Summer Celebration 2012

Last Thursday was the first day of Summer. Because we really love celebrating with our friends and their schedules were already full last week, we decided to wait until today to have a Summer celebration. We didn't have any crafts, but we did have lots of fun.

There was chalk which kept Seth busy until our friends arrived 

(later he decided to throw it in the kiddie pool). 

 

 We had the sprinkler going...

 and the kiddie pool to help us cool off.

 The swing set was a big hit.

 

 Spencer and Kate cracked me up with their love of the truck.

 It wouldn't be summer without watermelon. So we had watermelon!

 Why are little boys so cute eating watermelon?

 

Silas even enjoyed some pool time after all the big kids left.

 We had a fun morning celebrating Summer with all our friends!

Moving Into the Coop

Last night our chickens spent their first night outside. We saw chickens younger than ours outside at River Cottage Farm last week, so we thought it would be okay to move the girls outside. Before they moved into their new home we had to do some modifications to the coop. We wanted to make the coop mobile so that we can move it around in the yard every couple of days or so.

 

 So we added 4 wheels...

 and some string so that we could pull it.

 

 Bryan attached the ladder using hinges,

 and tied a string to the other end so that it can be raised and lowered from outside of the coop.

 

We laid the cheapest linoleum that we could find on the inside of the coop, so that we could wipe it clean every time we change the pine shavings, which will cover the entire floor. We also reinforced the floor with 2X4's.

 

 Our coop arrived with screws as handles so we replaced all of them with real handles and spray painted some of the wood that was not painted white.

During the cooler months, our coop will have two removable plywood doors on each end. 

 

But during the warm months we thought it would be a little cooler for our girls if we replaced the wooden doors with lattice. Right now the girls can fit through the lattice (even though I am not sure they could figure out how because it is a tight squeeze), but at the rate they're growing, they won't in a few days. They are just staying in the run area with the ladder raised until they grow a little bit bigger, plus they don't need the nest boxes just yet.

 Our lattice and doors (during the fall, winter, and early spring) are secured with a latch, 

so the doors can't fall off.

 We still have to cut a small hinged door in the plywood board so that we can access the nest boxes without taking the entire door off of the coop, but that can wait until closer to the fall season. We are also probably going to change the roosting pole, since it's just an old shutter. You can see parts of the roosting pole in these next two pictures.

 

When I went to check on the girls this morning they all 

seemed happy and content in the their new home...

and we hope to keep it that way.

Tillery Tot School- Letter W

This week we learned about the letter "W." Some weeks are easier than others when coming up with ideas for Tot School. This week was definitely one of the easier ones.

 This week's Tot School board:

We stamped w's onto our letters this week. 

 We read Peter Spit a Seed at Sue by Jackie French Koller and then we made our own watermelon. (Sidenote: Jackie French Koller won the 2010 Kentucky Bluegrass Award. I got to meet her when she accepted her award at the KBA Luncheon at the Kentucky Reading Association Conference. This is an autographed copy of her book.)

After reading about watermelons, we had to eat some too.

 

One day we hunted for walnuts in our backyard. We found quite a few.

 One day we played with our makeshift water table.

 Seth also loves getting water out of our rain barrel

 (which we got for free from the Community Farmer's Market).

 One evening we packed a picnic and had dinner by the Circus Square fountains. While Seth is perfectly content just watching the water, we couldn't leave without playing in the water for a little bit.

 We made a whale using construction paper...

 and one using a plastic cup and some foam.

 We made a wheelbarrow using a laundry detergent scoop and some foam.

 Of course, we had to play in the water. 

This was Silas' first time in a kiddie pool and he loved it!

 We had waffles for breakfast. I found this recipe for Salt and Pepper Paleo waffles. 

I have tried several different waffle recipes and this one is probably my favorite.

 We made a windmill. 

Unfortunately I couldn't find my box of brass fasteners, so we just had to glue the blades to the windmill instead of allowing them to spin.

At the end of the week, we made a walrus. 

 

 We didn't get to the worm activities I had planned, but I'm sure we'll get around to them eventually. Next week we move on to Letter "X."

Third Thursday Farm Day: River Cottage Farm

Tonight we went to our third Third Thursday Farm Day. River Cottage Farm, which in my opinion is a hidden gem in Warren County, invited everyone to come out for an evening at their farm. I was very excited about this because I go out to River Cottage Farm at least once a week to pick up our milk, eggs, meat, cheeses, maple syrup, etc.

 We own a cow share which means that we own a portion of one of these cows. 

Here are seven of the eight cows that provide our raw milk each week. 

They are only grass-fed and they look happy and healthy.

They all have names and you can get up close and personal with them.

 

We also got to take a peek at the organic raised beds...

 goats, beehives, and bird houses.

 We saw lots of cats and kittens wandering around and Seth was a huge fan.

The Apple family has a small store next to their house that is open Tuesday-Saturday and it contains all kinds of neat things. Tonight it was pretty crowded with lots of people purchasing things, but we did snap of photo this sign. We couldn't agree more.

 

While we were finishing up dinner, Debbie Apple showed us how to spin some wool. They have their own flock of lambs and sheep, which they both shear and use for meat.

 Since we have chickens now, we actually buy our organic chicken feed from River Cottage Farm. We got to take a peek at their chickens and at the end of the evening we even got to collect some eggs.

 It was such a fun evening. 

We're so thankful to live in a community where farms like this one exist.