Overwhelmed

Do you ever get to that place in life where you have hit your threshold.  You have taken on far too much, worry far too much, are overworked far too much, and are far too stressed.  That explains me lately.  And I finally burned out.  I hate that I burned out, I feel like a failure.  A let down.  But my soul just can't take anymore.  My spirits have been trampled on.  I know I posted not long ago a similar blog entry about my loosing spirit, but then I would collect myself, gather my spirits, and trudge on once again.  Then everything catches up to me again and I have another go round.  Sometimes, my spirits have been so marred I think I can't go on.  I want to give up and throw in the towel.  I know I need help but there doesn't seem to be anyone around who can give it to me, so I contemplate quitting, giving up and lightening the load.  After all, I'm not getting any younger, I'm not as young and strong as I once was.  Though in mind and soul I am far more advanced then I have ever been in my life.  If only the young, daydreaming girl of my younger years had the mind and soul of the woman I am today.  How my life path would have gone in a different direction, perhaps dreams could have been achieved years ago when my body was still youthful and I had the stamina to last longer, work harder.  But I guess it's too late to think that way.  In hindsight everything seems so much clearer.  Giving up may not be what I want to do, but sometimes you have to except what you can and cannot do and go from there.

Happy Horse Once Again

Since Farm Girl left for out west at the beginning of May, the horses have been lawn ornaments.  They haven't got much action.  Until yesterday.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mine is doing well.  Some better than others.  My corn, which is a first for me this year, is just sprouting up quickly and nearly as tall as me.  I can't wait to harvest them in September.

My tomatoes are my other super fast and abundant crop.

I've even got some great big ones growing in there.  But they still have yet to turn red.

My beets are beginning to sprout from beneath the ground.

As has the few carrots that grew.

I'm still waiting on the turnip.

And the onions.  Though they are getting nice and tall.

I've got to thin the turnip out and replant as well as some of the beets.  I've enjoyed this garden so much I really wanted to startup a winter garden inside the greenhouse.  It would be fantastic to have fresh vegetables for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Today

We woke to find the turtle had company once again in the empty pond.

At first we thought it was a groundhog, but it's rat tail gave this muskrat away.

The Bambino heard about the plight of the bumblebees so we went around the property looking for bees.  We had no problems finding any.

The meat chicks still live.

The man spraying my neighbour's corn fields, did the courteous thing and came over to worn me he would be flying over the horses and didn't want to spook them.  I assured him they would be fine and I was right!!

Even the mini's did fantastic, including young Blossom who followed the example of the older horses and learned the helicopter was nothing to fear.

The sheep, however, were another matter.  They spook at everything, so indoors they went.  Which gave me the chance to use our new-to-us hay feeder out.

Back at the pond, Sydney and Jewel are obsessed at the new pond occupants.

And I have a new favourite love.

But don't worry, Aussie, mommy still loves you best.

Giant Swallowtail

The Bambino has a huge interest and fascination with wild life.  His favourite show is Wild Kratts, he watches it four times a day if not more.  And it seems they never have an unending supply of new material.  He soaks it up and is constantly drilling us with information.  I love it.  One of the things I love about homeschooling is that children learn best when they self-teach themselves.  In other words, they choose the subject, and put as much time and energy into it as they want.  And since it is a lesson they chose for themselves, you are guaranteed interest, and with interest comes learning.  A child (or adult) learns best when they are sincerely interested.  They become a sponge.

Sometimes I fear that his lessons are far too much tv oriented so I will take him to the library where he consumes as much books and info on wildlife as he can.  But the best part of learning is always found right in his own backyard.  One of the wonderful thing about Wild Kratts is they just don't focus on the big impressive animals like lions, elephants, or giraffes, but also on the smallest lizard or insect.

Yesterday we had a visit from a a beautiful black and yellow butterfly with spots on it's back that looked like it was smiling.  It's belly was even more impressive displaying a bright golden underside.  We had no idea what type it was so took to the computer to find out.  Before Wild Kratts, the Bambino would have paid no attention tot he butterfly and would have passed it off as just another butterfly.  But the show has triggered his interest in all creatures and his desire to learn more about them.  So it was to the world wide web we went to discover this beauty is called Papilio Cresphontes, aka the Giant Swallowtail.  Canada's largest butterfly with a wingspan of 83 to 113 mm.  She is also super friendly and had no fear of us humans.

My Hero

Once upon a time there was a woman who lived in the most enchanted place but she was very miserable as the place was also inhabited by many, many frogs who croaked all night long not allowing the woman to sleep.  She became very, very tired and thought she would have to leave her enchanted place but then one day a hero arrived in the form of a turtle and ate all the little frogs up.  Silence filled the nights once again and the woman was finally able to sleep.  The end.

Bench Makeover

So now that the front area is completely clear and I have a new slate to begin decorating, I thought I would add some old tired garden benches that came with the property a new facelift and add them to the garden.

And after a fresh coat of paint.  The one in the back is the "before" shot.

They look pretty nice in there I think.

Goodbye Vine

Yesterday, during the scorcher, hubby took down the last of the monstrosity vine climbing up the one side of our chimney.  He had to go through our bedroom window to pull down most of the remaining vine.

And then crawled through my daughter's teeny tiny bedroom window to reach the roof over the kitchen.

So that he could pull down the last piece that was just out of reach.

While up there he cleared out the eavestrough which will also eliminate any nests for mosquitoes or any other unwanted insects or rodents.

So the final result is this.

Before

After

Progress So Far

In our continuing battle against mosquitoes and other biting insects, we have been busy removing all the overgrown shrubs, trees and weeds all over the property.  This is where we are at the moment. The huge mess at the front of the house which in it's glory days was once a beautiful perennial bed I'm sure, has been completely cleared out leaving me a nice clean slate to work with.

The goats have done an excellent job of clearing up the brush to their skeletons.

But still have lots more to finish.

All the overgrown shrubs in front of the bay window have finally all been cleared away.

As well as most of the vine along the chimney.  I was unable to reach the higher branches so will need to either have hubby climb up a taller ladder or onto the kitchen roof next to the vine to remove.

I actually was able to start tackling the huge forest along the lane way this afternoon.  If you look closely, you will see that one is able to actually see through the bushes and to the lane way beyond.

This is what I got from all that clearing.

And this.

It looks like I took down a maple tree but in fact, I took down about a hundred trees.  All baby trees that had been growing wild inside there.  They should have been taken down long ago because what has happened is that they ended up blocking sunlight from the full grown trees that were actually planted there on purpose.  The result is I now have three huge dead pine trees that I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with.

Our focus hasn't just been on the greenery around the house but also on the pasture.  Oldest and I mowed thousands of weeds down today as well.

The horses and sheep have been very good at grazing the grass and keeping it low, but the weeds were a different matter.

Thistle is a popular weed in my pasture.

I'm not able to mow the side of the hills in the pasture, but we do what we can on the flats.  

Not only will the removal of the weeds eliminate places for bugs to take up residence, but it will also help to stop the spread of weeds if cut down before they go to flower, as well as help to restore the pasture by keeping it healthier.  I'm really hoping in the next couple of days to have the remaining brush removed and do away with all possible habitats for unwanted guests.