BB, how recent is that photo of you hammering stuff? That is what I am picturing. Plus the pic of your buckling giving you smooches, but I know that is...what....a year old?
Benson is 185 #'s now!! He gets his back scratched every time he gets fed. He takes boiled eggs gingerly out of your hand and likes company.
Having a lone pig hasn't been too bad. When I bring him his food, I drop some outside his pen so the chickens and ducks will hang around with him a while. I also bought two basketballs at goodwill for him to knock around. I kick them to him and he rolls them back!
I clean his pen with a horse poop rake and throw the poop into the forest between Mr. Ben's house and mine. (No animals are confined there.) His pen 10 X20 has a tarp over 1/2 of it so he won't get a sunburn on sunny days. I put it in the direct sun b/c it is going to be my new garden space next year. And boy has he tilled and up rooted everything!!! The soil is beautiful!!
Miss Pumpkin Pie is still sitting on 15 or so eggs. They are due to hatch this Friday!!! I am so excited, this is my very first real hatch b/c I never had a rooster before. Pumpkin is a first time mommy too and I am so nervous for her.
I planted the stevia you gave me (I got one to sprout out of all of them) but I heard that getting any to sprout is pretty hard, so I'm happy. I got about 6 calendulas to sprout and now they are in the garden. The rest I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit. Even the stevia should have been planted later. It is still in the house in a sunny window. I'm keeping a close eye on it.
In the rest of the garden outside I have Chinese pac choi, swiss chard, beets, lettuces, kale, Egyptian walking onions (thanks DM), onions, potatoes (blue ones), cabbages, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley and chives. All are from heirloom seeds.
As far as fruit, I have blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, black currants growing in raised beds and the apple, pear, plum and cherry trees are all in bloom.
I was able to grab Dolly the wooly sheep and put a little cow bell on her. (You can never have too much cow bell. ) Dorothy's hair is falling out all over the yard...she is a hair sheep. Dolly's cow bell sounds like wind chimes when she nibbles the grass.
I have eggs coming out the wazoo. I gave some to Mr. Ben and he told me about "Salty Eggs" that his father used to make back in the Philippines with home grown duck eggs. He is gonna give me the recipe. He also said that they eat fertile duck eggs that have been incubated for about 14 days or so. Kinda gross to think about, but I'm open minded. (Sorta.)
I have a beautiful sourdough wheat bread baking at the moment. It is the best looking bread yet!!