Can you dig it?

 The rain let up and it has dried out enough to mow, till, and try to get things going. YAY!! Beautiful gift for Mother's Day!

 So we planted the "free trees" from Arbor Day Foundation. Each one is a flowering tree and these were itty bitty sticks. That works for me as it means it is a 1 person job. The major thing is trying to keep in mind the size it will be when it is mature. This week the fruit trees should be arriving, so I am still deciding where to plant this orchard. 

 The really nice thing about Arbor Day Foundation is that they guarantee their trees, even the free ones.. and getting replacements is only $3.50 for shipping.

 The bird barn is going to be put next to the pole barn on the small farm. That area can be fenced off pretty easily, has trees for shade, is close to a water source and hopefully is better able to be protected. It is also getting overgrown there and has limestone rocks hidden all over so it isn't a place that can be mowed. The birds are more than welcome to obliterate all of the vegetation they want! 

 While we have to till this year, I hope to use chicken tractors later to prep new sites for expanding the garden. 

 My husband stopped by the local feed store and checked it out. I have to admit I am partial to the one the next town over as that is where I used to get the sweet feed for my horses. (Their sweet feed smelled divine. Sticky, aromatic, sweetly scented.. I could catch any horse with that... except my gelding who was impervious to every tactic ever employed.. save his 1 weakness, a small kid. No one over 4 feet tall could catch him otherwise.) There were 6 others in there as well as the mill employees.. and all of them said Schlecht Hatchery is hands down the way to go. Each one is a devoted and repeat customer having said the birds are of very good quality and excellent health. I can't say I am too fond of hatcheries, but it has been interesting to locate local stock. This hatchery is a small family operated business and they do take pride in their birds.. but I can't shake the feeling like I am supporting a poultry version of a puppy mill.

 I am tackling the old garden as there are June bearing strawberries hidden in the weeds, multiplier onions, oregano patch galore and wild grapes gone wilder. Raspberries as well have wandered near the wild rose which is thriving. Clearing the area around them is painful.. literally. I wish I had steel weeding gauntlets.. you know that legendary item that someone out there has.. and you could really use. 

 Garden cart. I need one. The child operated lug-this-bucket is fickle at best and is prone to breaking down. It isn't very accurate as often the delivery system misses the compost pile when acting up. I can tell when it is about to act up as it starts muttering and sputtering.. then comes the whining. (Yay.. the teenage years! I am joking though.. she is a good kid.)

 Lunch break is over.. time to head back. Armed with tweezers to fend off thorny intruders I hope to get clearing around the prickly plants completed today!

 Happy Mother's Day! Woot!