Getting ready for the farm

Upon hearing the news, Max summed it all up with, "Am I gonna' be a farmer now? I need a farmer hat!"

Yes to all that. The Keltys have decided to make a greater effort to "live off the land". We will soon be the caretakers of 6 Buff Orpington chickens, and maybe some chicks? We have spent hours looking chicken books and chatting with our chicken keeping friends. We think we have a plan. Now we need to produce a coop and a run, and a fenced area to let them roam for part of the day. What goes along with chickens you ask? Why goats of course. We will soon own two 10 month-old female goats. The kids are excited to name all the animals and are planning out their daily chores.

The biggest project might be the 13 foot x 50 foot garden. It is all tilled-up. The soil has been doctored with lime, horse manure, and fertilizer. It will be tilled up again this week. (Thank God for kind neighbors with tractors and good advice. The best part of operation is my plan......the big kids are the "primary" gardeners. In order to combine math, science, horticulture, and economics.....the garden is a unit study on all those and mostly hard work. Luke has been researching library books and making lists. He and Sarah have started our first batch of seeds that just sprouted and will be planted in a few weeks. They will start a new batch in a few weeks and some things will be sowed directly in the soil in April. My incentive was this. I will help get things set up in the garden (this should be easy due to Luke's scaled map and drawing). Then they are in charge of weeding and tending to their plants. When harvest time rolls around I will pay them for their produce. I will buy it from them like I would buy my produce at the grocery store. They are quite motivated at the moment. We'll see if it lasts. I am hoping for a good harvest and the ability to can or freeze most of our veges for the winter.