The Morel of the Story

Lucky us!  We have several morel mushrooms growing in our orchard.  Ross picked one today, sauteed it in butter, and mixed it with asparagus (fresh from our garden), chives (fresh from our garden), ramps (grows wild on our property), and gnocchi (made with potatoes from last year's garden).  It was a gourmet lunch!  I hope that we are able to find some more mushrooms.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger as of late.  I think we only made one post in April.  In our defense, April was a very busy month.

If you already didn't know, Ross and I are renovating our main bathroom.  We spent a good part of the month ripping it down to the studs and then starting to put it back together.  I took a lot of time thinking about the bathtub for two very good reasons. First, I have never installed a bathtub before, and second, this is the only bathtub in the house so until the new tub was installed and working Ross and I were not able to bathe.  Luckily we were able to get the old tub out and the new tub in within a day-whew!  We spent the next week taking baths as we worked on installing the tile surround.  I went to bed at around 2 o'clock in the morning several nights in a row due to hurriedly working on this.  I needed to get it done in time for my mother, my Aunt DeAnna, and my cousin Deb's visit.  They were to arrive on a Monday.  When I got home from work the Friday before there was no tile on the backer board.  When I went to bed on Sunday evening the tile was up and grouted and the shower doors were in place.  What is even more impressive is that Ross and I also picked up our new bees, went to church, and had our pastor over for dinner this same weekend!  I was exhausted.

Speaking of bees, we finally have more babies flying around the property.  If you didn't already know, we lost our last hive to repeated bear attacks late last fall. Ross and I decided to add a second hive this year (and will be adding an electric fence to keep the new hives safe). We ended up getting the bees right before my family visited and needed to check the hives while they were here to see how the bees were doing.  My cousin Deb, who was not keen on the idea of a swarm of bees flying around her, suited up and came out to help me.  She was a trooper.  The girls are doing great.  Enjoy the video I took today of one of the hive entrances (listen closely for Ross talking to the chickens in the background-my life is hilarious).

Hopkins Inn and Vineyard

We had a great time with my family.  I took a couple of days vacation so that I had more time with them.  We shopped, we ate, we drank, and most importantly we had fun.  This was my aunt and cousin's first time here.  It is always a treat to show someone the sights for the first time.  After dinner the first night I opened a port wine from 1983.  It was a lot smoother than I had expected.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  There is no better compliment to good wine than good company! Ross and Deb also made baklava (pronounce it however you may-inside joke) that went back home for Deb's family Easter dinner.  I heard that it made it back intact, no small feat given how much my aunt and mother liked the dessert.

After my family departed Ross and I took a break from the bathroom and decided to turn our attention elsewhere.  We spent the past week working in the gardens.  Ross started tilling his raised beds in the vegetable garden.  He had a little help as you can see. He has planted carrots, and peas, and ... (my mind is drawing a blank as I am loosing my steam, but rest assured that there was more).  I planted some annuals in my garden pots.  We also purchased three new fruit trees for the orchard-a Saturn peach, a Macoun apple, and our first plum.  Our asparagus is also starting to show.  We had a great weekend for getting our hands dirty.

As I stated earlier, we have been very busy, and busy we shall remain as we still have to finish the bathroom, still have to install the electric fence, still have to...the list is endless.

A Sad Rainy Day.

Today we lost our Curley. It was sudden and unexpected. After running our errands this afternoon we came back home, and her little body was just laying there in the garage. The remaining three were staying there until we had the coop fortified with an electric fence (because of the bear attack this past November). She was a wonderful Golden Comet chicken. We called her Curley because she had one beautiful feather in her tail feathers that curled. She was full of personality and charm. We will miss her. We buried her next to her fallen sisters with spring flowers and a little of her favorite bird seed. We will miss you sweetie.

Papa's Gonna Get You!

Here is a short video of our new chicks.  The reddish tint is caused by the heat lamp we use to keep the chicks warm.

Spring Has Sprung

March is almost over and Spring is starting to poke up all around us.  All of our bulbs were showing their heads. All those except the ones still stuck under mounds of snow. Friday, after I got home from work, I went around and cut back all the old, dead foliage from last year.  So many plants are starting to awaken; it makes me so happy to see them stirring.  I trimmed back the holly bush in the front (it amazes me how much growth it gets each year).  After a quick bite to eat Ross and I headed out back to move the snow bank that was still covering our bulb garden we affectionately refer to as the Spring Garden.  The last thing either of us has wanted to do was shovel more snow, but it was either that or no flowers.  Now all our bulbs have a chance to show their stuff. On a side note, I planted two peonies last year and have been hoping all winter that they would survive.  Both are showing signs of new growth-yeaaahhh!

On Saturday, our church hosted a pork roast fund raising dinner which was open to the community.  Ross and I have recently started attending this church so this was our first dinner.  We had a lot of fun.  It was a nice chance to get to know the various members of the church.  Ross was placed on the serving line.  As I was sitting down to eat I kept watching him.  He had the biggest smile on his face.  I love to see him happy.  He made two homemade pies for the event.  They never made it out of the kitchen as they were eaten by the church members.  I told Ross later that he was just going to have to make double in the future!

Rhodie

If you haven't read Ross' previous blog we now have six new baby chicks.  I told Ross that this time we were not going to name them. Within four days I had already broken my rule, but in my defense I couldn't help myself.  Ross picked up three Golden Comets and three Rhode Island Reds.  One of the Reds had a bit of poo stuck to her little, downy feathers. It was really stuck.  I felt so bad for the poor chick which endeared her to me.  I named her Rhodie (from Rhode Island Red).

We were speaking after church with a woman who also has chickens.  She said we should remove the poo because if left it could cause a blockage leaving the chick unable to relieve herself, and the chick could die.  So after we got home I went straight after the chick and pulled off the poo.  I tried to be as gentle as I could but the poor thing lost some feathers in the process.  Her little chirps just broke my heart.  She so has me wrapped around her little wing feathers!

We took Max on a walk along our road today.  I took some pictures and put them on the slideshow to the right.  I love our road; the open woods and the forgotten stone walls lend such charm to it.  It was also such a beautiful and sunny day but still was a bit brisk for my taste.  I am hoping for a warmer April, but then again aren't we all!