Our ducks are free!

This is my batch of "rare" ducks that we purchased as one day old ducklings.  We were able to let them go on the pond last week and are they happy!

I love this picture of them with the barn in the background and the morning sun.

We don't have that sun today.  It rained this morning and hopefully will resume tonight.  We need that rain for our transplants as well as the barley and forage hay.

We sat in the hot tub last evening just before dark and watched the owls in the palm tree stretch their wings and check out their landing gear.  Just as it became dark, they flew out to do their night hunting.  It was so fun to see and one actually flew just over our heads.  Only on the farm would we arrange our schedule around that of the owls.

We then had to put the chickens to bed.  I waited by the gate with the dogs and one of the owls swooped down over the fruit orchard so close I could hear its wings flap.  Nothing is as exciting as nature.

The vegetables are really starting to grow.  We have just about everything you can think of planted.  The artichokes are amazing.  I cut off the tips of them and put them in a pan of water with wine vinegar and a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil.  Then I put a generous amount of minced garlic on top, cover and boil until they are tender.  Yum Yum.

We received our new batch of chicks today.  We have some cornish cross in this bunch.  We will feed them and keep them in the moving chicken tractors for 8 weeks.  Hopefully they will be tender and flavorful.

The flowers are blooming and the new bees we just received are happy campers so we should have some yummy honey soon.

Have a great week!