A Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

It has just been one of those days where a million little mishaps make for one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Between the bowl of oatmeal overflowing and making a huge mess of the microwave before I'd even had my morning coffee, to Alistair getting into my plants and tossing my seedlings all over the living room floor, to breaking my glasses and finding out that the optometry store where I bought them is closed indefinitely.  Ugh.  Just ugh.  Oh, and we are out of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Sob.

The sad state of affairs that is my vegetable drawer.

Tomorrow can only get better, right?

P.S. Thankfully, my misadventures have not spilled over into the barn.  Poppy is doing very well.  She is nursing independently off both sides, though she prefers the left.  She has started adorably bouncing around the lambing stall and is looking forward to getting out on the next sunny day to stretch her legs.  I found her napping curled up nose to nose with her mama this afternoon causing me to nearly die from the cuteness.  Luckily I didn't die, though with the day that I've had, it was a close one.

Along Came Poppy

It was an exciting day here on Gael Glen Farm as we welcomed our first lamb of 2020.  Violet is the proud mama of a tiny and adorable ewe lamb named Poppy. 

It is thrilling to open the barn door in the morning and hear the soft mewing of a brand new baby.  We are working on nursing.  It is always a bit of a tough go until mama and baby get the hang of it.  

Violet seems happy with her new addition and they are getting along just fine.  What a wonderful Wednesday surprise!

Who's in Charge Here?

Me: It's bedtime.  Charlie and Abbott please go into your barn.

Them: No, thank you. 

Me:  It is getting dark, the coyotes will be out soon, and everyone else is already asleep.

Them: We politely decline your invitation to enter our assigned accommodations this evening.

Me: Sigh.  I'll go get you more grain...

Super Seamus & Racket Man

Even the best of us can feel a little lopsided on the seventh Monday of social isolation.

Not to worry, Super Seamus and his trusty sidekick Racket Man to the rescue.

No udder too big, no farm kid too small!

Divide & Conquer

Some days divide and conquer is the route to success.

Ian continued to work on the perimeter fence surrounding the goat paddock today.  After a few setbacks he made some significant progress.  We are replacing the old, rotten fence posts and three foot high farm fence (big holes) with new eight foot cedar posts and taller corn crib fencing (much smaller holes).

Meanwhile, I focused on re-potting the pepper plants, relocating all the seedlings to the south facing window now that there are too many to all be under the grow lights, watering and fertilizing everything, transplanting the previous batch of cruciferous vegetables and starting our last batch from seed, and planting fifty cucumber and squash seeds in peat pots.

Both of these jobs were a heck of a lot more work than either of us anticipated but we are feeling great (albeit exhausted) now that the day is done.

A Bird & the Bees

Spring brings with it lots of new life but not everything is meant to grow and flourish.  Today concluded with one wild turkey in the soup pot and two honey bee hives down. 

Thanks to Ian we had another successful turkey opener, resulting in turkey noodle soup for supper and some bird breasts in the freezer.

Later in the day, my hive check yielded less happy news.  My two weak hives unfortunately succumbed to last week's cold snap.  We are now down to two hives from five.  On the bright side, our two remaining hives are super strong and teeming with happy honey bees busily collecting pollen.  Have a listen to that buzzing!  Hopefully we will be able to split these colonies later in the spring to repopulate our hives that did not make it. 

Such is the life of a turkey hunter and a beekeeper.  It may seem like an odd partnership but, for us, it works.

Home Run? Keep Swinging

It does not matter how many loaves of bread one has made, there is always something new to learn.

As a result of the COVID-19 related flour shortage, I have begun experimenting with a new (to me) whole grain red wheat flour from a local mill.

Working with whole wheat flour is totally different than baking with all purpose flour.  It is a whole new ball game.  As a baseline, I made my first loaf with 100% red wheat flour using the exact same tried and true method that yields perfect loaves with all purpose flour; it was a hockey puck in terms of texture but had a lovely wheaty flavour.  It actually reminded me of some of my very first sourdough loaves.  Ian and the boys said it was "not good".

I have since gradually reduced the ratio of red wheat to all purpose flour and, while I have yet to craft the perfect (partially) whole wheat loaf, I am making progress in the texture department without compromising the great taste that comes from whole wheat flour.

Aside from the perk of feeding my family, I love making bread because it offers the humble reminder that you are never a true expert in anything; there is always more to learn.  The push to keep swinging for the stars is always welcome in this household.

A Day in Our Life

A few snap shots of our life in social isolation here on Gael Glen Farm...

When you tell your kids to wash their hands a million times a day with handmade soap,
this is what greets you at the end of each day.

We get our school work done though I will be the first to admit that it can be a struggle.  Without a doubt,
the "patience" part of my brain is currently significantly larger than it has ever been before.  Ever.

Alistair is at his happiest when playing with anything that is not a "toy". 
Today he meticulously threaded the goldfish net through the hole of the
hamper handle for a half an hour.  Half.  An.  Hour.

He also spent a LONG time putting Seamus' sweater over his head
and spying on me out of the neck hole while I folded laundry.

He found this incredibly amusing.

When baking so much we are forced to get a little creative.

Today we used Easter treats to make cookies in a mini muffin tin.

This is proof that our creativity does not always pan out. 
We should have greased the muffin tin.

And finally...

We continue to be amused/bewildered by the crazy robin
that is STILL repeatedly bashing itself into our windows.

Over and over and over.

All day long.

I mean, really, what else is there to get up to all day?!  

At least by 7 pm, the kids are in bed and all that is left to do is tidy the living room, clean up the dinner dishes, finish folding and putting away the laundry, feed and put the farm animals to bed, and mentally prepare to get up again tomorrow and do it all over again.  On the bright side, everyone is healthy and they all sleep through the night.  Thank goodness for small miracles.

Our Pint-Sized Cyclone of Disaster

Between homeschooling each morning and outside play, quiet indoor activities, or nap (their choice) each afternoon, there is not much time left in the day for Liam and Seamus to get into trouble.

While I am not much into crafting,
this afternoon's edible art project turned out to be beautiful and delicious.

Alistair, on the other hand, has morphed before my eyes into a walking terror.  From pulling up the heater grates and eating the dust bunnies in the vents to ripping everything out of the hall closets, he is a pint-sized cyclone leaving disaster after disaster in his wake.

Lucky for Alistair, he is just about the cutest thing toddling (and thank the Lord for baby gates) because, good heavens, he is into absolutely everything these days.

A Weird Day Weather-Wise

We started out the day with a snow storm....

Did a bunch of school work in the morning....

Had lots of play time during the sunshine-filled afternoon....

And finished off the day with venison sliders and sideways sleet.

For such a normal day, the weather was very strange.

Everything is Coming Up Rainbows & Rhubarb

We had a colourful Monday. 

Seamus and his BFF Blimpy sat under an afternoon rainbow watching our berry bran muffins bake in the oven.

Candling our growing ducks and turkeys is an amazingly colourful experience.  It is so exciting to watch them develop safe inside their shells.

Alive.

Not alive.

Liam and I spent some time weeding and fertilizing our rhubarb patch today.  We have a bunch of rhubarb sprouts up already and have high hopes for a superb rhubarb bumper crop this year.

All in all, it was a great start to the week - with the exception of a deranged robin who spent the day repeatedly bashing himself into all of our first floor windows.  He has serious dominance issues and I suspect he will keep dive bombing his own reflection until he finally knocks himself out.  He needs to find himself a lady bird to occupy his mind and his time before he ends up breaking one of our windows, in which case we will have some colourful words for him.