Just a Little Bit of Life

Lettuce and Herbs

Hi Blog Pals-

Life's been busy here, so I haven't had time to blog much. We're busy with swimming lessons this summer (8 weeks in all, 2 for each child). Other than that it's just regular life here, except that I can't get as much done as usual.
Today it was up at 6:30, and outside by 7:00. First stop to the chicks to fill 3 feeders and one waterer, open the door and put up the wire "screen" for them.
Then feed, water and hay 17 rabbits; clean one exceptionally messy rabbit hutch; let the chickens out, throw scratch to them, collect eggs; hay the goats, wash their water bucket out, water them, give them each feed, replenish goat minerals, diatomacious earth (a natural, organic wormer and dietary supplement), and baking soda dispensers.
Then it was back to the house, bathe one little girl, make sure we'd all eaten, get to the car and head in to swimming lessons.
After lessons today we had a picnic with another homeschooling family. We had fun talking homeschooling, parenting, gardening, etc.
When we got home we all (the kids and I) headed to the garden to do some weeding, tie up the tomatoes (yet again!), and harvest some tom thumb and deer tongue lettuce, basil and cilantro. I NEED to do something with spinach and chard again soon, so I'll be checking all of your blogs for recipes. The beets need thinning, radishes need pulling up and re-planting...I'm going to stop thinking about it for now before my list gets too overwhelming.
While we were weeding, I put the goats on their tie outs to graze on the "pasture" that's our lawn. We've pretty much perfected out technique for tying them out in a way that's safe as long as we're near by. They each have a stake that twists into the ground with a ten foot dog tie out cable. Between the cable and the stake we added the rubber portion of a bungee cord so if they run it stops them gently. We put them near each other, but not near enough to get tangled. It works really well. They enjoy purple clover, birdsfoot trefoil, dandelions, plantain and grass.
When they'd finished helping me weed, the kids all went across the road to the neighbors. They have a "city" of forts they're building. They're busy creating laws to govern their city, and I'm pretty sure they're getting along better than those whom we've chosen to "govern" us. Maybe they should go to the capitol and straighten the mess out. ;)
So, that's about it so far today. Hope you're all having a wonderful week. I hope to catch up on reading all your blog posts soon. Blessings!