A day (or 2) off

With all the moving we've been doing, this past week I decided to take a day and just have fun with the boys. I think we all needed it for our sanity! I took them to the beach and built sand and rock tunnels, and we wached Daddy making hay (Gus got to ride again!) and we played outside in the sandbox.  Then on Sunday we went into Hayward for the muskey fest parade where Gus got to ride in one of the fire trucks with some friends of ours!

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes!

We’ve been pretty busy around here lately moving! It’ll be a few weeks yet before we actually live at the new place, but we wanted to get as much as we could there (unnecessary items) so it isn't as overwhelming when we do actually move.  Plus being 26 weeks pregnant right now, things have to be taken a little slower ha-ha :) Most of the time I feel a bit useless since I can’t do any lifting and such; I just put things in boxes and tell people where to put them.

Its also going slower than most people move because we have a farm to run as well, and things such as making hay have to get done when the weather is good! Gus got to ride a few rounds with daddy while Gideon wached, very fun!!

My mom was able to come up for a few days this week and it was so nice to have extra hands! She did a wonderful job of making our yard at our current residence look wonderful! And between us two and the help of my mother in law we got a ton of things moved!

So far the boy have been really good about the move, even with a few nights of less sleep and all the excitement. I think it helps that they love being at the farm where we’re moving to, but it’ll still be an adjustment.

Most nights I feel the same as Gideon looks in this picture :D he just zonked out after we got back from moving things!  

Bebop-a-rebop Rhubarb

Every spring is the same, i'm overwhelmed by tons of rhubarb! I forgot to take a picture of the plants, but i think there is about 80 feet of mature rhubarb (not to mention the baby stuff!). Its a good thing everyone in the family loves it so much :)

We picked 5 grocery bags full the other day and ended up with 5 very full gallon bags after it was all chopped up. Upon my husbands sugestion i decided to try canning it this year as rhubarb sauce.

My sister in law helped me out with the canning (thanks becca!!). i think the sauce turned out pritty good, and it should taste wonderful over ice cream or pancakes!

We ended up with 15 pints and 1 quart of sauce, but that wasnt all of the rhubarb, i ran out of sugar haha. As you can see i also made a pie yesterday, yummie!

Planting

What better way to start a blog from a farmers wife prospective than the garden! Here in the northwoods of wisconsin this year has gotten off to a slow start. We've just come out of 8, yes 8 continuious months with snow in them, so the garden is a bit late in planting this year, but realy not by much. So far, 2 days into June, the only snow we've seen is the fluff off the popple trees :) We always start our garden inside sometime around Febuary since the peppers take a while to get going, and the tomatoes get started a short time after that. I dont have a picture of the plants in the kitchen, but believe me when i say i'm always glad when its time to plant outside so i can get rid of the jungle in the house :D 

I always love the way the garden looks when its freshly tilled and all fluffy looking, just wating for the plants. I'm always filled with hopes of beautiful bounties of veggies at this pint. My 2 boys (ages 2 and 4) are taking advantage of the nice fluffy dirt here before its full of seeds and they cant play in there anymore.

My baby pepper plants all ready and wating to be planted! It probably looks like a ton of plants since its only peppers in this picture, and you'd be right, i didnt count them, but there's a lot as you can see. I guess thats the nature of a farm garden. This garden will aslo, if all goes well, feed us untill next year, plus i always like to have extra to share :)

Our 4 year old helping daddy plant the potatoes :) I always love waching my sons with there dad, expecialy in a setting like this. They just soak up the experience and learn so much (plus its always fun to play in the dirt!).

Finishing up the potatoes and all done! No, the white stuff isnt snow, haha, we bed the peppers with shredded paper, it keeps the weeds down and the moisture in! The 2 sort of grassy rows are winter onions and baby rhubarb plants, we'll be working on getting all that grass out over the summer. This years garden consists of peppers, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, lettus, green beens, potatoes and broccoli! I'm a bit sad that we dont have peas this year, but not that sad ;)
Its been said that you can't be a farmer with out faith and hope; i'm a firm believer of that saying and i think it also goes with a gardener too. You cant farm or plant with out the faith that God will provide the right amount of rain and sun to grow the plants, and grass for the animals and provide for us.