AHHHHhhhh!! Time to write and hopefully a good enough connection to post as well. Besides being crazy busy (more on that in a minute) our Internet doesn't like to work well while the wind is blowing and it is BLOWING!! Thankfully we don't get as much wind as the people around us thanks to our protective trees but it still affects the connection. This will change when we get the antenna up on the roof. We had to take it down to put the roof up and it's a bit tricky to get it up now. I've waited and waited to post so that I could put some pictures up as well but it won't work so I'll try and post some later!!

Well after the Griggs visit Papa and I started on some projects around the place that we've been wanting to do for awhile. Raised Beds, you know for growing things in :) (not everyone knows this I've found. I've gotten several blank looks recently). When we clear out trees we keep the straightest ones and cut them off at 5 meters and pile them up for later use. Some of these will hopefully one day be a pole fence. They also make great raised beds. Papa used the chain saw and I stacked and moved the poles over to the raised bed area. Working together smoothly as a team in took us about 2 hours to make 4 raised beds. The longest one is nearest the road and at 6 meters long will hold lots of veggies. Then there are two 5 meter beds with a 2 meter bed between them all in a row on the the house side of the long one. Eventually I would like another 2, also closer to the house, but we decided to wait to do them until next year. The next day the children picked up all the tiny wood pieces and threw them on a handy burn pile (not lite) while I lined the beds with cardboard and put layers of newspaper on the ground inside the beds and finally a light cover of shavings on the newspaper to keep the paper in place. The idea is that the cardboard around the sides of the raised bed will keep the dirt and moisture in the bed and the newspaper and shavings will keep the small trees and grass from growing up through the raised beds. The small 2 meter raised bed is for potatoes. I'm going to try stacking them and keep on adding dirt in the raised bed as they get taller and hope to get a good crop of potatoes. Well shall see I guess. Now we are waiting for the dirt. Peat moss actually. From a local swamp which we will mix with manure and lime and sand to fill the raised beds with. Then I will be able to plant them!! They are set up in such a way that I should be able to extend our very short season by protecting them from frost with frost blankets and plastic. Sort of a mini green house. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Raspberries. The neighbor down the road called and said she had some extras and would I like some!! I jumped at it as I've been wanting to move my raspberry patch and I finally found the perfect spot!! We live in a row of 4 five acre parcels and we are the second one. So we have neighbors on both sides. Our house is farther back then either of theirs so we don't see much of them but the one on the town side has his shop right in line with our house. It's fairly cleaned out along his fence line (these two pieces were originally one piece). So for the last 4 years we can see most of his house and path and stuff that he has lined up along the fence. Not really a big deal but now we have a brand new line of raspberries on our side of the fence with enough room to pick both sides right along this fence line!!! In a few years I hope to not have to see his stuff at all!!
Clearing. Yup we are clearing more of our 5 acres to get it into some kind of usable land. The front piece between the house and the road has never been good for much. We have run pigs through it 3 or 4 times but the black spruce is so thick and it's so damp in there that even the pigs have been able to change it very little. A few years ago we thinned the one corner considerably but even that was so blocked by the other trees that grass isn't even growing there!! To little sunlight. SO Papa and I finally agreed what to do with it and now we are cutting out all the black spruce leaving only a roughly 60 foot line of trees beside the road and another 50 feet or so between us and the neighbor on that side. I have a feeling we will be planting something along that fence line as well. Because it is so wet in this piece the idea is to eventually have a pond there. The spring run off all runs to this point and we have a swamp all spring and often a chunk of summer!! If we could get that water to drain into our pond instead we could have a pond and no more swamp!!

Fish!! We have a small man made pond at the very back of our piece. Its about 30 feet across and quite deep. We're not sure how deep. We also have a lagoon. Lagoons are mosquito heavens which breed bugs by the hundreds. While speaking to Papa's mom one visit we came to the conclusion that fish could probably live in both the pond and the lagoon. Fish, I got 30 three inch feeder goldfish, would hopefully eat enough of the mosquitoes eggs to keep the population down and add to the farm by the lack of slapping this would bring!! Never mind that fish are fun to watch and add something to ponds in just enjoyment alone. So far in the few times I've been down to check on them I've seen fish almost every time. But yesterday while chasing pigs (wait for it, it'll come) Papa noticed a pair of ducks living in and around the pond. Hummm...
Lease. We have 5 acres here and originally we were hoping for a 1/4 section (140 acres?????) but our financing and our lack of credit rating in this country (did you know that credit does NOT cross borders?? ) made that impossible. So we decided we'd buy 5 acres and work it to the best of our ability. And then when and if we got to the point where we could use it all completely we'd sell and move to a bigger piece. Well our neighbors, the raspberry ones :), have a piece behind us that is not in use and has not been touched since it was logged of poplar 6 years ago. Papa actually haul those logs to the mill. So Papa put a idea out to them last summer and this spring we finalized it. They have no use for roughly 35 of their 57 acres. They have 2 horses and want only enough to feed their horse all summer and a winter pasture so they don't have feed hardly any hay. The problem was that they needed part of it fenced so they could use the winter area. So in exchange for fencing this area before winter in we have complete rights to the rest of the 35 acres that they are not using for as many years as they live there.. or we do. What a DEAL!!! We jumped at it. Actually we could hardly believe our luck. Really it's not luck at all. It's the Master and Creator of All who has blessed us!! Afterwards Papa and I were both in the good sort of shock that involves dreams and plans and thankful worship!!

Chicks. The meat birds are doing wonderfully and growing like crazy. They LOVE the milk mixture we are feeding them and really need to go out on grass. The weather has been so cold and nasty and windy that we are hoping for some good weather so we can kick them out of the barn (they now have the whole barn). The death count is now 7. 2 layers and 5 meat birds.

Strawberries. The strawberry bed Papa made for me last year still had some holes which needed plants so I got some more in the 'city' and planted 10 more. Tristar. Papa remembers this kind as a kid and assures me they are excellent producers. I'm drooling just thinking about it!! YUM!!!!

Garden has been covered with black landscaping fabric for several weeks now and the kids and I planted some corn in between the rows of fabric. I went along and made the holes, E holding the container of seeds, L putting the seeds in the holes and J covering them up. (this is the SLOWEST way I have ever planted anything but we sure had FUN!!) I also planted 2 rows of beans. The rest of the garden is for whatever doesn't fit in the raised beds and the pumpkin plants the kids are growing. Speaking of pumpkin plants. The horrible affliction I have of killing all plants in the house has not applied to them ( or to the mothers day flowers which are still on the table looking nice. Not the roses they are just done.) and they are thriving and BLOOMING!! I've been taking a Q-tip and fertilizing the flowers as they open. They will go out into the garden soon.

Greenhouse. The greenhouse is on the list for today. Yesterday the children and I went to town and bought tomato, pepper, and other plants for the green house/garden. They are all in the green house awaiting me!! :) (The green house is now totally planted I finished it today. 9 cukes, 10 tomatoes, 10 peppers: hot to sweet, lettuce, spinach and dill: trying to get a jump on these as the raised beds are still not going, and I think that's all. Marigolds. It looks great!)

Pigs. We have gotten 6 of our 8 pigs and will pick the other 2 up tonight. This subject requires a much longer blog then I have time for and I will write it another time.... maybe when it's finished. Like totally. :) Keep your eyes peeled!! (We have gotten these last two but still only have 6 penned :)

Caught up. Well now you are completely caught up on the work we've been up too. We've also been having some fun. We've rented 2 videos for the children in the last 2 weeks and they beg and do watch them regularly. Papa and I have also had a few movie nights which is relaxing and enjoyable. Sort of like a date where you don't leave the house. :) We've also been enjoying the weather when it's nice and when it's not. We've had a few soaker rains which is nice this time of year. The rain hitting the tin roof is music to our ears. I've been taking the children bike riding on the days that are nice enough and when there is no mud. It's fun and we all like it and it tires them out for nap time. J rides his bike and I ride mine pulling the cart with R in it. L rides his trike to the end of the driveway and then runs to the black tire on the side of the road. E runs to the end of the driveway and then rides the rest of the way until we get to the driveway again. Then she runs home. L rides in the cart til we hit the black tire again and then he runs to his trike and drives it home. It's not perfect but it works :) The kids are playing outside as much as possible and are loving every minute of it. They are filthy daily and have a great time!! I make them strip off outside on the porch and bring them in and wash up!! L's pockets and ears are always full of sand!! E has beat up knees and the bugs love her and it shows!! She doesn't seem to mind and never complains but she has 2x as many bites as the rest of us. Poor kid!!

All and all everything is busy but good here on the Griggs Farm. We are daily blessed with the joys of spring and now summer. And loving it!!! Thank You Lord!!! On the way to home Church this last Sunday we saw a cow and her twin calves running along side the high way!! A cow MOOSE!!! Very neat. The children all saw it and were amazed!!! The calves were just days old and all legs and heads. It's amazing that they can even run at that age. The cow moose was very skinny and patchy but the calves were perfect!! Too bad I forgot my CAMERA!!!! Sorry guys!!