dirt and chickens

 We spent the weekend getting the vegetable garden prepped and ready for tilling (the thistles are so bad!!!) so when I looked out in the back yard yesterday, this is what I saw!

These little moments are so precious - dirt, children (and not even all that young anymore - one is almost 14!! - but still loving the dirt!) and half a dozen chickens wandering around. Not your typical suburban life!🤣 I'm regularly grateful for our neighbors who don't bat an eye at the unusual views out *their* back windows! It helps that one behind us is one of Owen's childhood best friends (and the boys used to dig in this dirt together on a regular basis!), one is a delightful older couple whose grandkids are second cousins to our children (their daughter married Matt's cousin) and the third house is populated by a family that's rarely out in their yard anyway, and just takes our unique landscaping in stride.

The grafted tree

 

A few years ago we experimented with grafting, partly as a botany lesson for the kids, but also desiring to preserve the old apple tree that Matt's grandparents planted behind the house that is slowly coming to the end of its life. We had success with eight of the ten that we attempted, but then lost all but one to deer over the winter. HOWEVER, the one survivor has continued to grow nicely, and this spring has its first blossoms! Still undecided if we're going to pull the blossoms to get one more season of good growth before putting energy into bearing fruit.