Cider Bend: May

 May has been busy on the farm. Mark got a good jump on our spring projects. We're trying to get as many farm projects done as we can this year.

Random Stuff:

Mark spent a weekend putting in hydrants, and frost free waterers around the property. He rented an excavator, dug deep trenches all over our property, ran water pipe to specific spots, and installed the hydrants and waterers in various locations. Our friend Phil came over and helped him, so that made things go by so much faster!

Starting the first trench.

I got back from running at noon, and it looked like giant moles had taken over the farm.

We now have a hydrant in the garden, and one over by the chicken area.

Mark had a lot of fun playing on this for the day.

The guys installed frost free waterers in the dry lot and the cow pasture. They will be a game changer, and save me so much time. No more scrubbing out water tubs each week. No hauling water. No burned up heaters and breaking up ice on the outside water buckets. The cows press the button with their noses, and the water comes out. When they are done drinking, the water seeps back down below the frostline. 

Installing the first waterer.

Digging the final trench!

My poor yard!

The farm turned so green, and our skies have been amazing.

We had a really cool fly over on Memorial Day!

We've been working on our bird area in the backyard. It's turning out so good, and I've been getting some fun birds at the feeders. This cute one loves the hummingbird feeders.

Front porch sunsets.

Sawyer has been coming over on Saturdays and working on farm projects. It's been so great! It helps us get more projects done, and it helps him bring home a little extra cash.

He came over on a very hot day and planted 13 windbreak trees. That was a big job that we're glad to have done.

Getting ready to plant!

These are fast growing poplars, so in a few years they should help a lot with shade and wind.

This was a lot of work that we are glad we didn't have to do ourselves.

Cats:

I've been trying to get a couple scrapbook pages done each Thursday. This is how it goes if Floof is around. 😅

I don't see Stormy and Cheddar as much in the summer. They come around for meals, but otherwise they are out catching mice, and doing whatever other things wild cats do. Every once in a while, Cheddar will come and make himself comfortable on the back porch. 

As soon as Mark installed a side of the garden fence, Stormy and Cheddar came to check it out.

Chickens:

The chicks aren't so little anymore, and they are about ready to be introduced to the coop and the other chickens. I'll be very happy to have them out of the barn. We thought  Chicken Butt might  be a problem chicken, and she is definitely proving us right. 😆

She is the one that jumped out of the garden box we were keeping them in, so we had to move them all into the barn stall with Tillie and Fern. Now she tries to get out of the stall.

😅😅😅

I let Tillie and Fern out with me in the mornings when I feed and do chores. Chicken Butt tries to come along too. 

The chicks started learning how to roost.

Tillie was sick for a couple weeks, and I was so stressed. I read up on a few things it could be, and a bound up egg seemed like it matched her symptoms. I gave her a couple Epsom salt soaks hoping that would do the trick. She enjoyed her warn baths, but it didn't seem to help. She eventually just started acting normal again. 

Tillie enjoying a warm soak. 😊

We had a week of rain, so I went around the property gathering up all the worms to score points with the ladies. The worms were a big hit!

We made a bigger, not as protected chicken run area. The chickens love going out in it, but I only put them out when we are out there. I'm worried about hawks trying to get them. Mark made these little shelters to put in the run so if something big flies over, the chickens will have something to go under for protection. He also made the roofs shiny, because shiny things deter hawks.

Exploring their new chicken run area. I love that they trust me enough to follow me around. 😁

Sometimes I sit in a camp chair out in the run and read. It's not a bad view!

Freda will jump in my lap to say hi. Then she'll jump down again and go back over to the others. She's so sweet.

Egg production is still going good. I'm selling a lot of eggs.

Our neighbor Larry brings over some of his left over lettuce, cabbage, bread, and stuff like that for me to feed to the chickens. The chickens are big fans.

Goats:

The goats are happy that the farm has greened up. They love their walks with snacks along the way.

Love spring walks.

I love walking the goats when the cows are in the dry lot. Everyone gets playful, and it's a fun race along the fence. Check out Ace and his buck in the middle of this video. 😂

    Opal loves to run. She is usually chasing after the donkeys hoping they will play with her, but the goats were great entertainment for her on this day.

Ginger is so pesty with the donkeys. I think she secretly just wants to hang out with them, but why does she have to be so annoying?

A friendly reminder from Dolly and Roxie to stay hydrated and get your electrolytes now that it's hot.

Cows:

There have been lots of fun changes for the cows in May. Mark installed scratching brushes in the dry lot for them. They are big fans. Opal especially loves them! 😀

Mark has been dragging the dry lot quite a bit this spring to keep the weeds down. I told him it probably wasn't a good idea to do it when the cows were in there. The first time he did it the cows basically ignored him. They must have been eating breakfast. The second time didn't go as planned. They were so curious about the tractor. At first Opal chased it, but then she created a stand off in front of it. Ace eventually joined her as well, and they decided to explore every inch of the tractor. Mark couldn't go forward or backwards. He got off and tried scaring them away, but that was useless. The cows thought it was the funnest game! 😆 Once Opal realized the tractor bucket was an amazing scratching place, it was game over. Mark didn't stand a chance. I of course just laughed my head off and filmed the whole thing. It went on for quite a long time. 😂

When Sawyer is here on Sundays, he always goes out to visit the cows. Him and Ace are buddies. Here's a video Amanda filmed of Sawyer playing with them. 😆

Now that Ace and Opal are in the dry lot full time, they are never clean. I try to brush them every other day, especially since it's shedding season. It's not doing much to get them cleaner, but they love the attention, and brushing feels so good to them. As soon as we find some spare time, they desperately need baths; that's the kicker though, we never have spare time!

When I brush Opal, she chews on my sweatshirt. 😅

I try to fill the dry lot water while I'm scooping poop, so I can get two things done at the same time each evening. Most times it doesn't go as planned because Ace likes to play in the water. This is how it usually end up.

As soon as the snow melted and the ground thawed out, Mark went to work making a pasture for the cows. The donkeys have a dry lot, but we wanted the cows to be able to graze. Not only is the grass better for them, but it will save us loads of money on hay. It got finished at the beginning of May, and the cows love it! Here's how excited they were when we opened it up to them. Nothing is cuter than happy cows frolicking in a green pasture. 😄

Opal loves attention! Ace is an attention hog, so Opal usually has to work for hers. I was keeping Ace busy, so Opal was demanding scratches from Mark. She's the cutest!

Remember how the farm was all dug up? Here is the awesome result of that. We have a frost free waterer in the dry lot and one in the pasture. It took the cows a couple days to figure them out, but now they have it down. Game changer! I'm curious to see how fast the donkeys and goats learn how to use them.

Donkeys:

Clover and Willow are my absolute favorites! I just love them to pieces! They have had a fun month with a few outings.

I get asked a lot of questions when my donkeys play. No, they are not being mean to each other. Donkeys play rough, and very similar to dogs. They love each other, and this is all play, nothing mean. No, when they jump on each other's backs, they are not trying to mate. They are both girls, and this is also just part of the way they play. There is nothing sexual about it. I even had similar questions when we first got them, but I've learned a lot by watching them, and other donkeys.

Enjoy Willow's fake butt bite. Hahaha, it's my favorite part of this whole video.

Willow still loves playing with her ball. Her control is getting a lot better. She still doesn't want anyone else touching the ball. 😅

Clover and Willow went on the best field trip. They got to go to school! Our daughter in law teaches 4th grade, and the reward for her students finishing all their state testing was a visit from the donkeys. So dang fun! It was a totally new environment for the donkeys. They are used to groups of kids, but it is usually on the farm in an environment they are familiar with. I was so impressed with how well they did! Clover especially impressed me. She has come a long ways socially over the past year, and she does really great and loves the attention she gets when she is surrounded by people. She did sneeze right in one of the kid's faces though. Hilarious!

Getting all ready for their first day of school!

The kids were so good! They all lined up and we taught them a little bit about donkeys. Then we walked Clover and Willow down the row, and the kids could pet them, and give them lots of scratches and snuggles.

I wish Mark was retired so we could do this all the time. I just love teaching people about how amazing donkeys are!

Clover charmed the principal with a kiss! Both donkeys showed off their kissing skills on some students as well. It's not every day that you get to kiss a tiny little donkey.

We took the donkeys on their first hike of the season. They did amazing!  Kelly Canyon was so crowded that we couldn't park where we had planned. We ended up at the Tablerock Campground, and had to take them on an ATV trail. The place was packed with ATVs. It was nerve wracking at the beginning, but by the end, the motorcycles didn't even phase them. Such good exposer! I was so proud of them! We also encountered mud puddles, horseback riders, and hikers. The horses were a little freaked out by the tiny donkeys. I don't think either of them had ever seen the other before. 😅

I can't even get over how tiny Clover is in the trailer. She is probably thinking, "Ummm, I think you got my car a few sizes too big." 😆

Here's a fun reel I made for my Instagram page. 😁

We went and visited the farm we got Clover and Willow from. They had two brand new baby donkeys, and a 3rd was born the night we were there. So dong cute! It's hard to even comprehend how small the babies are!

😊😊😊

They look like little twins!

Willow has been so playful lately. I wish I would have been fast enough to get this whole encounter on video. I was brushing them, and Willow kept bringing me her ball and wanting to play tug-o-war with me. It was so cute! Of course once I pulled my phone out, she stopped.

The Garden:

When you buy land that was nothing but an alfalfa field, prepping to have a garden is a lot of work! Mark rented a post ponder when he put the fence up for the cow pasture, so he got the posts up for the garden as well. Here are the steps we took in May to get our garden going. It's turning out so good! It isn't quite finished yet, but it is planted and that's the important part.

Step 1: Put in fence posts.

Step 2: Kill the alfalfa, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

Step 3: Once the alfalfa seems to be dead, mow it down super low.

Step 4: Bring loads of the compost you've been working on for two years, and dump it on the garden plot.

Step 5: Rent a big rototiller to mix the compost into the soil, and soften up the ground.

Step 6: Have a load of top soil delivered.

Step 7: Hire Sawyer and Amanda to build all the garden boxes you ordered on Amazon. These suckers took forever to build.

Dolly was supervising and making sure it was all done correctly. No cutting corners on her watch.

Step 8: Stake down all the ground cover.

Step 9: Fill the bottom half of all the garden boxes with loads from the poop pile.

Having lots of animals has come in handy!

Step 10: Cover the poop with a layer of cardboard.

All of that will compost over time, and turn into great garden soil.

Step 11: Fill the rest of the boxes with top soil.

Step 12: Plant!

We were working on the garden boxes and planting from sun up to sun down on Memorial Day.

Step 12: Finish the deer fence around the garden.

That's what we got done in May. There is plenty that still needs done, but we're off to a good start. We have such a short growing season here, that we really needed to get the planting done. In June we will keep working on the garden, and once it's mostly done, I'll make a reel to show the whole process. Mark is going to make gates, we are putting rubber bark down over the black ground cover. We are putting in a post with a retractable hose, we will add a shed and a small greenhouse, and I have some really fun ideas to decorate the garden and make it fun and inviting. We designed it big enough to be able to add stuff in the future. I already know I'm gonna want another garden box dedicated to just flowers. Stay tuned for all the fun touches we pan to add.

Here is what we have planted for this season:

Garden boxes:

1. Leeks, green onions, purple onions, regular onions

2. Tomatoes, brussel sprouts

3. Cabbage, lettuce

4. Radishes, cucumbers

5. Sugar snap peas, jalapeños, bell peppers

6. Beets, carrots

On the ground:

Corn, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, zucchini, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe 

Here's hoping for a fun gardening experience and a good harvest.

We've gotten a lot of big projects done this spring, and we have plenty more lined up for summer. It's so fun to watch this place transform before our eyes.