Our First Truck

We finally bought our first truck, a 2006 Toyota Tundra.  It's a big boy (or maybe girl - we haven't decided yet).  Now we can transport livestock and haul all of our farm-related materials.  The truck's first job was to carry trash bags of leaves back home from the B&B that we were staying at, near the town we got the truck, on our first baby-free weekend.  Anyway, now we feel like real farmers.  :-)

In other news, the barn and first goat pasture were completed across the street, and the goats and dogs were moved in.  The goats have done a great job clearing the brush, and we are working on expanding their pasture to give them access to more green forage.  Unfortunately, we lost another kid: one of Morena's boys.  He had hurt his leg, but seemed to be on the mend, when he turned up dead in the middle of the pasture one evening without any marks on him.  Xander appears to be doing quite well, but the 3yo female dog we got back in April isn't working out.  She doesn't stay inside the fencing, and it turns out she isn't a purebred Great Pyrenees.  She appears to be part Golden Retriever, which helps explains her friendliness and desire to be with people.  She's a sweet dog, but we are trying to find her a new home.

The chickens are doing well, and egg production has been good.  The Dominicker hen went broody, so we have her sitting on some eggs in one of the chicken tractors.  The hatch date is Father's Day, and I'm pretty sure she hatched out chicks on Father's Day last year too.  We are looking into getting a snake repellent to keep snakes from eating eggs and some of the baby chicks again this year.

The garden is coming along - somewhat slowly this year, but it is coming.  I grew sugar snap peas this year, and we got a good harvest from them.  The vines are about done, but the cucumber plants are eager to take over the trellis. The carrot crop was really good this year too.  I've had a hard time with carrots in the past, and it seemed like they weren't going to germinate well this year either, but they finally came up and thrived.  I've got lots of peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, melon, and squash planted.  This year, I planted most of my viney squash at a friend's place, where they have lots of room to roam.  The sweet potatoe slips are due to arrive this weekend, and my luffa plants still aren't in the ground yet either.   I am in the process of harvesting my first crop of lavender, which is exciting.  Small bundles of lavender are hanging all around the house.  I am vending at the farmers' market again this summer, but this time, I am sharing a booth with my friend, The Frantic Organtic.  Together, we are the manic mommy contigent, as we both have 2 year olds.

 -Annie