Birthday volleyball was a BIG SPLASH!

Our chicken coop...

This is for you, Tracey!

Here is the ramp to chicken heaven.
Their small, outdoor pen is surrounded with chicken wire on all sides, top, and bottom. Nothing can get in this pen....I hope!

This side door is for collecting eggs. Back door is good for cleaning the coop. Just scrape with a rake straight into a wheelbarrow and put the "goods" into your garden or compost heap.
These nesting areas are easily accessed from the egg door. In the foreground is another roost.

Here are the roosts.

This lovely hen is demonstrating the nest through the egg door. (We added some foam to the nests, because the eggs were hitting the wooden floor and cracking.)

Here you see their roosts and their little door to their safe pen.

Happy Birthday, Jessica! 15 years old!

Bow Hunters

Tiller or jackhammer needed here?

Is it going to work, Tyler?

Can Mom handle this bronc?

Mom...we...don't think it's accomplishing much.

The encouragers abound...

Tyler gives it one more shot before we park the thing.

Our soil was so hard, we decided to give up on this rented tiller. It was a like wrestling match with a wild steer. Tyler finally borrowed a disk from a friendly neighbor, hooked it onto the tractor, and disked up the rock-hard soil. We have officially started our garden, but there is still more to plant.

Special Recipe Cake

for Josiah. Rebecca made this mud cake just for Josiah. He was thrilled, but did not eat it!

Jacob's bench

Again, more scraps were available, and Jacob built a mighty fine looking bench. He even stained it.