So, Kevin came up with the blog title of the month. It’s amazing. We’ll get there in the story.

Let’s see…

We’ve been reading about this stuff called “Wild lettuce”. (Ok, so, KEVIN is reading about it and telling me since my brain can’t make sense of the words these days.) We were able to find a seed source and we’re planning on planting an entire raised bed. It’s supposed to be good for migraines. It’s a natural painkiller. Interesting. If it’s not addictive and doesn’t make me fuzzy in the brain I’ll give it a shot.

ACK! The Dark Tower movie trailers and posters are out! I’m so excited! I can’t wait!!!

The Great Appalachian Homesteading Conference! Learning already and I hear CHICKENS!!!!! We did the classes: permaculture herbs, mushrooms, soil blocks, the panel, Starry’s Q & A, solar, pigs, and seed saving. So much info! Lots to share!

Date night! Kevin and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2

So…..I snuck a couple of pics of the spontaneous reading. A little later Bug came up to me and said, “You were RIGHT, Mommy! Reading IS fun!”
The most amazing victories come in small moments. 🙂 Secret cheering!

Ah, the life! Mother’s Day. Breakfast in bed, sleeping in, peace and quiet. Oh, wait, reality just kicked in…
My better half got me three more fruit trees (replacing the last dead tree…a Stella Cherry, adding an Olive and a Fig!) and we planted them last night! The smoker is started with chicken for tonight! Farming plans after church! I told the kiddos that all I wanted for Mother’s Day is help on the farm! 🙂 THIS is the life! 🙂

We were outside all day after church. 🙂 I feel better than I have in days. They say “rest” on the Sabbath but sometimes I wonder if sunlight, touching nature, and being out in God’s beautiful creation as a family is better. 🙂 I wish I’d thought to get pics of the kids doing manual labor but we were working so hard to get as much done as possible.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning, Tennessee!
My better half said I have to get up and start farming already. It’s way too early in the morning for this farming thing! Lol! But, I have to take advantage of my few good days when I have them. 🙂

So,have you ever wanted something REALLY badly and then GOT it….and then panicked??
Our farm has been invited to get a permanent (for this year) booth at the largest, most elite, most difficult to get into Farmer’s Market in East TN…in our first year applying!! ACK! *panicking and scrambling to get ready to head to market in just a couple of weeks!!!!*
It’ll all work out, I’m certain of it! 🙂 It’s meant to be! 🙂 Ok, back to farming before I have to head out on errands. Wowza!

AND I got certified by Homegrown by Heroes!!! 🙂

It’s over 97 degrees again today. Unacceptable! Something had to go!

And we switched to Google’s Project Fi! I guess we’ll test it out and see what we think. 🙂

Bug was excited with her fancy new Daisy vest. We already got the Brownie vest for August but she wanted to show off her petals! 🙂

We had a lovely visit from this Blue Jay this morning. He inspected every box in our raised beds. I asked Bug if the farmer’s market people sent a blue jay to inspect our farm. She gave me “the look” and said, “You’re crazy, Mommy!”

Our application for Certified Naturally Grown has been accepted! Now just to wait for our inspection and we should be all set! 🙂

Kevin got a load of woodchips but the entire woodchip mountain is GONE! ACK!

Farm tour/walkabout.
We’ve got GRAPES! The orchard looks great! The okra patch isn’t started yet. The raspberries have been so tasty! The raised beds are looking great. We opted to do the annuals as short beds this year for cost savings and later they’ll be built up. Our soda bottle cloches are working amazingly! Nearly 100% germination in those suckers! We have a sea of wild lettuce growing! We finished wood chipping the berries, tomatoes, and peppers. Now to work on the herbs again since weeds are coming up through the chips already. lol!

We went to see King Arthur with the whole fam!

After my VA appointment, I had the bright idea to swing by the mushroom factory for free stump grind. I drove there during the tornado watch today (I had no idea there was a watch until later) but by the time I arrived everything was letting up. I gently laid the tarp inside the bed of Kevin’s pickup. The loader began dropping stump grind into the bed. I watched as the entire truck sank about a foot and I jumped back. He continued. The truck sank again and I panicked. I told him to stop. It was only about half a truck load! I limped the truck onto the highway and gently got up to speed. I decided to stop at the first truck stop to weigh in on the scales and see how badly I’d overloaded his toy. Only by about 500lbs. YIKES! I got home and waited for him to arrive. We began prepping to unload and he got the first whiff. About halfway through his grumbling and complaining, I said, “Oh, shoosh! It’s the smell of farming!” Kevin replied, “Farming smells like POOP!!!!” And that, my dear reader, is how the perfect blog post title came to be!

We went to the Farmer’s Market again Saturday to check out the competition.
After we got home, Bug said there was a “pineapple” in the grapes. HUH???
We had another swarm. So, that precipitated a frantic rush to get suited up to capture the swarm. We re-hived it, expanded the hive, drilled ventilation holes and hoped for the best. Kevin got stung once on the forehead through the veil. UGH! His face is already swelling up so we got some Benadryl into him quickly.

We went over and helped a friend build a pretty cool keyhole garden bed and compost bin out of pallets in her back yard.

And this is our lovely new okra patch. The entire thing is okra. LOL!

Kevin and I were working on the new bed for green beans when he got stung twice, that’s 3 times in 24 hours! The stings are getting worse each time. We had to go to urgent care for a steroid shot and prescription. 🙁 We are starting to think the bees might have to go. We’ll think about it.