BareFoot BackYard

June 12th 2017 More sparrow update... While setting up our pool we had a baby sparrow come to visit. It learned a great lesson. No diving!!!

June 11th and 12th 2017 The cucumbers beans and peas are looking good out front and in the very back of our yard we have a 2ed clutch of sparrows!!! Soo cute to see the birds bringing the babies food all day long... they arent too please when I hang laundry on my cloths line tho .

May 31st 2017 Happy Birthday Marie!!! Planting some cucumber in the lainway.

This is outrageous.

June 9th 2017 My Kale is under attack!!!! So I started having issues with larva eating my Kale I was aboit to call it quits and just pull it all and then this Wasp came to save the day. I have never been so happy to see a wasp before!!! Also my Pikes Peak sunflowers have popped... not a great turn out :(

May 30th 2017 Rabbit in a dog hole

June 8th 2017 Fluffy Butt and Dust Bunny update!!! Marny is FINALLY letting the kids out of the den and it is just cuteness overload here!!!!

May 29th 2017 Getting Dirty FINALLY!!! So this is a sheet of lattes I put up in my lainway it is 4 feet tall and 8 feet long. The area I am planting in is a trench I dug about 8" deep and 6" wide. I filled it with compost and manure. Im trying to use every inch of space I can!!! So this is about to get PACKED with climbing vegetables!!!!

June 7th 2017 I gave my mother a pair of blond Coturnix Quail and the hen is constantly laying double yoked eggs!!

May 29th 2017 Finally getting back to the gardens. This is a shot of the shade structure for the Kale Spinach onions carrots leeks.... tomato and lambs quarter. Finally got some weeding done. These beds had rabbit tractors on the the winter before so I have all kinds ov volunteer plants growing... tones of grass wheat oats alfalfa it was just a mess. The rabbits loved all of the snacks!!!! The seedlings are mostly doing good.... beans are wilted and the tomatoes are 1/4 of the size of the volunteer ones growning in the beds.

June 7th 2017 The sparrow chicks have hatched!!!

May 29th 2017 FLUFFY BUTTS Rabbit tractor is getting over grown. Spot the rabbit hahaha

June 6th 2017 Too many plants!! Must build new gardens. Bam!!! New gardens. This is at the back of my yard right infront of a perennial flower bed. Its actually the location of my original garden from the first year I moved here. I moved the garden because we had a large tree that shaded this area and the spring after moving the garden we cut the tree down hahaha. So now Im building gardens again!!!

June 6th 2017 Ohhh the volunteer plants are taking over EVERYTHING. I guess this is what happens when you have rabbit tractors on your gardens all winter and are feeding good heirloom fruit to your Fluffy Butts!!!!

May 29th 2017 DUST BUNNIES!!! The kits are growing good!!! So cute. Its hard not to spend all day with them.

June 4th 2017 RANDOMNESS

May 27th 2017 DOGNESS NONSENSE

June 2ed 2017 Garden update !!!! I started a new little project. I have a big window frame I salvaged from a home at the end of the st. It did have glass in it.... but it fell over one too many times so now its going to have a new life as a trellis!!! I stappled on some old corn crib fencing and away we go!!!

May 23ed 2017 RASPBERRIES The raspberry propigation is going good. They have doubled in size... no roots yet but Im excited to see the growth

June 2ed 2017 Fluffy Butt update Ahhhh they are sooo cute!!!!! Marny is still keeping the burried in the den. But they are starting to run around up and down the tunnel and have eyes open now!!!!

May 23ed 2017 I did a little rabbit grooming. Im really picky with what fiber I actually keep from the rabbits so I will leave any dirt or short fiber outside for the birds and it does not take long for them to come get it.

May 31st 2017 Fluffy Butt and Dust Bunny update. Shade is having a timeout... shes earned a new nickname. She now "The B*tch" She has been bullying Marny. The little DustBunnies are growing like crazy!!!!

May 23ed 2017 RABBIT UPDATE!!!down the rabbit hole. FINALLY HAVE BABIES!!!! My doe Marny has had 3 litters which for ine reason or another never lived :( So this is her first litter to make it. She had 3 and 2 have lived!!! I have my rabbits in a colony and there is one area that does not have fencing in the grpund to stop burrowing and of course she has burrowed. So the kits are nice and cool down in the rabbit hole.

May.... I dont remember 2017 Wahahahah rocking missmatched socks AND flip flops.... cuz Im that stylish.

May 17th 2017 I started dismantling a rabbit tractor I had built for our rabbits. I downsized so I dont need as many anymore. Soso doing the running man in the sandbox hahah and a nasty bug that was burrowing in my garden.

May 17th 2017 RANDOMNESS I had saved some gourds from last year to make bird houses out of and i found this one today in my shed. The mice had chewed a PERFECT hole in it hahaha. A rotten tree stump with a heart. My beautiful daughter Clo and a patch of forgetmenots from "the cut thru " its like a park area up the st from us. And the begining of a fairy garden.

May 14th 2017 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE Chloe turned the BIG 10!!!! She had a great day. Played some basket ball... We went to her favorite park "frog pond" and got to see an albino mallard which was cool a red winged black bird and a clutch of duckling. Oh and a stick we all thought was a turtle hahahah

May 13th 2017 Randomess....

May 11th 2017 Seedling More seedling pictures. Lots and lots of seedling!!! Also some beautiful blooms we saw on our walk.

May 10th 2017 RASPBERRY &STRAWBERRIES This is my 8x8' perennial berry bed. I have a boxspring frame as a trellis for the raspberries and it is working great!!! It is really strong so I dont havr to worry about it sagging or faiiling over. I pounded 2 T-post at each end of the boxspring and screwed the T-posts to it. Super simple, strong and FREE!!! I love using mattresses and boxs springs all over the yard!!! So these are a few photos of the garden at the beginning. I moved 7 strawberry plants and some raspberries I propigated last year tossed some old straw down that was in the quail/ rabbit tractor over winter and they seem to be doing good.

May 10th 2017 RASPBERRY PROPIGATION I have 2 locations in our yard where our "mother" raspberry plants grow. These are a Black Raspberry type. Has been growing on our property for about... 30 years maybe longer. Iv found that they are hard to maintain and harvest when all the perennials fill in around them so this year I am working on some leveling propigation to move them to my 8x8 perenial berry garden.

Nay 10th 2017 SEEDLING!!! I started sooo many seeds this year!! Some thrived and others a promptly killed hahaha. I will do anothe post on all the varieties I grew this year. As well as an update on how the plants have developed.

So I have been so busy I havent made wrote anything ne in a long time so today my goal is to post all the posts I should have been doing the past few months. . . So it begins!!! May was filled with all kinds of fun. Rabbiys blowing out winter fiber and free rangind in the yard. I did a little bit of hay making. Basically just cutting down grass and weeds to dry and use later. I think more of it was eaten fresh then was actually dryed lol.

So we have all been hard at work cleaning up the yard getting ready to start planting out this year's gardens!!! We have moved a 4x8 raised bed into the backyard with the big coat hanger trellis. It's going to be planted out with mostly cucumbers so we can make a big batch of pickles this year. Iv also done a layout for a new squash\mello\pumpkin and carrot patch at the back of the yard. I will work on tillin it today. Our "Salad Bar" garden in the front has some Kale and Spinach that we planted last year growing but not nearly as many plants as we need so I will plant more every few days as well as add Tom Thumb and mixed leaf lettuce. I completely redid my campfire pit. I went with a key hole style with a large amount of rocks to keep kids back away from the fire. The green stakes are not staying lol.

Iv desided to plant some Kale and Spinach in my lainway but this time I'm using my boxspring frame over top of the bed. Haha over the garden lol and I have planted the seeds between the slats. I'm going to cover it with a sheet of plastic at night to hold in the heat. Fingers crossed it will grow well. Next I need to move a rabbit tractor into the raised bed closest to the and cover it with plastic aswell. Chloe and Sophia were out helping me do the seed planting. I still have a good deal of tomatoes growing in the first bed so I won't be able to move the rabbit in for a little while. Also today we had a little bird visit the house. She flew around a few times before leaving. Then I went out to find Dakota digging inside a rotted out tree stump.

Iv been working on my lainway beds the past few days. Just cleaning out all the old vines and trimming up the tomatoes. Well more like breaking them. I ended up knocking a lot of green tomatoes off the vines while trying to clean out the dead stuff. I also found a funky little mushroom. So most of the work is done for now. So today I'm just going to groom my rabbits

So last week I ended up cleaning out my 8x8' in the back yard. I removed about 3 loads of vines. Then I moved my quail tractor into the bed and transplanted some of our wild raspberries and 7 strawberry plants. I would like to have this garden filled with berries next year. I desided to keep the quail here for the winter because it gets a good deal of sunlight and it's right out the back door so it will be quick and easy to do feed and watering. I did plant a cover crop of wheat and oats for them to eat and within about 2 days most of it had been eaten lol.

LAST DAY OF SUMMER POST The gardens have been doing great!!! Sadly I only got one head of garlic because a litter of puppies ate the others. I have all kinds of tomatoes, squashes, pumpkins and gourds!!! As of today I am cleaning out the 8x8 garden in my back yard to make space for garlic and some late fall crops. I'm thinking 1/2 wheat 1/2 spinach plus I need to move my perenial herbs,strawberries, rasberry's and ... quail into this bed for winter. We will see if I can make ...it all fit. *Fingers crossed* I'm finishing up harvesting all the squashes. Some are still up onto of the arch trellus so I haven't gotten those yet but I'm already so amazed at how well everything did this year and feel so blessed to have had the opportunity it grow so much. So iv got a butt load of photos to post and I will try to post dates and discriptions on them as I have time. See more

The quail are having a blast in a rabbit tractor. The 3 blond one are adults but the white and all brow one(s) are much younger and I have just now gotten an egg from one of the young birds. It's all brown!! I love it. It was hard boiled and put in the pickle jar. Yumm Yumm Yumm so good!!!

The joys of growing heirloom seeds!!!! Side note I have planted a few heirloom to at is the past 3 years sooo I have no idea what these tomatoes will taste Iike. A few of these pictures are my compost area. The pile was from the duck run so the plants growing are from duck poop as well as some wheat from dumping wet rabbi food.then around the wood box is kitchen scraps. Then there are random tomatoes growing under my retired wheel barrel. EDIT- After posting this I found 8 other tomato plants I'm my yard!!

Ahhh I forgot one of my favorite books!! It was on my side table.

Things in the yard a pretty quiet right now. I'm going to be planting some fall stuff this weekend and will make a post for that but today I have been organizing my house and purging things we no longer use. While doing this i spent some time working in my China cabinet/library and was contemplating selling some of my books. Then I reolized that that will need happen because I love all of them too much lol. So I thought I would share my books that I have collected over the past 4.. 5 years of farming.

This is what happens when you toss a few old goards into your compost. I was planning to thurn this 8x8 garden into my perennial veg/herb garden this year but the goards have taken over!!!! These goards were given to me last fall from my awesome neighbor Sabrina Hope and her children. Im not sure but I thint they may have cross bred with my other plants in the lainway. I have some odd looking things in those gardens lol. I will post photos of that stuff soon.

Iv been busy the past month and I haven't had much time for posting but I thought I would share a few photos. I spent a few minutes converting a tsc chicken coop into a pen for some quail. Mostly I just took the roof of the run off attached hindges a handle and latch so that I am able to gather eggs easier. Right now iv got 3 adults and 7 chicks that are around 4 weeks.

Momma and baby out soaking up the sun and eating all the grass and weeds they can get.

Yesterday and today I have been working on more stuff in the rabbit run. I picked up another large hutch on Saturday and then 2 more today so I spent most of my day moving around cages and hutches. I washed out a bunch of water bottles and dishes as well all to get ready for baby bunnies. I can't wait until everything is all set up!!!

My newest project thanks to Kiera is this kick butt hutch. It was built with chip board and was made for pigeons so it needs some work to bring it back to life. yesterday I started to fix it up. All the chip board is going to be replaced with plywood. I will need to remove the pigeon doors and replace some fencing on the left door. Also the doors are made with 2x2 and 1x2s so I would like to rebuild them with 2x2 so they will last longer. Then I will sand and paint it all to help it last longer!! I can't wait to see it all finished!

So I did get the duck house and nests all cleaned out today. Finally after like 10 wheel barrel loads. But the ducks are happy in an empty house. I didn't ad any straw to the floor because it is plywood and it's water logged so I wanted to give it a few days to dry out. But the ducks each have a nest now so hopefuly they will each pick one and stick to it. I blocked off the corner that the eggs were in so they would stop laying together in the corner. *Fingers crossed*

Well I got my Mother's rabbit hutch done.... well almost. She is going to do a ceder shake roof but she hasn't gotten them yet so I haven't done that. Also I plan to build a stand/base for it to sit on but she isn't in a rush for that. It's build to be moved around the yard so he can graze and we can set it on the base in winter so he's nice and dry n warm.

Sooo today is a cruddy grey day but work still needs to do done. Charlie and I moved Milly and her rabbit tractor nextdoor so I can clean out the raised garden and get ready to plant some seeds. Milly was so excited to have fresh grass and weeds after only getting things I had pulled from the garden and dry hay n pellets. So cleaning out that bed,moving out some of the manure and topping up the 2 beds with soil will probably take up most of my day... not very exciting. BUT... Kieras ducks have laid 4 eggs SOOOOO that is just wonderful!!! I will have to empty out 2 Rubbermaid storage bins so they can nest separately and remove the 2 really soiled eggs. I'm glad to see them building a nest I think they will make great parents. I also need to move some rabbit hutches around and tidy up the duck run so I can put in a pond again. I had sold my 3 ducks and was planning on turning the duck run into a colony for the rabbits but now that have Kieras ducks I have reolized just how much I have been missing having ducks :). See more

Oops I forgot to attach this picture of the momma bunny. This is Lilly Lee. She's a super cute bun even if she did scratch the crap out of my hand. In her defence she had just gotten chased and nipped at by a duck :p she looks just like my doe Milly lol so it's funny that her name is Lilly. They might be sisters.... I will have to double check with Kiera. Lilly is the first bun and Milly is the 2ed picture.

Yesterday the weather was nice enough out to get some more work done on my mother's rabbit hutch. So it is finally almost finished!!! It will be nice to see it all set up with Montgomery in it :)

We have some new additions!!!!

Today it was strange looking out to only see 4 puppies. But I'm very glad they are finding good homes!

Tonight when I got home I went out to see how many toads we in the pond. They are making sooo much noise. So far I have 10 toads and a toy boat lol.

I'd say Spring is here!!!! But it doesn't feel much like it. We had snow yesterday. *sigh* I hope it feels like spring soon. Iv been itching to get outside and get dirt on my hands. I just bought an incubator last week and am trying to figure out how to work it :$ and I'm feeling compleatly lost. It's called LITTLE GIANT but that's all it says..... no model # and the pictures from the makers website don't look like the one I have.... plus it has no humidity gage, thermostat ...or egg turner. I have around 50 eggs that should have been started 2 days ago and I'm probably going to end up loosing :( on a good note the garlic I planted in the fall has already come up and ... well 1/2 of my seedlings are doing great. The other half have mold and will need to be started all over again which means they will be a later harvest. I groomed Marly my Angora buck yesterday and got a lot of fiber even tho I had to toss a bunch. He was in a rabbit tractor with straw and shavings all winter so he was dirty even with all my efforts to keep them clean. I will need to do my doe Marny today if I can find the time. The quails are chirping up a storm but no eggs yet. Puppies are huge and taking over my house and life.... and I think that's just about it for right now.... See more

Peanuts puppies are growing like weeds!!! I wish our renovations were done so I had a full room to give them. If anyone in the London area is looking for a mutt please PM me I only have one family that is 100% serious.

Ohhh it feels like spring in my home. I started some seeds on Feb 2ed. A lot of the seeding have started to come up and it is just wonderful. I am going to need to till a new area and build a few more raised beds. I still have 2 more trays of 72 to plant once I get a little time. I can't wait to get out in the yard but this random snow storm has thrown a wrench into thing.

I can't wait to have ducklings this spring.

Today we got started on my mom's rabbit hutch for her buck Montgomery. The sun was wonderful and it was double digits!!!!

Spring has come early to our house!!! We have our brooder all sat up in the livingroom on top of crate full of puppies! Its all ready for our Bobwhite quail to hatch. So far we have had 2 hatch. We also have another batch of 30 ready to go into the incubator when these ones are done.

I want to thank our friends Kiera and Joe for trading us these beautiful does. I'm looking forward to breeding them this summer.

Okay so last night was a very long night. What little sleep I did get was cramped on a love seat but it was worth it to be by Peanut while she delivered her puppies. By morning she had 8 beautiful pups! We had to leave for the day and I had THOUGHT she was done but I guess she was just taking a break because when we got home we were surprised to find she had 11 puppies!!!!! I thought I would posts pictures of the family.

So far we have 3 puppies born this morning!!!! Soon to be more. Peanuts doing such a good job!

Well it has been awhile sence I have posted anything. Things are quiet on the farm. Yesterday I picked up a load of shavings so I will be putting those into everyone's pens and houses today. I also had a friend give me 50 Bobwhite quail eggs so today I am going to go to lunch with my good friend Kiera and borrow her incubator. It only fits 25 for the other 25 will go to one of her friends. I'm looking forward to having baby quail again so is my oldest daugter. The weather has been very mild and if I am hoping I will get a chance to finish my 3ed rabbit tractor and build a hutch for my mother's rabbit Montgomery.

This is me standing inside..... I'm taking a picture of the things I desperatly want to be working on and I can't. .... I don't want me tools to get wet . Plus my 2 new "rain barrels" which I score for free!!!! Until I got them home and saw a label ....... And I now think my score.... is a bust...

I managed to get some more work done this morning on the 2ed and 3ed rabbit tractors before we flew across town to pick up a load of free brick! !! So I ended up having enough for two of the paths so I will need to find some more for the other 2 paths as well as for the gardens in the backyard. It ended up hailing today so things were cut short but tomorrow is a new day so I hope to have the 2ed and 3ed tractors done and finish winterizing all the animals and clean all pens and houses.