Been Busy here on the farm, no time to post until now...because it's snowing! UGH!

The farm has been super busy lately, with lots going on and not much in the way of free time! All sunlight hours are consumed outdoors (I would say "daylight" but daylight savings has kicked in and mornings now begin again BEFORE the sun comes up! UGH! But that's a rant for another day.)

Here's what progress looks like on Wayward Pine Farm (the greenhouse):

And a week later:

We enjoyed several warm days last week, varying from about 45 to almost 80 during the day. It was wonderful! I was able to get soooo much done and working in the greenhouse was so nice! I even had to open the vents for several hours to let some humidity out. :) The tomatoes, peppers & eggplant are growing nicely. You can see the tomatoes are in varying stages of development, from just tiny seedlings to about 6"-8" tall. This is because the seeds I started in January grew too quickly and then many died before the weather was nice enough to transplant them into bigger pots (they were indoors in the mini greenhouse and the new, larger greenhouse hadn't been set up yet).

The newer seedlings are from the second set of seeds I started in about mid-February. The peppers and eggplant that are growing were all started in mid-January, too. I have not had success getting my second set of seeds to sprout yet...I am hoping they sprout soon, because they REALLY need a lot of head-start growth before going outdoors in May, plus I hope to have extras to sell at Farmers Market. So far I will have PLENTY of Roma tomatoes to sell! I also was able to get some of the larger herbs transplanted to full-sized pots and I imagine they will really take off now! I can't wait to have fresh basil, teragon, sage & cilantro again!!!

Here is what else we have going here on the farm, new baby chicks! Shannon bought 15 or 16, she lost count. LOL! I have 10. We'll add my 10 to the current flock and hers she plans to raise and sell, except maybe the one bantam she purchased. We'll see how the little thing does with my giant Brahmas. LOL! It's going to look like a dwarf compared to them, especially the roosters! We have quite an assortment, some brown leghorns, some barred rocks & barred Plymouth rocks, and we will have to wait to see what about 10 of them are after they feather out, as they were listed as "Rainbow Assortment" bred for good egg laying capabilities. This will be really good for our hen production.

We seem to add a new customer every week or so, and have quickly run into production problems...or lack of production, I should say. I think only about half my hens are in production right now. I do hope that with more warmer days than cold, we will soon see production back up to a dozen a day or more. On a very positive note, the ducks have started laying again!!! I am hoping we'll be able to set some eggs this spring. Ducklings are SOOO adorable (and messy)! :)

On the house-building end...we spent an outrageous sum of money last weekend (about $600) getting wiring, boxes, covers, outlets, etc., to wire the crawlspace for lighting and start the downstairs wiring. Wiring & plumbing have to be finished before the spray-foam guys come in and spray the walls with closed-cell foam insulation. Jason has spent several evenings after work getting started on that and he put the boys to work drilling and learning how to wire. It's a good skill for boys to know (girls, too, but Shannon has been too busy). My dryer now has a "to code" outlet, wiring run in the south wall, wiring run & connected for the pellet stove and down the middle wall. we have lighting in a few rooms on the 1st floor and one light bulb in the crawlspace. LOL! I guess the guys didn't get as much done down there as they intended, but they did get the crawlspace "hatch" constructed. It is in the middle of the mud room floor and will be the access point for the utilities (shut offs, water heater, heat pump, A/C connections) as well as some shelving we plan to put up for food-storage purposes, like extra canned goods, long-term storage items and root crops (potatoes, carrots, etc.) that do well in a cool, dark environment. I'll have to take some pictures when the weather clears up. Right now we have nearly white-out conditions! UGH! And yesterday was SOOOO nice. :(

Well, enjoy the day indoors everyone! I plan to read a book and catch up on episodes of Sleepy Hollow.
Oh, and on another note, I have accepted a position in the garden center of our local Walmart store, so I will be ONE busy girl this summer! Work, Farmers Market, church, and on my off-days, still babysitting my favorite little boy, Brantley, who enjoyed the baby swing I set up for him this week. I really enjoy watching him enjoying the farm life...the chickens & cats especially interest him and make him giggle. I wish I'd taken a picture of him excitedly watching the baby chicks running around the brooder yesterday. :)