Gardening season officially began by removing a foot-deep layer of pine needles off the strawberry bed. We bought a broke-down rototiller which Kevin is working on. As soon as that’s running I’ll start turning up the grass that took over last years garden.

Seedlings are started inside, but much less than last year. I’ve decided to grow in half the 70×80-foot garden and lay a big tarp over the rest to keep the weeds from taking over. I became overwhelmed last year and I am cutting back this year.

I have sold 4 goats and 17 chickens recently also to cut back. Two less to hand milk and less kids hopping around. Less chickens means less filling feeders, waterers, and less poop to shovel.

We are selling chicks locally this weekend and hope to come home with a lot less than we leave with. Changing out the brooders twice a day means moving 30 chicks over to a freshly cleaned brooder in order to change the bedding under them. And I have three brooders with 30 chicks each as of today.