Oh my has it been a whirlwind week. My 3 have been on Spring Break and being I am the rare stay home Mom, I ended up with additional children throughout the week days & nights. At one point for an overnight I had a total of 7 children here. My husband works over nights so it got a little crazy for him during the day as well. He was a good sport about it and feels the same as I do. If they are here, we know what they are doing, they are safe & secure plus being most parents work during the week, they are supervised.

   This week has been rather windy and we are in a lag of gardening due to the warm days & chilly nights. There is not much more to be done until the nights warm up.
So what have I been doing with this bright sunshine filled days?
Playing outside of course! My Pink Roto Hoe {a 1978 rear tine 6 HP Tiller} is in great need of a tune up & a fresh layer of paint. I need to replace the Carb and a few pins for gears have come off while tilling so I rigged them until I find replacements.{see the side photos for what she looked like freshly painted soon after I bought her}. I have no manual and everything online is of no help so I video record what I take apart & where it goes so I do not mess up. So many pieces look alike, easy to mess up when putting things back. Each day I would have the intentions of beginning this on her but that wind... Just was not going to happen. I actually have a small case of windburn on my face as well as my youngest from taking a jaunt into the back woods, through the archery range and then down the road to home again. Apparently the trees did not spare us as I had hoped.
   Our hens have begun laying within the last week, full force! We got so busy at one point the other day, that no one went in the coop to collect eggs- being we had not picked up the rhythm again with months of nothing. When I collected late last afternoon the nest was FILLED with eggs. I could tell a few must have broke being there was yellow yoke on some. I'm sure it had to do with no room for the hen to move around. The newer, clean ones were collected and the dirty ones were marked and transferred to another nest box. I am hoping one of the hens will go broody and hatch a batch out.
One of my Foster Sisters asked if we would Host her Son's Flat Stanley. he came all the way from Southern Virginia! So the children & I have been coming up with some great adventures for him. For those who are not familiar with Flat Stanley, here is a link to give you a little more information. {he is our first, so it is rather exciting! Especially being I am a camera nut}. http://www.flatstanley.com/about  He went fishing, practiced some arrow shooting with my youngest son at the range & collected eggs from the coop where the hens were rather curious on whether he was edible or not... {I included a few shots of him in the side as well}
   By far the most fun day was spent doing photos for my oldest daughter & few of her friends. Normally I am into the nature settings and she asked if I would take their photos but wanted to know what theme they should go with. I know she does not enjoy my normally soft style so I said "How about Punk?" There is a music video mini movie by the band The Best Coast for their song "Our Deal" which was directed by Drew Barrymore inspiring what I presented to the girls as Punk. They loved it and it challenged me with a new environment away from creek beds, trees and other elements I usually use. This was more inner city & train yards with graffiti. And to be honest... was just as exciting for me. The photos did not come out as well as I wanted being I could not get those girls out the door until 1pm! I knew the sun would not play in my favor with such non favorable lighting. I would have to find a way to work around the angle of the late sun and all the shadows. BUT the girls had a blast and begged to do it again soon. That was the entire point. For them to have fun and have pictures they could gush over...as they did well into the night.
                                    My mission & Their Spring Break....complete. : )

   Tonight we are to have a bonfire to help clean up the brush from pruning so many trees. Poor things were neglected for a good 25 years. Being there are plenty more in need, We will save the apple tree pruned wood for mulching the mushroom beds. Which by the way, our WineCap mushroom spawn will be here around the 25th.
So exciting to start with them. This will be our first Mushroom Gardening adventure!
Now I must be off and mow around the beehive. My new hive, empty of bee's, should be available for pickup within the next week or so. The area needs prepped for the second hive to be placed in the Bee yard. Lets hope they do not get angered and decide the noise of trimming & mowing is just not acceptable...

Sweetest Dreams,
~Tammie