Spring time and Company!

Yes we are actually alive down here!  Fact is,  we have been so busy that I have not had time to be posting anything to our BLOG. But I am determined to do better for the months to come. It is absolutely beautiful down here right now. Spring is certainly here. We had a very nice visit from my sister Trisha and Mom a few weeks ago. We pretty much hung out at our place, I actually put them to work some, but tried not to abuse them . We were blessed with very nice weather. Below are some pictures from their recent visit. 

                                                  Trisha and Mom getting some vitamin D.

                               Trisha, Shalo, Mom and Aki starting to clean out the garden beds...

Trisha was kind enough to volunteer her flower gardening skills and work with Mom and Shalo to start a new flower garden where we had a big tree removed last fall.

 I know Mom will want to kill me, but remember those yard butt signs?!....

This is not our horse, but the neighbors just down the road, this little girl was born with no human assistance this past weekend. The mare is an Irish draft horse, the stud stallion is back in Ireland. We are told there are only  about 500 of this breed in the USA, The foal will turn grey as she ages.

This IS our pig, thanks to Mom and Trisha

These are our first beehives on the homestead, they seem to be thriving with all of the spring trees and plants blossoming, I am hoping they will help with pollination of our mini orchard and garden as well as supply us with honey, though I an not counting on the honey until next year, we'll see...

I put this picture in here for Trisha to see, it is currently covered with light lavender colored blossoms. It is right outside the garden and is a great shade tree in the summer.  I am told it is a cotton wood tree.

 This splash of color is from our crimson clover cover crop in the garden

This is our new row of blackberry plants, raspberries below... I am hoping I can do a comparison picture in a few months and show them several feet high!? Though that might be wishful thinking. 

And these sickly looking sprigs are sweet potato slips, the planting directions said not to worry if they look pitiful, that they will "spring to life and provide a bountiful harvest"...I am trying to keep the faith! 

And that is all I got for now. There really has been a lot of activity down here, but need to do better keeping the camera on hand. I am just trying to get back in the groove after a long hiatus. Hope you all are doing well , more to come