While I was away I missed our one year move in anniversary! We have now been moved in for one full year. A quick year review...
We added a goose, a few ducks, a handful of chickens and a couple guineas last fall, and now have 70-90 birds of the same varieties. We raised birds from chicks (and ducklings and goslings) for the first time ever. We've added a second pup, three more kitties, and a pet snake to our family. We've added three raised garden beds, potato towers, raspberry plants, a couple fruit trees, two border gardens, two bat houses, two bird houses, several bird feeders, and many water spots that our birds share with the local wildlife. We created a compost pile, found some interesting things with the metal detector, discovered an apple and a nanking cherry tree, and have admired wildlife ranging from bald eagles, Sandhill cranes, and trumpeter swans, to a skunk, butterflies, song birds, and even a lone deer.
My gardening plans didn't go as I had hoped this year, but there's time to plan for next year. I still have to get some of the last perennials in before we get too late in the season.
It's been a busy year, full of projects big and small, and we have so much more planned for the future! More garden space, more perennial plants, more craft projects, more repairs, and eventually re-siding and re-roofing the house. I want to add more bird houses, more feeders, and finish digging a small fire pit for family campfires. We want to add in large flower areas to attract pollinator insects, and of course our annual gardening spaces where we can grow summer foods too. I eventually want to get back into online sales, probably in the winter when I have more time with kids in school. I also want to take up my hobbies again. I've started to get back into crochet. I made bags for four of the kids (still working on the last one for the last child), and am now working on trying my hand at a scarf too. All with great fun since I can't read patterns and have largely figured everything out myself. I'm still learning as I go.
Today the bunny #3 found yesterday passed away. The ten babies we pulled from the burrows are alive and well though. I had meetings scheduled with three people to move five rabbits to new homes on the 18th, but then Tony's schedule got changed. I guess someone is on vacation and he's going to have to work more hours to cover the other guy's shifts. Great for the paycheck, not so good for the scheduling or meetings. I've reached out to all three to reschedule but only gotten one meeting set up so far. I'm hoping it's not a deal breaker for the other two. I know one is coming in from out of town to meet, so it's a bit of a big deal. Either way, I still have a lot more bunnies ready now, or soon, in case anyone out there reading this might be thinking about getting one.
It's good to be home. I'm tired and ready for bed. If weather cooperates, I plan to re-plant the strawberry bed with other food plants. Might be too late for them to produce anything, but it's worth a shot since none of the strawberries came up.