Moving on Up into the Bigger Little Chick Coop

We took advantage of today's gorgeous weather to upgrade the chicks' living accommodations from their trailer inside the garage to the mini coop in the back yard.  Our next batch of chicks are scheduled to hatch on Wednesday so it was time for these chick toddlers to move on up!  They are not sure about venturing into the great outdoors yet and spent the afternoon lounging in the shady part inside the coop. Maybe they will feel a bit more adventurous tomorrow and more thoroughly check out their new digs.

 

Looking Forward to Leaves!

They are coming… slowly to be sure, but there’s no doubt about it - there are definitely leaves in there!

The Naked Gardener

Who needs to wait for Naked Gardening Day? Our little mister got down and dirty today while letting it all hang loose. 

The Return of the Snow

We got a little bit of a return to winter this morning with a brief blizzard.

It was a good day to be the scallion garden which was mostly sheltered from the storm by a big pine tree.

I am happy that I took pity on the other gardens last night and covered them up to shield them from the return of the winter weather. I am sure all my green babies are safe and warm(ish) under their plastic houses.

 

Free Ranging on Forbidden Pastures

The goats got to free range for a few minutes as we restocked their hay loft with bales of straw for the summer. Nothing tastes better than fresh springtime grass on the forbidden side of the fence!

Bringing Home the Gobble

Ian had a busy morning on the opener of turkey hunting season today.  He certainly know how to bring home the bacon....er...gobble.

 

The Business of Buzz

It is that time of year again to feed the bees their springtime sugar syrup.

I did my first hive inspections of 2022 today and am thrilled to report a 100% winter survival rate.  This is contrary to the very low survival rates experienced by many Canadian beekeepers this year so I am relieved and grateful.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/honeybees-in-arnprior-ont-are-dying-with-no-clear-answer-why-1.5869395

https://london.ctvnews.ca/bee-winter-mortality-worst-in-years-say-ontario-beekeepers-1.5869212

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/canadian-bee-colony-losses-2022-1.6415360

Even though feeding my bees costs a fortune in sugar, I would much rather be feeding them than scraping dead bees out of my hives. Here's to the start of a wonderful beekeeping season here at Gael Glen Farm and Apiary.

 

Getting Busy Bright and Early

We were up with the sun today and ready to get outside and get busy! How I love the weekend.

It is time to start hardening off some of our cold tolerant seedlings. I hate lugging plants in and out of the house so I am hardening these fellows off under a high tunnel over a pallet garden - then I can just cover and uncover them as needed.

Ian was able to do a first plough of the main kitchen garden. Liam and I then immediately sowed a few rows of swiss chard, carrots, beets and turnips!

While Ian hooked up the pond filter and waterfall pump, I got busy in the pond clipping back and cleaning out the dead cattails. Wading through the stinky, mucky pond is my least favourite chore on the farm but with my Dad's hip waders I stayed dried and toasty warm. It wasn't so bad at all!

 

The Business of Growing

After another busy day at work, I finally had a chance to check out the progress in our gardens.  The inside plants are growing like crazy under their grow lights and the outside plants have certainly sprouted under their high tunnels.  Seems like everyone has been busy today!

parsley

peppers

onions

head lettuce

direct sowed lettuce and kale with perennial lovage in the back

snap peas

rhubarb and overwintered parsley and more lovage

I hope the weather warms up soon so these guys can really take off and I can get some of the seedlings currently living inside planted outside!

Productive as a Petunia

 With Alistair back at school, I had an extremely productive day at work. Almost as productive as my petunias!  Now, I just have to pray the school doesn't call and ask us to pick him up.

Here we are...

Alistair's nose is still running so here we are...

We made tiramisu for dessert.

Ali loved it.

Mama's Little Helper

We made it all the way until 10 am before Ali's school called to say he had to be picked up because his nose is runny. We had a lovely lunchtime stroll before his afternoon nap.  The wild ramps are up but not quite big enough to harvest a few leaves yet.  Soon...

 

Before the Storm

Farm chores this evening felt like the calm before the storm. Without access to the weather forecast, you would never know that there is bad weather ahead. Things are drying out, there is a warm calm breeze, it looks like spring is here. It is likely; however, that things will look quite different in the morning.

Despite the calmness of the evening, today was chaotic. Kids hyped up on chocolate have the attention span of a gnat.  We must have changed activities forty times today to keep everyone amused making for a less than serene holiday Monday.

At least getting everyone to bed tonight was a breeze and the boys will get a good night's sleep before everyone goes back to school and work tomorrow.

A Epic Hunt

The boys were up at 5 am this morning for our Easter egg hunt.  Not only did they have to find all the eggs, they had to beat Charlotte and her super sniffer nose to the hidden bounty. 

I think they got all of them, though I am sure Charlotte will let us know if any escaped their notice.

Turkey Feathers & Water Features

With our weekend chores done on the farm, we were able to get out for some fresh air and exercise. Ian, Seamus and Ali went scouting for wild turkeys at a nearby farm. 

Meanwhile, Liam and I headed to Gatineau Park to scout for some springtime water features.  On our 13.5 km hike, we did indeed come across mountain streams and rushing waterfalls. Liam also stepped on a camouflaged garter snake, put his foot through the trail into a sink hole, got an epic soaker after stepping into a log floating in a forest puddle, and got attacked by a rock after tripping over another rock. It was quite the adventure!