Shadow of Eden Farm: 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Monday, July 13, 2015

More photos!

Here's some shots from around the farm this past week:

Steven's garden is looking especially good so far this year
(you can click on the photo to view it larger)

and we have a set of twins born to my Katahdin ewe (sheep)

and this week we finally had another Boer doe give birth

(she actually had twins, but one was stillborn)

Isn't this little babe cute?

~ Tracy

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Look what hatched out this week! :-)

She's very protective. I had a cute little video of her with the ducklings but I haven't been able to upload it from my phone to here.

We also have about 20 chicks from two hens that recently hatched, and of course the lamb twins. Still waiting on more baby goat kids to arrive any day.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Fruits of the harvest

I love this time of year when our plants begin to bear fruit. I know there will be a lot of work involved with harvesting and preserving, but it is still always amazing to me how God designed each plant to bear so much fruit! Far more than you would think a plant would need to simple reseed itself - no, it produces fruit in abundance - to make sure of its survival!

These currant bushes near our wash-house are especially heavy with berries this year -- which probably means that the gooseberries are also really loaded right now, down in the lower 40. We haven't had a chance to go check on them - but I hope to this weekend. See if there are enough berries to make a pie for Steven.

The garden has been very good so far this year, as well, with the wonderful rains we have received this year. This is some of the varieties of squash/zucchini that is currently ready to pick!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

House Painting

Little by little, we are gradually making our way around the house, painting it (by the time we make it all the way around, it will be time to begin again, I'm sure!)

The issue with painting a house that is 140 years old, is the wood is so dry that it doesn't hold paint well, or for long. It takes a tremendous amount of prep work to get the surface ready for a layer of paint. We've had lots of people "offer" to come paint the house (like, spray it). I tell them, "the painting is the easy part - it is all of the detail work to get the surface ready to paint that takes time."

Steven is a perfectionist, so that means besides a thorough scraping off of old paint, there is wood filler used for any holes, bad boards replaced, nails fixed, cracks filled, window sills repaired or replaced, etc. Then hand-brush on a heavy sealer/primer, in order to really work it into the wood, caulk any seams and apply top coats. It takes days to get one small area done in that fashion. But we are trying to help the house last another 100 years as well as it did its first 100.

The photo below is of a small area we applied primer to this week -- such a difference! It will still need a couple layers of top coat, and then we put up the new storm window. You can't tell after the paint, but the bottom three siding boards are new - concrete board siding, to prevent the issue of the bottom-most siding always rotting out.
(On the left side, we haven't yet finished prepping that area - although we have finished the window).

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Photo a Day for 365?

Okay, so I'm not doing to well on this "photo a day" challenge thing.

Believe me, I have been taking lots of photos. Just not much time to edit and post them, with it being summer; family members moving; gardening, new baby livestock, etc. etc. I don't know what I was thinking!

Maybe I can post all the pics during winter; and it will feel like re-living my summer! :-)

Tracy