Gardening has Begun

Every year we look forward to getting our garden started.  Then, we remember how much work it is!  It is always worth it, though!

In go the potatoes.  We put the onions next to them.  As long as the deer leave them alone we should have a great crop.

We made a lettuce box to keep by the house.  Having them close to the house will be nice.  We did elevate it, so the bunnies cannot get it! 

We also made some beds for our herbs on the deck.  You just don't go out to the garden when you need a little thyme or basil!

Next, we prepared for the big garden, so we built a template for beds in the garden.  We cannot have actual beds because it would be super expensive, but this works really well.

Here is the template in action.  We have two, so we can move one and just line it up with the other.  I am pretty impressed by James' great idea!  This is broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale and then later we added cabbage and celeriac.  

Because that wasn't enough . . . James and Joshua put up some gutters to hold our new strawberries!  This was another genius idea!  He is on fire this year!

And the strawberries look great!  

Hyrum may not seem like a great help, but he does play with Simon during our planting adventures, and that is very helpful!  

And he loves to play with the water.  I may add that he has managed to stay potty trained during this planting and animal season.  I will just count that as a not so small miracle and a giant blessing for me!

And finally, our piggies don't want to be left out.  They are super cute and love to hide and snuggle in their straw.  They have been a joy to have!  

Our first teenager!

This past week we became the proud parents of a teenager!  It amazes me how you can go from that little baby you wish would let you sleep to that big kid who helps watch that new baby who won't let you sleep!  Now it should be made known that some things never change. . .  babies and teenagers want to eat all the time!  The only difference is that the teenagers food costs so much more!  I remember when I thought that formula was expensive.  :)  So, here are some fun pictures of Michael from little to big!

Potty Training

One of the things I dreaded when having more children was potty training!  I had mixed experiences with my other children and dreaded the idea of it not going well.  A few months back I decided to potty train Hyrum.  His communication skills were weak, but I figured he was old enough and I had the time.  So, I read up on it, refreshed my memory and went for it.  It wasn't clicking and I remembered what would happen if it didn't click.  Now back in the day when I was younger once we decided to potty train there was no going back.  But now that I am older and a little more mature I was willing to realize that it wasn't working, and so we went back.  It was one of the best decisions of my life!  After several months his verbal skills improved, he became more aware of his bodily functions and wanted to potty train.  I am actually wondering if trying to potty train and then going back helped.  Interesting thought.  So, a few weeks back we could tell that it was time to potty train.  The problem was that I didn't have any time.  We were getting more chickens and getting ready for pigs, but he was very clear about his readiness.  He told me he wanted to wear underwear again and not wear a diaper.  He was trying to change his own diaper and even went to the bathroom at the end of a bath.  So, I decided if he wanted to do it, then he had to do because I did not have the time.  So, I gave him two days, spent them with him and low and behold he did it!  We have only had one #2 accident.  Phew!  And a handful of wet accidents usually when we had company or there was a movie playing.  It has been a couple of weeks and things are still going well.

I have learned a few lessons.

1.  Wait until your child is ready.

2.  Wait until your child wants to potty train.  Now I know diapers are expensive, but it was worth it to me!

3.  Remind gently but do not force going to the bathroom (unless you are going for a car ride, bed or other similar events).

4.  Do not reward for 'almost' doing it right.  I did that the first time and it did not work.  I believe I read it in a book, but that is a no go!  This time if he didn't do it right I told him so.  I did point out what he did right as well, but I taught him what was wrong and didn't just smooth it over.  Rewards only came for doing it all right including keeping those panties clean!

5.  Getting underwear with characters they know is helpful.  The first time we trained he only knew Nemo and not the rest, so he was mad if Nemo was wet because he had to wear others.  By the second time around he was happy to wear other characters and was careful to keep them clean.  Funny enough he wanted to change underwear often, but I told him he could only change if he went to the bathroom.  He would go to the bathroom just to change underwear.  That didn't bother me one bit.

6.  Just love them and help them be successful.  It amazes me how proud of himself he is that he can use the toilet and stay clean all day.  I love it!  There will still be minor problems when there are major distractions, but that is ok and it doesn't mean he is reverting.  Love, teach and move on.

This experience has given me hope in potty training my last one when the time comes.   And we have bonded over the experience, which I love.  Now we are enjoying our pigs, chickens and not changing extra diapers!

Pigs, pigs and more pigs!

Our farming adventures have taken on a new twist.  We decided to raise pigs this year.  We did lots of research, learned that many people we know have done this before and worked really hard.

We started by collecting lots of pallets.  

Then, we did a lot of drilling!  

Even I jumped in to help especially since the wood was quite hard.

Then, we reinforced with stakes

Even Hyrum jumped in to help!

Then, we built a shelter.  The one above was going to be the shelter, but we realized that we had to put an electrical fence there, so that wouldn't be a great place to sleep.  Putting in the electrical fencing was interesting.  I must admit that seeing it work was a very proud moment.  James and the boys did an amazing job!  We did block off the wires, so that Hyrum can't just run up and play with them.   So, the next step is the pigs, of course!  We picked them up today!  They are pretty cute.  They weren't thrilled to leave their home, but they seem much happier now that they have had time to get used to their new home.  

One of the gals seems to like to jump on the other pigs and just rest there.  It is pretty cute.  

This is all very new to us, but it seems to be going well.   It is a good thing that we have the internet and good friends.  As long as they stay in their home I think it will go pretty smoothly.  Well, and if we can keep Hyrum out.  :)  Feel free to stop by and say hi to our little piggies!