Stoney Ridge Farm 2011

Like I said in my previous post, last Saturday we made our annual trip out to Stoney Ridge Farms in Everson. I love going there with the kids each year, usually with my sister and her kids and this year Josh was able to come along too! We rode the hay wagon, ate the most delicious apple pie ever, saw the animals, ate apples right off the tree, got lost in the corn maze, checked out the giant pumpkins, ate pumpkin donuts, kids rode the wagon train, saw lots of friends, ate yummy apple cider donuts and drank lattes made by our church friends, and picked up some kettle corn and fresh apple cider to enjoy at home. (I didn't realize how much eating we did that day, yikes!) Like always we had a blast and we'll keep going back year after year! Here's some cell photos of our day...

someone was a little excited by the ponies that were her size

Joshua, Elizabeth and Zaccheaus feeding the goats

Nelly and Ellie

"YeeHaw! I a Cowgirl!"

Her favorite thing...

Elizabeth's summer can be summed up with the love for one animal in particular... she has developed a love for horses! I'm not sure if it's just a girl thing or a her thing, but everywhere we go she finds horse toys, pictures, etc. Anything she sees with a horse on it, she exclaims "my horsie, for me!" LOL.

She rode them in Eastern WA



she rode them in Covington, WA



she rode them at the NW WA Fair in Lynden



she rode them at Shanel's party in Olympia, WA


 She loves them so much we did her birthday party with the cowgirl theme and the horse barns are where we spent most of our time at the NW WA Fair. While we were in the horse barn near the arena she spotted one just her sized and I'm pretty sure we sat there for nearly 10 minutes, just starring at that little pony. Oh, how I wish I could buy her one, but until that day we'll stick with the ones that only cost a quarter or two to ride!

The Fair

It's nearly the end of summer which brings one thing every year... The Northwest Washington Fair! We go just about every year, with the exception of last year... I think it was like 90+ degrees all week long, so we stayed indoors with A/C. ;-D

This years fair trip was extra special because it was on Elizabeth's actual birthday (we celebrated w/ her party a day early) and she was all dolled up and enjoying all the attention she got.

I know I've shared this story many times with people, but Elizabeth was nearly born AT THE FAIR! I had a surge of pregnant energy that year and took the city bus out to Lynden with the boys and met up with my mom and walked and walked hoping to get some real contractions going... and I did. Spent about 5 hours there walking around before Josh got off from school and met up w/ us to take us back home. As soon as I laid down at home my water broke! Called my mom (not more than an hour since we left her at the fair) and asked her to come get the boys. The next morning I was holding my baby girl! Ah, what great memories!

This year the weather was nice, sunny but not too hot. We had some yummy fair food treats, rode "big kid" rides and saw all the animals. Horses were Elizabeth's favorite. We saw lots of friends and just had an all around good day. Thanks for going with us this year, Mom!

Here's some pics of our day:

First my horrible fuzzy cell phone pics:



posing with a dairy cow




she liked the pink tractor




possible future as a dairy farmer?



Gabe playing the strong man game

 Now the pics with my moms fancy camera:

ready for the walk from grammas to the fairgrounds

my silly kiddos

my little milk maid

showing off their spoils

zonked out in her new wagon

Our new pet birds

 Not really ours and not really pets, but I still enjoy seeing them out my backdoor.

Elizabeth needs to learn that you can't hold a goose like you can a pet chicken.

Silly Chickens

Like most chickens ours have had a decreased egg production through the winter months. About a month ago our really good layer had finally stopped laying or so I thought...

I discovered these today when I moved an old door Josh had against the wall in their coop! Over 32 eggs!
The space between the wall a the door was just wide enough for her to squeeze between!
Since they're all white that means our really good layer has been laying continuously through the winter, never missing a day. She just got smart to hiding her little eggs from the evil egg snatchers that come to her house around breakfast time, LOL!
Worst part is I had to throw them all out since I had no idea which ones were still good.
The coop got a complete scrub down today and all the little hiding places have been removed or blocked off, hopefully she doesn't find another hiding place. ;-)

Chicken Update

Our dear little chicks are no longer little balls of fluff and are beginning to look like full grown chickens. They are starting to roost and making little nests in the bedding. And going through water/feed like crazy!

(red says "hi")

They will be moving out to their new coop soon (post coming soon about that). But first we're taking off for a few days for Auburn. See you all when we get back. Lots of post should be coming soon. We have the ending of both soccer and Awanas this week. It will be nice to get my weeknights back! LOL

Gotta Love "Free Stuff"

Just after saying to Josh yesterday that we really need some pine shavings and a bigger brooder for our chicks I find this on the roadside with a free sign on it...

It was still all set up for a snake with a heat lamp and some rocks and logs in it. And it came with two bags of shavings! Cleaned it out and disinfected it and got it all set up for the chickies and now they have more room to roam and seem generally happier! Yay!

Here they all are basking in the heat below the lamp.

As of right now they are all sleeping in the sunlight beaming in our windows and I'm off to enjoy it myself!

FarmVille to FarmReal

I have finally done it...I deleted my farmville farm (above)! A fun little facebook game that is reminisant of simpler times and was a good tool to show my kids what all the different farm animals looked like. I had almost made it to the top level, but decided it was time to get off the computer and enjoy God's creations for real. If I want to show the kids animal, lets go see REAL animals! Which leads to our next part of this post...

Meet Black, Red, Brown and White (original I know)...Our new baby chicks!

Playing FV reminded me of the years I spent out at my grandparents helping with the chickens and I really wanted to have a farm of my own. But, I live in the city so I thought that would never happen. Well, as it turns out most cities allow just a few hens to be kept in runs without any permits or anything needed. After talking with some friends and going to a petting zoo put on by my friend who has so many beautiful animals, we came home with these little ladies! White and Brown are from her chicks she had for sale. (Joshua also won me a bar of goats milk soap from their raffle!) Black and Red were picked up at the local feed store to be certain we did have at least two girls. We are not 100% possitive that my friend are indeed girls.

I've also decided to give gardening another try and will be putting in some tomatoes, peppers and a few other yummy treats. So, next time you're in the area...Stop by and check out our Micro Farm in the works!