June on the Farm - Good Morning Shelly

Phew! June was a doozy! Jam packed with life! There are about a million photos on this post because there were so many things going on in June and I wanted to document it.

Jershon’s parents were able to visit us for 3 weeks and it was so fun to see them. Because they were here and could hold Crosby, in the evenings Jershon and I tried to get a lot accomplished.

The highlights:

We transferred the bees from the swarm trap to the hive boxes. That was quite the adventure.

We got a pig! … and with plans to get sheep at the end of the month (which was planned before even getting the pig), we had to get some fencing up and build some little shelters.

We tried to get the garden a little more under control. Our garden looks crazy when you look at it from a distance… lots of weed and grass patches where we ran out of time with covering with wood chips a few months ago… but if you look closely we have quite a few fruit, vegetable, and flower plants growing strong.

We got sheep!

We moved the chicks outside.

Another big highlight from June was watching the fireflies light up our land every night.

Aida caught (and ate) a rabbit. Sad for the bunny. Good for our garden.

There is a random nectarine growing on our tree. We didn’t think we’d get fruit on any (except maybe the fruit cocktail tree) of our fruit trees this year. I guess we’ll see if this one continues to grow to maturity or not.

I love looking out our window at the garden and pasture.

Jershon’s dreams came true when he rented a skidsteer so he could clear some brush in preparation for putting up fencing. He was like a kid in a candy store that day. haha.

The chicks were quickly outgrowing their brooder box.

Discovered that we have 3 mulberry trees with lots of mulberries all over them. We harvested some and they tasted pretty good.

5 eggs again… we were hopeful that these had a chance of hatching and maturing before they got eaten by something again. … spoiler alert. These didn’t make it either.

We have a lot of these iridescent green beetles.

Crosby has spent a lot of time in this wrap (both inside and outside). Good thing he loves it. He takes some of his best naps when I’m wearing him and I can use both hands. Win win!

Merv kept getting attacked by flies and they were biting his nose and making it bleed. We thought that maybe he had something on him that was attracting them so we decided to give him a bath one night. He wasn’t a big fan of it and he looked like a drowned rat by the end. haha.

the bees started bearding on the outside of the swarm box so we figured they were getting crammed in there and it was time to move them to the hive box.

The chicks were finally old enough to move outside! We separated them off from the big chickens for now until they are big enough to hold their own.

This hibiscus plant has flowers open and close pretty much everyday.

we had a few severe thunderstorms in June with heavy rains and strong winds… but thankfully no tornados.

Decided to buy a pig off craigslist and we had 2 days to get some fencing put up.

I bought a few farm outfits for Crosby and he looks so cute in them. Little farmer boy.

we didn’t get a huge strawberry harvest this year since it was year 1 for the plants, but we did get a few. (not just the ones in this photo… we harvested a few other times as well) …we also can’t guarantee that many didn’t get eaten by the cats or birds before we got to them.

racing against the clock to get the fence up and small shelter built before the pig was delivered.

Remi the pregnant pig joined Lille Myregård.

In the morning we discovered that Remi had escaped in the middle of the night. You can read more about that here.

We were entertained quite a bit by watching Remi eat food scraps everyday.

Evelyn rushed up to my room one afternoon and asked to use my phone to take a picture of Aida because she said she had never seen him sleeping in this position/location before. haha.

When you have so much going on all at once, you have to put flags next to your plants so you know what’s a plant and what’s a weed. haha.

In preparation for the sheep, we started moving Merv outside to the pasture during the day (and eventually at night). So far he has done really well and he’s loving the (relative) freedom compared to his crate and the back yard tie down.

Discovered a little bit of wild asparagus growing in the pasture closest to the garden.

checked on the bluebird nest. Eggs still there. We were just waiting for them to hatch.

Farm kid entertainment… watching your pig eat food scraps.

taking walks around the yard with the grandparents.

Remi and Merv get along well… as long as Remi isn’t being fed when Merv is around.

Next year (when we aren’t starting a million things at once plus having a baby at the same time), this garden is going to be a little more under control. haha.

We put the chickens in with Remi and Merv one morning to see how they would do. Both Remi and Merv didn’t bother them at all but the chickens were a little nervous so eventually they just crawled back under the gate and came back out. haha.

the girls picked these flowers from our yard one day and put the min the school room

chicks roosting on top of their little coop

storm clouds rolling in right during sunset time.

Jershon’s dad took on the project of clearing out the tree fort area and it is so spacious now!

We continue to find buried bricks in the tree fort. I think they were dumped here when the house was built in the 1970s.

Aida caught a mouse in the garden but then proceeded to just play with it forever and it escaped into a hole in the yard.

one day while checking on the bees, Jershon noticed that they had cut off all the rubber bands (that we used to hold the comb onto the new frames when we transferred them to the hive box) and carried them out of the hive. Bees are so smart! There are a bunch laying on the ground in this photo.

Spent a few hours weeding the garden and even though it wasn’t 100% done, it was waaaayyy better than before. … but now it’s been about 10 days since then and it’s getting wild again already.

When I got ready to caption this photo just now, I had the thought “this reminds me of the secret garden.” 🙂 This is looking towards the entrance of the tree fort.

We build really fancy shelters around here. haha. This is Merv’s tarp shelter. He likes it, so that’s what matters.

I took this photo in the middle of the day when a storm was rolling in so it was pretty dark outside (and therefore inside when the lights were off) compared to other days at the same time.

After another heavy thunderstorm, we were rewarded with a super pretty double rainbow! Pictures can never capture a rainbow accurately. It was way more amazing in real life.

you can see the double rainbow in this one… although the second one was quiet a bit more faint.

Had to take the carseats out to prep the van for picking up the sheep the next morning. The kittens decided that they would take over the comfortable places to take a nap. Aida is in a funny position here because he found a starburst (wrapped) in the carseat and in the process of playing with it he dropped it and it fell under the carseat. Every time he would lean back his weight would make the carseat tip back just enough for him to see the starburst… but when he would lean forward to get it, his weight would shift and the carseat would lean forward again covering it back up. It was pretty funny to watch. haha. …and yes… I guess am that person now who writes an entire paragraph about their cat playing with a starburst in a carseat. hahaha.

On my birthday, we got the sheep! What 33 year old doesn’t want 3 sheep for their birthday? haha.

Went to check on the eggs again to see if they had hatched yet… nope. looks like they got eaten again (and mama bluebird had to lay a new batch) because there were only 4 this time. Poor birdies. I really hope they are able to have a successful batch sometime soon!

the Japanese beetles keep attacking our cherry trees. We have been trying to check them more regularly and take them off (putting them in buckets of soapy water)

Evelyn ran into my room one evening and asked for my phone so she could take a picture of the sunset out her window… not the best photo because of the screen, but I love that my kids notice the beauty around us and want to capture it.

We had a super heavy rainstorm a few days ago and our road turned into a river for a little while. They even closed a section of the road until it cleared up.

Remi’s udders seemed to be getting really big…

End of June Egg Count: 414

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