Let there be Potatoes

This is a look at my potatoes in the garden. I choose the easy method of tilling the ground (even easier when I have husband do it) then placing the potatoes right on top of the ground. I next cover them with hay well. When I see the greens start coming through the hay, then I add more hay to them to again cover the greens. I do this about 3 or 4 times totally, which amounts to quite a bit of hay, but really not "hard" work. Then after the 3 or 4 times, I just let them grow. The greens will be back through the hay shortly and when they die off in the summer, I will have tons of potatoes right under the hay. I like this method, because there is a lot let labor involved, imho. You do not have to do so much digging as you do with dirt hilled potatoes. They are usually cleaner and easier to locate too. I planted about 60 lbs of several different types.

The New babies!!!

Well, with Spring here, we always seem to get "new babies"...

We decided to order new chicks and such in this year. We went to Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, MO to pick up our order on April 22.

We had ordered 50 quail, and 5 female white pekin ducks. We also picked up 15 Rhode Island Red hens and 1 Rhode Island Red Rooster, and 3 Barred Rock hens.

We decided that the price of ordering new hens every year or two was just too outragous and is only going to get worse, so we are sticking with these 2 breeds and will make our own Rhode Island Reds or Sex links with these breeds in the future, using our newly purchased incubator.

We will also be raising our quail using the incubator for a hopeful endless supply of quail for our freezer.

The ducks are for eggs. I love the larger duck eggs for baking and such and they seem to lay during the winter when the chickens do no lay much. I have had good luck with them in the past and am expecting the same with these.



The quail are so small and cute but are growing quickly. They are so cute to watch as they flutter there and there. This pic is of them pecking at a quarter...see how small they are.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


These little ducks are super and they can already swim. They are growing quickly too and have almost doubled in size since we got them. We already have 2 full grown ducks and we will wait till these babies are much bigger to "combine".

big find

Our Silver Dollar City Trip

We had a blast on our trip. We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson this past weekend. It was our family (Cullen, Belinda, Simone and Kenny) and one of our neices, our nephew and Belindas mom. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to drive down there, but it was a nice drive, with no real problems.

We went for the International Festival that they have. It is there in April and we didnt get to go last year. There was a ton of food from just about everywhere.... Mexican, Greek, Chinese, Italian, Irish, and so much more. The eating was great. I had my favorite which is pork rinds...they were warm and fresh and well, just the way I like them. Simone and Cullen had the baked alaska too. Kenny got tons of gummy worms and jelly beans from the candy shop too. Overall I give the eats 2 thumbs up...

We went to see 2 of the main shows too. The first one was "Feet of Fire" the Irish river dancing. It had the dancing and an Irish band, a harpest, and one fire dancer. It was a 30 minute show and it was pretty good. The boys were bored pretty quick (except with the fired dancer, lol) but over all it was worth seeing.

We also went to see the Chinese Acrobat show. It was really good. We were all very impressed and it was definitely a "can't take your eyes off of them" show. The costumes were great, the show was super and it was an overall good time. Kenny was really impressed with the backstage stuff, like the 2 guys that held the safety ropes for one of the acts.

The weather was just about perfect for the day. It started out a bit cold, but then cleared up pretty nice and was pleasantly warm. There was not even any rain (and that was a big shocker since all we have had for weeks is rain, rain, and more flooding rain).

The kids went on a few of the rides too. Kenny chickened out on some of them and so the kids came back to us without going on the roller coaster that they had set out to ride. They never did make it back but I figure there is alway next time, right???

Spinach, Lettus and Mustard Greens from the Garden

Well, we have picked our first round of greens from the garden this year. We got a big mess of mustard greens and spinach that I have already cooked, chopped and placed in the freezer for a future date.

I also have a big bag of leaf lettus and such for a nice green salad. It is about a half of a shopping bag full of so it may be several salads.

Cullen grew them all in his new green house that he made. Even though we have not even gotten to our last frost day, we are already enjoying the fruits of our labor (or should I say greens of our labor???) It is always nice to get your first round of fresh grown items from the garden after a long cold, not so fresh winter...

Baked Pork chops cooked on a fire!

When the girls are away, the boys will play. We went shopping the other day and when we came home, the boys had cooked us up a meal of pork chops and veggies in the dutch oven...all cooked out on the fire. Yum!

Outdoorcooking
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Flemish Giant

we just got 4 new Giants on wednesday. its the first time we have had rabbit this big .. thEy live up to the name....