What the boys are up to!!!

First day back to school.  It wasn't too bad of a start however Troy had a rough adjustment to going back to school.... Summer ending is never fun and it gets harder and harder each year but it is now time to count down until Summer .... again!!!

 

So far so good. 

Fall in the Backyard

Our Chickens have had a good summer hanging out and laying eggs.  

We are looking forward to the cooler weather and getting our veggies from the garden.

Below are some plants I have started from seed.  I have tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, and peppers so far.  I planted okra green beans directly in the garden.  I hope the seedlings work out it will be less expensive then buying plants.

My garden helpers got a little distracted during work time.  That's one way to cool off.

 We got a little excited about renting a tillar and make two gardens in the backyard each about 20 ft by 20 ft.
 Now its time to get planting!!!

 Max was taking a break from the wheel barrel action to help build our first hydroponic garden bed.  We are going to attempt to grow lettuce in this garden bed on floating Styrofoam.  He was handy with the drill.  Max drilled the pilot holes and then screwed the wood together to create a box.  We then lined the box with plastic tarps and blue tarp to hold the water... which it did...woo hoo.  Once our lettuce seedlings grow big enough we will transfer them to plastic pots that will sit in Styrofoam that will float on the garden bed and hopefully grow.  I will post pictures on the progress.

Completed hydro garden bed.

August at the White's

August is a busy month for us.  We are all going back to school and it is Volleyball Season for my husband and it is also time to start getting the yard ready for the garden.  I plan on getting back to my blogging now that I will be on a regular schedule.  My Chickens and Children are all doing and ready for the fall.

I will post new pictures soon

Happy Easter

We had a great time coloring Easter Eggs this year.  I was wondering if I should actually spend money on buying white eggs to color but I am so glad I didn't.  Our eggs are the best.  I picked out the lightest of the eggs and we colored those.  They turned out great... and of course made the best deviled eggs for Easter dinner.

Getting to know the new chickens!!!

The new chickens are getting with the program.  Ty has made them feel at home with our family,  The chickens have been happy and producing lots of eggs.

New Additions to Our Family

The new girls getting use to coop.

They would not sleep inside for a little while but now they are in there with the rest of them

Troy's coop expansion has been working out very well.

Another little critter found in the garden.

Well actually they were all located on my dill plant.  I have finally gotten dill to grow this year and these guys were trying to destroy the plant.  We removed them with tweezers and took care of them...

I have really been enjoying my time in the garden and with the chickens.  My garden is definitely a trial and error process.  I have about 3 heads of cabbage coming in pretty good.  I however planted about 7 plants but only three are developing.  I have brussel sprouts that were growing great and now have stopped growing.  Our weather has been crazy lately.  We get a cold front and temps drop in the 40's and then 3 days later we are back up in the low 80's.

My next pictures will be of what is still growing from my winter planting.  Cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, Swiss chard, I am also in the process of planting for the spring

Recent Backyard Harvest

Here are some recent pictures of what has been going on in the backyard.

I haven't had a chance to get anything new planted but I did get a lot cleaned up and I am almost ready to plant.

Broccoli for dinner

Cherry Tomato Plants

Fresh Kids and Fresh Carrots

 

New Addition to the Chicken Coop

Troy added on an additional run and extended the coop to make more room for our new 5 chickens.  These new hens are going to start laying eggs in about 4 weeks.  We are super excited to have them.  It should take them about two weeks to get use to our home and then they will be allowed in with the others and to roam free around the yard in the evening time.

December Garden

I have been trying to keep up with my garden but through the holidays I definately struggled with the weeding, watering, and pest control.  Although everything seemed to grow and we were able to harvest so great tomatos and lettuce.  My green beans, cucumbers, and zucchini all started off very promising but did not last and I am not sure why.

Here are some pictures from the beginning of December

December 2, 2012 Garden

Broccoli - Dec 2 2012

Carrots growing from seed in a recycled grow box I made




First tomato plants that I planted in the garden








 New garden bed with Swiss Chard, Tomato plants, and Cucmbers growing from seed

 Worm composting bin

 New Green Bean plants