Update

It seems that Summer is finally starting to show itself. I have been amazed at how busy Spring can be on a farm, even a small farm like ours.

We have had a lot of transition this season. It has taken a while to figure out all the plants and animals that are going to work for us here.

Most of the plants are out of the greenhouse and into the raised beds. I am still keeping the tomatoes in for a bit longer and we just got kiwi plants! They are in the greenhouse until we get them into the ground. Who knew that kiwi plants could grow in Washington! We have two plants because, it seems, kiwis need a male and a female plant to produce fruit. You can get grafted plants, but we went traditional with the two separate plants. We are looking forward to this experiment and hoping for success. We ordered them on the internet. Yeah for Amazon having anything and everything we could ever imagine wanting!

We are seeing the beginnings of production from many of our plants. Our grapes have the start of fruit on them and our summer squash has a few inch long squashes starting. The corn, beans, and cucumbers are also growing well. I'm excited to see if we actually get some glass gem corn from our plants this year. Everything in our garden beds (except for the raspberries that we over wintered) were started from seed. Some we direct sewed (corn and beans) some were in the greenhouse. That is a big accomplishment for my black thumb and a good boost to my gardening confidence.

Our little herd of goats is finally complete (at least for now). We purchased a doe with really great lines and high milk capacity. Meet Kieya...

It took almost a week for her to settle in and quiet down, but she is settled now and all three goats are getting along great.

Pippa is working her way up the hierarchy starting with the chickens. It's quite funny to watch her try to headbutt the chickens when they come around.

My husband also added another bee hive. The bees have been a huge learning curve for us. We found the original hive last week with about 1/3 of the bees dead. They certainly were low on food, but there is also the possibility that there was a hornet attack. We aren't completely sure, but they are now stabilized and back on track. Mostly it means that we will not get as much honey from them this Fall.

With the almost collapse of the first hive we realized that two hives are better. Starting the second hive has offered several challenges and we are holding our breath and hoping that they establish in their new home.

The chickens are the same as always: fat, happy, and laying. We love our delicious eggs and are making many Spanish Tortillas. Yum!

Finally, we added another bunny. Barley has joined us because his original owner needed to find a good home for him as she is getting married soon and can't take the bunny with her when she moves. Peter is loving having a buddy and Barley is settling in well. He is also a Holland Lop like Peter.

Now you are updated. I'm pulling together a post about the bees and the rehiving process. It was crazy, cool, and a little scary at times.