We have strawberries!

Our tractor-tire strawberry patch, holding a measly 5 plants is producing like crazy right now!

 

 

Our new patch, holding about 25 plants, is getting off to a good start with lots of new growth, however I don't have any current pictures. 

Parlor Room: The Demolition Stage

We started work on the parlor room this past week. The parlor is actually the front/living room, where the front door enters into. It's a room of about 15x15.

We began to take the walls down to their original, solid wood, tongue and groove planks, which proved to be harder than it was upstairs in the girls' rooms. Here in this room, they had covered the wood walls with wallpaper, then sheetrock, then wood paneling. All attached by an assortment of glue, and millions of nails. It's proving to be quite time-consuming, though not necessarily hard work to remove it all.

We finished taking all of the old ceiling tiles down as well, and removed all the staples,
which was an easy job compared to the walls.

 

We're not quite half done with this stage yet, but we are so looking forward to seeing the finished room, with a new coat of paint, new window, and all new trim installed. Plus, we'll eventually move on to the flooring, and see if we can't refinish the original hardwood floors that are hidden beneath layers of linoleum. 

An Afternoon with the "Kids"

Yes, I call my goats "kids," though they're all fully grown. I love visiting with them and scratching their chins and necks.

Here they come!

Duke and Holly, doing their best at mountain climbing.

Holly and Molly displaying some sisterly love.

Willy and Billy get tied out every day for a few hours at a time so they can enjoy more roughage than they get in their pen. They love it, and it helps to clear areas that I don't regularly mow. Eventually, I hope to "goat fence" more of the property so all the goats can have much bigger pastures.  

Garden is In!

My four year old and I took advantage of a cooler day to go ahead and plant the garden.

It's not as big as other gardens I've had (it's about 600 square feet), but I think it will keep me plenty busy this summer, with everything else going on around here.

Here's my son's little garden, in the middle of mine:

He planted green beans, corn and radishes, and decorated it with petunias and bricks around the border, and a piece of PVC down the middle.