Lily Had Her Babies!

Yes, I said babies! She had a little boy (the brown one) and a little girl (the grey one). All are doing well!

Happenings on Decker's Acres

Raggets invaded the backyard yesterday morning looking for a bit of green grass to eat. Chris saw them first thing in the morning. Of course he let the dogs out, and they scattered. It has been rather warm lately, and at least half of the snow is gone. It has been wonderful! Today it is about 51 degrees.

This morning I went out to the barn and found Lily with her udder stretched to its limits! Hopefully she'll be giving birth soon. She is stretched to her little limits. Lucy is still fat, too, but by the looks of things she has longer to go.

Preparing for Gardening Season

Did you know that gardening season starts in March and doesn't end until Christmas? I was just reading up about brussel sprouts and rethinking just which garden I was going to plant them in (I decided that Garden 2, for the squash, pumpkins, pickles and cucumbers would be best), and learned that you can continue to harvest right on into December. It's the same thing for Kale. I suppose I'm just going to have to find that out for myself. A couple of years ago, I planted Kale and it grew quite large and was very beautiful. I harvested it before the first frost, not knowing that I had even a couple of months to harvest it and couldn't get it all snipped and cleaned and par-boiled to freeze until most of it had really started to wilt and die and smell bad. It was pretty pathetic. Right after that I found out that I could have left it in the garden until after the snow flew, although January's temperatures would have just frozen the great green stuff to bits. Now, since brussel sprouts are planted so late in the spring, I can get them in among my squash and pumpkins. Brussel sprouts take up quite a bit of room. I'm really looking forward to giving them a shot! They are one of my most favorite vegetables. Carrots are great, too - and garden carrots are absolutely the best!

Now, about that little greenhouse I was thinking of building instead of waiting for a free shed to dismantle and reconstruct: I'm going to not build it. It really is too small. I have my eyes on the shed variety and there is someone with one that I like that I saw as I was cruising the countryside one day. Perhaps I'll have to stop by and see how it was constructed. I may just have to build the frames and floor myself without having the benefit of picking up a free shed. We'll see. First I'll get the 4-tier greenhouse and plant that on my deck until I'm able to get the deck stained.

Also, the doggone goats are still very pregnant. Or their just extremely fat and faking it!

Getting Ready for Spring

I'm slowly allowing spring fever to take hold and settle in. It doesn't help me keep the fever reined in with weather in the 40's. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 50 degrees! I know we'll probably get more snow, but for now, I'm a little bit excited. I'm trying real hard to not get carried away. Last night I made some progress with my calendar and wrote down what gets planted on what dates on the calendar. I still have to get that into my phone. Today, in the GRIT magazine from 2008 that my in-laws gave to me, I found the instructions on how to make a small greenhouse. It is exactly what I'm looking for! I am so excited. Unfortunately, the instructions in the magazine didn't include the beginning which told how to make the floor and foundation. I used my computer savvy and looked up the May/June 2008 issue of GRIT online, and lo, and behold, I found it and was able to print out the article! I'm so excited about this I could just about jump for joy! My previous plan was to refurbish a shed, taking off the siding and replacing it with 2 glass panels (and more as I found them) from an old sliding glass door. I do believe I'll use those panels for this greenhouse so it's not all greenhouse plastic. I also read up on sunflowers and I think I'll try to plant a large clump of them. I read another article on tomatoes that included a section on getting the seeds from the tomato plants ready to plant the following spring. All in all, it was a rather productive 1/2-hour lunch.

Walk with the Dogs - Saturday

The snow was knee-deep in the field yet, but that didn't stop Harley from bounding like a deer through the white stuff! Kayleigh stayed pretty much in my tracks. Luke walked in Kellie's tracks, but would often walk in Harley's as well.

Goats, especially Brian, love bagels!

Friday, we were all in the barn checking out Lucy, who wasn't getting up to greet us. We thought maybe, just maybe, she was going into labor. Then I gave her a little bit more hay, and she was up. Chris was giving Brian some pieces of bagels. That goat was practically crawling over the pen to get them! His favorite flavors are: Multi-grain and Asiago Cheese!

Had a Snow Day Yesterday!

I had a snow day yesterday. I couldn't make it to work. Chris had to go. I did spend most of my morning helping my brother out who got stuck half off my driveway and into the swamp with his plow truck! Not a hard thing to do in my yard. I'm so glad he helps us out!

Lucy and Lily are still very pregnant! it is so hard to wait for them to give birth!