One more time (with feeling!)

We had some bad winds and weather about a week ago and the chicken coop we had worked so hard to build tumbled Leonardo and Mona Lisa at least three times - no kidding, three times they rolled end over end. Miraculously, they both survived, but the coop was trashed! So we packed them off in a pet carrier to their former owners to "board" while we worked on a new coop. We had a timely visit by a father and brother-in-law and a sturdier coop has been "hatched" :) We're not sure how long it will take Mona to start laying again - it was all very traumatic. We get the two of them back today - Will post them in their new home this afternoon.

In the meantime, MANY things are budding and growing on the ranch. I was worried about all our trees, fruit trees and vegetables but shouldn't have been - God is so good and always brings new life to things you thought were gone. Here is the list:

1. Pecan trees - don't know - still no buds
2. Peach trees - little leaves and even some blossoms - looks like 8 out of 9 survived.
3. Blackberries - more "awakening" everyday - I thought only 2 had survived out of 25 but know we are seeing little leaves pop out everywhere.
4. Grapes - okay - I really thought these were dead and gone - absolutely NO sign of life - until yesterday - every one of the six plants is alive!
5. Strawberries - growing like gangbusters!
6. Lettuces, onions, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and asparagus - all very healthy
7. Hardwood trees - I think we will only lose four out of 50 - not too bad.

All in all, walking around to check everything out is such a great experience! Loving this land!

More later - vaya con Dios!

Snow in March

Couple of weeks ago we awoke to a one inch cover of snow - it was so quiet and beautiful. Captured these pictures about 7 am. Later that day it all melted into the ground to help water all our growing things.

The Barnyard gets Bigger

We were given two chickens last week from neighbors who live about a mile down the road and also attend Cowboy Church with us on Sundays. This is Leonardo and Mona Lisa. They are golden campines. And yes, Leonardo does wake us up every morning! Skip set about designing the chicken habitat last week. We went to the farm supply store and bought a ready-made rabbit hutch for the roost. It works out just fine. And the chicken yard is actually a dog run. If you can't see it, there are wheels on the dog run so we can roll the chickens to different spots on the ranch to feed. We also feed them corn scratch and table scraps. And Mona Lisa has graciously given us two white eggs which we had this morning for breakfast.

We have to protect these critters from predators, so we will be putting a top on the dog run as well. There are hawks and owls that would just fly in through the top and snatch them. We also have to worry about coyotes, bobcats, snakes, raccoons and skunks.

When we have to be gone from the ranch for any period of time, we plan to hire the young man (high school freshman) from the family that gave us the chickens, to feed and water the chickens and the dogs.

More later - over and out!