Autumn

With the days growing shorter (quickly!) Mick set up a shelter for the birds with some solar-powered lights in an effort to lengthen the days and encourage them to keep laying. So far this has been unsuccessful, but stay tuned for Plan B...

Speaking of eggs, I couldn't believe how much this fritata puffed up! I have heard of the legendary fluffy qualities of duck eggs. Could this be it?

With the cooler weather, Gerard has been moving more frequently between outdoor adventures...

...and indoor ones.

Meanwhile, the orchard fared well this year, drought and all.

And the sunflowers actually grew this year! Much more inspiring than last year's attempt. :)

Our sunchokes did well too. Not bad for their first year! Many of the plants wound up taller than us.

The ruminants seem to enjoy hanging out by the wild apple tree in their pen.

Happy Autumn! says our as-yet-unnamed ewe.

Rabbit Real Estate

The time before last that Mickey was home we had quite the raining spell, which wasn't working out so well with roofing the cabin, so instead he started the rabbit hutch (indoors). Here it is framed and water-sealed (that was my job).

Meanwhile, the bunnies waited patiently for their new home. This picture didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but you can still see the rabbit ears inside the box. It was so funny (to me) to watch the shadow bunny hop and wiggle its ears and munch on grass and do other bunny sorts of things. :)

Anyway, back to work. We moved the hutch into position, set it up on blocks, and leveled it before Mickey finished the roof.

We love that the hutch roof matches the cabin roof! :) We used every scrap piece of shingle that we had acquired up to that point.

It took a little adjusting, especially for Rosie, but they both love their new home!

Rosie seems to enjoy her nest box. (I helped with that part too. Well, I did the measuring -- Mick did the cutting because I don't know how to use the power saw yet, and the nailing because it was a really skinny surface to nail into and I wasn't sure I could nail straight enough.)

We love happy bunnies! :)

The Yard Takes Shape

In between building Mick has started to put together our yard. He transplanted the Balsam fir from his mom from alongside the driveway -- no small feat, it's a big tree! He said it took him awhile.

We picked up several blueberry bushes on sale at Country Max, and they are looking great too!