Each week, I’m more and more amazed by the insanity of all of things happening. What’s more impressive: the progress. We have so many projects going on the farm right now. It’s invigorating, exhausting and extremely cool to see our ideas starting to take shape.
The Greenhouse Floor is Gorgeous
I’ve avoided sharing too many peeks at the greenhouse renovation. I think my brain figured if I wait to share, it will be more motivating to get things done. Nada. The reality is that this project is going to keep moving exactly as fast (or, um, slow) as it currently is. Thus is the “real world” of home renovations with an infant, 3 dogs, 11 chickens, 3 guineas and 3 bottle calves.
All that aside, I finally finished painting the floor this week and, wowza. It’s a stunner. My original order for $600 worth of Shaw tile was canceled due to the flooring being discontinued. When I couldn’t find a desirable replacement, I settled for a $50 solution that involved concrete paint and a stencil. Honestly, I think I love it more than I would have if we tiled it. I am so grateful my little splurge didn’t pan out.
The Garden is Taking Shape
We’re planting! Potatoes are in the ground and plenty of starts are sprouting in the greenhouse.
We’ve gotten the herbs into their planter near the house. Plus, seed and grid planning continue as I try to iron out or next steps for planting. Yes, we’re pushing timelines hard – a little late even – but with the hard freeze we’re experiencing every night in the coming week, this might be more of a blessing than a curse!
Read more: Planning the North Garden
Read more: The Potatoes are Finally Planted
Read more: Our First Big Mow
We Have Guineas!
A quick run to Tractor Supply for chicken feeding materials resulted in the impulse acquisition of 3 guineas and 1 brown chick. We are going to have way too much going on in the coop.
Speaking of the coop, Aaron finished the cedar shingles. I added on the chicken run. This thing is gorgeous and can only get better from here as we finish it out with paint and fixtures.
Our Bottle Calf Hack Will Make You Jealous
Feeding bottle calves every morning and evening has been a fun routine, but an absolute mess. The freebie bottles my dad dropped by are notorious for losing their tops, leaking and being a general disaster. Plus – the water and the full cup of milk replacer wouldn’t actually fit in the bottle together. So – we hacked the process.
Now, we mix all of the water and milk replacer in a 5 gallon bucket using a drill and concrete mixer attachment. Then, we use a funnel to fill the bottles. The entire process takes about the same amount of time – but it’s much more clean and seems to have fixed our bottle leak issues.
Read more: The Kids’ First Cows are Growing
A Very Merry Quarantined Easter
We escaped the house for a bit to enjoy a quarantined Easter with Isai’s Nana and cousins. It was a very small gathering, but man, we’re grateful for a little bit of time doing something different with fam.
Read more: Our First Easter