The Next Chapter....: March 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

COLD!!

Spring is here but someone forgot to turn off the cold air! This week the temps went into the freezing point and we even had a few days of frost. This isn't a huge deal except when you have a garden full of veggies tying to grow. Frost on vegetable plants is not a good thing, it will kill them! So with the freeze coming we had to do something! Troye was at work so the boys and I gathered all the sheets and items we could find to cover the plants. It was hard work but we got it done! The next morning there was a heavy frost so I was so glad that we covered them. I uncovered them so they could get the warm sun during the day. Troye was off for the day so we worked on creating a better barrier for the plants. It worked great too! We had two more days of freezing temps and frost. Today we took all of the covers off the plants and it seems that most of the plants survived! Yea!! I sure hope we are done with the cold weather!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Trinity County Livestock Show

The Trinity County Fair and Livestock show was this weekend. Colt has been raising Californian Rabbits for the show. We got the rabbits when they were 6 weeks old and they are now 10 weeks old. They are raised for meat and he showed three of the best rabbits. The goal was to get three rabbits that were as identical as possible and as close to five pounds as possible. Colt's rabbits weighed in at 4.4 pounds each. Everyone was impressed that they all weighed exactly the same! After we arrived at the fair grounds we set the rabbits up in their temporary cage. The show was later on that afternoon so we just walked around and enjoyed looking at all of the animals. This is a very small county livestock show. There is not a fair! Time came for the show and Colt looked awesome! We carried the rabbits to the judging area along with 21 other contestants. Once in the arena, Colt was left to meet the judge. The judging was a slow process and I must say a very nerve racking process! All rabbits were examined and then the judge announced that he would start sending rabbits home. He SLOWLY started sending kids and their rabbits home. He got down to the last five contestants and again the judge spoke to the crowd. He explained that all of the kids had great rabbits. The last five kids all had two exceptional rabbits and one that was a little different. He then examined all of the rabbits again and then Colt was selected to go home, making him the 5th place winner. We were so excited! We have never participated in a livestock show or raised rabbits! The judge told Colt that his rabbits were great just a little light. They should have been a little fatter! Colt was beaming! He said he was so nervous being out there! We stayed and watched all of the other judging that night. The next day we didn't have to do much except for take care of the rabbits and wait for the auction. All animals go to auction regardless of their place. We honestly had no idea what to expect, my biggest fear was that no one would bid! I didn't want to have to buy our own rabbits! Colt was super nervous about going up on stage. He had to carry one rabbit with him and stand in front of the crowd. He did great and even though the rabbit was clawing him, he smiled the whole time! The rabbits sold for $600!!! I couldn't believe it! Yea! The Friday Buyers Group bought the rabbits. They are a local group that hold fundraisers just to help raise money to buy kids animals! Colt was exhausted! We headed home because the other requirement of the show is that all kids help clean up on the last day. We had to arrive very early to start shoveling pine shavings and poop! Colt worked super hard for 4 hours cleaning up! I think he was worn out but in the end he would tell you it was worth it because the Friday group ended up giving his rabbits back to him. He had cried about having to sell them but most often the kids do get their animals donated back to them! So now we have FIVE rabbits! YIKES! We have them in several cages and we think we only have one boy so he is alone. I sure hope we haven't made a mistake in determining the sex and we end up with lots of baby rabbits! This was a great first experience and Colt is super excited to raise more animals next year. He wants to raise a goat but we are going to encourage him to raise rabbits for one more year.

Ready to go!

Almost time for the show

Cam being goofy

Show time, all of the competitors

The judge looking at Colt's rabbits

Colt and one of his rabbits

Fifth Place

Holding his rabbit for the auction

Colt with the Buyer and the Fair Sweethearts

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Additions to the garden!

It seems like we are spending every spare moment outside in the garden! There is so much to do but honestly Troye and I love to work out there! The boys like it some but of course want to do other things at times too. We decided to do a few projects that were fun but also functional. We need to have some trellis' ready for our growing plants and we also need to be prepared for the deer. Last year CDs were hung and it really seemed to work so we are going to try that again. Troye also made a cute fishing scarecrow! He actually has a fishing pole with a cd hanging from it!! Too cute!! I decided to make a trellis for the peas and we let the boys paint it! They LOVE doing this! Colt even added the words "peas and thank you"! I read about a neat trellis design using pallets (awesome!!). I just picked some up last week so I was able to use them. The idea is that one side is used for climbing veggies, such as cucumbers or squash, while underneath is used for shade loving veggies such as lettuce. I don't know how it will work but I have build two so will see!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Bring on the rain

We have our first rain barrel up and ready to catch some rain! We are suppose to get some rain this weekend (but we were suppose to last weekend and didn't). Right now we have the gutter on the backside of the greenhouse. We hope to install one on the front as well. Our goal is to have this barrel able to water the raised beds inside the greenhouse. This would free us up from using so much of our water. Our water here is not cheap so anything we can do to help we will do it! I will be doing a rain dance just so I can see it all work! Ha!

100th Day of School!

Today we celebrated our 100th day of school! I was not as prepared as I would have liked but we had fun anyway! We actually started celebrating last night by having a bonfire and shooting fireworks! We made some 100 day crafts. The boys made hats with 100 items on them. We made a poster with 100 stickers and watched several movies about 100 days of school! Later one we made a cookie cake and the boys had to count out 100 sprinkles for the cake!
It was a fun day!

Bonfire Time

Sparklers!

Colts crazy hat!

Cam's Crazy hat!

Our 100th day cookie!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Growing garden!

We have lots planted already! I have to admit that every morning feels like Christmas as I walk to the greenhouse! I can't wait to see what new plant is emerging! LOL! We have lots of seedlings planted in the greenhouse and they are doing awesome! I have been making planting pots from newspapers! it is super easy and cost hardly anything! We have also planted some things outside but they are slow growing, and I am sure that has to do with the cold spells we are getting! If everything grows and produces we will have lots of veggies! We are trying different things as far as growing veggies. I am trying a potato patch were the potatoes just grow in hay! I have no idea if It will work but I read about it so why not try! We also read about planting beans and corn together. The corn acts as a trellis for the beans. This is an old Indian custom. Again, why not give it try! Here are some pictures! I will continue to update as everything grows! Oh and we installed a water spigot by the garden so watering is much easier! Yea!