Gardening and Chicken Fun

As always we are busy with the garden and chickens.  We coop trained the chickens and they are now ready to enjoy some time outside.  The boys (including James) built a fenced in area for them, and a cute little ramp to help them get out.

It took the chickens a little while to decide to descend from their cozy home. 

The boys were pretty proud of their work.  And they love watching the chickens outside!

Hyrum loves watching those chickens.  They also love to feed them scraps from the house.  

The chickens also LOVE eating the clover, so it is a good thing we have a whole field of it.  Even Hyrum gets in on the action.  The boys will spend lots of time doing this.  They are even training the chickens to jump for the clover.  Gotta love it!

James has had fun planting pretty things as well.  Our deck is all cleaned off and looking great!  

Lots of herbs to cook with.  We decided having them close by would be helpful!

New window boxes.  These are very impressive!  Way to go!

We are going big with our garden this year.  We will then preserve as much as we can.  Maybe we can bring our food budget down a little.  Fingers crossed!  

Our berry bushes are looking great!  We won't get a ton this year, but one day.  :)

It is hard to see but we planted 70 tomatoes, 50 peppers and 20 eggplant.  With 80 feet of peas in the background.  Wowzers!  I hope we didn't overdo it! 

Our fruit trees are looking great.  Again we won't get much this year, but in time they will be amazing!  

We do have a few peaches which Jacob is very excited about! 

More peaches!  No canning this year, but hopefully the boys save me one.  

Over here we have onions, brussel sprouts, potatoes and more!

Here are some broccoli, kale, sweet potatoes and more.  I don't think the sweet potatoes are going to make it.  We're not sure why, but they don't look good.  There is also asparagus on the right, but it won't produce for another year or two.   But you have to start sometime!

The beans are looking good!  

And more beans!

Rhubarb is a new one for us.  We'll see how it goes!

Who wants some salad!  Apparently Jacob does!   

There are three rows of corn.  I just can't wait for some delicious fresh corn on the cob!  And those peas are looking great!  

So, yea, that is one huge garden!  It is a good thing we have so many helpers to take care of it.  Once the weeds start coming up we will definitely have our work cut out for us.  This will definitely keep us busy all summer, but once we start getting crops it will be amazing!  

Simon Joseph Hutchings

Simon joined our family Wednesday, May 14 around 8 PM after a unique pregnancy and delivery.  Whether it was my aging body, a super cold winter or just how it was, this pregnancy was definitely a challenge for myself and my family, and no it didn't mean we were having a girl.  :)  All of my patterns were thrown out the window, which as we all know is not my favorite way to live.  I started having contractions over a month ago, and since I have never had a contraction before real labor this was even stranger.  I remember other women telling me about these, and I always thought it sounded horrible.  Needless to say, I was right.  It is no fun and having contractions is exhausting, so I've spent the last month tired and physically exhausted.  The boys have been good to help and fill in for me when I have needed to rest.  Because I started contracting so early we thought this little boy might come even earlier than our other boys, but our hopes were dashed as time went on, even though the contractions sporadically continued.  I had an OB appointment scheduled for Wednesday the 14th and was sure I would never make it that far, but I did and went to my appointment.  My doctor/midwife was headed out to a delivery, but she took the time to see me since I was so far along.  She wanted to do a check and found that I was already dilated to almost 4 cm.  She was shocked, and I was glad to hear that all of those contractions had accomplished something.  After awhile I was wondering if I was just imagining things, so it was nice to know it wasn't in my head.  My midwife did not want to send me home that far along but because I was still one day away from being 39 weeks there was nothing she could do according to hospital policy.  I promised her that after 3 contractions in a row I would go straight to the hospital.  It didn't make her happy, but I was comfortable with it, and I wasn't going to just sit at the hospital waiting around.

I was hoping that her invasive check to discover my dilation would be enough to send me into labor.  So, I ran to the grocery store and home.  By the time I got home the contractions began just as I was hoping, so we set the boys up for the evening and headed back to town to the hospital.  My midwife was still there from her previous delivery and she was really glad to see me as she was worried that I would give birth in the grocery store.  I wanted to try a water birth, well, a water labor because a water birth is not allowed in our hospital, so after getting settled and jumping through a few hoops they let me into the tub.  It was relaxing, but my level of pain really didn't seem less than in the past which was really discouraging.  Things progressed plenty fast compared to others, but for me it wasn't going fast enough and I wasn't dealing with the pain.  You would think that on my fifth child I would have this down, but no.  My midwife read me well and asked if I wanted an epidural.  I caved and said yes.  Because I was almost to hard labor they gave me something called a spinal and then an epidural.  I must admit that I didn't love the spinal as it completely numbed me from my waist down.  It was really strange and different from any other epidural I had had before.  I remember reading that epidurals made it so you couldn't feel crowning and had never experienced that before, but now I can say that I have.  It was completely surreal.  My midwife was going to put in a catheter but ran into a problem when she found that his head was crowning.  I couldn't believe that I couldn't feel him at all.  I had to be coached through pushing since I couldn't feel.  I wouldn't recommend a spinal as you are numb for quite some time, but it was better than my falling apart, and I found I wasn't nearly as tired afterward which was nice.  And now it is over and I am no longer pregnant.  Yippee!  Having a more difficult pregnancy has really taught me what is most important in life as I have had to limit my activities and make difficult choices.  I know I will be tired and up in the night with a baby, but after such a challenging pregnancy it just seem so bad.

Both of us slept last night.  These beds aren't particularly comfortable, but I felt a lot less tired this morning than I have in over a month, and that was fabulous!  I am very much looking forward to getting my own body back.  The boys came over this morning to visit, and it was really sweet to watch them hold Simon and pass him around.  We are working hard to introduce Simon to Hyrum in a way that will keep Simon safe and Hyrum from being super jealous.  I think it is all still very confusing to him, but he loves seeing the baby and touching him.

Hyrum and Simon meeting for the first time.

All my boys!  

Joshua enjoying some Simon time.

That is one proud big brother!

We didn't want Hyrum to feel left out.  Jacob enjoyed helping him get to hold him.

It is crazy to think we are a family with five boys, but it is wonderful!  I hope you all get to meet our new little precious one soon!

Our first chicken coop!!!

Now we can finally say that we have a chicken coop.  This is very exciting because we have some chickens that need more space, and we really want to get that chicken smell out of the house now that they aren't chicks!

Our shed arrived yesterday which was its own fun little adventure.  Fortunately, we just got to sit back and watch as they delivered and set it up for us.  Sweet!

The shed first off the truck.  It was impressive to watch him easily move the shed around.  It is amazing what you can do with the right tools.

Look at us working hard while the shed goes into place.  :)

Everyone was excited to see it and explore.  

The chicken door was added at our request and is perfect!  The boys still think they can fit through it.  We'll see about that.  

 Today we were able to add our own modifications to turn the shed into part shed part coop.  We began with a wall and then added a roost.  We decided to put linoleum down to make the floor easier to clean.  The boys with James rocked this project!

Sticky linoleum pieces are great!

Then, it was time to add some bedding to make the chickens feel at home!

Now it is ready for some chicks!

Here come the chickens!

And now the chickens are safe in their new home.  I hope they like it!

 It was a busy day but everyone did a great job, and now our growing hens have a great place to live!

More chicks and planting!

Our first batch of chicks are getting big and will be outside soon.  They have started pecking and getting restless, so all will be happy once they are out.  So, that must mean it is time for new chicks!  We ordered some meat chicks this time, so they won't last long, but they will grow fast and hopefully taste delicious.  Fortunately, our shed arrived today, so we can give everyone the space they need.

I don't think that Hyrum will ever be bored with the chickens.  Going down to see them is his favorite thing!

You forget how small they are when they start out.  I think we'll feel the same way when this baby is born.

And with the chicks we also took the time to plant the fruit trees.  It was hard work, but the boys were up to the challenge.  I think Jacob enjoyed digging the holes more than anyone!  They look great, and we can't wait to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  :)

Look at those proud boys and their great trees! 

And here is a little better look at some of the planting we have done in the garden.  It really is hard to show off seed planting.  :)

Gardening Begins

It has been quite a rainy week, but the weather was kind enough to break for the weekend, so we could spend the day planting!  James started by planting some fun bushes outside the fence that will fill in and make that side of the fence lovely!  Jacob got to help water!

After soccer and lunch we started planting vegetables!  In went the corn, butternut, tomatillos, onions, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.  

Joshua is working hard to get the onions in!  

Michael was great at measuring and furrowing.  It is great having a big helper!  

I am really good at holding the seeds and handing them down!  

I helped a little too much and apparently cannot create a straight line to save my life.  This must be my creative side coming out.  I will just stay in my chair next time.  :) 

There will be more planting, furrowing and watering next week, but we did pretty good for today!  We did learn that this is going to be a huge garden.  We were also reminded that planting seeds is not very fun but mostly because when you are finished, nothing looks different.  But eventually it will look amazing and that makes it all worth it!