It's Summer!

The weeds are endless, the sheep are escape artists, a chicken is also an escape artist, the house is dirty, my skin is brown, it's summer time! The garden fence Still isn't done, but that doesn't stop me from being outside! I can't plant Anything because it seems that whatever I plant, in what I think is a "safe" place, ends up getting run over by the backhoe. Sigh. however, I did plant some peas and spinach in the shade, and barricaded it so the sheep and dog can't trample it down. The spinach is up!

cutting steel for my garden fence with our little helpers

 We spent a wknd in Billings a few weeks ago, and stocked up (went broke) at Costco, got some lumber, etc etc. Jed and I put together this little strawberry planter! So far they aren't up. The top tier is full of flowers which need to surface to reassure me that the dirt isn't a flop again.

 We had a wild storm here the other day. Turns out is was a mesocyclone (sp?) which could have potentially ended bad. We were watching the clouds from the window and they were moving soo fast. I manged to snap this shot right before my fil called telling us that it's a tornado cloud (gulp) and to get to the root cellar. I'm so ticked I didn't open the window, but that was not even a safe or doable option! That is Jed's brothers house in the left. The cloud just about ate the house for supper.  Luckily it just rained, winded, and hailed a bit and then disappeared but it was definitely a tornado cloud, or turned into one at one point!

Right before the rain dumped

You can kind of see the bad cloud forming

I convinced Jed to give this old crate a new side so I can plant things!

Picking wildflowers when we should be chasing cows

Testing the nesting box..I hope ha!

It's been fairly warm here (28 or so) and I've already gotten my first burns. I was reminded to not compete with Jed when it comes to tanning. He's got native in him which  makes him go practically black. My darkest is his normal colour! (well, not quite!)
We are HOPING to get this garden fenced asap. It's practically June and nothing is planted. My tomatoes are just about 3ft tall and they need OUT.  With the leftover fencing/panels we took down, we will fence an area for the sheep and chickens. Jed's brother+family are moving here and they have a dog. So 3 dogs and chickens isn't the best idea! Not until the chickens are full sized and can fight them! Also, I discovered I have a rooster. Only took like 4 months to discover that!
Fredina the hen has discovered that she can fly up on the edge of the panel and jump out. But not get back in. Dumb thing. She's going to get caught my bet is!
The sheeps have also discovered how to jump through the panels and be free. Which normally isn't a problem until they get into my mil's gardens and the shop. I was hoping that they would be too fat before they figured out their escape route! Stinkers.
We are heading up to Canada here in a few weeks. We are both quite excited to go to Canada. Jed loves Canada. And obviously I like Canada too! We also will be heading to Moscow for a quick trip to bring back a trailer full of Jake's stuff. We love Moscow!
Now to get my butt out the door and feed some lambs, and catch some chickens!

My little farm

I've spent nearly all day, everyday outside this week. I now understand how and why we almost starved to death as children in the summers!  Why waste time inside making meals when you can spend all day outside?! I'm soaking in this 'warm' (cooler) weather before the heat hits. I'm hoping that I am a lot more immune to the heat this summer!
My garden still isn't fenced. So therefore I really can't plant anything. I planted some gladiolas in a place which I thought would be a safe place. But turns out right where I planted them, will be the walkway to the one gate in! oops. I'm not complaining. I'll have my garden, and this whole big tree area all fenced hopefully within or by next week.  I have been pulling weeds and weeds and weeds. I give the weeds to my chickens and they love it! And they love the worms they may get too. I tore out a ton of grass clumps by a tree north of my garden. I tilled up my garden, and then that area and planted a TON of wildflower seeds there! Shasta daisies, zinnias, cosmos,bachelor buttons, marigolds, poppies, and likely a few more. I have high hopes and expectations of it becoming a wildflower patch!
I planted started a few more seeds. I'm hoping that it'll give them a week or two head start. Planted cukes, tomatillos, Brussels sprouts, blue corn, cauliflower and some tomatoes. It may be too late, but its worth a shot.
With two little lambs, and quite often a dog around, they don't make it easy to get stuff done. The lambs are like children. Constantly getting into things, picking up what you just put down, gnawing on garbage, but ignoring the field of fresh green grass behind them, climbing on your lap, butting you for food, etc. And then when you throw a dog in the mix, she has to be Right there with them. So if the lambs come near you, the dog is there, happy of course, so wagging her tail, knocking things over. But. It's cute. And it's teaching me to be consistent in pushing them away from the new plants, consistent in taking them to the grass. However, they are the cutest thing. To them, I am their momma. They see or hear me and start baaa-ing!

The cuddly one

Best time of day

Jed did good!

rain makes all things vibrant

Happy Mothers Day!

looove a clean house

She LOVES the sheep. So obse

All in all, I love this life and this place I've been given. I get to spend most of my day outside, with my little animals! I feel very lucky that I am able to be outside for as much as I want. I've come to absolutely LOVE being outside. Surprisingly, i'm not lonely, or bored. As crazy as I may sound, these animals keep me sane and normal ha!

Sheepy Sheepy

Who would ever have thought that I would have a flock of chickens, 2 bum lambs, a large garden and not work!?!  Not me! I didn't not want it, but the idea had never crossed my mind up until the last year.
My mom had a garden most of my life, and I never really paid much attention to it. I honestly don't remember the last time I was in her garden! Yet now? Flowers, and gardening is half of all we talk about. She's teaching me her tricks, and i'm rubbing it in her face that I can grow corn, and we are a zone 4 here, and we have hardly any snow all winter! Now, I love gardening! Last years garden of mine was kind of a flop. The deer, the hail, the too rich manure that hadn't been worked for a few years, and then the 2 snakes I had seen in my garden which made me constantly watch my back and my feet.
This year however, this year, this month, (May) my garden is getting fenced! With 6ft deer fences. I think we (fil+Jed+me hovering around) will fence the whole garden area; not just the garden itself. Woot.  Half of this reason is because the bulls keep running over the fence that's there and coming into the lot. If they want somewhere, a fence doesn't always stop them!

That old shed on the far right will be torn down and the coop there instead! (The plan so far)

We will just replace the fence that's shown here (right and behind tree)

And then all of this tree area will be fenced!! We will put a smaller (4ft) fence separating my garden from the tree area, and then let the chickens roam in there! I cannot wait!!   

On Sunday, we brought back to bum lambs from meeting! Cutest little things ever. They have the whole old milking shed for themselves with a fenced off area on the outside too.  The weather has been super sad and rainy and windy out. But once the weathers nicer, they'll just follow me around when i'm out in the yard. They still follow me around but it's been so gross out that I haven't been outside much, aside from feeding them 5x a day!  They will hopefully too live in the trees here. 

                 Feeding the little lambies

                 

SO cute!

Love his speckles

always at your feet

I would never have thought i'd have lambs, and chickens, but I love it! They're so simple, and entertaining, not to mention cute! (chickens...mehh not so much) 

This Gorgeous Week

This week it was gorgeous! Weather got to about 21C (I have not figured out Fahrenheit for the life of me!) and I took advantage of it! It was t-shirt time, and I even brought out the shorts!

I have been taking the dog down to the creek lately. It's great because 1) there's no cows down there 2) the dog has so much room to run and burn her energy 3) there's water for her to play in 4) it's protected from the wind! We just walk and walk and sometimes I have No clue where I am until I get to the top of a hill and see Jed's brother Cole's house! We discovered this deeper pond for Sassie the dog to swim in. It was the first time she actually swam, and not just flopped in at the edges. She loved it. She would race out back to me and then spray me with water. Such a happy dog!

Drying off

Her swimming hole

Trying to take a picture with the dog without getting soaked with pond water!

SO happy!

This little one is quite timid!

Had about 2 minutes 'free ranging' in the garden before I threw her back in the run!

Started pulling this rose mess out, and will replant with some bulbs

T-shirt, shorts, smoothie, outside...Perfect day!

Passed out

More passed out...guess they don't like that roost!

 I went with a friend to Belle Fourche/Spearfish SD the other day. I discovered some seeds at Walmart for .50C, .20C and then this Huge collection! I Obviously had to buy some of the cheaper ones. It was such a good deal!

Every time. I just can't help it.

I transplanted some tomatoes the other day so this window is getting Super full!

Golden Hour

Spring Dreaming

This 2014 has been absolutely GORGEOUS! Everyday has been super warm (for January, and for me) and super sunny. We get SO much sun here, I love it! There's hardly ever clouds in the sky.  With these gorgeous and summery days, it just makes me want spring. Right now. Unfortunately, it will likely snow or get cold more yet.
I realized just last week that I can almost be ordering chicks! I don't know where I first got the idea in my head that I want chickens, but it hasn't left. I have been pinning away chicken coops, ideas, etc on Pinterest for who knows how long. I've been talking to Jed about a chicken coop long enough that he knows it's not just a spur of the moment idea.
If you look on Pinterest, you will see some absolutely gorgeous, beautiful, and over the top coops. Because we know we aren't going to live here forever, we aren't going to make it super fancy. I am settling for a basic 8x12 coop with about 4ft of it being for a 'storage' area, and access to the eggs, without going Directly into the coop. I really like the idea of having a door into a storage area where you can keep the feed, cartons etc, and in this case, it'll be my little garden shed as well. Plus, that way you don't have to take dirty shoes right into the coop. Brilliant. Jed says chickens are gross and dirty regardless. Pfft.
My parent's are coming in a week and a half, and i'm hoping that I can annoy motivate Jed enough to have the building materials by then so my dad can help make this coop! I can't believe how excited I am to get little chicks and then FRESH EGGS! I'm going to get the chicks that lay the blue/green/pink eggs, of course.

I'm currently dreaming about my garden for this year. Ordering seeds, and just hoping things grow good this year! I hope to grow lots and lots of 'juiceable' vegetables; kale, spinach, beets, carrots etc. I told Jed he will be getting a fresh juice every morning if things work as planned! Jed has a list of 7 peppers he would like me to grow. I don't eat peppers, so if we end up with too many, i'll just let them dry out and grind into powder!
Now to hurry up and get through these next few months, and hope that no more snow comes!

2013 Recap

2013 went by in a flash. Like it does to every person, each year.   I can hardly remember that I was back home at this time, attempting to plan a wedding with no date yet!
The one thing I've learned this year is that there are some things in life that we have absolutely no control over, no matter how hard we try.
Recap (and a TON of pictures, sorry!)
January: Jed came up and surprised me for Christmas! We spent the holidays relaxed, playing games and avoiding the cold. I went back to Edmonton with him, K+D and spent a day there before he flew out. That was the hardest thing because I didn't know when we would see each other again! So glad there's no more of those!

Built a tunnel on the deck with the snow that dad shoveled off the roof!

Sunday Best

And now she has a boyfriend!

February:

Our dearest friend Dale passed away so a bunch of friends from FSJ bused to Terrace BC! Was a quick trip.
The winter had warmed up a bit so looking back I realize that I spent a bit of time outside playing with Deja. And of course, when you're re-living back at home, after having to buy your own groceries, you now realize just how nice it is to be able bake/cook with your mom's ingredients! I spent lots of time baking, cooking and trying out new recipes! I also had been working since Nov at the post office, mainly during the Christmas craziness, so by Feb. my work was ended and I was temporarily unemployed! I helped my parents renovate their rental house to help pass time. February was also the month when we first heard something from the USCIS (US immigration) for the first time in 6 months!!

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In Terrace 

March: 
I worked full time for the month of March back again at Booster Juice. LOVE that job! My visa FINALLY got approved as well! We waited 220 days for the approval! My paperwork had to go from USA to Canada, and then I had to send MORE forms. But nonetheless, we had been waiting 7 months for this approval. While I was back home puttering around, keeping busy, Jed was helping calve and between that he was building our little 400sqft house!

That much snow! (Taken out the kitchen window, where the deck is hidden!)

Jed's hard work!

April: 
April was an extremely busy month! I drove down to Vancouver for my medical+interview. I met Jed there and then from there we drove back to Montana! We had a month, more or less, before our wedding. We finally had the date finalized (May 6th) so that meant crackdown time! Calving was just coming to an end down at the ranch so I did manage to witness one birth!  We made the concrete counter top just before we left for our wedding. It would have to sit and harden for a long time. We had got some old glass bottles and shattered them in hopes that we could have glass pieces in our counter top. It didn't quite workout the way we planned, but we know for next time! We spent as much time as we could finishing our house so when we came back from the honeymoon it would be completely liveable! 

Moments old

Making the concrete countertop

glass

The little calf

The calf-saver

May: 
The wedding! May 6 in Moscow ID. We drove to Moscow the Friday before the wedding and picked up Christie, met my family and did as much as we could! We rented a b&b for Sunday+the night. A lot of our guests stayed there and that's where we prepared all the food! We had a tremendous amount of help. I'm still not over it.  It was a busy, but unforgettable weekend. Aside from the wedding+our honeymoon to Hawaii, we just got made ourselves a little life. I didn't have a kitchen sink for about a week, nor a countertop. That made life difficult and challenging.

B+B we stayed at

Making a real fruit cake out of fruit

Mr+Mrs Smith

Our wedding

Kauai, Hawaii 

Our living room (which has since been rearranged with a couch now in it)

closet/pantry/storage room/mudroom

bathroom 

June: 

I planted my first ever garden in June! (This year i'm planting WAY earlier) Not a whole lot went on in June. My mom came down and visited us for a few short days, so that was very special! I just kept busy in the garden. June is also the month that I discovered my fear of snakes. Not a bad fear in the fact that I'll run away if I see one, but just enough fear to keep me super cautious and no more flip flop wearing in the long grasses! I saw 11 total snakes this year. Jed saw 2. Something is wrong with that picture! We have a lot more summer storms down here than we do back home. Big thunderstorms, and the odd hail storm! However, it seems that for as many thunderstorms we got, it rarely rained, and if it did, it soaked into the dry ground immediately!

Cody WY

Corn! 

Out our upstairs window

Putting my mom to work hoeing my garden!

A bull snake. A "good" snake

At the river 

July:

 We pretty much have no life.  However, my sweet niece Sophia was born! July 9th, and she is as cute as ever! I kept busy keeping the weeds out of my garden. We took a day trip to Rapid City SD (I had to get some fingerprinting done there for immigration) and spent the afternoon at Reptile Gardens! And yes, I still hate snakes!

Little corn tunnel 

for the love of sunsets (and sunrises)

Favourite time of day

Jed finally painted again

Outcome

August:

We got a nice hailstorm with about 1-2" size hails. It shredded up my garden. I thought my garden was doomed, but miraculously enough, most things came back! Just a bit slower. The corn never did develop good. I still got a mountain of zucchini, pumpkins, the odd tomato, and a few potatoes. I think the soil was too rich but it's hard to know if it was the hail, soil or deer that made my garden not the greatest. My inlaws got two pups, so I spent/spend a lot of time with them! 

Saw these zebras when we were heading to a nephews birthday!

Our couch! 81 year old body, 8 month old facelift (to date!)

Big hails!

Wreckage 

I think the hail made this deformity!

First corn picking! 

 

                                     

Pups the inlaws got!

Progress

September: 
September wasn't much. Just eating as many zucchini's as we possibly could! I started sneaking them into food (muffins, cookies, meatloaf etc) but then Jed caught on so that ended quickly! I pulled the most of my garden out mid-end September. The pumpkins were the only things really worth going to check on was the pumpkins! I had far far too many zucchini's (like everyone else) so Jed and I used them as target practice!

Gorgeous fall day

       

So many, so heavy!

Before&After

Home made salsa, chicken tortilla soup and tortilla chips!

                      

October: 
We harvested some pumpkins! I made so much pumpkin stuff, froze some puree and then just chucked the pumpkins later on. Not a whole lot happened/happens in our life.  We went out to the middle of nowhere (worse than where we live!) and brought some cows in. It was this month however, that I decided it was time to bring out the flannel shirts and alpaca blankets! Jed also went and painted a painting one evening.

November: 

Looking back at pictures, I realized that it was this month that I made TONS of soup, made granola, yogurt, canned some tomatoes (not from my garden :( )  and just enjoyed the extremely warm fall, at least to my standards!

December:

 The inlaws were gone for a week, so that left Jed and I in charge of feeding all the cattle. During that week, it got COLD! We would spend the greater part of the morning feeding cattle.  He didn't work then (as it was so cold) and then never really worked steady since. Off and on. Jed's sister+family came down for the holidays, and we spent Christmas afternoon splitting firewood. And then Keadran, Denise+Sophia came down to visit us! It was my first time meeting Sophia. She is such an absolute sweet heart! 

Eggs Benedict!