Yesterday we had snow, rain and wind and so far today, a repeat.....

                     We need the moisture, so we're NOT complaining. Instead we're catching up on inside chores and our blog that has been neglected for to long, we've instead just been posting articles we think would be of interest to our friends. Well.... now is the time to catch you up a bit!*wink*

                   Mike gives me grief about hanging onto these branches( sucklers from our fruit trees), although
                    he does admit how handy they are when bundled properly. This was Cortney's chore and she
                   did a great job, see below!

This is just a portion of what she cut and bundled, there are approximately three times this amount.

Now to find a place to store them until our next burning season.  We also use these( apple wood) when BBQ'ing for added flavor.

Addy, ready to calve any day, actually today is her official due date! I'm praying she holds off for a bit warmer weather*wink*

Button, who is like a kid in the candy store, she heads for the flax lick ASAP as she's let out onto pasture.

The flax lick is for their reproductive health, to cleanse their internal organs, as well as supplement the minerals lacking in our area.  It sure makes their coats gleam!

Mike's been tilling off and on in the evenings. This will be a sort of pictorial of our garden. We're hoping you will be able to picture our garden layout. All the pictures pan to the right of where I'm standing, just for your info.*wink* 

You'll notice the three raised/ bermed beds in the background. The two covered with grass clippings for mulch have our onions planted in them. The longer bed is for our carrots and some herbs as pest control. Speaking of pest control, before planting your root crops, if you add DE( diatomaceous earth) in the farrow before planting your seed, this will deter root maggots.

Mike's been tilling, he loves to till when he has the time!  See the rhubarb, it's almost ready to be harvested for the first time! If you click on the photo, you'll also see the asparagus going to seed and the apple trees beginning to bloom.

Now in the foreground we'll be building a new raised bed for strawberries, down to the walking onions, then the garlic and beyond will be Spring garlic and our Sweet Dumpling squash.

The green is parsnip, left for seed collecting this Fall. This was our salad garden last season and this season will be our potato patch.

You see our pallet composting area as well as a black plastic composter( gifted to us). The black composter works but we've found it hard to mix in it. So.... we mix and turn in the pallet area, then when slightly composted we add to the black composter, to finish it off.  The area tilled used to be covered with pallets( we used to stack wood there), our branch collection, rolls of wire, and basic JUNK!!!!  We worked to clean this are up and will use it to transplant raspberries we thin from our original patch.

The grey house and shed are my parents home and beyond that( other side of their place) is our back pasture granary and main barn. To the left of their shed are the cows barns and the front pasture. Basically when you look at a Ariel view of our property, it looks like the state of TX. Our homes and gardens are in the panhandle area and the back orchard and pastures make up the rest.*wink*

This is a photo Cortney took while playing with setting on her camera. please click to make larger and you'll see it is quite a serene picture. If you look closely, you can hear the crickets and birds singing their songs before turning in for the evening.

Blessings to each of you. We're off to muck the barns and see if anyone wants out in this weather?*wink*