January's End

It was technically a short week with Monday being a holiday but it sure felt like a regular long week to both me and Phil.  Last weekend  felt nice and long and productive.  It included outside work, walking the property to outline where the new goat barn will be, where the water lines will be put in, where the fence lines needed to go, and how to arrange the vegetable garden.  We had a quick adventure up to Lake Oswego after church when it was too rainy to work outside.

This weekend the dense fog was miserable.  It was dark, damp, and the air had such a deep chill that some of us had to wear balaclavas and our warmest gloves when we worked outside.  We rented a sod cutter and let me tell you, that is no easy work!!!  We thought we would get the entire garden cut out and a good start on moving the sod but only got about 1/4 of it done. 

Beautiful sunrise earlier in the week:







I must have felted sometime between this post and the last but I can hardly remember what I did beyond last week.  I even had to ask the children what we did last weekend.  I think that just goes to show you how long the week was.  

The layout: 


 The process:



This is very tiring on the arms and hands so I had Phil take a couple of turns.

 The felted piece before needle felting and machine stitching.  Truthfully, I didn't like the way that either one of these turned out.  Sometimes needle felting can fix a picture but some of the color blending was disappointing and I didn't get the depth that I was hoping for.  I haven't decided if I will continue working on these or not.  


Brighton's poster.  For some reason, I could not get this picture to flip.

Pouring over seed catalogues.

We saw this at the Wilco parking lot!  It is an RV pulling a fancy greenhouse!

Late night soccer

He is getting so big!

I was trying to get a picture of the goaties!  They get so excited to see people.  I can't wait to get them in their new fenced pasture and new barn.  They will have so much more room to run and jump and play and we will be able to see them out the window.  Right now, they have to live in the barn.


With Whiskerly Cat

Our winter has been fairly mild and dry and I am dreaming of spring!!  Spring starts later here in this little valley then even a 15 minute drive away.  Everywhere else Camelias are blooming and the Witch Hazels are starting to blossom.  Not here!  Both are tightly budded.  I did discover these little violets and this pink viburnum blooming. 



The tractor broke down twice this weekend (and once the week before last).  First, it blew the sealant that is meant to blow if the pressure builds up too high so that the engine doesn't crack.  Phil replaced it but it keeps steaming when the engine gets warm so there is another one that is probably out but several things will have to be removed before it can be fixed.  We just had to keep putting water in the tank.  Then, a "rod" that holds the rototiller up broke.  The same exact piece broke on the other side the week before.  Phil will have to get parts to fix it and in the meantime, the tractor is sitting in the field with a full load of sod ready to be dumped and puzzle pieced back together.

Our fields really need to be tilled and reseeded.  There are sections that are better than others but the worst section seems to be at the highest elevations.  It is weedy and mossy and there is not much grass.  I had Phil till part of this bad section and I have been bringing the cut sod and laying it down in the freshly rototilled dirt.  It is a good solution to needing the sod moved and getting grass put down in these bare areas. 



This guy lucked out and missed the blades!

We decided to splurge on raised beds for the vegetable garden.  The soil is kind of rocky and we would need to bring a bunch of compost anyway so we opted for a neat and tidy garden where we could bring in fresh dirt and keep the pathway bark separate from the beds.  Sawyer is building them with B's help.






Some befores of our garden space from all angles (isn't the weather just icky):






Rolling up sections of sod.  Incidentally, these are super heavy and they don't stay together when you try and move them.  Phil did most of the loading and I had to unload piece by piece.



Phil had something up in Portland and with the tractor broken down, this is where things ended.  We did get a dent in it at least!



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