor. We've been checking on her two, three times a day to check for signs of labor. Jon checked on her at midnight last night.

I was up early this morning taking Natalie to soccer and I saw a little red calf in the field. I counted the black ones - yep there were still two black calves. I yelled, "Jon! There's a calf on the ground." "Is it red?" "Yes, it's red." "And, it's head just moved." Down went my husband to check on the calf. She looks good. You can see she is cute. We haven't seen her nurse. But, she probably nursed before we ever saw her. We get a little nervous because we lost two calves last year. But, she looks spry. I'm sure she'll be just fine.

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Here is our Bull Calf. He was born Saturday at about 10:00. We aren't sure on that though, as my DH was not home at the time. The other calf was born a week earlier and she weighed 74 lbs. We are naming her Blackberry. We still haven't named the two black Momma Cows and the one Red Angus Momma Cow, if anybody has any name suggestions for them. Our calf last year was named Annabelle. She is getting really big now, but she is still tame as can be. We won't name this Bull Calf, well because he is a boy and he may become meat not too long in the future from now.

Here are some pictures from today:

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Here are two more pictures of our first baby calf of the year.

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Little Calf was just born at 1:41 this morning. And she is a girl, which means I can get attached. Yeah

 
This was the Momma Cow a few days ago looking longingly out of her pen.

These pictures aren't my greatest. It was very dark.

Here was the Momma Cow during active labor tonight (before the calf was born).

Baby Calf.

I woke the two older girls (Mariah - 10 and Natalie - 7) to go see the birth. They both appreciated it a lot and were very thankful.

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