My Crazy Life as a Farmers Wife

Where Has March Gone?

I'm back...who knows how long it will be until my next hiatus, but hey, I'm here for today :) We've been busy with life and the weather has been beautiful. I'm really looking forward to the warmer months, spending time outdoors and gardening! Here are some of the images from my days...

Chickens enjoying the weather in their run...

 Turkeys enjoying foraging during the warm days. The females have built a nest and laid eggs...the kids are hoping they might hatch babies...

I love going outside...if you stand still, the turkeys will come and parade their feathers for you and show off. I always tell them how pretty they are, and they will talk to me...

 The Pussy Willows are blooming...this photo is from last week...today they are in  full blossom...

 freshly tilled dirt...David has started helping me with garden prepartions...

Pears

Even though it was too wet to dig potatoes, we were able to get most of our pears picked. Grandma helped us...I'm not even sure what we're going to do with all of them at this point. I've really had enough canning for the year...so we might just eat what we can fresh, and add the rest to our apple cider by pressing the pears with the apples. I've heard it adds the perfect flavor to the cider.

it makes my heart happy to see the turkeys wandering around...I think they are so pretty...

after picking, the kids went to chasing (and sometimes catching) the turkeys and roosters. We were all so thankful to spend time outside enjoying the fresh air...especially after the snow storm that had forced us indoors for a few days.

Finishing Up

It looks like my garden is about to get zapped with a frost soon. David and I spent about two hours outside last night picking what produce we could. This week has been crazy. Ten days ago, we were busy with our potato harvest...and I was sweating with the 86 degree temperatures...and two days ago, it started raining like mad, and then it turned into snow. It came out of nowhere. I think we had about an inch on the ground. As soon as it melted away, David and I knew we had to save what was left in the garden. I picked a huge basket of strawberries, about a bushel of peaches, about 100 assorted peppers and of course...my favorite, almost 100 lbs. of tomatoes. YES...I said 100 lbs! I'm sure you can guess what I've spent my Saturday afternoon doing :) I started canning this morning, and though I didn't take any photos of the big tomatoes, I did take a few pictures of the smaller tomatoes I kept to eat fresh.

Shelby was here today, so she was LUCKY enough to help out with canning. I put her right to work, and wouldn't you know it...Russell and Lily disappeared yet again!!!

I ended up making 12 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 20 quarts of pizza sauce. It was a long day. And of course, I shared some of my tomatoes with the ladies...they were in heaven!

this is a photo of the kids gathering eggs the other day when the snow first started...

today, the sun finally came back out, and the kids were thrilled to be able to spend the day playing outside...that is, after they got done with chores and painting a clear coat on our cider press. We're looking forward to making some fresh squeezed apple cider soon!