Friday, November 26, 2010

October stuff

Here are some random shots from October...we have been doing more than just farming! :)

We had a family day at the Brevard Zoo, just 15 minutes away. If you look hard, you can see a giraffe off in the distance.
You can get sticks with birdseed on them to feed the birds in the aviary. The kids love this!
There is an area with turtle shell 'backpacks' to pretend what it's like to crawl in the sand with a shell.
Charlotte's favorite part of our zoo is the great water park area! It's just some pools and fountains, but the kids just love it on a hot day!
The kids and me as a sea turtle family
Aaliyah, Ms. Robertson, Charlotte, and Mrs. Cichetti on 'decade day' during homecoming week - it's so fun having Charlotte go to a PK-12 school that has homecoming - the preschoolers get to participate in all of the festivities, too!
Our first family outing on the boat - we were going fast!
Little man loves 'driving'
All of that boating tired this boy out!
Charlotte and some friends at a park after school one day
Okay, I had to put in one pic of veggies - this was our very first harvesting, around 1 month ago. And it's been non-stop since then! Veggie madness!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

September work...

Here I go again, playing catch-up. Here are pix from September - the work day as well as other shots throughout the month of what's been developing on the farm :)

The babies! Tomatoes, tomatillos and eggplants shot up last month
Within 3 hours of posting our Local Harvest page, this angel, Marguerite, called and came over to meet us! She is a wealth of gardening knowledge, is super encouraging, and has the sweetest spirit of almost anyone I've ever known. (She also helps wash my dishes if my sink is overflowing - she has completely won me over!) Here she is 'starting' zucchini and cucumber seeds in early September.
Ah, yes, a scarecrow butt-grab (that's not me, but I won't tell you who it is). It's standing right next to our first corn area - this was right after Lindsay and Allie rowed out those beautiful rows - they then planted corn and pole bean seeds together. It's a great planting pair (beans give nitrogen, which the corn needs - corn gives height and support, which the beans need!)
Lindsay on her way to get more compost. Cucumbers lined up, ready to be transplanted!
Skyler thoughtfully planting the cucumbers along the fenceline.
My boys!
And my girl, gathering small sticks to 'cook' with :) Yes, she's wearing a princess dress.
Checkin' out the work going on beyond the gate. Like his camo boots? They're his new favorite accessory :)
Ethan, Juan, Christian, and Jonathan taking a break after putting up poles for our pole bean trellises. This was one of the hottest days of the year and these guys were dying!
A pumpkin sprout! (just wait until you see these on the next post - you will not believe your eyes - I think pumpkins are the fastest-growing plants in the world)
Cassie and Eva, sisters who were just here on vacation visiting family - they heard about our place through a mutual friend and decided to spend an afternoon working with us! Eva (left) works on a tomato/potato farm in Washington state, therefore, we put her to work transplanting the baby tomatoes into bigger pots and into the ground.
He looks zonked, but loves 'helping' with the potted plants
On big work days, I wear ankle socks under my knee-high boots. This is what my legs looked like after spending over 10 hours outside this day.

Monday, August 23, 2010

How the land goes...

Well, we are progressing in the formation of our 'farm', prepping the soil, building fences, digging wells for irrigatioin...it is a never-ending process! A gift from our friend (who owns a local nursery and the tractor we've been using) were 2 grape plants, which we decided should be the first things we planted on our land. The Bible verse shaping our vision for this project is in Deuteronomy: "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not pick it over again; that shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." We felt it appropriate and symbolic that our first plant in the ground would be a grape plant. With this said, we have decided to take this project onto a new level, forming ourselves as a CSA (community-supported-agriculture) farm. Check out more about this here: http://www.localharvest.org/the-dodd-ranch-M39476

Here is our white grape plant...see the tiny cluster of fruit at the bottom?

Taxi enjoying a swim
We had a semi full of organic mushroom compost delivered - 50 cubic yards!!!
Jonathan on our friend's tractor spreading out the compost over our planting areas
When we first got the compost, the pile was taller than the stable!
Look who likes climbing around :)
The amazing humongous bell pepper from one of our potted plants!
Charlotte got to pick it
Here it is!
The first two peppers we got from our pots. Delicious!
A Purple Russian tomato...finally starting to ripen
Here are my seedling flats of various tomatoes, eggplants and tomatillos
So cute!
Planting area #4, the longest skinniest plot we have prepared
Areas #1, #2, #3...all rectangular plots that we'll use for alternating seasons. In total we have around 1/4 acre of prepped land. If it goes well, we'll add more!
We were also given 2 native Florida cherry tomato plants, so those were planted to test out the soil and area...turns out they are in an area that gets severly water-logged when it rains, so they might not last very long!
The bonfire pit we've built with rocks and broken slabs. This was taken the day after our last monthly bonfire.
Guess what we found around 10 feet from the pond? Turtle eggs!
A hawk got one of our chicks on Saturday from the grassy area behind Jonathan :( So Sunday afternoon we promptly built this scarehawk (as we are fondly calling it). Yes, we know it looks like a double amputee, but hopefully it'll do the job and save the lives of our remaining 29 chickens.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Birthday Girls!

Last month we spent the girls' bdays (Charlotte's 7/5 and Catherine's 7/6) at DisneyWorld. We hit Magic Kingdom on the 5th for Charlotte, then spent a day relaxing at our hotel on the 6th, and then visited Epcot on the 7th. We had a total blast, despite the July heat. I never thought I'd love Disney parks this much as an adult, but I have to admit I can't wait to go back! It was a fantastic way to spend our birthdays and it's now one of our favorite memories as a family.
Just as we entered MK - Charlotte is showing us she's 4 today!
The spinning teacups - first ride of the day
She got to meet 3 princesses! Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)...
...Cinderella...
...and Belle!
It's a Small World was way better than I remember from DLand
The night of the 6th (my bday) we got a babysitter and went out for dinner, ice cream, and playing at Downtown Disney - we had SO much fun just being 'kids'
Mmm...the San Francisco treat
Charlotte is convinced these next pix are real...
'Mommy and Daddy met Buzz and Mr. Potato Head!!!'
Epcot was great...but we won't take kids next time
Shades from the shop
On Charlotte's bday we surprised her with a trip to the 'Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique', in the castle, where they transform girls into princesses...it was so much fun to watch!
This was her 'fairy godmother', who was very patient when Charlotte got demanding with the hairpieces
Charlotte wants to move into the castle and live with the princesses. Seriously.
We managed to find a bakery on Main St. with awesome cupcakes...this was her bday cake this year
Cold milk and warm cookies were waiting for us when we got back from MK! Hey, it doesn't hurt telling the front desk your kid's having a birthday :)
Fun time in the pool on my bday
Girl time!
Ready for paddle boating
This lasted around 10 minutes before both kids wanted to go back
Inside the scary shark in Nemo's World at Epcot
We even visited Canada! The 360 degree CircleVision movie made J and me both cry! We miss B.C. so much :( I think it was the aerial shots of the gulf islands/Whistler/Stanley Park that did it.
Charlotte was picked to be a part of a game show about velcro
We had an awesome meal at a moroccan restaurant at Epcot...there was even a belly dancer and live music! The waiter let me wear his hat
He wrote this in arabic for us on our paper table cover - cool!
One for TJ, too :)