Anytime anyone offers to come work on the farm, we'll never say no, and we'll also offer lunch. :-)
I didn't get many pictures of the actual workers because we were all so busy. But finally I took just a few. Here are some of the accomplishments of the day:
Took the young chickens (black color) out to mix in with the older chickens for the first time. After a bit of pecking order was established, they did fine.
Shoveled, loaded, hauled and unloaded countless mounds of mulch from the greenhouse over to the garden area. The mulch in the greenhouse is full of nitrogen (chicken waste) and carbon (mulch) that is composting. The composting makes it nice and warm for the chickens on a cold day. However, today gave us a chance to get a jump start on getting all that composted mulch out to the garden as well as get the greenhouse cleaned up a bit.
Dylan has become our master garden weed-whacker. A job that is hard, tedious and nobody enjoys. We are grateful for him doing it!
Below is a photo of some of the fruits of his labor! The garden potato patch is completely weed-free, and now covered with compost from the greenhouse.
Boys discussing what should happen next....
Sheri's dad, waiting for the next load to be filled...
Chickens enjoying their dust baths in the clean mulch.
One white leghorn insisted on getting in this bucket... she was removed at least 10 times but always ran back around to the chicken entrance, then flew up over the divider wall, and right back into the bucket. Chickens are entertaining.... and apparently have endurance.
The bees enjoyed their organic sugar mixture. We knew they would be out on such a warm day, so Dylan feeds them since there isn't anything blooming for them now.
PawPaw making our entrance more beautiful. They say "whatever you own, owns you" and that is what has happened to us with this entrance and the weeds. He did a great job!
Nest boxes moved and cleaned!
We probably had to remove 20 mice today as we dug up old mulch. Anyone who thinks a chicken is a vegetarian has never seen one go after a mouse. There was a lot of chicken chasing, handing off the mouse from beak-to-beak (as we tried to remove it), and capture and release! It was like a chicken football game and I think we nearly lost. The greenhouse MUST be mouse-free now...?
Hanging around the door waiting for us to let them sneak in.
Farm cats taking the day off....
Our first of four mulch/compost piles nearly ready to be covered and "cooked" for another year. Then it will be added to the garden as we start the next pile.
Saturdays are typically a workday for us... and days like this make it fun, even though we are super tired.
"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest;"
But after we work, we get to play!
